CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE TIDE IS TURNED

Leo didn't waste any time. He opened up a control panel that was near the captain's wheel and flipped the switch. The Argo II made a sudden shudder and everyone seemed to tense up. But Leo knew was about to happen. He watched in amazement as the crossbows along the edge of the ship began to load with arrows indicated by the sound of bronze gears shifting.

"FIRE!" Leo yelled. He loved the voice feature. His own design, thank you very much.

The arrows released and took down over 20 daemons! But it didn't kill them because they were protected from celestial bronze. But it was enough time for his friends and the new campers to tip the scale.

Gwendolyn jumped off the side of the ship and Leo was about to follow her to his death. He doubted he could jump 10 feet and survive like she did. She rushed straight into battle without a second thought with the other campers in purple shirts. He knew they would need his help.

He grabbed the captain's wheel and flew toward Polybotes. The giant greeted him with a evil grin, but Leo pushed a button. He heard the lower hatch of the front of the ship open and the giant's eyes became huge when a net that would catch a blue whale flew at him. There was no avoiding it. The net took Polybotes down with a great thud. Leo turned the wheel to a sharp right to land.

He descended the Argo II rushing to help his friends, his hammer in one and a fire ball in the other. He broke into a circle of daemons and rough looking kids in purple shirts. They were fighting very strategically, weaving in and out of the daemon's strikes. But Leo bashed one across the skull with his hammer and sent a curve fireball at another setting it ablaze and watched as one of the purple kids stabbed it in the gut. It turned to ash.

"Leo!" called Dakota. She had her arrow notched in her bow and staring at a nearby daemon. He knew exactly what she wanted. She released her arrow and sent a fireball flying at it. The arrow became a fiery projectile and stabbed a daemon right through the chest, taking it down!

"Awesome!" He said, punching the air in excitement. "Demigods 1, Daemons zip!"

He turned to see Jason strike a daemon down, but then one came up behind him unsuspectingly. He ran toward him, but something else beat him first. At first, he though it was Piper who had been entrancing in her reddish glow, but it was the redhead girl that Leo had seen arrive. She was so fine and Leo wanted her number instantly, but she obviously didn't have eyes for him. She held a sword and a tiny dagger, as she did an amazing flip over a daemon and knocking its legs from underneath it, but the sword and stabbing it with the dagger.

It wailed and vanished.

The girl's head came up, throwing her dark red hair back and her soft blue eyes stared at him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Leo couldn't believe she was asking this while a battle raged around them.

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus," he responded.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Duck," she said.

"Duck?" he repeated, with a confused expression. But the girl pushed him out the way and swiped her sword taking off the head of a daemon that was trying to sneak up on him.

"I am Reyna," she announced. "Thank-you for you're help."

She ran off.

"Nice talking to you too!" Leo called.

He could never hold a girl's attention. But suddenly there was a loud roar and everyone stopped. He turned to see Polybotes rising from the ground, the net falling off him. He began to glow.

"Did you think that could stop me?"

"No!" said a voice near his feet.

Leo looked over and saw a dark haired guy, with sea-green eyes. He dropped his bronze sword and held out both arms. He looked to be concentrating and Leo had no idea what he was planning on doing, but he if he didn't move, Polybotes would stomp him like a roach.

Suddenly, there was a rumble in the earth and Leo couldn't believe it. In the distance, he saw a thirty foot wave coming toward them. A sheet of water that seemed to move across the land without effort. Polybotes turned too late and got doused with it. He spat water out of his mouth and rubbed his eyes. But that's when Jason ran forward and struck the air with his sword.

An arc of lightning erupted from the gladius tip and struck Polybotes who wrenched in pain. He was blasted back, his armored breast plate smoking from the strike.

"Nice half-bloods," chuckled Polybotes. "But it still isn't enough. You can't and won't win this battle. The gods care nothing for you. But my patron will be the one to lead you to greatest. Renounce the gods, join our cause, otherwise, die with the Olympians that you so preciously call your family."

"How about NONE OF THE ABOVE!" yelled Leo. To his astonishment, the campers actually agreed.

"We need a god to beat him," said Piper, coming up on Leo's left.

"But where are we supposed to find one?" he questioned.

Piper eyes scanned the sky and her eyes locked on the moon.

"'Even your mother Aphrodite as Venus shows a need for conquest and domination,'" she said.

"What?" said Leo, confused.

"GODDESS," Piper yelled to no one, "HELP US, WE NEED YOUR POWER!"

"How dare you call on a god like that?" spat a purple-shirt camper. He looked about ready to attack Piper, but Dakota held him at bay.

"I hope you know what you're doing, girl," said Dakota, her eyes narrowed. Leo thought it took all of her will power to not attack Piper herself.

Piper just stood there, gazing at the sky. But whatever she hoped was coming….didn't. Polybotes erupted into a malicious laugh.

"See?" he screamed to the night. "What do they care for you? NOTHING! Now, daemons, kill them all! Feast upon their flesh!"

"Look!" cried Gwendolyn, pointing toward the sky.

Leo pulled some binoculars from his tool belt and held them up to his eyes to get a better view. If it hadn't been surrounded in a sparkling silvery glow, he wouldn't mistaken it for a star near the moon. But he knew. Being at camp for as long as he had, he knew he was looking at a chariot. It was being pulled by two reindeer and standing in it was a twelve year-old girl, with auburn hair, eyes that glowed as bright as the moon, wearing a silver toga. She held a bow made of gazelle horns and had an arrow notched and ready. She looked almost foreboding to be a little girl, but Leo put two and two together: moon, bow and arrow, and maiden form: this was the goddess, Artemis come to save them.