***Hi all, here's Chapter 21. Chapter 22, featuring Frank's POV, will be up by Friday, May 16. So, exciting news, Rick Riordan just posted on his Twitter today that the Blood of Olympus cover will be released by USA Today later this week. Secretly hoping it has all the seven on it, but John Rocco always does a great job, so I'm sure it'll be awesome. Can't wait to see it!***
XXI. LEO
By the time the sun came up, Leo was beat. He just didn't want to admit it. They were anchored several miles away from the shore, with nothing to see but ocean, sky, and a few fishing boats and ferries. He had quadruple-checked every aspect of the Argo II and was confident that the ship couldn't possibly be better prepared for the battle ahead.
Frank was preparing to head off on his scouting mission. Hazel had stayed up to see him off. Piper was also on watch, but Jason, Percy, and Annabeth had gone back to their cabins to grab a few hours of sleep. Piper was now trying to convince Leo to do the same thing.
"Seriously, you need to rest," Piper told him. "You didn't get any sleep at all last night."
"Okay, fine," Leo said absently, focusing on the diagram he had pulled up. "But just let me check these boosters, because if we need to get away fast again, like with that turtle—," he was interrupted by Piper grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to look at her.
"Go to bed," Piper said so forcefully that Leo's eyelids immediately got heavy. He was tempted to curl right up on the deck and take a nice nap.
"Yes, Mom," he yawned.
Piper gave him a push toward the steps. "Get some sleep. We can handle things for a couple of hours without you."
"Gee, I feel so loved," Leo said, but he went to his room without complaining more; he knew perfectly well he wouldn't be any good to anyone if he collapsed from exhaustion in the middle of the battle.
He was tempted to go to the engine room, but if he went down there, he wouldn't sleep; he'd get caught up in tinkering with something. And he was afraid that if Piper found him still awake, she might do something drastic. Frankly, that Boread sword of hers was pretty intimidating. So he went to his cabin and flopped down on the bed. Within a minute, he was fast asleep.
This close to Athens and the final battle with Gaea, Leo anticipated having a nightmare, but his dream turned out to be the exact opposite. He found himself on a familiar white sand beach, which still sported the crater where he had crash-landed and destroyed a dining table and chairs. Leo's heart started racing as he looked around, but the beach was deserted. He followed the well-known path through the trees toward the place where he knew her garden was.
As he came out of the trees, his heart, which had been pounding, seemed to skitter to a stop. Calypso was even more beautiful than he'd remembered. Barefoot, dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, with her long, caramel-colored braid hanging over her shoulder, she was staring into what looked like a Celestial bronze mirror. In it, Leo could see himself, lying passed out in his cabin on the Argo II. It wasn't the first time he had been in a dream and seen himself asleep, but it was a little embarrassing since his mouth was hanging open and he was snoring. He figured it might be a good idea to draw her attention away from that awkward image.
"So do you spend a lot of time spying on me?" he asked.
Calypso whipped around. Leo saw a flash of what might have been happiness cross her face before she managed to summon a haughty expression. "Of course not. Don't you think I've got better things to do with my time than stare at you? Besides, I only summoned you here to give you a warning."
"Sure you did." Leo grinned as he walked towards her. "Admit it, you totally just missed the awesomeness that is me."
Calypso wrinkled her nose. "I most certainly did not."
"Liar."
Their eyes met. Calypso muttered something unflattering in Greek before grabbing his t-shirt, pulling him close, and kissing him. Leo's brain felt like it was short-circuiting, but somehow he didn't mind one bit.
"Yeah, you missed me," Leo said when Calypso let go of him and stepped back.
She smacked his arm, but it only hurt a little bit, so Leo knew he was right. "For what it's worth," he added, "the feeling's mutual."
"Great," Calypso said, rolling her eyes. "But believe it or not, I really did bring you here for a reason."
"How did you do that, by the way?"
"I'm a goddess, duh! Drawing someone to you in a dream isn't that hard. Anyway," she turned back to the Celestial bronze mirror, "I've been watching Gaea and her minions, looking into the recent past to try to figure out what their plans are."
"That's impressive," Leo said, moving next to her so that he could see into the mirror, too, which was now showing the Parthenon.
Calypso waved her hand. "I told you, the past is easy, it's the present and the future that are harder to see. Unfortunately, Gaea and the giants must be using some type of magic to hide what they're doing because I could only make out bits and pieces. But none of it is good." She ran her hand across the surface of the mirror and the image zoomed in until they seemed to be standing in front of the Parthenon. Inside the ruined temple, Leo could see swirling dark clouds, which seemed pretty ominous. He guessed they were magical in nature, though, because the mortals crowding the ruins didn't seem to notice anything.
"That looks like fun," he muttered.
"That's not all." Calypso waved a hand across the mirror again and the image whirled. When it stopped, Leo could see what looked like Earthborn, Gaea's six-armed giants, and numina montanum, the mountain gods, scooping rocks out of a hole they were drilling in the top of a mountain.
"What the heck?"
"It gets worse," Calypso said grimly. The image panned up. Goosebumps exploded on Leo's arms and a shiver ran down his spine as he recognized the giant operating the drill. Leo flashed back to a mountaintop burning in California months ago.
His mouth was dry as he said, "Enceladus."
"Gaea and Porphyrion spoke of pulling the gods up by their oldest roots, right? That's what they're working on here. This is Mount Olympus. The original Mount Olympus. It's still imbued with the power of the gods—a part of their essence, their power, is tied to that mountain."
"And the giants are literally trying to dig it up," Leo said. "Which means my life just got a whole lot more complicated."
Calypso nodded. "You and your friends need to go to Athens first, to face Gaea. But after that, you've got to get to Mount Olympus and stop the digging. Otherwise—"
"Otherwise Gaea will be gone but the gods will still die," Leo finished.
"Pretty much." Calypso hesitated, then said, "Also, you need to be prepared. I couldn't understand the details, but it was clear that Gaea is planning some type of final trick or attack, to prevent your crew from getting to the Parthenon. You'll need to warn your friends when you go back."
The words "go back" startled Leo out of his thoughts of giants and dying gods. "And how soon do I have to do that?"
Calypso smiled sadly. "Now, my hero."
"Are you sure? Because I'm not really in a huge rush or anything."
Calypso laughed and the sound made Leo's heart leap. He liked making her laugh. "Nice try, but I've already kept you here too long. You need to get back to your ship and your friends." She kissed him again, which pretty much made this the best dream of Leo's entire life.
"This is real, right?" he asked.
Calypso rolled her eyes. "Obviously, you idiot. Now get back there and kill some monsters for me."
"I will," Leo said, gripping her hand tightly even as he could feel himself beginning to wake up. "And then I'm coming back here and breaking you out."
Calypso's smile didn't reach her eyes. Leo hated that she didn't believe him, but he understood why. "Good luck, Leo Valdez."
Leo woke with a start. He was disoriented for a moment before he remembered that he'd slept in his cabin, not the engine room. His mind was still spinning from his dream about Calypso. If he closed his eyes, he could still see her smile. The warning she had given him was ringing in his ears.
Gaea is planning some type of final trick or attack, to prevent your crew from getting to the Parthenon. But what exactly this trick or attack was going to be, Leo had no clue.
He jumped when Jason knocked and stuck his head in the door. "Hey man, glad you're awake. Frank just got back, so team meeting in ten minutes at the helm. Time to make a game plan."
"Great," Leo said, sitting up and throwing back the covers. "I've got some news, too. Spoiler alert: it's not good."