A bit shorter than usual, but hey, I finally wrote another Leo chapter. I feel like I don't write enough of these.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END. PLEASE READ.

Chapter XLII

Leo

Despite his anger at Percy for abandoning Calypso, Leo has to admit he's worried about the guy. And Annabeth, too, even more so than Percy. Especially after her nightmare. The Annabeth Leo knows isn't afraid of anything-except maybe losing Percy.

Maybe that's what she was dreaming about. Leo thinks. After all, he has dreams about Calypso all the time. Not that he'd ever tell anyone that. But they are rarely ever good; instead, they torture him with images of her either dead, injured, or overcome with sadness and loneliness. Leo doesn't want any of that, even if the sadness is because she's missing him. She deserves to be happy.

Leo shakes away his thoughts and looks at the screen of the controls. Huh. We're getting close to Pylos...Isn't that where Frank's ancient ancestor came from? Perri something or other? He wonders. Then he shrugs. Doesn't matter. The good thing is that we're making good time to Athens.

He taps a button and the screen goes black. He steps back from the controls, leaving Festus in command. The dragon masthead creaks goodbye to him as he walks downstairs, and he can't help but feel a pang of loss for his metal friend. He used to be so magnificent...

Soon, Festus, I promise I'm going to rebuild you. With all that ancient information from Archimedes, and my sphere, I'll hopefully be able to build a new control disk...

His thoughts turn to all the possibilities that the scrolls and sphere present to him. He can't wait till the rest of Cabin Nine sees them...You know, if Gaea doesn't destroy the world.

He sighs just as he reaches the doorway to the engine room. He walks through and flips on the desk light on his table, looking down at the scattered blueprints and stray drawings. It's not exactly very organized. But it works for him.

He sits down and shuffles through the papers until he finds his plan for the master weapon. It's coming along well, especially with all the suggestions Annabeth made the day Percy got himself kidnapped by Pontus. She hasn't talked to him about it since, what with everything that's been going on. Leo knows he's going to need her when he actually starts making everything, though. As much as he hates to admit it, this is definitely not something he can do by himself. And a lot of the ingredients are a little...volatile. It wouldn't be good if he blew himself up because he wouldn't ask Annabeth for help.

He's actually already started working on that crane, although he hasn't gotten to the claws yet, so he hasn't had the opportunity to use Annabeth's idea about the barbs. But it's coming along well, although he's starting to run out of space in his room. He had to sleep in the engine room last night because the way to his bed was blocked. He can't work on it much more or it won't be able to fit through the door so he can put it in place. Although maybe he could make it so that it collapses in on itself, like Percy's sword, and that cool feature Festus had when he still had a body.

Actually, yeah, that could work. It'd be more convenient anyway, so that they wouldn't have this giant crane taking up space on the deck all the time. If he could just...and then...yeah, like that. Perfect.

He looks down at his messy scrawls on the crane's blueprints, proud. He's getting a lot better with the whole magic/mechanics thing. Who knew they went together so well? I mean, he'd done pretty well with the Argo II, but he'd had a lot of help then. Now, he was on his own.

Unbidden, a memory of Annabeth bent over the blueprints, staring at them with stormy gray eyes, comes to mind. Leo grins. Well, mostly on my own, he amends.

His smile fades as he catches a glimpse of his drawing of Calypso out of the corner of his eye, peeking out from underneath a dozen other papers. Guilt fills him. How can he even smile when she's still trapped on that cursed island?

He pulls the astrolabe and crystal from one of his magic tool belt's many pockets and sets it on the already cluttered table.

Then he sits back in his chair and stares at it for a while. Well, glares, actually. It's like the stupid thing doesn't want to be fixed.

After a while, though, he sighs and leans forward again, picking the tool up and turning it over, squinting at it, searching for flaws or anything that might explain its unfixable-ness. Finding none, he practically throws it back on the table, causing it to clunk loudly against the wood. He runs his fingers through his hair exasperatedly.

Obviously, it's not just a simple matter of attaching the crystal. Leo knew that at the beginning. Heck, he knew the first time he saw the astrolabe that it needed to be fixed up a bit. He just didn't know that it would be such a pain in the podex to fix.

He picks up the crystal, cradling it in his palm. Of all the different colored crystals in Calypso's cave, Leo can understand why she gave him this one.

It's the color of flames, red and orange twisting hypnotically throughout the translucent stone, with a blue core edged in deep green. It's like someone trapped fire inside a piece of glass.

Leo bounces it on his palm, staring off into space. What would Calypso be doing now?

Well, time is different on Ogygia, so you can never really know. But it's still pretty early in the morning...so maybe she'd be out in her garden, pulling weeds or planting even more flowers. Of course, that's pretty much what she does all day...except when she works at her loom. I wonder if she's made any more t-shirts and jeans for herself?

Leo smiles, remembering how surprised he'd been when he'd first seen Calypso dressed in modern clothes. It was weird seeing her in something other than a dress. But he'd liked it. It'd made her seem more normal. And honestly, he'd always thought girls looked better when they didn't try to make themselves prettier. Piper is a prime example of that.

He clenches his fist tightly around the crystal, squeezing it so hard that the edges cut into his skin. Then he drops it back into the drawer, along with the astrolabe. He turns to his pile of blueprints-practically a hundred different upgrades for the ship.

He sighs. As much as he'd like to rescue her right now, Calypso will have to wait until after the Prophecy of Seven is fulfilled. Leo just hopes he'll live long enough to get the chance to free her.

To storm or fire the world must fall...

If Piper is right about that line, Leo might very well end up dieing. But for Calypso's sake, he has to try as hard as possible to avoid that particular outcome. And he'd prefer it if Jason didn't die either. Although Percy can make some pretty big storms too...

Someone knocks on the doorway, jolting him out of his thoughts. He looks up to see Annabeth lingering in the hall.

"Hey." She says.

"What's up?" Leo asks, spinning his chair to face her.

"Percy called a meeting in the mess hall. And don't ask me, because for once, I have no idea what it is." She explains, looking a little irritated. Probably because Percy wouldn't tell her.

Leo smiles. "That's a first."

"And it's also the last time it's going to happen. The next time he refuses to tell me something, I plan to get it out of him by force, if necessary." Her gray eyes are stormy, but amused. Leo's pretty sure she's joking. Pretty sure.

"You should deny him kisses." He tells her. "That'd definitely get him to talk." He winks slyly at her, laughing when she blushes. She tries to cover it up with a grin.

"That's not a bad idea. I think I'll try it next time." She replies. "Anyway, you better hurry. Percy's ADHD is totally taking over right now. And he just ate enough sugar to give a water buffalo a heart attack, so I really wouldn't take too long coming up or he might go crazy."

"I think he's already done that." Leo says, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Understatement of the century." Annabeth mutters to herself. "Well, even more crazy, anyway."

"Got it. Hurry or Percy's sanity will suffer." Leo stands, clicking off his lamp and walking into the hall beside Annabeth. "Let's go."

They start up the stairs together, and Leo can't help but notice the way Annabeth's eyes get dark in the silence, like she's thinking of something she doesn't want to remember. Leo wonders if he looks like that when he thinks about Calypso.

"Are you okay?" He asks her quietly, before he can stop himself. She glances over at him, and smiles.

"I'm fine, Leo. Or at least, I will be. Eventually." She blows out a breath. "It doesn't matter right now. And as long as I have Percy, I'm okay. So you don't have to worry."

Leo studies her face, but her smile looks genuine. "Okay. If you say so."

She stares at him, and Leo can tell she's about to ask him if he's okay, and braces himself to lie, but just then, Hazel bursts out of the mess hall, right in front of them, an exasperated look on her face.

"Annabeth," she starts, "Will you please hurry up? Your boyfriend is being weird."

Annabeth sighs. "What else is new?" Then she grabs Leo's arm, dragging him into the mess hall with her. "Come on, Repair Boy, if I have to go, you have to go."

Apparently she'd noticed him trying to back away.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE. PLEASE READ.

Okay, guys, here's the cheese: I know I've been getting sort of steadily worse about updates-sorry about that, btw-but I'll make you a promise.

If you guys promise to do your best to have it up to 350-three hundred and fifty-reviews by May 3 (which is my birthday), I'll start updating every day. There may be times where it'll take a bit longer, in which case I may skip a day or two. But other than that, I'll stick to a steady schedule. With a new chapter every day.

If you like this idea, review, and promise that you'll do your best. This means that the readers who only review their favorite chapters, or that don't review at all, will have to step up their game. For this to happen, at least ten people have to review and make that promise. Okay?