Chapter Title: I Unintentionally Help Unearth Some Dark Secrets
Leo hadn't felt this jumpy since he offered tofu burgers to the werewolves. When he got to the limestone cliff in the forest, he turned to the group and smiled nervously. "Here we go." He definitely was very anxious of how his cabinmates would react to all of this honestly - even to the fact that he had been partially guided to this place by the figure that had been the Monster King's shadowy spiritual backup itself.
He willed his hand to catch fire, and set it against the door.
His cabinmates gasped behind him, astonished at what they were seeing.
"Leo!" Nyssa cried. "You're a fire user!"
"Yeah, thanks," he said. "I know."
Jake Mason, who was out of his body cast but still on crutches, said, "Holy Hephaestus. That means—it's so rare that—"
He didn't get the chance to even finish, and even at a distance, people could notice that he still seemed to be thinking about other things. It didn't take a genius to guess exactly what Jake was thinking of.
He still missed Michael greatly, that much was for sure.
Beckendorf decided to finish for Jake. "It's a very rare occurrence for a child of Hephaestus to be a fire user.. much rarer.." he said.
The massive stone door swung open, and everyone's mouth dropped. Leo's flaming hand seemed insignificant now. Even Piper, Alyssa, Bryce, Clara and Jason all looked stunned, and the five of them - they all had seen enough amazing things lately, along with some terrifying things too, mind you.
Only Chiron didn't look surprised. The centaur knit his bushy eyebrows and stroked his beard, as if the group was about to walk through a minefield.
That made Leo even more nervous, but he couldn't change his mind now. His instincts told him he was meant to share this place—at least with the Hephaestus cabin—and he couldn't hide it from Chiron or his two best friends.
Bryce, for his part, noticed Chiron's expression too. He immediately had a feeling that the centaur knew way more about this place than he let on now.
"Welcome to Bunker Nine," he said, as confidently as he could. "C'mon in."
The group was silent as they toured the facility. Everything was just as Leo had left it before the quest to save Hera—giant machines, worktables, old maps and schematics all over the place. Only one thing had changed though. Festus's head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha.
Leo went over to it, a bitter taste in his mouth, and stroked the dragon's forehead. "I'm sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you." He would make sure of that.
Jason put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Hephaestus brought it here for you?"
Leo nodded.
"But you can't repair him," Jason guessed.
"No way," Leo said. He knew full well that the whole dragon was unfixable. "But the head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us."
Piper came over and frowned. "What do you mean?"
Before Leo could answer, Nyssa cried out, "Guys, look at this!"
She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook—diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons.
"I've never seen anything like these," Nyssa said. "There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus's workshop. I knew he had some of them on his laptop, but this.. this is downright amazing. It would take a century just to prototype them all."
"Dear lord.. whoever came up with these designs was on some serious creativity vibes.." Beckendorf muttered, for he had never seen anything like this in his life.
"Who built this place?" Jake Mason said. "And why?"
Everyone had questions about this place, and at least to Bryce, only one person had all the answers that they needed to hear.
Chiron stayed silent, but Leo focused on the wall map he'd seen during his first visit. It showed Camp Half-Blood with a line of triremes in the Sound, catapults mounted in the hills around the valley, and spots marked for traps, trenches, and ambush sites. Things that would seem like Colton's specialty - or the Ares' Cabin specialty to be more specific in some cases.
It didn't take long for Leo's mind to put two and two together about what exactly all of this was.
"It's a wartime command center," he said. "The camp was attacked once, wasn't it?"
"In the Titan War?" Piper asked.
"Doubt it.." Bryce muttered. He had a feeling that it was much older than that - for everything in the place was screaming mid 1800s in his mind, which made sense, given that he was a legacy of Mars after all - he had remembered that by now.
Nyssa shook her head. "No. Besides, that map looks really old. The date ... does that say 1864?"
They all turned to Chiron, who sighed. He knew that now he had to reveal everything.
The centaur's tail swished fretfully. "This camp has been attacked many times," he admitted. "That map is from the last Civil War."
"Civil War..?" Alyssa said softly.
Apparently, Leo wasn't the only one confused. The other Hephaestus campers looked at each other and frowned. Even Clara, Alyssa, and Jason exchanged confused looks at each other. Only Bryce could tell that the centaur wasn't really kidding about the date.
"Civil War ..." Piper said. "You mean the American Civil War, like a hundred and fifty years ago?"
"Yes and no," Chiron said. "The two conflicts—mortal and demigod—mirrored each other, as they usually do in Western history. Look at any civil war or revolution from the fall of Rome onward, and it marks a time when demigods also fought one another. But that Civil War was particularly horrible. For American mortals, it is still their bloodiest conflict of all time—worse than their casualties in the two World Wars. For demigods, it was equally devastating. Even back then, this valley was Camp Half-Blood. There was a horrible battle in these woods lasting for days, with terrible losses on both sides."
"Both sides," Leo said. "You mean the camp split apart?"
Bryce facepalmed. The chat with Hera had established that two different groups of demigods existed, so in his mind, he found it hard to understand why that had seemingly gone over Leo's head by now.
"No," Jason spoke up. "He means two different groups. Camp Half-Blood was one side in the war."
Leo wasn't sure he wanted an answer, but he asked, "Who was the other?"
"Isn't it obvious, buddy?" Clara muttered, now facepalming herself as well.
Alyssa just sighed in annoyance. She could really sense the frustration that both Clara and Bryce were feeling right now.
Chiron glanced up at the tattered bunker 9 banner, as if remembering the day it was raised.
"The answer is dangerous," he warned. "It is something I swore upon the River Styx never to speak of. After the American Civil War, the gods were so horrified by the toll it took on their children, that they swore it would never happen again. The two groups were separated. The gods bent all their will, wove the Mist as tightly as they could, to make sure the enemies never remembered each other, never met on their quests, so that bloodshed could be avoided. This map is from the final dark days of 1864, the last time the two groups fought. We've had several close calls since then. The nineteen sixties were particularly dicey. But we've managed to avoid another civil war—at least so far. Just as Leo guessed, this bunker was a command center for the Hephaestus cabin. In the last century, it has been reopened a few times, usually as a hiding place in times of great unrest. But coming here is dangerous. It stirs old memories, awakens the old feuds. Even when the Titans threatened last year, I did not think it worth the risk to use this place."
"Sounds fair enough.." Bryce muttered. "Though I guess Colton would have had other ideas if he found out about this place.."
"That's probably accurate.." said someone from the Hephaestus cabin.
"Yeah, he probably would have, knowing him.." Beckendorf added.
Suddenly Leo's sense of triumph turned to guilt. "Hey, look, this place found me. It was meant to happen. It's a good thing."
"I hope you're right," Chiron said.
"I am!" Leo pulled the old drawing out of his pocket and spread it on the table for everyone to see.
"There," he said proudly. "Aeolus returned that to me. I drew it when I was five. That's my destiny."
Nyssa frowned. "Leo, it's a crayon drawing of a boat."
"You really going to doubt him now, you guys?" Bryce said, clearly annoyed. "Like, he's your own sibling! Listen to him!"
"Look." He pointed at the largest schematic on the bulletin board—the blueprint showing a Greek trireme, far larger than any trireme ever made. Slowly, his cabinmates' eyes widened as they compared the two designs. The number of masts and oars, even the decorations on the shields and sails were exactly the same as on Leo's drawing.
"That's impossible," Nyssa said. "That blueprint has to be a century old at least."
"'Prophecy—Unclear—Flight,'" Jake read from the notes on the blueprint. "It's a diagram for a flying ship. Look, that's the landing gear. And weaponry—Holy Hephaestus: rotating ballista, mounted crossbows, Celestial bronze plating. That thing would be one spankin' hot war machine. Was it ever made?"
Beckendorf now facepalmed, for the state of this place might as well made the answer to that question plainly obvious.
"Not yet," Leo said. "Look at the masthead."
There was no doubt—the figure at the front of the ship was the head of a dragon. A very particular dragon.
"Festus," Piper said. Everyone turned and looked at the dragon's head sitting on the table.
"He's meant to be our masthead," Leo said. "Our good luck charm, our eyes at sea. I'm supposed to build this ship. I'm gonna call it the Argo II. And guys, I'll need your help."
"The Argo II." Piper smiled. "After Jason's ship."
"Makes sense.." Bryce said. "I like it."
"Me too.. it sounds awesome.." Clara said, flashing a smile. Alyssa simply gave two thumbs up.
Jason looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded. "Leo's right. That ship is just what we need for our journey."
"What journey?" Nyssa said. "You just got back!"
"Oh for fuck's sake.." Bryce muttered, low enough so that no one would hear.
"This is far from over, dear sister.." Beckendorf said.
Piper ran her fingers over the old crayon drawing. "We've got to confront Kronis, the replacement giant king. He said he would destroy the gods at their roots."
"Indeed," Chiron said. "Much of Rachel's Great Prophecy is still a mystery to me, but one thing is clear. You three—Jason, Piper, and Leo—are among the eleven demigods who must take on that quest mainly - still don't know where the friends part comes in. Nevertheless, you must confront the giants in their homeland, where they are strongest. You must stop them before they can wake Gaea fully, before they destroy Mount Olympus."
"Um ..." Nyssa shifted. "You don't mean Manhattan, do you?"
"No," Leo said. "The original Mount Olympus. We have to sail to Greece."
"The original homeland of the gods.." Bryce said, the significance of what Leo meant hitting him full force.
It took a few minutes for that to settle in. Then the other Hephaestus campers started asking questions all at once. Who were the other demigods? How long would it take to build the boat? Why didn't everyone get to go to Greece?
Sure, since friends were included in the prophecy, it was possible that more of them might get to go, but not all of them.
"Heroes!" Chiron struck his hoof on the floor. "All the details are not clear yet, but Leo is correct. He will need your help to build the Argo II. It is perhaps the greatest project Cabin Nine has even undertaken, even greater than the bronze dragon."
"It'll take a year at least," Nyssa guessed. "Do we have that much time?"
"Not likely.." Bryce muttered. He may have been new, but he was quickly catching on to things.
"You have six months at most," Chiron said. "You should sail by summer solstice, when the gods' power is strongest. Besides, we evidently cannot trust the wind gods, and the summer winds are the least powerful and easiest to navigate. You dare not sail any later, or you may be too late to stop the giants. You must avoid ground travel, using only air and sea, so this vehicle is perfect. Jason being the son of the sky god ..."
"KNEW IT!" Bryce shouted, catching everyone by surprise. "Sorry."
Chiron's voice trailed off, but Leo figured Chiron was thinking about his missing students, Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon alongside Colton Reynolds, the son of Ares and the Monster King, plus Luke Castellan and Michael Yew. All four of them would've been good on this voyage, too.
"Jesus dude.. chill.." Beckendorf said to Bryce.
Bryce simply nodded.
Jake now turned to Leo, looking ever more hopeful. It would be six months, but Jake had a feeling that when those six months were up, Michael would be back. He didn't know how exactly, he just had a feeling that he would be. That, he reckoned, was the hope that he needed to keep going. "Well, one thing's for sure. You are now senior counselor. This is the biggest honor the cabin has ever had. Anyone object?"
Nobody did, not even Beckendorf, who just nodded in approval. All his cabinmates smiled at him, and Leo could almost feel their cabin's curse breaking, their sense of hopelessness melting away. Beckendorf could sense it too, and he smiled, knowing full well that his siblings were in good hands. He also had a feeling that his college education also needed to wait for now, because he had a gut feeling that this great prophecy might also require his services too.
"It's official, then," Jake said. "You're the man."
For once, Leo was speechless. Ever since his mom died, he'd spent his life on the run. Now he'd found a home and a family. He'd found a job to do. And as scary as it was, Leo wasn't tempted to run—not even a little. Even if he still had to eventually deal with the consequences of asking out the girlfriend of the most powerful demigod - who happened to be missing - at CHB, he seemed less afraid of it than he had been before.
"Well," he said at last, "if you guys elect me leader, you must be even crazier than I am. So let's build a spankin' hot war machine!"