𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

55

They found Leo at the top of the city fortifications. He was sitting at an open-air café, overlooking the sea, drinking a cup of coffee and dressed in a jeans, a white shirt, and an old army jacket.

Piper nearly knocked him out of his chair with a hug. "Leo! Gods, where have you been?"

"Valdez!" Coach Hedge grinned. Then he seemed to remember he had a reputation to protect and he forced a scowl. "You ever disappear like that again, you little punk, I'll knock you into next month!"

Ajax grinned and high-fived him. He hoped his smile didn't look as fake as it was. It wasn't Leo's fault of course, but Ajax couldn't help it.

Frank patted Leo on the back so hard it made him wince. Even Nico shook his hand.

Speaking of Nico, Ajax had been avoiding him. Maybe they would talk once they were alone. Alone. Ajax thought back to when Nico was kissing him like his life depended on it.

Piper looked at him like she could read his mind.

"I'll tell you later" He told her.

Hazel kissed Leo on the cheek. "We thought you were dead!"

Leo mustered a faint smile. "Hey, guys. Nah, nah, I'm good."

Despite saying so, Leo wouldn't meet their eyes. His hands were perfectly still on the table. Leo's hands were never still. All the nervous energy had drained right out of him, replaced by a kind of wistful sadness.

Ajax wondered why his expression seemed familiar. Then he realized Nico had looked the same way after he pulled away from kissing him. Ajax hated that he couldn't stop thinking about Nico.

Leo was heartsick.

Ajax wanted to stab himself.

They all grabbed chairs to listen to Leo's story.

"I got marooned," Leo said. "Long story. How about you guys? What happened with Khione?"

Coach Hedge snorted. "What happened? Piper happened! I'm telling you, this girl has skills!"

"Coach..." Piper protested.

Hedge began retelling the story, but in his version Piper was a kung fu assassin and there were a lot more Boreads.

Coach Hedge was just describing how Piper had defeated Khione with a roundhouse kick when Piper interrupted.

"Coach!" she said. "It didn't happen like that at all. I couldn't have done anything without Festus."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "But Festus was deactivated."

"Um, about that," Piper said. "I sort of woke him up."

Piper explained her version of events—how she'd rebooted the metal dragon with charmspeak.

Leo tapped his fingers on the table, like some of his old energy was coming back.

"Shouldn't be possible," he murmured. "Unless the upgrades let him respond to voice commands. But if he's permanently activated, that means the navigation system and the crystal..."

"Crystal?" Jason asked.

Leo flinched. "Um, nothing. Anyway, what happened after the wind bomb went off?"

Hazel and Ajax took up the story. A waitress came over and offered them menus. In no time they were chowing down on sandwiches and sodas, enjoying the sunny day almost like a group of regular teenagers.

Frank grabbed a tourist brochure stuck under the napkin dispenser. He began to read it. Piper patted Leo's arm, like she couldn't believe he was really here.

Nico stood at the edge of the group, eyeing the passing pedestrians as if they might be enemies.

Ajax could feel his nervous energy. For the briefest second, Nico caught Ajax looking and looked away.

Coach Hedge munched on the salt and pepper shakers.

Despite the happy reunion, everybody seemed more subdued than usual—like they were picking up on Leo's mood.

"So then Jason and Ajax harnessed the venti," Hazel finished. "And here we are."

Leo whistled. "Hot-air horses? Dang. So basically, you guys held a bunch of gas together all the way to Malta, and then you let it loose."

Jason frowned. "You know, it doesn't sound so heroic when you put it that way."

"It wasn't very heroic," Ajax pointed out truthfully.

"Yeah, well. I'm an expert on hot air. I'm still wondering, why Malta? I just kind of ended up here on the raft, but was that a random thing, or—"

"Maybe because of this." Frank tapped his brochure. "Says here Malta was where Calypso lived."

A pint of blood drained from Leo's face. "W-what now?"

Frank shrugged. "According to this, her original home was an island called Gozo just north of here. Calypso's a Greek myth thingie, right?"

"Ah, a Greek myth thingie!" Coach Hedge rubbed his hands together. "Maybe we get to fight her! Do we get to fight her? 'Cause I'm ready."

"No," Leo murmured. "No, we don't have to fight her, Coach."

Piper frowned. "Leo, what's wrong? You look—"

"Nothing's wrong!" Leo shot to his feet. "Hey, we should get going. We've got work to do!"

"But...where did you go?" Hazel asked. "Where did you get those clothes? How—"

"Jeez, ladies!" Leo said. "I appreciate the concern, but I don't need two extra moms!"

Piper smiled uncertainly. "Okay, but—"

"Ships to fix!" Leo said. "Festus to check! Earth goddesses to punch in the face! What are we waiting for? Leo's back!"

He spread his arms and grinned.

Ajax knew what a forced smile looked like. Still, they weren't close enough that Leo would tell Ajax all his concerns and what had really happened.

Jason got up and clapped him on the shoulder. "Leo's right. We should get going."

Everybody took the cue. They started wrapping up their food and finishing their drinks.

Suddenly, Hazel gasped. "Guys..."

She pointed to the northeast horizon. At first, Ajax saw nothing but the sea. Then a streak of darkness shot into the air like black lightning—as if pure night had torn through the daytime.

"I don't see anything," Coach Hedge grumbled.

"Me neither," Piper said.

Ajax scanned his friends' faces. Most of them just looked confused. Nico and Jason were the only other one who seemed to have noticed the black lightning.

"That can't be..." Nico muttered. "Greece is still hundreds of miles away."

The darkness flashed again, momentarily leaching the color from the horizon.

"You think it's Epirus?" Jason asked.

Ajax's entire skeleton tingled like he was dying again.

Nico nodded. "The House of Hades is open for business."

A few seconds later, a rumbling sound washed over them like distant artillery.

"It's begun," Ajax said.

"What has?" Leo asked.

When the next flash happened, Hazel's eyes darkened. "Gaea's final push," she said. "The Doors of Death are working overtime. Her forces are entering the mortal world en masse."

"We'll never make it," Nico said. "By the time we arrive, there'll be too many monsters to fight."

Jason set his jaw. "We'll defeat them. And we'll make it there fast. We've got Leo back. He'll give us the speed we need."

He turned to his friend. "Or is that just hot air?"

Leo managed a crooked grin.

"Time to fly, boys and girls," he said. "Uncle Leo's still got a few tricks up his sleeves!"