The Boy On Fire (A Caleo Short Story)

Chapter 2

               Being a demigod sucked. Even Leo had to admit that the monster fighting parts were kind of cool, but those don't nearly make up for getting beat up by a storm and dying twice in one day. But the worst parts are the dreams. Almost every single night godly beings are constantly talking to you as you sleep. Half the time it's a bad guy and you end up waking up in cold sweat, which doesn't contribute much for a well-earned good night's sleep. And because there was nothing else to do while you are knocked out and falling towards a raging ocean, Leo dreamed.

               At first there was just static. Then an black and white image appeared. It was a face, disfigured and covered in soot, like it had been dragged across a dirty road. It had a huge scraggly beard that flew out of the face in all directions. The figure that the face belonged to was bent over a pair of antennae, twisting it this way and that. He was dressed in brown ripped-up overalls with a black undershirt. The man stood in a room surrounded in tables, covered in mounds of blueprints, bits and pieces of different kinds of metals, and half finished creations.

               "Hey, dad."

               The man spun around and spoke in a gruff voice. "I apologize for the reception, my boy. It's always hard to get a decent signal from Mount St. Helens. How do you like my new hat?" He gave the antennae one last twist, then held up a bronze helmet. It had lightning bolts sticking up where your ears would go. Zipping between the ends of each bolt was raw electricity. Leo could even hear the electricity popping.

               "What does it do? I mean, it does do something right?" Leo couldn't help being curious about his father's newest invention.

               "Of course it does something!" Hephaestus almost roared. "It protects your head!" As if to prove his point, he put it on his head. It barely fit. After a few moments of Hephaestus's triumphant look, he started to shake. It started slow but soon grew into a violent spasm. Leo saw Hephaestus fall to the ground, electricity sparks shooting up across his body.

               "DAD! WHAT THE HECK!" Leo yelled in surprise. He had no idea what was going on. It could have been one of Hephaestus's tricks gone wrong. But whatever it was, Leo couldn't stop it, of course. He was only in a dream, so he couldn't interact with anything, even if this really was happening across the world. Or maybe across the universe. Leo guessed he would never know if he actually made it out of Ogygia with Calypso. Festus has the astrolabe. He'll protect her.

               As suddenly as the spasm had began, it ended. The electricity that had been sparking between the lightning bolts had fizzled out. Hephaestus groaned from the floor. He threw off the helmet and it skid across the rock floor.

               "Umm... you okay?" Leo asked.

               "Don't worry about it." Hephaestus stood up. His already crazy hair was now standing up in all different directions, making it even crazier than before. "Just a harmless malfunction."

               "Harmless... That's exactly the word I would have picked." Leo remarked sarcastically.

               "I'm glad you understand. Now the real reason that a brought you here was not to show you my hat, but something much more important, although it is hard to beat my hat."

               "Yeah. Of course! You got the best hat! That hat is my bae!" Leo didn't want to insult his own dad. "But, seriously. Why am I here? I've got other things to be doing."

               "By other things do you mean falling into the ocean and dying?"

               "No! By other things I mean saving myself from falling into the ocean and dying! Which I should be doing right now! Get on with it pops!"

               "Fine, you're no fun. Don't worry about your fall. This dream will only pass in a second. You will awaken in almost the exact spot that you fell asleep. Anyway, machines always make friendlier conversations than humans. Godly parental advice to tell your future kids: Always prefer a machine to a human. They're easier to interact with. They don't bombard you with questions that you do not want to answer."

               "You're avoiding the question."

               "Yes, I am. For good reason too."

               "Can you answer it? Please?" Leo flashed a fake smile that he hoped looked more charming than he felt.

               "I guess I will have to. So, Zeus has invited you to join us in the weekly council of the gods. Next meeting. Saturday."

               "Why?"

               "You will find out when you arrive. But for now, I have business to attend to." Hephaestus picked up his lightning hat from where it had skid.

               "Why can't you tell me now, pops." Leo asked nicely.

               "Because this dream has already taken too long. Bye now! Go have fun falling!" 

               And with that, Hephaestus snapped his fingers and the dream started to fade slowly. Leo tried to yell but the audio in the dream had stopped working. Hephaestus waved one last time and Leo's vision went black.

               Leo woke up falling. Hephaestus was right. He was pretty much in the general location of when he fell asleep, but instead of a storm, there was a clear sky with sunlight shining down onto the earth.

               As Leo fell, he screamed. He had no idea how to save himself. He didn't even have his sphere that semi-safely landed him on Ogygia the first time he visited. It was safely tucked inside of one of Festus's many compartments. Leo wished he had it now. It would definitely make surviving a whole lot easier. At least he didn't have to worry about Calypso. Festus had her. She would be alright.

               Enough thinking. Time to save myself! He thought, although he had no idea how. He flipped over into a diving position, so that he could try diving into the water to prevent full-body contact and his imminent death, although he doubted it would work. Well, I guess this is the end. Bye Calypso. I love you. And with that thought, he plunged towards the sea, which was only about a hundred feet below him.

               Just as he was about to hit the water, he stopped. Yep, he just stopped, hovering right above the water.

               "What the heck?" he asked himself. He glanced upwards. There was Festus. Festus was dangling Leo by his feet in the his bronze talons. "Just in time, as always, ol' boy." He smiled. Gears spun in Festus's mouth, making a whirring noise. "Yeah, It's good to see you too, buddy. Anyway, where's Calypso?" Festus couldn't have saved her just to drop her!

               "I'm right here." Calypso was sitting on Festus's back. Festus pulled Leo upwards onto his back. Leo looked Calypso in the eye.

               "Hey, babe." That made Calypso smile.

               "Anyway, where are we?" she replied.

               "Good question." Leo looked around they seemed to still be over the ocean. He turned around. There was an island. It was too long to be Calypso's. Leo could see some buildings on the island. It looked like...

               "Wait... I can't believe it!"

               "Can't believe what?" Calypso looked confused. Leo stood up and full-contact tackled her, kissing her with as much force as he could muster. He didn't know what had come over him. He supposed that he was just too happy. When he broke away, Calypso looked flabbergasted. Leo sat back up and pointed towards the island in the distance with a huge smile on his face.

               "Look... Look! Festus, fly towards that island!" Leo could barely contain his excitement.

               There it was. Leo's newest home. Camp Half-Blood.