Leo Valdez and the House of Nyx

LEO

BOY, EVERYTHING CHANGES WITHOUT LEO.

One moment he was gone, the world changed – Annabeth, who was standing by

the wall that had blasted, was now lying at the feet of Percy's

pegasus. Percy was trying to control his pegasus, who was trying to run.

"Blackjack, calm down," he kept murmuring.

So that was it's name.

Blackjack.

Leo's hand wandered to the remote – the one device that could blow up the

coliseum, and tie up the goddess.

Okay, he hadn't told anyone about that part, because they would immediately deny

it. Even if they didn't, c'mon, Leo needed some surprises too.

"SO!" Nike's voice startled him, but she was looking at his friends. Leo stepped

behind the wall closest to the three of them.

"Be prepared to say goodbye to this life, because victory is ALL MINE!" she raised

her spear, as if to impale Percy in the gut.

"I don't think so, Victory Lady," Leo murmured. He then summoned a thin layer

of fire around him, counted to a quick three, and the area around him blasted with

fire, throwing Nike off her mount. Good thing she was standing right in front of

that wall.

Leo walked through the fire like how Jason had, last winter in the Wolf House. The

moment he stepped out of the smoke, into the clearing, he saw that Annabeth and

Percy had their mouths hanging open. Then Leo grinned. "Boo-yah!" he spread his

arms in a heroic gesture. "How's that for an entrance?"

Annabeth was the first to recover from her shock "Leo!" she exclaimed, and

tackled him with a hug. "I-I thought-I thought you were-you were –"

"Leo?" Percy stared at him as if he was alien. "You just saved my life?" Leo

guessed that Percy had meant to say it, but he was in such shock that it sounded

like a question.

"Yeah, man, I did. Intentionally," Leo assured him.

Nike, meanwhile, was buried in a heap of dust. She dusted fire off her arm and

growled, "Valdez, I thought I had DESTROYED YOU!"

Nike stood up and pointed her staff at Leo's chest.

Leo shook his finger to say no. "Uh-huh, lady, none of that required. You're goin'

down like this," he pressed the green button on his remote.

From all around them, wires came and tied Nike tightly. She tried breaking free.

"You can't," Leo explained. "That's my Dad's. you can't break free."

Nike then stopped struggling. She smiled coldly, like Aunt Rosa, and shrunk in

size. Then she became ten feet tall, and the binding fell around her feet.

"I myself escaped from your father's bonds," she smirked. "How can you escape

me?"

. He had taken many valuable seconds to process what had happened to his

Father's lovely rope. Now, that was the only choice left.

"Like this!" Leo pressed the button on th remote. It started countdown from twenty

seconds. Nike screamed with rage and made a grab for Leo, but he easily rolled

away.

"Fly away, guys!" Leo yelled. "Get on Backgammon and fly!

Percy helped Annabeth onto the pegasus. "What about you?" Percy called over

Nike's scream.

Leo dodged another grab. "Be right behind ya! Go! Take Backgammon to that

fountain we passed earlier! GO!"

They flew away, and Leo ran behind them. Then the five second beeper of the

diffusers started, and Leo knew he had to get ou of there. Now.

"Festus! Buddy, here!" Festus swooped down and Leo jumped on. They made it

out of the coliseum just as it exploded.

"YOU WONT GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Nike screamed. "I'LL – AAAGH!"

The blast was so powerful that it pushed Festus several feet further through the air.

Behind them, the coliseum bured to ashes, as Leo and Festus soared through the night, not knowing what they had just signed up for.