The Return of Leo Valdez (After Blood of Olympus)

28- Leo

Until the ginormous Italian Alps were in view, Leo continued to give Calypso a crash course in modern human objects.

"That," Leo pointed. "Is a bus."

Calypso furrowed her eyebrows. "What does it do?"

"It transports people from one place to another."

"Like how far?" Calypso asked.

"Normally just a couple towns. Most people travel by cars if they want to move around quicker."

"What's that?" Calypso said pointing to a car.

"That's a car. I just explained what it did," Leo said.

"Oh," Calypso said. "Have you ever driven a car before?"

Leo hasn't thought much about cars before, but Leo then realized, he has never driven a car. He doesn't even have a license.

"No I haven't Calypso," Leo said. "But most teenagers do drive them. I just haven't had the time."

"Because you've been off saving the world," Calypso said.

Leo sighed. "Yes Calypso."

Leo hasn't thought of it much, but what if he wasn't a demigod? Would he still be working at a machine shop with his mom? Would he have never met Piper and Jason?

Suddenly, Calypso gasped and snapped Leo out of his thoughts. Leo looked up and felt like gasping himself.

In front of him was probably the most beautiful mountain range Leo has ever seen.

The jagged rocks rose up higher than Leo ever thought possible. The sun shown in between two mountains, casting an orange shadow on Leo and Calypso. On the very top of the landform was sprinkles of snow, that glittered in the early sunset.

"It's even more beautiful than I remember," Calypso said. "I haven't seen mountains in a very long time."

Leo has never seen mountains before, and he was happy to be spending this experience with Calypso.

Then, Calypso did something Leo didn't expect. She bent forward and kissed Leo softly on the cheek. Chills ran up Leo spine as he blushed.

He looked back at Calypso and saw her blushing. Leo leaned towards her and pecked her in the lips.

An electric tingle coursed though Leo's body.

Love was strange and alien-like to Leo, but he felt he was doing just fine.

Suddenly, Festus puffed a cloud of smoke out of his nostrils and made a low growling sound.

"I know Festus," Leo said turning back around. "We need to focus."

"I know the door to Hephaestus' forge is around here somewhere," Calypso asked. "It's heavily guarded by the mist, it might even be hard for me to find it."

Leo mountain side looking for a cave, a door, even a trapdoor. Just something that could be used as an entrance.

Festus creaked loudly and puffed smoke towards the northeast part of the mountain. Leo focused his vision and saw a small brass door in the distance, on the top of a small cliff.

"We hit the jackpot Festus," Leo said. "Just fly us over there and land on the cliff."

Festus nodded and flapped his bronze wings. Leo could hear the creaking and groaning of the gears below him. The son of Hephaestus bit his lip in fear. What if Festus is too bent up to be fixed? Leo quickly shook that idea out of his head, this was his dad he was talking about. He could fix anything.

As Festus flew closer to the door, Leo noticed several cyclops armed with large axes. They wore armor, but not the normal kind. Something was strange about it. The protection probably included some kind of nasty weapon or defense.

"Festus," Leo said. "Instead of landing right in front of the cave, can you land to the side? These cyclops look like trouble."

Festus responded with a variety of creeks and squeaks and slowly turned to the left.

"Leo," Calypso asked, worriedly. "Hephaestus was one of the only gods who visited me on Ogygia. What if he sends me back there? What if he's at Ogygia now and alerts Zeus? If that happens...I don't know what, but it won't be good."

Leo hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Calypso, trust me. My dad won't send you back to Ogygia, if your happy here."

"But what if they notice I'm gone?" Calypso asked slowly tearing up.

"Don't worry, the gods barely visit you anymore. They probably forgot you even were on that island."

"Gods don't forget Leo, especially things that happened in ancient times," Calypso warned. "I just hope we can reason with them before they get angry."

Leo sighed and turned around. "Let's just focus on the task at hand sunshine, then we can freak out."

Calypso nodded and wrapped her arms even more tighter around Leo's waist.

Festus circled in the air trying to find a good landing spot. Cyclops swarmed the area. It would be nearly impossible to land, and don't get Leo started on getting past the guards.

Then, a cyclops yelled something out that gave Leo a ping of hope.

"Look! The bronze dragon has returned!"

All the cyclops cheered.

"Come bronze dragon! Come down here!"

Leo knew well enough it could be a trap.

"Calypso," Leo asked. "Can we trust these monsters?"

"Your dad is Hephaestus. Hopefully they'll welcome you like family," Calypso said, hesitating in between words.

"Good enough for me," Leo said as he yanked Festus' reins.