The Return of Leo Valdez (After Blood of Olympus)

56- Nyssa

The gang found the bunker by early sundown.

"How do we get in?" Shane asked, green eyes glowing in the orange sun.

"I don't know," Nyssa replied as she inspected the wall of the bunker. "There doesn't seem to be an entrance."

"Then how did Leo get in?" Percy asked from beside Nyssa.

Nyssa shrugged as she laid down her duffle bag full of tools.

"Do you think there's another entrance somewhere?" Annabeth asked.

Nyssa shook her head. "It's getting dark, we don't have time to look."

"Well how are we gonna get in?" Shane asked.

Nyssa scratched her head.

"What about fire?" Piper suggested.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"Leo could control fire, maybe this bunker has sensors or something that feels heat-"

"That's a genius idea, Piper!" Nyssa exclaimed. "Quick, Shane! Get me the flamethrower!"

Shane fumbled to get out the shiny metal flamethrower out of a gray duffle bag. He handed it over to Nyssa who took it from him as if it were a stuffed animal.

Nyssa placed her hand on the nozzle. "Wait!" She called. "I need protection!"

Shane pulled out a mask from the duffle bag and tossed it to Nyssa.

"Stand back everyone!" She called as she masked herself. The flame ignited from the nozzle, spraying red, orange and yellow wisps straight at the door.

Demigods covered their hands and faces to protect them from the heat. Most of them wondered how Shane, who stood only a foot behind Nyssa without protection, was not incinerated or at least cowering from the temperature.

The flames stopped after about a minute and Nyssa flicked up her mask. She sighed before tossing her flamethrower aside. "Well, I guess this was a-"

The campers gasped at the sound of squeaks and whirrs.

"That sounds like-"

"GEARS!" The campers cheered.

Nyssa could feel the hot tears run down her face.

We might actually have a chance of finding Leo, she thought.

Nyssa could see the outline of what looked like a door. The gears whirred louder and louder as the door began to open, slowly, almost as if it wasn't moving at all.

The campers cheered when the door finally opened.

"Alright campers!" Nyssa called out. "Try and find something that'll give clues to wear Leo is!"

The demigods cheered and rushed inside the bunker, with Nyssa in the front lines. She turned on the lights and everyone seemed to stop and gasp. Bunker 9 was ginormous. Large pipes ran along the ceiling that could easily transport humans. Unfinished projects littered the floor, some almost as big as the Hephaestus Cabin. At the back of the bunker, was a large brown desk with hundreds of papers spilling out of the draws.

"Okay, let's start looking!" Percy yelled as the campers scrambled around the room.

Nyssa ran straight for the desk. She hopped over hammers and planks. Jeez, would it kill to just clean up for once?

Once Nyssa got to the desk, her hands flew from paper to paper as her eyes quickly skimmed the pages.

How to recreate a dragon wing...no.

How to make Greek fire...no.

The chemical formula to make Destiel canon...maybe later.

"Hey, I think I found something!" Grover called from across the room.

Nyssa ran like lightning to him, who was beside a large wooden model of a ship mast.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I found this blueprint for a locator," Grover said. "There's a note at the bottom of the page-"

"What does it say?"

"Use this if I get lost. I'll explain when I get back, Leo Valdez."

"Let me see the blueprint."

Grover handed the scroll over to Nyssa. She skimmed through it. The materials weren't too hard to obtain and the design was...flawless. There was just one ingredient missing: a symbol of pure sorrow.

Nyssa's chest sank again. Where is she going to find-

"Do you think we can do it?" Grover asked.

"I don't know. We would have to find-"

Nyssa's pocket suddenly felt heavier than usual. Wait-

She reached into her pocket and her hands grasped something hard, heavy and smooth. She pulled it out gingerly and gasped. Sitting in her pocket was an amethyst, the same one Callisto gave to her the night she found Beckendorf's body.

She remembered the words Callisto told her: when Dionysus was angry with the mortals, he sent two hungry tigers loose in the village. When the tigers were about to kill a beautiful woman, named Amethysta, she pleaded for Artemis for help. Artemis turned her into a white quartz. Later, when Dionysus realized what he did, he cried purple tears on the stone, dying it.

Cried purple tears. Cried purple tears.

Cried tears of pure sorrow.

"Nyssa?" Grover asked as he snapped his fingers in her face. "Are you okay?"

Nyssa smiled and looked down at her gemstone. "I think I know what to do."