Inferno (Leo Valdez x OC) (2)

Capiche? Capiche.

"Okay." Leo said. "The problem is we can only make one landing. The way the hull and the oars are, we won't be able to lift off again until we repair, so we'll have to make sure we land somewhere with all the right supplies."

Frank scratched his head. "Where do you get Celestial Bronze? You can't just stock up at Home Depot."

"Festus do a scan."

"He can scan for magic bronze?" Frank marvelled. "Is there anything he can't do?"

Leo shrugged and peered over the ship's bow. Behind us, the stairs creaked. Percy and Annabeth climbed up, their faces grim.

Leo paled. "Is Jason-"

"He's resting." Annabeth said. "Piper's keeping an eye on him but he should be fine."

Percy gave Leo a hard look. "Annabeth says you did fire the ballista?"

"Man, I- I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry-"

"Sorry?" Percy growled.

I stepped in front of Leo. "Alright, enough. Percy just take a second to think about how this is in any way helpful to our situation. We are flying on a broken ship being chased by angry Romans and you want to talk about something that already happened? Can we please focus on how to fix the ship and get away from the Romans before you start questioning Leo about what happened all over again?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Alright, Leo what's the situation?"

Leo told Annabeth about the damage and the supplies we needed. He seemed to feel better talking about something fixable. He was bemoaning the shortage of Celestial Bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.

"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief.

"What's perfect?" Annabeth said. "I could use some perfect about now."

"It's all in one place." I said, staring as Festus continued to make clicking noises.

Leo managed a smile. "Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."

Once we got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent.

The others strapped themselves in below – except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail, yelling, "Yeah! Bring it on lake!"

Leo and I stood astern, alone at the helm.

Festus creaked and whirred warning signals, which were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck.

"I know, I know." Leo said, gritting his teeth. "Hang on Coach! This is going to hurt!"

"I was born for hurt!"

A swell of salt water washed over the bow, dousing Coach Hedge. The Argo II listed dangerously to starboard, then righted itself and rocked on the surface of the lake. Machinery hummed as the aerial blades that were still working changed to nautical form.

Three banks of robotic oars dipped into the water and began moving them forward.

"Good job, Festus." Leo said. "Take us towards the south shore."

"Yeah!" Hedge pumped his fists into the air. He was drenched from his horns to his hooves but grinning like a crazy goat. "Do it again!"

"Uh... maybe later." Leo said. "Just stay above deck, okay? You can keep watch, in case – you know, the lake decides to attack us."

"On it." Hedge promised.

Leo rang the all clear bell and headed for the stairs while I sat down on the deck, sighing.