𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

i ━━ honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

05. chapter one

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

( leo's pov )

I DIDN'T WANT TO COME OUT OF THE WALL.

I had three more braces to attach, and nobody else was skinny enough to fit in the crawl space. (One of the many advantages of being scrawny.)

Wedged between the layers of the hull with the plumbing and wiring, I could be alone with my thoughts. When I got frustrated, which happened about every five seconds, I could hit stuff with my mallet and the other crew members would figure I was working, not throwing a tantrum.

One problem with his sanctuary: I only fitted up to my waist. My butt and legs were still on view to the general public, which made it hard for me to hide.

"Leo!" Piper's voice came from somewhere behind me. "We need you."

The Celestial bronze O-ring slipped out of my pliers and slid into the depths of the crawl space.

I sighed. "Talk to the pants, Piper! 'Cause the hands are busy!"

"I am not talking to the pants. Meeting in the mess hall. We're almost at Olympia."

"Yeah, fine. I'll be there in a sec."

"What are you doing, anyway? You've been poking around inside the hull for days."

I swept my flashlight across the Celestial bronze plates and pistons I'd been installing slowly but surely. "Routine maintenance."

Silence. Piper was a little too good at knowing when I was lying. "Leo–"

"Hey, while you're out there, do me a favour. I got this itch right below my–"

"Fine, I'm leaving!"

I allowed myself a couple more minutes to fasten my brace. My work wasn't done. Not by a long shot. But I was making progress.

Of course, I'd laid the groundwork for my secret project when he first built the Argo II, but I hadn't told anyone about it. I had barely been honest with myself about what he was doing.

Nothing lasts forever, my dad once told me. Not even the best machines.

Yeah, okay, maybe that was true. But Hephaestus had also said, Everything can be reused. I intended to test that theory.

It was a dangerous risk. If I failed, it would crush me. Not just emotionally. It would physically crush me.

The thought made me claustrophobic.

I wriggled out of the crawl space and went back into my cabin.

Well... technically it was my cabin, but I didn't sleep there. The mattress was littered with wires, nails and the guts of several disassembled bronze machines. My three massive rolling tool cabinets –Chico, Harpo and Groucho–took up most of the room. Dozens of power tools hung on the walls. The worktable was piled with photocopied blueprints from On Spheres, the forgotten Archimedes text I had liberated from an underground workshop in Rome.

Even if I wanted to sleep in my cabin, it would've been too cramped and dangerous. I preferred to bed down in the engine room, where the constant hum of machinery helped him fall asleep. Besides, ever since my time on the island of Ogygia, I had become fond of camping out. A bedroll on the floor was all I needed.

My cabin was only for storage... and for working on his most difficult projects.

I pulled my keys from my tool belt. I didn't really have time, but I unlocked Groucho's middle drawer and stared at the two precious objects inside: a bronze astrolabe I'd picked up in Bologna, and a fist-sized chunk of crystal from Ogygia. I hadn't figured out how to put the two things together yet, and it was driving me crazy.