You'll Learn to Love Me

Side Stories: What REALLY Happened on Ogygia

Landing on Ogygia proved to be one of the worst things in Leo's life. When he woke up midair, no sign of the Argo II in sight, he didn't know how to react. He had successfully created the world's most dangerous personal helicopter, and landed on some island in the middle of nowhere in a massive explosion. The surrounding beach was peppered with smaller pieces of burning wreckage from his contraption.

"My sphere." Leo patted his chest. The sphere wasn't there. His duct tape and rope halter had disintegrated. He struggled to his feet. None of his bones seemed broken, which was good. Laylana would have a fit if he returned with broken bones and any other injuries. But if he'd destroyed his priceless artifact to make a flaming thirty-second helicopter, he was going to track down that stupid snow goddess Khione and smack her with a monkey wrench. Not that he wouldn't do that anyway. He was having a moment with Laylana when she separated the two of them and sent Leo into orbit. He staggered across the beach, wondering why there weren't any tourists or hotels or boats in sight. 

The larger crater was about eight feet deep. At the bottom, the helicopter blades were still trying to turn. The engine belched smoke. The rotor croaked like a stepped-on frog, but dang—pretty impressive for a rush job.The helicopter had apparently crashed onto something. The crater was littered with broken wooden furniture, shattered china plates, some half-melted pewter goblets, and burning linen napkins.Leo wasn't sure why all that fancy stuff had been on the beach, but at least it meant that this place was inhabited, after all. Finally he spotted the Archimedes sphere—steaming and charred but still intact, making unhappy clicking noises in the center of the wreckage. 

"Sphere!" he yelled. "Come to Papa!" 

He skidded to the bottom of the crater and snatched up the sphere. He collapsed, sat cross-legged, and cradled the device in his hands. The bronze surface was searing hot, but Leo didn't care. It was still in one piece, which meant he could use it.Now, if he could just figure out where he was, and how to get back to his friends, and his girlfriend... Gods, Laylana was going to strangle him when he got back. He already missed her.

"Laylana... Gods, where even is she now?" Leo mumbled to himself. "She's gonna fucking kill me. Or kiss me. Or both. Probably both knowing her." 

 He started making a mental list of things his girlfriend was going to say to him. Probably call him a few names first, all while hugging him so tight he probably would break a rib. Now just what was he going to say to her? He was mumbling to himself as he paced through the crater, As his mind raced, a girl's voice interrupted him: "What are you doing? You blew up my dining table!" 

Immediately Leo thought: Uh-oh. The girl wore a sleeveless white Greek-style dress with a gold braided belt. Her hair was long, straight, and golden brown—almost the same cinnamon-toast color as Hazel's, but the similarity to Hazel ended there. The girl's face wash milky pale, with dark, almond-shaped eyes and pouty lips. She looked maybe sixteen, and, sure, she was pretty; but not like Laylana pretty. Laylana was gorgeous, stunning, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Leo disliked this girl instantly. 

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he said. "I just fell out of the sky. I constructed a helicopter in midair, burst into flames halfway down, crash-landed, and barely survived.But by all means—let's talk about your dining table!" He snatched up a half-melted goblet. "Who puts a dining table on the beach where innocent demigods can crash into it? Who does that?" 

The girl clenched her fists. Leo was pretty sure she was going to march down the crater and punch him in the face. Instead she looked up at the sky."REALLY?" she screamed at the empty blue. "You want to make my curse even worse? Zeus! Hephaestus! Hermes! Have you no shame?" 

"Uh..." Leo noticed that she'd just picked three gods to blame, and one of them was his dad. He didn't figure that was a good sign. "I doubt they're listening. You know, the whole split personality thing—"