Andromeda Jackson

Leo

My tour is going great until I learn about the dragon. 

The archer dude, Will Solace, seems pretty cool. Everything he shows me is so amazing, it should be illegal. Real Greek warships moored at the beach that sometimes have practice fights with flaming arrows and explosives? Sweet! Arts & crafts sessions where you can make sculptures with chain saws and blowtorches? I'm like, Sign me up! The woods are stocked with dangerous monsters, and no one should ever go in there alone? Nice! And the camp is overflowing with fine-looking girls. I don't quite understand the whole related-to-the-gods business, but I hope that doesn't mean I'm cousins with all these ladies. That would suck. Especially that girl, Andy. She's just gorgeous with a capital G.

After Will shows me my cabin, we walk silently for a bit. 

"How did he die?" I ask. "I mean Beckendorf."

Will Solace trudges ahead. "Explosion. Beckendorf, Andy, and Percy Jackson blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn't make it out."

There's that name again—Percy Jackson, Annabeth's missing boyfriend and Andy's twin brother. That guy must've been into everything around here.

"So Beckendorf was pretty popular?" I ask. "I mean—before he blew up?"

"He was awesome," Will agrees. "It was hard on the whole camp when he died. Jake—he became head counselor in the middle of the war. Same as I did, actually. Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, things started to go wrong. Cabin Nine's chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that—the Curse of Cabin Nine. Then Jake had his accident—"

"Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned," I guess.

"They're working on it," Will says without enthusiasm. "And here we are."

The forge looks like a steam-powered locomotive smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they fused together. White marble columns line the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pump smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sits at the edge of a stream, with several waterwheels turning a series of bronze gears. I hear machinery grinding inside, fires roaring, and hammers ringing on anvils.

We step through the doorway, and a dozen guys and girls who were working on various projects all freeze. The noise dies down to the roar of the forge and the click-click-click of gears and levers.

I spot that Andy girl, frozen beside another girl in a red bandana, as if they'd just been having a discussion. 

"'Sup, guys," Will says. "This is your new brother, Leo—um, what's your last name?"

"Valdez." I look around at the other campers. Am I really related to all of them? My cousins come from some big families, but I always just had my mom—until she died.

Kids come up and start shaking hands and introducing themselves. Their names blur together: Shane, Christopher, Nyssa, Harley (yeah, like the motorcycle). I know I'll never keep everybody straight. Too many of them. Too overwhelming.

None of them look like the others—all different face types, skin tone, hair color, height. You'd never think, Hey, look, it's the Hephaestus Bunch! But they all have powerful hands, rough with calluses and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who can't be more than eight, looks like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat.

And all the kids share a sad kind of seriousness. Their shoulders slump like life has beaten them down pretty hard. Several look like they've been physically beaten up, too. I count two arm slings, one pair of crutches, an eye patch, six Ace bandages, and about seven thousand Band-Aids.

"Well, all right!" I say. "I hear this is the party cabin!"

None of my siblings laugh. They all just stare at me. 

Andy smiles and looks down at her feet, clearly suppressing a chuckle. That's something, at least.

Will Solace pats my shoulder. "I'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Somebody show Leo to dinner when it's time?"

"I got it," one of the girls says. Nyssa, I remember. The girl who was talking to Andy. She wears camo pants, a tank top that shows off her buff arms, and a red bandanna over a mop of dark hair. Except for the smiley-face Band-Aid on her chin, she looks like one of those female action heroes, like any second she's going to grab a machine gun and start mowing down evil aliens.

"Cool," I say. "I always wanted a sister who could beat me up."

Nyssa doesn't smile. "Come on, joker boy. I'll show you around." She turns to another sibling. I think his name was Shane. "Help Andy out with the chariot, yeah? See what you can do."

The guy nods, and he and Andy wander further into the forges.

I'm no stranger to workshops. I grew up around grease monkeys and power tools. My mom used to joke that my first pacifier was a lug wrench. But I've never seen any place like the camp forge.

One guy is working on a battle-ax. He keeps testing the blade on a slab of concrete. Each time he swings, the ax cuts into the slab like it's warm cheese, but the guy looks unsatisfied and goes back to honing the edge.

"What's he planning to kill with that thing?" I ask Nyssa. "A battleship?"

"You never know. Even with Celestial bronze—"

"That's the metal?"

She nods. "Mined from Mount Olympus itself. Extremely rare. Anyway, it usually disintegrates monsters on contact, but big powerful ones have notoriously tough hides. Drakons, for instance—"

"You mean dragons?"

"Similar species. You'll learn the difference in monster-fighting class."

"Monster-fighting class. Yeah, I already got my black belt in that."

She doesn't crack a smile. I hope she isn't this serious all the time. My dad's side of the family has to have some sense of humor, right?

We spot Andy and Shane, both peering at the chariot we crashed. They're having a quiet discussion, pointing out different things. Andy says something to him that makes him crack a faint smile. I really want to know how she did that. I've been having a really hard time.

Nearby, a couple of guys are making a bronze windup toy. At least that's what it looks like. It's a six-inch-tall centaur—half man, half horse—armed with a miniature bow.

"How are we looking over here?" Nyssa asks Andy and Shane.

Shane shrugs. "Gotta replace the axles and the supports, but it could be worse. It's a good thing it didn't crash directly onto the lake."

"Yeah, the water, like, swallowed us up. What was that about? You got a magic lake or something?" I ask.

The three of them look at me like I'm an idiot.

"You're kidding, right?" Shane asks me. "That was all Andy."

I look over at her. Her cheeks are slightly flushed, like she's embarrassed. "It was nothing."

"How'd you do that?" I ask her.

She looks uncomfortable. "My dad is Poseidon. God of the sea."

I blink in surprise. "Like, the entire ocean?"

Her expression changes. Her eyes glimmer with humor. "No, just the Pacific."

Nyssa rolls her eyes. "Yes, Leo. The entire ocean."

One of the campers working on the centaur cranks the tail, and it whirs to life. It gallops across the table, yelling, "Die, mosquito! Die, mosquito!" and shooting everything in sight.

Apparently this has happened before, because everybody knows to hit the floor except me. Six needle-sized arrows embed themselves in my shirt before a camper grabs a hammer and smashes the centaur to pieces.

"Stupid curse!" The camper waves his hammer at the sky. "I just want a magic bug killer! Is that too much to ask?"

"Ouch," I say.

Andy smirks and pulls the needles out of my shirt. "Ah, you're fine. Big baby."

Nyssa smiles faintly at Andy. "Chariot should be done by tomorrow."

Andy nods. "Coolio. I'll see you guys at dinner." With that, she gives them a salute and walks out of the forge. 

"So, you smile for her but not for me?" I asks her. "Not cool."

Nyssa glares back at me. "Andy's been through a lot. She's going through a really rough time."

"Yeah, her brother is missing, right? Percy Jackson?"

Nyssa nods. "Yeah. They're never apart. They do everything together. She's struggling without him. Least I can do is smile." 

I nod and look back at the door. 

"Come on, Leo." Nyssa says. "Let's move on before they rebuild that thing."