The Blood of Olympus

Chapter Fifty-Two: Leo

Hello my children. How is you?

Um, so I'm still off school which means I have lots of time for writing-which is good. I would have updated yesterday but I had a dentist appointment where I had a filling *shudder* yuck. 

Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to The_eighth_halfblood for being amazing and pointing out all the mistakes in my work so that I can fix them! Thank you so very much!

Enjoy!

Leo

Leo didn’t like the Labyrinth.

First of all, it was dark. Not like that was a problem, of course. Leo had the light; the fire. But the way the shadows of the flame danced and flickered like an army of fiery ghosts on the grimly silent walls of the maze unnerved him more than he wanted to admit.

Secondly, the whole place was like something out of a horror movie. Desolate, grey stone walls slick with tiny rivulets of water, making this annoying plink! and an occasional plonk! as the drops fell into the already existing puddles on the floor. Leo often heard voices whispering behind him, but when he turned around, all he saw was bleak blackness.

Lastly, it was just plain boring. There was nothing to see apart from the glistening path in front of him and nothing to hear apart from the constant groans and whispers behind him. Everything smelt like old stuff-dusty and damp and dreary. Wherever Leo placed his hand for balance or support, the stone pressed jagged and rough edges into the soft skin of his palm, making it sting like Hades.

Honestly, Leo thought a place like the Labyrinth would be more exciting than this.

After around two hours (or at least it felt like that, thanks to his ADHD-for all he knew, he could’ve been down here for two minutes), he stopped for a break. Pressing his back against the wall, the moistness wetting his shirt and making him shiver, he sat down and rummaged through his pockets.

“Aha!” He exclaimed as he felt the familiar packaging of the granola, and pulled it out with a victorious grin. He ripped open the wrapper and shoved the whole thing in his mouth.

He devoured it and had a small sip of his water, before chucking the wrapper on the floor and returning the canteen to inside his tool belt. He sat there on the damp stone for a few minutes, resting.

Leo’s hand crept into his tool belt, wrapping his fingers around the circular disk only to give a strangled yelp as it scorched his skin. He withdrew his hand and stared at his fingers. They were slightly pink, but nothing different than the usual.

“What the Hephaestus is going on with this thing?” He muttered to himself.

Bracing himself for the pain, he snatched the astrolabe from his tool belt and almost threw it onto his lap. He grabbed a cloth from his belt and wrapped it round the object so that he could at least touch it.

He peered at it, turning it over in his cloth-covered palm for look for anything that could be the source of the heat…like expected, there was nothing.

“You are one strange piece of machinery, you know that, right?” Leo told it.

Thankfully, it did not reply.

Curious, Leo spun the alidade, watching as it blurred in circles, making a small, whirring sound as it did so.

Then it did the strangest thing.