Would that I ──── Leo Valdez [2]

29: Everyone hates gaea

─────Leo unfurled the little strip of paper. It read:

THAT'S YOUR REQUEST? SERIOUSLY? (OVER)

On the back, the paper said:

YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS ARE: TWELVE, JUPITER, ORION, DELTA, THREE, THETA, OMEGA. (WREAK VENGEANCE UPON GAEA, LEO VALDEZ.)

With trembling fingers, Leo turned the rings.

Outside the gates, possessed Vincent growled in frustration. "Watch as Vincent Rosier dies, Leo Valdez. Run through by a sword perhaps, or thousands of volts of electricity coursing through his body. What would you suggest?"

The last ring clicked into place. The sphere hummed with power. Leo ran his hands along the surface, sensing tiny buttons and levers awaiting his commands.

Magical and electrical pulses coursed via the Celestial bronze cables, and surged through the entire room.

Leo had never played a musical instrument, but he imagined it must be like this—knowing each key or note so well that you didn't really think about what your hands were doing. You just concentrated on the kind of sound you wanted to create.

He started small. He focused on one reasonably intact gold sphere down in the main room. The gold sphere shuddered. It grew a tripod of legs and clattered over to the Taser ball. A tiny circular saw popped out of the gold sphere's head, and it began cutting into Taser ball's brain.

Leo tried to activate another orb. This one burst in a small mushroom cloud of bronze dust and smoke.

"Oops," he muttered. "Sorry, Archimedes."

"What are you doing?" possessed Vincent demanded. "Stop your foolishness and surrender!"

It felt so weird to hear Vincent talk when it wasn't Vincent. His voice was gravelly and low, like nails on a chalkboard that sent shivers down Leo's spine. 

"Oh, yes, I surrender!" Leo said. "I'm totally surrendering!"

He tried to take control of a third orb. That one broke too. Leo felt bad about ruining all these ancient inventions, but this was life or death. Frank had accused him of caring more for machines than people, but if it came down to saving old spheres or his friends, there was no choice.

The fourth try went better. A ruby-encrusted orb popped its top and helicopter blades unfolded. Leo was glad Buford the table wasn't here—he would've fallen in love. The ruby orb spun into the air and sailed straight for the cubbyholes. Thin golden arms extended from its middle and snapped up the precious scroll cases.

"Enough!" Vincent-Wolf Head yelled. "I will destroy the—"

He turned in time to see the ruby sphere take off with the scrolls. It zipped across the room and hovered in the far corner.

"What?!" Wolf Head cried. "Kill the prisoners!"

He must have been talking to the Taser ball. Unfortunately, Taser ball was in no shape to comply. Leo's gold sphere was sitting on top of its sawed-open head, picking through its gears and wires like it was scooping out a pumpkin.

Thank the gods, Hazel and Frank began to stir.

"Bah!" Possessed Vincent gestured to Lion Head at the opposite gate. "Come! We will destroy the demigods ourselves."

"I don't think so, guys." Leo turned toward Lion Head. His hands worked the control sphere, and he felt a shock travel through the floor.

Lion Head shuddered and lowered his sword.