𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄 - j. grace, ocxoc ¹ ✓

xxxi. is it enough !

XXXI.      DELILAH SONG-JACKSON   !
⋆ ★
is it enough

Delilah was so used to Leo's fire powers she had forgotten others didn't know about them the same way she and her friends did. He led a large group of half-bloods through the woods mentioning he had something important to share. Her and Kaen hadn't seen Kaori until they all started their adventure up the hills, where she was seen practically dragging Jason up while he tried to catch up with her. When they all got to the limestone cliff in the forest, Leo turned to the group and smiled nervously. "Here we go."

He willed his hand to catch fire, and set it against the door. His cabinmates gasped.

"Leo!" Nyssa cried. "You're a fire user!"

"Yeah, thanks," he said. "I know."

Jake Mason, who was out of his body cast but still on crutches, said, "Holy Hephaestus. That means—it's so rare that—"

The massive stone door swung open, and everyone's mouth dropped. Leo's flaming hand seemed insignificant now. Delilah held onto Kaen's arm out of habit while they stared at the sight in front of them.  Only Chiron didn't look surprised. The centaur knit his bushy eyebrows and stroked his beard, as if the group was about to walk through a minefield.

"Welcome to Bunker Nine," Leo said. "C'mon in."

The group was silent as they toured the facility. There were giant machines, worktables, old maps and schematics. And a familiar face Delilah didn't think she would be glad to see. Festus's head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha.

Leo went over to it and stroked the dragon's forehead. "I'm sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you."

Jason put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Hephaestus brought it here for you?"

Leo nodded.

"But you can't repair him," Kaen guessed while he and Delilah stood next to him.

"No way," Leo said. "But the head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us."

Piper came over and frowned. "What do you mean?"

Before Leo could answer, Nyssa cried out, "Guys, look at this!" She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook— diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons.

"I've never seen anything like these," Nyssa said. "There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus's workshop. It would take a century just to prototype them all."

"Who built this place?" Jake said. "And why?"

Chiron stayed silent, but Leo focused on the wall map he'd seen during his first visit. It showed Camp Half-Blood with a line of triremes in the Sound, catapults mounted in the hills around the valley, and spots marked for traps, trenches, and ambush sites.

"It's a wartime command center," he said. "The camp was attacked once, wasn't it?"

"In the Titan War?" Piper asked.

Nyssa shook her head. "No. Besides, that map looks really old. The date . . . does that say 1864?"
They all turned to Chiron.

The centaur's tail swished fretfully. "This camp has been attacked many times," he admitted. "That map is from the last Civil War."

Apparently, Leo wasn't the only one confused. The other Hephaestus campers looked at each other and frowned.

"Civil War . . ." Delilah  said. "You mean the American Civil War, like what . . .  a hundred and fifty years ago?"