Heroes of Olympus - The Blood of Olympus (Discontinued)

Chapter 35 - Hazel (Part 2)

Then taking a couple steps back, Leo jogged forward, heaved his arm down with a gulp of breath, launching the plane into the sky, the girls watching in awe as the drone's blades spun to life. 

The drone whizzed silently through the air, barely making a whisper as it shot for the east face of the island, disappearing into the dusk light.

Annabeth watched it go. "What if it interferes with Greek airspace? We could get in major trouble."

"The world's ending in less than a couple weeks," Leo said. "The Greek airspace will be shut down in a few days anyway."

"If we don't win," Piper put in.

Leo bobbled his head. "Yeah, if we don't win. But if we do, then... yeah, we'll get in major trouble." He turned and bounded down the stairs, the girls following. They re-entered the cargo hold and Leo pulled up his chair, sitting down before the monitor of his makeshift computer. His fingers began entering information into the system. "Annabeth," he said. "You're the smartest one here. I'm gonna need your help." He gripped the joystick to his right and gave it a quick shake, testing it out. The screen on his computer suddenly changed, transforming into a night vision scope. It viewed the tops of buildings and hills, rivers and forests blurring by underneath as it moved quickly along a line of complete darkness that Hazel assumed was the coast, leading out into the sea.

"Good," Leo said. "The cam's working well."

"What can I do?" Annabeth asked, grabbing another chair from the corner of the room to sit beside him.

"I'm going to control the drone. You need to direct the guys. I'll follow them from above while you tell them where to go. Understand?"

Annabeth thought for a moment, then gave a nod of her head, taking Leo's walkie-talkie.

Leo twisted in his chair to face Piper and Hazel. "I'm sorry girls, but you're just gonna have to sit tight."

Piper scoffed. "No worries. I don't want to mess anything up. I'll stand right here and watch."

Hazel nodded, her heart beginning to quicken its pace. "Me too."

Leo grinned. "Don't you worry ladies. We'll get 'em back."

"Wait a minute," Annabeth said. "Leo, do you even know what their location looks like? How do you know if there's a secret, safe route for them to take? What if there are absolutely no hidden exits, and we just wasted thirty minutes of our time building a surveillance drone?"

Leo paused, thinking. "You've got a good point, and I also happened to come across that thought. But when Jason described to me where they were at, I kind of just assumed there was a way out. Once in a while, taking a guess could save your life. So that's what I did. I took a guess. And if it doesn't work... If there's no exit, and we just 'wasted thirty minutes of our time building a surveillance drone' like you said, then I'll take this big mother warship all the way over there and blow every last monster to smithereens with the ballistae if that's what I have to do."

Annabeth's gaze stared long and hard into Leo's face, but the two of them held eyes, Leo refusing to yield. Finally, Annabeth broke contact and picked up the walkie-talkie. She pressed the talk button on the radio and spoke, "You guys still okay?"

A few seconds later, Jason answered. "All good here. Let me hear it."

"Leo's got a surveillance drone coming to you. It should be there within... um..."

"About ten minutes," Leo answered, his eyes turning to the computer screen.

"Within ten minutes," Annabeth said.