The Boy On Fire (A Caleo Short Story)

Chapter 5

               "Umm... I want to show you my personal room! With all of my newest prototypes!" Ugh, come on, self. You really should have told her. But he just couldn't bring himself to do it. The look on her face alone would destroy him. He could imagine all of the sadness in those dark almond eyes looking at him on the verge of tears. Stop it, Leo. He chided himself. Stop thinking like that! You have to go show her your room now!"

               Leo forced a smile. "Come on, Sunshine. It's just through this tunnel." Calypso followed behind him as they walked.

               They passed several other rooms before getting to Leo's room. He had only explored about half of them and was anxious to explore the rest, but that was a job for another day.

               Leo's room was smallish, with a few desks and a bed if he was working late and was too tired to walk back to his cabin, or if he just wanted to sleep alone instead of in the same room as all of his siblings. The desks were covered in miscellaneous machine parts and blueprints. He had his favorite blueprint, the one for the Argo II on the wall right above the main desk with his drawing of the flying ship from his dream next to it.

               Calypso broke the silence. "Well isn't this just a comfy little workplace."

               "It seems a lot more crowded with the two of us. You're the first person I've ever shown this place to." Leo walked up to Calypso and put his hands on her waist.

               "Oh, really?" Calypso smiled and leaned into Leo. They kissed for what seemed like forever. Leo's heart was flipping in his chest and he pushed Calypso onto the bed, landing on top of her.

               They broke apart for just enough time for Calypso to giggle and then flip herself on top of Leo. She sat on his stomach and began to unbutton his shirt.

               CRASH!!!

               The sound of machinery falling off tables onto the floor rang from the main room. Leo hastily jumped up off the bed, rebuttoned his shirt, and ran out of the room, Calypso following suit. Who could possibly need us now? Leo thought to himself as he ran through the long metal tunnel. Probably some kind of thieving monster from the woods that happened to stumble into the bunker.

               As they got closer to the main room, Leo began to hear a voice shouting. It sounded human, but that didn't mean much since Cyclopses could disguise their voice to sound like anyone. Leo had learned that from a fight with Cyclopses with Jason and Piper a few months ago, an experience he really never wanted to repeat.

               When Leo and Calypso arrived in the main room, Leo was surprised by what they saw. It was no monster, but Nico DiAngelo hanging by his feet, which were in Festus's mouth. Nico was cursing like a sailor and trying to tell the dragon to put him down. Leo was staring and trying not to laugh.

               Finally Nico noticed Leo and Calypso standing underneath him. "Gods, Leo! Tell your accursed dragon to put me down! It just attacked me as I came in!"

               Leo swallowed his laughter. "Festus, put Nico down right now."

               Festus cocked his head to one side, his innocent-looking eyes glowing as he held the son of Hades in his mouth.

               Nico was still shouting. "Hurry up down there!"

               "Yeah, yeah, don't get your ghouls in a fix." Leo shouted back. "Festus, drop him!"

               Festus made some clicking noises out of the corner of his mouth that sounded a lot like complaining.

               "I don't care if he was trespassing. I don't care if you decided to keep him hostage until I came back! Put Nico down!"

               Festus obeyed, but he still had a mischievous look in his eyes. Nico was lowered to the ground and landed in a heap on the floor. He quickly got back up to his feet. Honestly, Leo had to admit that the son of Hades kind of freaked him out a bit. He was just so powerful. Too powerful. Leo guessed even more so than Jason and maybe even Percy.

               Nico looked Leo in the eye. "You really need to keep control of your pet."

               Festus made a loud creak from his mouth at that last word.

               Leo continued talking. "One, he's not my pet, he's my friend. Two, is that really what you came to tell me?"

               "No!" Nico's expression displayed surprise and even a little hurt. "Jason sent me to tell you that he Iris messaged Frank and my sister so that you could talk to them!"

               "Oh." Leo felt slightly guilty for yelling at Nico. Nico really had been doing him a favor. "Okay. I'll be there in a sec. You go ahead, we'll catch up. Thanks!"

               "Umm... No problem, I guess. See you later." Nico turned around and walked back out of Bunker 9 into the woods. It was starting to get into the afternoon. Leo guessed around four o'clock from the shade of the light outside.

               Leo glanced back at Calypso. "Now, where were we?"

               She smiled.