Percabeth's Child: Children of Olympus Book #1

Chapter Fourteen: I Travel The World On a Bronze Dragon

He asked the lady at the desk the price for a one night stay. She was surprisingly beautiful with silky, long black hair, and for a moment, Leo was hypnotized. Then he snapped out of it, not having any clue what had just happened. He forgot about it when she told him that the price would only be the equivalent of sixty-five US dollars. Apparently, it was a luxury hotel, so he was rather surprised.

"We don't have many visitors," she explained as she shifted her weight seemingly uncomfortably.

"Okay," Leo said and hurried past her. Something about her was making him uneasy, but he was too tired and hungry to care. After dropping his stuff off in his room (it was a suite complete with a jacuzzi, flat-screen TV, couch, kitchen, balcony and king-sized bed), he went back downstairs to the restaurant. There was one young couple eating dinner with each other a booth but besides that, it was empty. He ordered a Spanish specialty and devoured the delicious food hungrily.

He half expected to get food poisoning later that night, or discover an infestation of bugs on the luxurious mattress, or be told that the sixty-five dollars actually only covered the first hour of his stay. It was too perfect.

The plush pillows lulled him into a deep sleep quickly and, for once, he didn't even dream.

***

He realized what the catch was when he woke up to the pretty lady from the front desk standing above him. Out of sheer panic, his hand lit on fire. The light illuminated her murderous expression and mismatched legs: one donkey leg, one bronze prosthetic.

An empousa.

On instinct, he threw the fireball from his hand at the woman. It hit her but didn't affect her in the slightest.

"You think fire can hurt me, boy?" as she talked, she morphed into a woman white skin and flaming hair. Somehow, though, the look captivated Leo. He leaned forward and she smiled, the glare of hatred disappearing to a sweet smile. She closed her eyes as if about to kiss Leo. He was about to give in to it when he snapped out of the trance.

Without losing his entranced expression, he formulated a quick plan in his head. He leaned in closer but closed his eyes and stayed focused. He couldn't lose himself again.

Just as he knew the creature was about to start drinking his blood he reached into his tool belt and pulled something out. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he trusted it to give him something useful.

He came out with a screwdriver.

Without having to pay much attention, though, he could tell that it was made from celestial bronze. He didn't even hesitate as he stabbed it straight into her heart. To his relief, she disintegrated into a pile of golden dust within seconds.

In less than a minute, Leo had gathered all of his things and raced from the hotel. He saw another empousa chasing him as ran out of the hotel doors, but he was on Festus and in the air before she could catch up to him. At the last minute, Festus engulfed her in a column of special chemical flames that sent her, too, collapsing into a pile of sand.

"Take that, Beauty Queens!" Leo yelled as he took off into the night. He got a strange look from a passerby on the street, but he really didn't care.

Perhaps he would reach Ogygia a little sooner than planned. He wasn't complaining about that part.

In almost no time at all, Leo was flying above the Ionian Sea, the body of water between Italy and Greece. He figured this was where it had to be, despite the fact that he had absolutely no idea where to find it in the Sea.

He flew Festus lower down to the ground and continued to turn him in the direction of the astrolabe's needle.

Leo soon realized that he was basically flying in circles. Actually, they were more like one of the random who-knows-how-many-sided polygons he had learned about back at the Wilderness School. Man, that seemed like a long time ago.

He stopped Festus and they hovered in midair. He examined the astrolabe carefully, looking for any possible defects, cracks, etc., but as far as he could see it was in perfect condition. He took a deep breath and continued to fly around but to no avail. His anger almost made him chuck the seemingly useless astrolabe into the deep ocean below. Almost, but not quite. He wasn't that stupid.

Leo knew he was close; he wasn't sure how, but he did. He could feel it. He wasn't sure what exactly was keeping him from finding it; was it some spell to make it un-chartable? Perhaps the Mist?

He closed his eyes, visualizing the island as best he could from his last encounter. When the image was finally burned in his mind, he opened his eyes and stared out.

Nothing.

He thought of Calypso, and how much he wanted her. He smelled the scent of cedar and juniper. He felt her straight, silky hair and opened his eyes again.

Still nothing.

He remembered when Hazel had manipulated the mist back on their voyage to the Doors of Death. She had had to form it into seeing what she wanted it to see.

There was plenty of mist hovering above the water. Leo knew he was no sorcerer, but he had to try. He willed the mist to disappear, to fade away and reveal the island.

Suddenly he noticed one area with a lot thicker mist than the rest. It was about the size of...

Ogygia. The mist finally cleared and Leo could plainly see the little island that he had missed so much. With a shout of triumph into the black night sky, he sent Festus diving down at top speed to the little slab of land.

The first thing Leo noticed when he touched down on the soft sandy shores was that the sky was lighter; it seemed to be only evening in Ogygyia. Oh well, Calypso had told him that time passed differently there.

Calypso herself was sitting at her softly lit table on the beach, just as he remembered, laughing her melodic laugh and enjoying a delicious meal.

With another boy.

***Sorry guys... cliffie! Don't hate me!

Anyways, what do you think?

I'm dedicating this chapter to FluffyZebra because she gave me a very kind and inspiring comment on my message board. I apologize that it's a little late... you put it on their like four weeks ago. Oh well, thanks anyways!

-evelyn ***