Percabeth's Child: Children of Olympus Book #1

Chapter Twenty Three: I Defeat A Giant Wally

When he reached the door, he grabbed the handle to wrench it open.

But it wouldn't.

He banged on the door over and over, pounded it, hit with the nearest metal pipe he could find, but it wouldn't budge. He feel back helplessly, no idea what to do when a memory hit him.

He was eight years old. He was trying to use his powers to protect his mom but instead... he had lit the workshop on fire. He had tried everything in his power to get his mom out, but he failed. She was gone. Trapped in her own fiery grave.

With a sudden wave of anger, he jumped up. He would not let that happen to Caleo. He couldn't.

He rushed back to the center, trying to steady his breathing and calm himself down as much as possible with the current situation.

"Is Caleo okay?" he yelled to Calypso. For one heart-stopping moment, she didn't answer. And Leo, in his anxious, guilty state, feared the worst.

"He's fine. But not for long. It's spreading quickly," Calypso warned him.

Leo breathed a sigh of relief, but set to work quickly. He had an idea. "Just keep him safe. I'll get you out."

He touched the metal quickly, just to see how solid it was. The heat hurt a little, but he couldn't actually burn.

The wall wasn't liquid, but it was beginning to melt just enough for his plan to work.

He grabbed a drill, sharp knife, metal clamp thing he didn't know the name of and a thin but sturdy sheet of fire-resistant metal. He cut a long strip out of the metal and the two ends together into the shape of a hoop. He clamped it together, grabbed the remaining metal and raced back to the shed where his wife and son were trapped.

Turning on the drill, he placed a whole in the middle of one of the walls and stuck the knife into it, cutting out a large circle. He secured the hoop in the circular whole and stood back.

"Climb through the whole," he instructed Calypso urgently. "Here, hand me Caleo first."

He grabbed the sobbing baby through the little window, and quickly shaped something that slightly resembled a half-sphere with the metal he had left. He placed Caleo in the object and held him up to his chest, the metal protecting his baby from the flames. He held Calypso's hand as she stepped out, reading to rush toward the door, though he still had no idea how to get it open.

Thankfully, he didn't need to figure it out, because right when he touched her hand, the scene faded out and he was back in his flame-free workshop, panting and sweaty. He collapsed against the wall, head in his knees. He had no idea what had just happened, but somehow he knew that it wasn't real and that Caleo and Calypso were both safe at home.

And just a half an hour ago his greatest worry had been wether he'd get to watch Dance Moms for not.

***

NICO

Nico was sitting with Rachel right after she recited the prophecy. She was unconscious, but he wasn't severely worried as it had happened before and she had woken up just fine.

Instead, he was thinking of the prophecy.

After many months of rest

We will be put to a final test

Eternal life, we do seek

And it will be granted in double a week

The wise must outsmart her greatest fear