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Leo XXXVIII

Nyssa and Jake perked up, eyes slowly widening in disbelief.

Hephaestus stroked his beard. An Archimedes sphere... Haven't seen those in a while.

The sphere was constructed from five concentric rings, each inscribed with zodiac symbols—the bull, the scorpion, et cetera—and seemingly random numbers and letters.

"These letters are Greek," Leo said in surprise.

Jake's jaw dropped.

"Oh my gods," he breathed, slowly smiling.

Nyssa felt her heart racing in excitement, but she stubbornly shook her head.

"It can't be..." she argued. "It has to be a replica or some kind of coincidence..."

"Nope," Leo grinned, popping the 'p'. "It's a genuine Archimedes Sphere."

Nyssa's face went slack, eyes wide, and mouth hanging. Her brother laughed in disbelief. The siblings started talking at once.

"Oh my gods!"

"How is this possible...?"

"Leo! You found an Archimedes Sphere! A real Archimedes Sphere!"

"Archimedes' work has been gone for centuries... And one of them ends up being right here on this door..." Nyssa said, dumbfounded.

"You have to find a way to extract it from the door!" Jake said, hardly able to sit still. "The others are going to flip! If you can take it back to Camp, we'll have the treasure of a lifetime!"

"Are we still talking about a combination lock?" Clarisse said flatly.

"Geez," Leo laughed fondly. "If you guys are this worked up about the lock, wait until you see what's inside."

Jake and Nyssa's eyes widened dramatically, they take a sharp intake of breath. Leo wished he had a camera so he could take a picture of their reactions.

"There's more?!" they shouted in unison.

"Great, more stuff about Archimedes." Mitchell said dryly. He and the other demigods exchanged wary looks. The teens thought they had heard the last of the inventor in Annabeth XVII.

"Just wait until you see it," the son of Hephaestus said smugly, he gave Annabeth a competitive smirk. "Archimedes is the best inventor of all time, and this chapter will prove it."

Annabeth snorted and crossed her arms.

"Dream on Valdez," she teased.

"I guess," Leo said. "But this workmanship...no offense to you Camp Jupiter types, but this is too complicated to be Roman."

Leo's smirk wavered. He cringed along with the gods.

I could've worded that way better, he thought to himself.

"Pfft!" Athena placed a hand over her mouth, softly laughing to herself.

Annabeth ducked her head, feeling a wave of second-hand embarrassment at her mother's actions.

The demigods stared in disbelief, thrown off at the remark.

Frank snorted. "Whereas you Greeks just love making things complicated."

"Considering what just happened, we're going to let that go," Connor spoke up, earning nods from the other teens.

"Hey," Leo protested. "All I'm saying is this machinery is delicate, sophisticated.