orenda [leo valdez]

lxvii. A Magic Trainstation

Emmie snapped her fingers. All around the plaza, the crossbow turrets retracted. The portals closed as if they'd never existed.

"We need to get off the street," Emmie said. "Come, I'll take you into the Waystation."

Carrying Calypso between the two boys, and Kira by their side, they followed Emmie to the big ornate building at the plaza's south end. Carved in granite under the rose window were the words UNION STATION.

Emmie ignored the main entrance. She veered right and stopped in front of a wall. She ran her finger between the bricks, tracing the shape of a doorway. Mortar cracked and dissolved. A newly cut door swung inward, revealing a narrow chute like a chimney with metal rungs leading up.

"Nice trick," Leo said, "but Calypso's not exactly in wall-climbing condition."

Emmie knit her brow. "You're right." She faced the doorway. "Waystation, can we have a ramp, please?"

The metal rungs vanished. With a soft rumble, the chute's interior wall slanted backward, the bricks rearranging themselves into a gentle upward slope.

"Whoa," said Leo. "Did you just talk to the building?"

A smile tugged at the corner of Emmie's mouth. "The Waystation is more than a building."

"This is a living structure? Like the Labyrinth? And you expect us to go inside?"

Emmie's glance was definitely the look of a Hunter. "The Waystation is no work of Daedalus, Lord Apollo. It's perfectly safe...as long as you remain our guests."

Her tone suggested that their welcome was probationary. Behind the group, the emergency sirens grew louder. Calypso inhaled raggedly. Kira decided they didn't have much choice. She nodded, and they followed Emmie into the building.

Lighting appeared along the walls—warm yellow candles flickering in bronze sconces. About twenty feet up the ramp, a door opened on our left. Inside, Kira glimpsed an infirmary that would've made the god Asclepius jealous: a fully stocked supply cabinet with medicine, surgical tools, and potion ingredients; a hospital bed with built-in monitors, GCI interface, and levitating bariatric slings. Racks of healing herbs dried against the wall next to the portable MRI machine. And in the back corner, a glassed-in habitat seethed with poisonous snakes.

Kira remembered when Asclepius had given Piper, Jason, Leo, and her the cure to death. She hadn't known it then, but he had saved Leo's life. Well, brought Leo back to life.

"Oh, my," Apollo said. "Your med bay is cutting-edge."

"Yes," Emmie agreed. "And Waystation is telling me I should treat your friend immediately."

Leo poked his head into the infirmary. "You mean this room just appeared here?"

"No," Emmie said. "Well, yes. It's always here, but...it's easier to find when we need it."

Leo nodded thoughtfully. "You think the Waystation could organize my sock drawer?"

A brick fell from the ceiling and clunked at Leo's feet.

"That's a no," Emmie interpreted. "Now, if I can have your friend, please."

"Uh..." Leo pointed to the glass habitat. "You got snakes in there. Just saying."

"I'll take good care of Calypso," Emmie promised.

She took Calypso from the boy's grip, lifting the girl in her arms with no apparent difficulty. "You three go ahead. You'll find Jo at the top of the ramp."

"Jo?" Apollo asked.

"You can't miss her," Emmie replied. "She'll explain the Waystation better than I could."