Leo whistled and Festus landed with enough force to shake the ground. He climbed up and, while he waited for his dad to climb up behind him, waved to Calypso before she disappeared with Hera.
"Do you mind if I type the coordinates in?" Hephaestus asked, already leaning over to rewire Festus.
Not at all, Leo thought.
When he was done, Festus leapt into the air only to crash back down again.
"Hmm," Hephaestus mumbled, "Too much weight".
And with that, he started to glow like hot metal. Leo had to shield his eyes. When he looked, an exact copy of Leo Valdez sat behind him. "Better?" Hephaestus asked with Leo's voice.
"Kinda," Leo said as Festus leapt off into the sky.
"Where are we going?" Leo called over the wind.
"To my forge," Hephaestus called back.
They touched down on a small island with a massive volcano at the centre. Festus followed Leo and his father across the volcanic rock that had long cooled down.
Every now and then, the ground would erupt with a fountain lava but Hephaestus just waved his hand and directed the flow into a crevice so it could float harmlessly away.
When they made it to the volcano, the God of Fire led Leo to an opening in the rock. They walked into a massive forge. The walls and roof were huge stone blocks, but the furnace, anvil, tongs and everything else were big, even for a Giant.
Hephaestus seemed to see the problem and changed back to his normal shape, but he also grew big enough to reach everything. He clicked his fingers and Leo grew up to.
In size, not in age...or maturity.
"Cool!" Leo exclaimed, looking around as Hephaestus set to work on a small device.
"See that Warhammer?" Leo's father asked, pointing to a sledgehammer in the corner, "Try to pick it up?".
Leo walked over and grabbed it up and tried to lift it, sword in the stone style.
But he couldn't.
"I can't," Leo said, disappointed.
"I didn't expect you to," Hephaestus told him, leading him deeper into the mountain.
The God of Forges showed his son a lake of liquid fire and, when Leo was at the edge, pushed him into the lava.
He fell with a splash into the molten rock. On the way down, Leo sucked in a huge breath before he realised it wouldn't help in the slightest.
But he didn't melt or burn into nothing.
Instead, he just floated there in the orange soup. He swam up to the surface, gasping for air. "WHAT THE HADES WAS THAT FOR?!" Leo yelled up at his father.
Hephaestus looked down to him with a smile, "I made you a minor God when I clicked my fingers, made sure you wouldn't die by getting you to life my hammer and tested the combination of your fire resistance and new immortality by pushing you into the lava pit of one of my greatest forges. Remember, always test your creations before you use them".
"What now?" Leo asked, the anger noticeable in his voice.
"Now we go to Olympus where you'll sit on my throne to gain the full extent of my powers," Hephaestus said, "Then I show you all 659 of my forges around the world".