The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

inhaling knives.
    ‘Reyna!’ Nico shouted again.
    The Athena Parthenos flickered, about to disappear.
    An earthen ghost swung at Reyna’s head. She managed to dodge, but the pain in her ribs almost made her black out.
    Give up
, said the voices in her head.
The legacy of Rome is dead and buried, just like Pompeii.
    ‘No,’ she murmured to herself. ‘Not while I’m still alive.’
    Nico stretched out his hand as he slipped into the shadows. With the last of her strength, Reyna leaped towards him.



IX
Leo
    L EO DIDN’T WANT TO COME OUT OF THE WALL .
    He had three more braces to attach, and nobody else was skinny enough to fit in the crawl space. (One of the many advantages of being scrawny.)
    Wedged between the layers of the hull with the plumbing and wiring, Leo could be alone with his thoughts. When he got frustrated, which happened about every five seconds, he could hit stuff with his mallet and the other crew members would figure he was working, not throwing a tantrum.
    One problem with his sanctuary: he only fitted up to his waist. His butt and legs were still on view to the general public, which made it hard for him to hide.
    ‘Leo!’ Piper’s voice came from somewhere behind him. ‘We need you.’
    The Celestial bronze O-ring slipped out of Leo’s pliers and slid into the depths of the crawl space.
    Leo sighed. ‘Talk to the pants, Piper! ’Cause the hands are busy!’
    ‘I am
not
talking to the pants. Meeting in the mess hall. We’re almost at Olympia.’
    ‘Yeah, fine. I’ll be there in a sec.’
    ‘What are you doing, anyway? You’ve been poking around inside the hull for days.’
    Leo swept his flashlight across the Celestial bronze plates and pistons he’d been installing slowly but surely. ‘Routine maintenance.’
    Silence. Piper was a little too good at knowing when he was lying. ‘Leo –’
    ‘Hey, while you’re out there, do me a favour. I got this itch right below my –’
    ‘Fine, I’m leaving!’
    Leo allowed himself a couple more minutes to fasten the brace. His work wasn’t done. Not by a long shot. But he was making progress.
    Of course, he’d laid the groundwork for his secret project when he first built the
Argo II
, but he hadn’t told anyone about it. He had barely been honest with himself about what he was doing.
    Nothing lasts forever
, his dad once told him.
Not even the best machines.
    Yeah, okay, maybe that was true. But Hephaestus had also said,
Everything can be reused.
Leo intended to test that theory.
    It was a dangerous risk. If he failed, it would crush him. Not just emotionally. It would
physically
crush him.
    The thought made him claustrophobic.
    He wriggled out of the crawl space and went back into his cabin.
    Well …
technically
it was his cabin, but he didn’t sleep there. The mattress was littered with wires, nails and the guts of several disassembled bronze machines. His three massive rolling tool cabinets – Chico, Harpo and Groucho – took up most of the room. Dozens of power tools hung on the walls. The worktable was piled with photocopied blueprints from
On Spheres
, the forgotten Archimedes text Leo had liberated from an underground workshop in Rome.
    Even if he wanted to sleep in his cabin, it would’ve been too cramped and dangerous. He preferred to bed down in the engine room, where the constant hum of machinery helped him fall asleep. Besides, ever since his time on the island of Ogygia, he had become fond of camping out. A bedroll on the floor was all he needed.
    His cabin was only for storage … and for working on his most difficult projects.
    He pulled his keys from his tool belt. He didn’t really have time, but he unlocked Groucho’s middle drawer and stared at the two precious objects inside: a bronze astrolabe he’d picked up in Bologna, and a fist-sized chunk of crystal from Ogygia. Leo hadn’t figured out how to put the two things together yet, and it was driving him crazy.
    He’d been hoping to get some answers when they