The Demigod Diaries (The Heroes of Olympus)(36)

“Um, Leo?” Piper urged. “The explosion?”

“Right!” Leo opened Buford’s front drawer and grabbed the syncopator. He ran to the combustion chamber. Twenty-three seconds. Oh, good. No rush.

He would only get one chance to do this right. Leo carefully fitted the syncopator into place. He closed the combustion chamber and held his breath. The engine started to hum. The glass cylinders glowed with heat. If Leo hadn’t been immune to fire, he was pretty sure he would have gotten a nasty sunburn.

The ship’s hull shuddered. The whole bunker seemed to tremble.

“Leo?” Jason asked tightly.

“Hold on,” Leo said.

“Let us out!” Babette screeched in her golden cage. “If you destroy us, Dionysus will make you suffer!”

“He’ll probably send us a thank-you card,” Piper grumbled. “But it won’t matter. We’ll all be dead.”

The combustion chamber opened its various chambers with a click, click, click. Superdangerous liquids and gases flowed into the syncopator. The engine shuddered. Then the heat subsided, and the shaking calmed down to a comfortable purr.

Leo put his hand on the hull, now thrumming with the magical energy. Buford snuggled affectionately against his leg and puffed steam.

“That’s right, Buford.” Leo turned proudly to his friends. “That is the sound of an engine not exploding.”

Leo didn’t realize how stressed he’d been until he passed out.

When he woke up, he was lying on a cot near the Argo II. The entire Hephaestus cabin was there. They’d gotten the engine levels stabilized and were all expressing their amazement at Leo’s genius.

Once he was back on his feet, Jason and Piper pulled him aside and promised they hadn’t told anyone just how close the ship had come to exploding. No one would ever know about the huge mistake that almost vaporized the woods.

Still, Leo couldn’t stop trembling. He’d almost ruined everything. To calm himself down, he pulled out the Lemon Pledge and carefully polished Buford. Then he took the spare syncopator and locked it in a supply cabinet that did not have legs. Just in case. Buford could be temperamental.

An hour later, Chiron and Argus arrived from the Big House to take care of the Maenads.

Argus, the head of security, was a big blond dude with hundreds of eyes all over his body. He seemed embarrassed to find that a dozen dangerous Maenads had infiltrated his territory unnoticed. Argus never spoke, but he blushed brightly and all the eyes on his body stared at the floor.

Chiron, the camp director, looked more annoyed than concerned. He stared down at the Maenads—which he could do, being a centaur. From the waist down, he was white stallion. From the waist up, he was a middle-aged guy with curly brown hair, a beard, and a bow and quiver strapped across his back.

“Oh, them again,” Chiron said. “Hello, Babette.”

“We will destroy you!” Babette shrieked. “We will dance with you, feed you yummy appetizers, party with you until the wee hours, and rip you to pieces!”

“Uh-huh.” Chiron looked unimpressed. He turned to Leo and his friends. “Well done, you three. The last time these girls came looking for Dionysus, they caused quite a nuisance. You caught them before they could get out of hand. Dionysus will be pleased they’ve been captured.”

“So they do annoy him?” Leo asked.

“Absolutely,” Chiron said. “Mr. D despises his fan club almost as much as he despises demigods.”

“We are not a fan club!” Babette wailed. “We are his followers, his chosen, his special ones!”

“Uh-huh,” Chiron said again.

“So…” Piper shifted uneasily. “Dionysus wouldn’t have minded if we had to destroy them?”

“Oh, no, he would mind!” Chiron said. “They’re still his followers, even if he hates them. If you hurt them, Dionysus would be forced to drive you insane or kill you. Probably both. So well done.” He looked at Argus. “Same plan as last time?”

Argus nodded. He gestured to one of the Hephaestus campers, who drove a forklift over and loaded up the cage.

“What will you do with them?” Jason asked.

Chiron smiled kindly. “We’ll send them to a place where they feel at home. We’ll load them on a bus to Atlantic City.”

“Ouch,” Leo said. “Doesn’t that place have enough problems?”

“Not to worry,” Chiron promised. “The Maenads will get the partying out of their systems very quickly. They’ll wear themselves out and fade away until next year. They always seem to show up around the holidays. Quite annoying.”

The Maenads were carted off. Chiron and Argus headed back to the Big House, and Leo’s campers helped him lock up Bunker 9 for the night.

Usually Leo worked into the wee hours, but he decided he’d done enough for one day. It was Christmas Eve, after all. He’d earned a break.

Camp Half-Blood didn’t really celebrate mortal holidays, but everyone was in a good mood at the campfire. Some kids were drinking eggnog. Leo, Jason, and Piper passed on that and went for hot chocolate instead.

They listened to sing-along songs and watched sparks from the fire curl up toward the stars.

“You saved my hide again, guys,” Leo told his friends. “Thank you.”