Heroes of Olympus: Leo and the Argo II

         

Cling, cling. That was the sound the hammer made as Leo pounded it against the metal. He was shaping this piece to hold the belly of the ship. He knew it had to be strong; it was a war ship after all. Finally, with one last swing of the hammer he decided he was done.
“Hey Nyssa, help me lift this one up.” He said while wiping the sweat off of his brow. It was a sauna in Bunker 9! The heat from the coals that were used to heat the metal was suffocating, but the children of Hephaestus worked diligently. Leo’s mind didn’t process that he was exhausted even though he looked positively exhausted. They had a due date and all Leo could think about now was finishing the task at hand and that was what kept him going.
         Nyssa came over to him and together the attached the metal brace to a hook and she signaled to Harley to start lifting the metal through the pulley system. Together they guided the metal brace around and under the ship where it was supposed to be placed.
         Many hours later the braces were around the ship. All they had left was the engines to finish installing which Shane was working on, following Leo’s directions on how to assemble the engine. It had to be strong enough to get the ship off the ground and carry everybody and probably various weapons. They still needed to attaches Festus’ head to the mast and figure out the rigging. The body of the ship was taking forever.
         Leo didn’t know if they’d finish it in time. He could only hope that he and his siblings could push through exhaustion and sleep deprivation to reach their goal. At that moment he thought about Jason and Piper. Jason had to be remembering everything and was probably anxious to be at his own camp and among his old friends. Leo had been too busy lately to keep up with the gossip lately, but Nyssa said that if Romans and Greeks didn’t get along it would tear whatever relationship was forming between Leo’s two best friends. And it wasn’t just a friendship anymore. Leo could see that. He had seen the way they looked at each other on their quest and knew what was going to go down.
         Leo glanced up at the halfway finished ship, gave a determined look to his siblings and hoped it would fill them with the strength to go on.
         “Mind giving me a hand with the outside of the ship?” He gave that elfish grin to Nyssa and Harley. To his joy, they nodded and grabbed their hammers and nails. Determination would finish the only hope to reach the Romans.