This eidolon in the wolf helmet had shamed him, controlled him, and made him attack New Rome. Leo’s fear suddenly made way for a whole lot of anger. The points of their swords hovered a few inches from Leo’s face. I vowed not to possess you again, but I can still kill you.” Without them, you are unable to withstand me. “You made me fire the ballista?” Leo demanded. Now he understood why those tourists had bothered him right away, and why this thing’s voice sounded so familiar. The one with the wolf-headed helmet snarled, “I have been in your mind, Leo. Sadly, the suits of armor were not as easily swayed as the Narcissus Fan Club had been. He wondered if it was too late to write TEAM LEO on his shirt. He spread his hands and hoped he looked confident and useful, not desperate and terrified. “Oh, hey!” Leo tried for a winning smile. “These will do, if the others die.” Its hollow face mask turned back to Leo. “A male and female demigod,” said Lion Head. On Leo’s right, the suit of armor with a lion’s head helmet creaked its wiry neck and regarded Hazel and Frank, who were still lying unconscious. He didn’t want to burn them, or accidentally hit the piece of firewood that controlled Frank’s life. Two suits of armor with bad attitudes were about to kill him. Hazel and Frank had been knocked out by the tendrils of a possessed steampunk bowling ball. He’d schemed his way out of that one and saved his friends all by himself, but at least he’d had time to think. Last winter he had watched in horror while a family of Cyclopes prepared to roast Jason and Piper with hot sauce. Leo agreed with Nemesis about one thing: good luck was a sham. “We do not like possessing machines, but they are better than tourists. “You cannot escape us, Leo Valdez,” it said. Despite the fact that it had no face or mouth, a familiar hollow voice spoke from behind its visor. The one on the left turned its crooked helmet, which was shaped like a wolf’s head. They drew their swords and stepped toward Leo. Leo lunged to help them, but the two armored manikins that couldn’t possibly move did move. Leo’s friends both crumpled to the floor. The orb stood, and two bronze cables shot out of the top, hitting Hazel and Frank like Taser wires.
A row of spindly legs extended from its equator. On the table next to Hazel and Frank, one of the orbs clicked and whirred. Naturally, that’s when everything went wrong.
The point is this is good news!”įor the first time in days, Leo felt really hopeful. Look, I didn’t mean to insult- Ah, never mind. “Assuming,” Frank added, “that you don’t mind sharing its secrets with us stupid uncomplicated Romans.” “We didn’t come here for a scroll, but I guess we can take it with us.” Hazel and Frank glanced at each other skeptically. They might even give us an edge over Gaea and the giants!” If there’s a Roman attack on Camp Half-Blood, these secrets could save the camp. “Guys, this is bigger than Daedalus’s laptop. “The secrets of Archimedes,” he murmured. He had to protect this stuff until he could get it back to Bunker 9 and study it. Leo had to get the spheres and scrolls safely out of here. For Leo, the quest had now totally taken on a new dimension. “Archimedes wrote this, describing his construction methods, but all the copies were lost in ancient times. “Guys, this is the lost book!” His hands were shaking. He wasn’t great at Ancient Greek, but he could tell the inscription on the case read On Building Spheres. He gingerly lifted out one of the scrolls. He ran to the row of cubbyholes and examined the markings on the scroll cases. Man, it was embarrassing when that happened. Suddenly Leo got an idea so incredible that his nose burst into flames. His spheres could do all sorts of things, only nobody is sure…” “But Archimedes was in a class by himself.