Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝔹lueprints and Secret Bunkers

Nicki trudged alongside Ethan through the forest. They were only two steps behind Leo who was leading the pack. At least 9 other demigods, including Jason and Piper who seemed very absorbed in each other, trailed behind them accompanied by Chiron. The others were chatting amongst themselves but since Leo was silent, Nicki and Ethan were silent. It had been a long two days. Most of the time, Nicki found herself being tossed between the infirmary, and cleaning up her cabin. Annabeth's decision to crash in Nicki's cabin had meant an awful lot of redecorating in the form of blueprints and plans that needed to be removed again.

Leo hadn't felt this jumpy since he offered tofu burgers to the werewolves. When he got to the limestone cliff in the forest, he turned to the group and smiled nervously. "Here we go." 

He willed his hand to catch fire and set it against the door. His cabinmates gasped. "Leo!" Nyssa cried. "You're a fire user!" 

"Yeah, thanks," he said. "I know." 

Jake Mason, who was out of his body cast but still on crutches, said, "Holy Hephaestus. That means—it's so rare that—" 

The massive stone door swung open, and everyone's mouth dropped. Leo's flaming hand seemed insignificant now. Even Nicki and Ethan looked stunned, and they'd definitely seen their fair share of magical things. Only Chiron didn't look surprised. The centaur knit his bushy eyebrows and stroked his beard as if the group was about to walk through a minefield. That made Leo even more nervous, but he couldn't change his mind now. His instincts told him he was meant to share this place—at least with the Hephaestus cabin—and he couldn't hide it from Chiron or his best friends. 

"Welcome to Bunker Nine," he said, as confidently as he could. "C'mon in." 

"Seriously, I'm beginning to think I get nothing cool," Ethan commented, his jaw slack as he scanned the bunker. "This is incredible."

"You're a pirate." The shorter black-haired demigod patted his shoulder.

The group was silent as they toured the facility. Everything was just as Leo had left it—giant machines, worktables, old maps and schematics. Only one thing had changed. Festus's head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha. Leo went over to it, a bitter taste in his mouth, and stroked the dragon's forehead. "I'm sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you." 

Jason put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Hephaestus brought it here for you?" Leo nodded. "But you can't repair him," Jason guessed. 

"No way," Leo said. "But the head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us." 

Piper came over and frowned. "What do you mean?" 

Before Leo could answer, Nyssa cried out, "Guys, look at this!"She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook—diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons. "I've never seen anything like these," Nyssa said. "There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus's workshop. It would take a century just to prototype them all." 

"Who built this place?" Jake Mason said. "And why?" 

Chiron stayed silent, but Leo focused on the wall map he'd seen during his first visit. It showed Camp Half-Blood with a line of triremes in the Sound, catapults mounted in the hills around the valley, and spots marked for traps, trenches, and ambush sites. "It's a wartime command centre," he said. "The camp was attacked once, wasn't it?" 

"In the Titan War?" Piper asked. 

Nyssa shook her head. "No. Besides, that map looks really old. The date... does that say 1864?" They all turned to Chiron.