#i complained that the square is wearing a tie so it makes the sphere look naked and dog suggested i give the square a tie shaped organ.

[wormthing]

just picked out a messiah. i hope he's really normal and takes learning about a new dimension like a champ.

[doctorstrangereview]

Doctor Strange #175

Cover Date: December 1968 On-Sale Date: September 3, 1968

This issue we kick off the next big arc. This issue Gene Colan abandons any attempt at a traditional panel layout. Heck, he takes two pages to give us the issue's title. This is probably why the story is a page longer than the usual count of this era. He goes hog wild and it's magical. Marvel isn't crediting the colorist yet which is a shame. Colors in this issue pop in all their gaudy wonderfulness. Gene makes it a point to show us lots of contemporary fashion and the colorist makes them impossible to ignore. Despite his extreme overuse of the exclamation point, Roy Thomas gives us tight plotting and great character moments.

After traveling down the sewers of New York City to reach our arc's main villains, the Sons of Satannish, we find them spying on our heroes, Doc and Clea, through their version of Doc's Orb of Agamotto, the Satan Sphere! We finally break the green-coded villain trope of the series. These cultists are wearing wonderful scarlet robes. They are a huge improvement on the plain grey ones we saw Mordo's minions wearing a bunch of months ago. They even have head gear to make The Flying Nun's wimple look modest.

Our voyeuristic cult members follow Doc and Clea in their walk through a park. The narrative doesn't tell us which. My guess is Washington Square Park. It's the closest to the Sanctum Sanctorum. Doc and Clea are having a fairly mundane conversation. While Doc has donned a nice casual suit, forgoing a dress shirt and tie for a turtleneck and medallion that looks like a cross between his cloak's collar and Doctor Who time lord collar. It's eye-catching to say the least. Despite Wong having purchased Clea a new wardrobe last issue, she walks about in her Dark Dimension outfit, still ducking her collar through the Earth dimension's narrow doorways. Clea complains about the sameness she see's everywhere including dress and then this guy crosses their path.

Clea decides she can't take all this mundane walking and decides to give everyone a show of her skintight body suit by flying in the air.

Doc brings her back to Earth and attempts to explain why this is a bad idea. The nearby crowd confirms Doc's explanation. Doc non-consensually wipes their memories of the incident.

Has anyone ever written about superheroes and consent?

Clea starts to feel woozy and Doc decides it's time to grab a cab and go home. Fortunately for them, Herman the cab driver accommodates them even though he usually doesn't pick up those in hippie get ups. (While Clea may be wearing something that could be interpreted as Hippie, Doc is just a bit casual.) This is all being watched the cultists who decide it's time to act and we spend a page and half of them summoning Satannish in a very trippy way. When he arrives, we find that Gene has redesigned Satannish so he no longer looks like flesh cylinder with a face in the middle and arms growing out of the top of his head. To show off the new look Gene uses an entire page to awe us with.

Asmodeus, head of the cultists, pleads for more power in a snobby and elitist way. Satannish bristles when Asmodeus calls himself "supreme among this equals," but gives them the extra mojo anyway. It's immediate turned against Doc and Clea in Herman's cab. Doc senses this. Not wanting to disturb Clea who is resting on him or tip off Herman, he goes ghost for the first time since Gene took over art. And I lied. There are a few panels that are rectangles.

Doc's astral body is surrounded by rings of force which threaten to crush him. Doc is resourceful and manages to free himself. Gene and the mystery colorist give us a wonderfully surreal depiction of the battle.

That looks really cool! I've read that this type of image was a nightmare for the colorist. Doc's mystical feat feeds back into the Satan Sphere causing it to shatter. How will the cultists get their voyeuristic jollies now?

Doc returns to his body just as the cab arrives at Clea's new pad. Doc decides to walk the rest of the way back to his Sanctum. While walking he starts changing into his usual threads to the consternation of the some of the locals. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or if Doc was just being absent-minded.

Doc reaches his Sanctum and, after startling Wong by dropping the last of his illusory street threads right in front of him, he heads to the Book of the Vishanti. After Kaluu kidnapped the book, Doc has been keeping it under something called The Shield of Not-Seeing. Roy, you really could have done better than that. Doc reads up on our devil Satannish. Yup another Faustian bargain! Good thing Clea is safe! Wait, he didn't non-consensually wipe Herman's memory! Uh-oh!

Meanwhile, Clea is brooding in the dark inside her apartment in a delightful Dutch angle.

Miss Clea will be giving us all sorts of melodrama! Her brooding is interrupted by who she thinks is Wong. "Wong" tells her the master has instructed him to bring her to him right away. They set out as Doc finds Herman in his cab, entranced. Clea is in danger.

Switching back to Clea, she suspects there is something up with Wong just as they are attacked by a street gang. Clea tries to fight back even causing one of the attackers to vanish, but her wooziness from earlier has returned and she's out of juice. Just as they close in, Clea is dragged into a nearby alleyway by a scarlet-clad cultist. He tells the weakened and naive Clea he is her friend.

This is a rather exciting start to the next arc. We get some tender moments between Doc and Clea. Doc keeping her at arms length by getting her a separate pad leaves us guessing about the nature of the relationship. Clea is still getting used to this new world that is much more restrictive than where she grew up. Roy weaves in more plot threads with Clea losing her power. How will the confused Clea react to Asmodeus? And most importantly, will Herman be okay? These questions and more will be answered in the next installment!

[jflashandclash]

Attrition of Peace

Seventeen: Leo

I Descend on a Disco Ball

             Leo figured people would get mad if he crashed the party with several tons of bronze dragon, so he parked Festus in sleep mode on the roof. He, Felix, and Calypso had an easy time breaking in through the roof entrance. He and Calypso talked about going through the front, but Felix seemed intent that the roof was the most direct route. That, and there were about a dozen monsters outside the front. Not the kind of place he’d want to charge in fists blazing.

           Felix, his other “dragon,”  tugged ahead on her leash. Well, she didn’t really look like Felix. Felix was supposed to be a silver dragon companion to Festus, and Calypso’s emergency search-and-ride if he and she ever got separated. Felix had been a beauty: all silver circuitry, with sapphire eyes, and lovely metal. Then Felix got blasted out of the sky by a discus and a Roman ballista when she was out on a rebellious stroll.

           Now Felix was a small, silvery work table. A bit of a downsizing, but Leo figured they’d manage until he could get her original body. It was all he had on hand to immediately insert her control disk into.

Turns out, when Leo programmed her, he hadn’t been specific enough. Who would have known search-and-rescue would be so close to search-and-destroy in the language of programming? And, he didn’t specify Calypso of Ogygia. So, Felix flew off from Calypso and Leo’s Garage and found Kalypso Cassand, the daughter of Apollo who happened to now be traveling with Kronos’s scythe.

As he predicted, as soon as Felix’s disc was inserted into one of the replacement Buford prototypes, Felix continued her last command: find Kalypso Cassand. Leo would worry about the destroy part later. However, he kinda hoped a demigod could take a work table if things got messy.

When they were flying to find Kally and the group that trashed their shack with a party, Felix had suddenly jerked her attention away from California and towards the East.

“You better hope she hasn’t completely malfunctioned,” Calypso had muttered at the sudden change in direction. Calypso had been jumpy since she’d found out about Kronos’s scythe two weeks ago, and—Leo suspected—since she realized their search would lead them towards New Rome or Camp Half-Blood. It worried Leo that Felix detected these people so close to his friends.

Leo didn’t want his friends to be attacked by a jerk wielding Backbiter, but he couldn’t hide his disappointment when they landed in a different part of the Big City other than Long Island or Manhattan. He could really go for some of Sally Jackson’s blue cookies, or for some dryad served brisket, or Coach Gleeson telling him to eat some beef to beef up his arms. Not the most conventional satyr wisdom.

When they landed on this rooftop, he could tell—his friends were close. And that wasn’t just because he heard a hoard of people shout, “Percy Jackson!” somewhere in the floors under him. He knew before he even entered. He liked to think his demigod senses were tingling.

That’s why he asked Calypso to wait on the roof to guard Festus. She seemed to get agitated every time he mentioned his old pals. Besides, several thousand years of isolation didn't make a great formula for an avid club go-er.

He opened the shockingly unlocked roof access and let Felix drag him forward. There was no way Leo could sneak in with Felix. The walking table sounded less like someone on a stealth mission and more like someone wearing rollerblades that tripped into his dad's tool shed. But, with how loud the music was, the noise didn't seem to matter.

The club's set up was weird--or at least Leo thought it was. He was sure Annabeth could say if it was up to code for a monster jam bar. He and Felix went through the doorway, almost fell down a ladder, and onto a metal catwalk. The hanging walkway swung violently as Felix thrashed to jump over the hand railing.

“Wow! Felix, I know you’re excited to search-and-destroy, but cool your jets! I haven’t even installed jets in you yet!” Leo struggled to keep both of them from plummeting to a demigod's-lamest-death: splat onto the disco floor of a monster club, or at least that’s what he guessed was under him.

Felix whined and creaked in protest. Leo could hear it now, But I want to kill nooowwwww.

The ceiling was bizarre. Either Hephaestus set up a Talos sized fog-machine and engineered a hundred tiny fireflies to dart around, or someone took a piece of the sky and tucked it into the top of this building.

Leo couldn't fully appreciate it. He was struggling too much not to fall to his death. He slipped to the floor grate when Felix next jolted forward, apparently thinking a suicidal hop off this catwalk was the fastest route for both of them. Leo skidded forward on his butt with Felix’s tugs and would have flipped right down to splat onto the dance floor had he not slammed his feet into the railing.  He dragged Felix back and restrained her. As quickly as he could, he jury-rigged a locking mechanism for Felix's chain leash. Normally, the average sentient table wouldn't pose too much of a threat of escaping, but Felix was a feisty one.

He just hoped Felix wouldn't bend the railing he tied her to.

From what Leo could see... well, he couldn't really see much. Just the dark fog, flashing lights below, and a few shapes fluttering through the mist. He was pretty sure there was a wall ten feet to his side, and—though he was disoriented—he'd guess this area would be on the right side of the club.

There wasn't much to work with up here. The catwalk made a solid square around a huge cage that dangled from four chains, one at each corner. There was a hole at the top of the cage, so—Leo assumed—the massive disco ball above could descend through the cage.

Leo was shocked Felix's clanking didn't attract any security guards. The music below was so loud though, Leo figured he could drop a screaming Coach Gleeson down there and no one would flinch.

Despite feeling an adrenaline rush at possibly seeing his pals for the first time in forever and getting totally pumped for a potential battle, Leo felt himself sway to the music. It was a club remix of some weird comedy song, and Leo could swear he recognized it, something with two guys singing, And I jizz in my pants, far too seriously.[1]    

Before he did anything else, he needed to take care of that cage. Those metal bars looked like bad news for a demigod—or a T-Rex, based off how big the cage was. Leo patrolled along the exterior, making quick locks to jam the pulley system to avoid any lowering.

Next, Leo needed to figure out how to get down. From the looks of Felix, Kalypso and her group must have been right under—

Someone, that sounded a suspicious amount like Annabeth, shouted in pain.

Leo needed to get down there now.

He made a quick remote for the last non-jammed pulley. "Sorry girl! I'll come back for you! And I promise to bring you a souvenir fit for your search and destroy setting," Leo said to Felix.

The table squirmed and creaked in protest.

Leo lunged at the wires above the disco ball, barely catching it. From his tinkering with the pulley, he knew the metal cords could hold him, but balancing on a shiny, reflective sphere? Not quite as much like riding a metal dragon as he hoped. Maybe he should complain to management to make a disco ball seatbelt.

One button click and he was descending through the fog and into the unknown. The further he got, the more lightheaded he felt. An odd sense of euphoria hit him. He was going to see his friends. He hadn't seen them since—

The fog broke and Leo realized riding a disco ball into the unknown might not have been the best idea. Kinda like riding a reflective shoot here sign. There were monsters everywhere. None of them seemed to pay him mind. Winged ones flapped past him in a crazed dance. One even waved a giant foam hand at him that read I love Eating Romans.

He really wished he could have Festus in here. Having a several ton dragon burst through the roof might have been safer.

But he was already halfway down. As he descended, he saw a small patio balcony lining the second story appear out of the Mist. He quickly recognized two people standing on it from his earlier security footage: a tall African boy with a black and red beanie and a black scarf and an Asian girl with a video camera recording something under him.

The tall boy with ebony skin had a golden bow in his hands. He looked horrified and leaned heavily on the railing of the patio, like he'd just shot Chiron in the butt before remembering that Chiron didn't always have the best sense of humor about being shot in the horsehind.

While the ball lowered, Leo nodded his head to the club beat of Jizz in my Pants and made eye contact with the girl. He could feel the presence of Kronos's blade on her belt. He couldn't remember her name, but gave her his best wait-until-I-get-off-this-disco-ball-look that he could muster.

Leo glanced down to see what she was recording.

What he saw underneath him made his jaw drop. "Holy Toledo..." Leo muttered.

More monsters were dancing below. What he assumed was Annabeth's frizzy, blond hair bobbed in and out of the monsters in a manic search for something she must have dropped on the ground. She didn't appear physically injured, but he had to wonder why she'd shouted in pain. Annabeth didn’t strike him as the type to freak out over losing a hair tie or something, but whatever it was must have been important for her to be sweeping the room in such a meticulous grid pattern.

His heart did a double thud. Piper and Hazel were standing nearby, seeming not to notice Annabeth's wondering. They cheered and danced. Something about their actions looked familiar. It kinda reminded him of when he'd met Dionysus' crazed fangirls, the Maenads.

Although he couldn't be sure, since the boy was half-covering his face, Leo thought Nico Di Angelo was standing beside Piper and Hazel. The boy looked gloomy and annoyed enough to be their resident goth.

There was a small stage directly under the disco ball's path, ending beside Hazel, Piper, and Nico. That's what made his jaw drop.

Excitement made him even more lightheaded. All his friends were here. Percy, Jason, Frank, and Will were on the stage, doing the electric slide and leading the monsters to clap to the beat.

When Jason spotted him, a cheer went up. The four boys jumped up and down. Percy pointed at Leo and shouted, "A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE RETURN OF LEO VALDEZ!" Leo couldn't really hear him over the throbbing subwoofers, but was able to read it off Percy's lips.

Leo didn't know how they knew he'd be here, but he felt honored that they'd prepared a dance number and a little confused why they'd planned it in a club full of monsters.

The disco ball touched the stage and Leo hopped off. This was definitely not what he'd expected to find. Before he could glance around to see if Kalypso or her other friends were in the crowd, or if the Asian girl had dashed off with Kronos's blade, the four boys were patting his back. Jason punched him in the shoulder.

Everyone was smiling. Some part of Leo whined to let this continue. They did care about him. He was important to the group, not just some junky mechanic comic relief. After months of being away, he missed these guys!

Leo tried to play it cool, but had trouble when Jason and Percy picked him up and threw him in the air. Once they caught him, Leo tried to shout, "Woo! Guys! We can party extreme later—we need to catch a person first!"

But no one seemed to hear him. To be fair, no one probably could over the music. He had to wonder where the sound booth was so he could mute it.

The monsters were shouting, "Dance! Dance!" in a throbbing beat of itself. Will motioned for him to take the center of the stage. Leo wasn't used to dancing like this, but—if one dance would get these guys to focus on their quest at hand—he figured he had to oblige.

The five male heroes of Olympus lined up on stage in just enough time to sing to the song's bridge: I jizz right in my pants every time you're next to me. Will and Jason were perfectly lined up with their significant others. Piper shouted out a giggled laugh as Jason winked at her and mouthed the words, And when we're holding hands, it's like having sex with me.

Nico looked like he wanted to kill someone, but what else was new? Or really, that he’d just resigned himself to the fact that the rest of the guys were being awesome.

Though… Jason’s behavior seemed a little… off? Leo hoped it was just because Jason was glad he was here, and not because he’d had another amnesia session.

Leo didn't care if he looked stupid while dancing. All five of them did. He kinda wished Calypso would be able to see this. She'd find it hilarious. He got giddy when he saw her walk up alongside Nico in the crowd. She must have found a way to come through the front.

Nico looked about ready to smash his face in with one of the nearby Scytherian Drycean's tails. He sighed and motioned to where Will had taken off his shirt and was swinging it around. Leo didn't care. That kid needed to learn to chill out anyway.

You say I'm premature? I just call it ecstasy. I wear a rubber around--all times it's a necessity.

Calypso, of course, also looked annoyed. Then paled upon noticing everyone else on stage.

Once the song came to an end, the five of them burst into laughter. Percy stumbled, knocking Will and he to the ground. They both giggled.

Nico visibly flinched and looked away. Calypso sighed and pointed at the floor offstage in a come right here Mister motion.

Then it hit Leo how bizarre it was that they were able to convince Frank to do this. Percy and Will? Definitely. Jason? Probably with enough coaxing. Frank...?

Frank seemed to snap out of his revelry. He glanced down at his feet in concern and confusion. Dread coated his expression as he scanned their surroundings.

The song melted into another one by the Chainsmokers. With this song, Leo could see Frank's look of horror spread. Hazel suddenly grabbed Piper, forcing her to stop dancing. Jason's eyes went wide with realization.

Maybe they hadn't planned a dance number for his arrival.

Frank and Jason nodded at each other. Jason grabbed Percy and Frank grabbed Will to drag them off stage. Leo figured he'd better follow close behind. The monsters and some stray demigods cleared space by the stairs for them. Hazel, Piper, Calypso, and Nico made their way to the stage’s exit.

The music clogged for a second and restarted, like it was changing stations. Everything quieted down to appropriate screaming level. As they hopped off stage, Leo could hear Piper gasp, "Oh gods. What just happened?!"

"Nice break dance," a Cyclops laughed, patting Frank on the shoulder. Frank winced, trying to keep his eyes down.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"Yea, that was the best performance since the one with the goats!" a ghoul cheered and winked at Will.

Will fumbled to get his shirt back on. Nico walked over and broke the ghoul's hand. The ghoul whined but didn't dare raise a hand to the son of Hades. He crept away, sulking.

Nico gave Leo a weird grin. "Welcome back. I told everyone you weren't dead. And now you got to see the world’s dumbest stage performance."

As though no one had seen his grand entrance with the disco ball, a wave of excitement washed over the others.

"Leo!" Piper gasped. She wrapped him up in a hug. Over his shoulder, he could see Calypso scowl. Leo gave her a helpless shrug, then tightened his arms around Piper.

"Hey Beauty Queen. I missed you!"

Hazel hopped in to join the hug with a laugh and a quick peck on the cheek. "Leo! We're glad to see you're okay!"

Calypso would kill him for this later.

"You're really here!" Jason said. Once Piper and Hazel released Leo, Jason punched Leo's shoulder, like he didn't remember punching it the first time. "That's for freaking us out."

Jason, miraculously, hit him in the same spot as before. Leo grabbed his arm, scared it might fall off if his amnesiac friend forgot again.

Percy grinned broadly until he caught sight of Calypso. Both their faces fell. She looked away awkwardly and hugged herself.

He mouthed the word, "Oh," softly, having a hard time not staring.

Leo's heart sank a few hundred feet through the floor, maybe stopping close to Tartarus.

"You must have all been enchanted to dance," Calylpso shouted, breaking up their reunion revelry. "A child of Dionysus maybe?"

"Yea... enchanted..." Leo muttered. "That's the only way we could have all been dancing on stage."

"Shut up," Calypso snapped at him. He could tell that she knew he'd done that of his own free will. She looked so tense. Leo wanted to give her a hug, but—after all that hugging he'd done with Hazel and Piper—now might not be the time.

Will put an arm around Nico, seeming to want comfort more for himself than his... was Nico his boyfriend now? They looked kinda boyfriendish..? "Why weren't you affected?" Will asked.

"I don't dance," Nico growled with a blush. "But this girl is right. Calypso, I assume? Merry and her group disappeared. And I think we might want to leave now."

Leo remembered all the monsters around them. None looked ready to attack them. Most continued to dance with the music. Regardless, Frank and Hazel checked the weapons at their belts.

A Cyclops with a XXXXXXXL biker jacket put a large hand over Frank and Jason's shoulder, making both Romans jump in consternation. But the Cyclops just chuckled like they were old buddies. "We have orders not to attack you. Great dance. Can't wait to see it on Hephaestus TV."

"Hephasteus TV?" Frank repeated in horror. "You mean—”

"Yea, that'll broadcast at some point. We aren't killing you in exchange for the video footage. It's already downloaded onto the magical intersnar—”

"Internet," Piper supplied, looking queasy at the thought.

“Yes, the internet. Now this way, little demigods and Cyclops hugger,” he said. He ruffled Jason’s hair at the last part.

Leo glanced at Jason. “Cyclops hugger?”

Jason sighed, “Don’t ask.”

Percy glanced away from Calypso, touching his hands to his pockets like he didn’t know what to do with them. He jumped when he realized someone was missing. “Where’s Annabeth?” he asked, his eyes darting around.

He relaxed when he saw his blonde girlfriend crouched on the ground beside a harpy, scanning for something.

“Hey, Wise Girl—”

She raised her head, eyes distractingly searching the floor until she noticed Leo. “Oh! Leo, thank the gods you’re okay.” Annabeth stood up and stepped over to them. She tried to smile at him and look excited, but she looked agitated.

“Did you like Leo’s welcome home performance?” Percy asked. He still looked shaken by the sight of Calypso. He went to put an arm over Annabeth’s shoulder.

Annabeth stepped out of his reach. “Percy, I’m leaving you for a weasel. As soon as I can catch it.”

Leo coughed on a laugh. She’d said it so seriously. Everyone glanced at her, including the biker Cyclops.

“I didn’t think we danced that poorly,” Percy said lightheartedly.

“Don’t try to convince me otherwise. I know we’ve been through a lot, and I promise we’ll still be great friends—”

“Uh, Wise Girl—”

“But, I’ve made up my mind. I know this is sudden, but you can’t sway me from my new found love of this creature—”

Percy grabbed Annabeth’s arms, the pallor returning to his face. “Oh gods, you’re serious.” He searched the faces of everyone else in their group, most of which were holding off laughs, before landing on Piper. “What’s wrong with her?!” he demanded.

“Calex must have gotten her,” Piper said, mystified. She had a hand over her mouth to contain a smile. “I wonder if one of the others thought Merry’s powers wouldn’t work on Annabeth for some reason.”

“Whatever,” Percy said. “Fix it, Piper.”

Annabeth removed Percy’s hands with calm determination. “There’s nothing to fix, Percy. We’re through. That’s just that.”

Piper shrugged helplessly. “I… don’t think I can. Eros’ powers of love tend to be more powerful than Aphrodite’s. From what Calex said, I think you just need to wait for it to wear off.”

“And get teasing material for months in the meantime,” Leo cheered. He fumbled in his tool belt to see if he had a recorder. “Annabeth, in your most romantic words, can you describe this weasel to me?”

Annabeth and Percy both scowled at him.

Annabeth lifted her nose. “This is serious, Valdez.”

He was shocked Percy couldn’t find the humor in this. Everyone else looked ready to burst into giggles, even Frank. Well, one other person didn’t seem mirthful. Leo’s heart crumbled again when he noticed Calypso. She seemed near tears, still avoiding eye contact with any of them. Occasionally though, her gaze would slip up to Annabeth with a hateful sneer.

What would happen if Annabeth and Percy broke up? Not necessarily over a weasel, but—

“This way, little demigods,” the biker Cyclops cheered.

He rounded their whole group up, Hazel, Frank, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Will, Piper, Jason, Calypso, and Leo, and directed them towards the exit. Leo stepped to be beside Calypso, but she wouldn’t look at him. He wanted to introduce her properly, but she didn’t seem to want that right now. Maybe it would be better outside of the club, where there was less imminent danger.

“Well…” Hazel said with a little blush, “That was… um… I didn’t know you could dance, Frank.”

Frank blushed. “Let’s never talk about this again.”

“Until it shows up on Hephaestus TV,” Jason groaned. “I wonder if we can find out when it’s airing and get the Stoll brothers to steal Dionysus’ TV that day.”

“I kinda wanna know how we looked,” Will said with a laugh.            Nico’s cheeks went a dark red. Leo had a feeling their son of Hades rather enjoyed how Will had looked while dancing. “Whatever, now we’ve lost our main lead on Kronos’s blade and the others. Unless Frank can sniff them out, they’re gone.”

Leo forced his mind away from what must have happened when Percy was on the island with Calypso, and gave everyone a broad grin. Everything would be fine. Annabeth wouldn’t really leave Percy. And Calypso loved him, right?

Besides, they had a job to do. “It’s okay, guys. The Leoman has that covered! Once Superman here flies me to the roof, we can catch a ride on Festus and, I can introduce you to Felix.”

“The dragon?” Frank asked hopefully.

“No,” Leo said with gusto, “The table.”

As they went into the night air, and the Cyclops demanded Jason give him a hug goodbye, Leo calmed down and genuinely smiled. All his friends started asking him the typical questions he’d guess they would ask. Where have you been? What have you been doing? Did you send a silver dragon to attack our camp?

They were excited to meet Calypso, though she seemed really reserved. Leo understood. This was a lot of new people at once. And Percy, but he was trying not to think about that. And the girl Percy left Calypso for that happened to be madly in love with a weasel at the moment.

Leo paused before Jason sky lifted him. “Wait—what weasel did Annabeth see?”

This scene was one of the reasons I wrote this book, s I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it XD Thanks for reading!

Footnote:

[1] I know Lonely Island put this song out eight years ago at this point… but it was still the most appropriate song for this scene.  Though “I just had sex” came as a close second.