“Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out!”

“His name is Boreas?” Leo had to ask. “What is he, the God of Boring?” “Second,” Jason continued, “they had to find those venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon—” “Can we just call them storm spirits?” Leo asked. “Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks”

“I'm the super-sized McShizzle man!” Leo said. “I'm Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme. And the ladies LOVE a bad boy”

“I kept forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny”

He was making a brave attempt, but Jason could see the sadness lingering in his eyes. Something had happened to him... something to do with Calypso.

“Never mind,” Leo said. “I'm pretty sure pi is, uh, 3.1415 blah blah blah. The number goes on forever, but the sphere has only five rings, so that should be enough, if I'm right.” “And if you're not?” Frank asked. “Well, then, Leo fall down, go boom. Let's find out!”

“Rainbows. Very Macho!”

“Where's Jason?”

“I'm just a repair guy who can throw the occasional fireball”

Leo's hands burst into flame. He wanted to melt Gaea's sandy face to glass. Then he felt Calypso's hand on his shoulder. “Gaea” Her voice was stern and steady. “You are not welcome”

“I know, I'm an idiot!” Leo moaned. “A brilliant idiot, but still an idiot”

“This is Leo. I'm the... What's my title? Am I like, admiral, or captain, or...” “Repair boy.” “Very funny Piper.”

Leo's voice boomed over the loudspeaker: “SURRENDER! YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY ONE SPANKING HOT WAR MACHINE!” The giant Enceladus howled in outrage, “Valdez!” “WHAT'S UP ENCHILADAS?” Leo's voice roared back

“Lots of death, huh? Personally I'm trying to avoid lots of death, but you guys have fun!”

“You didn't have a problem with an under-aged unlicensed kid borrowing your copter, do you? We’ll return it.” “I-” The pilot nearly choked on the words, but she got them out: “I don’t have a problem with that” Leo grinned. “Hop in kids, Uncle Leo’s gonna take you for a ride”

Jason faltered when he looked at Leo, who was mimicking taking notes with an air pencil. “Go on, Professor Grace!” he said, wide-eyed. “I wanna get an A on the test”

Leo didn't usually think of the ukulele as a sad instrument. (Pathetic, sure. But not sad.) Yet the tune Apollo strummed was so melancholy it broke Leo's feels

“Well done, Frank Zhang,” Leo said dryly, doing his impression of Chiron the centaur. “That is exactly how people beat Chinese handcuffs. They turn into iguanas”

“Holy Hephaestus,” Leo muttered. “He really needs to work on his shipspeak”

“Gods of Olympus.” Piper stared at Leo. “What happened to you?” His hair was greased back. He had welding goggles on his forehead, a lipstick mark on his cheek, tattoos all over his arms, and a t-shirt that read HOT STUFF, BAD BOY, and TEAM LEO. “Long story,” he said.