The possessed Taser ball lashed out with its tendrils and sent another shock through Hazel and Frank. Their unconscious bodies flinched. That kind of electricity might have stopped their hearts.
Leo held back tears. This was too hard. He couldn’t do it.
He stared at the face of the sphere—seven rings, each one covered with tiny Greek letters, numbers, and zodiac signs. The answer wouldn’t be pi. Archimedes would never do the same thing twice. Besides, just by putting his hand on the sphere Leo could feel that the sequence had been generated randomly. It was something only Archimedes would know.
Supposedly, Archimedes’s last words had been:
No one knew what that meant, but Leo could apply it to this sphere. The lock was much too complicated. Maybe if Leo had a few years, he could decipher the markings and figure out the right combination, but he didn’t even have a few seconds.
He was out of time. Out of luck. And his friends were going to die.
Nemesis…she’d told him to expect this moment. Leo thrust his hand in his pocket and brought out the fortune cookie. The goddess had warned him of a great price for her help—as great as losing an eye. But if he didn’t try, his friends would die.
“I need the access code for this sphere,” he said.
He broke open the cookie.
LEO UNFURLED THE LITTLE STRIP OF PAPER. IT READ:
THAT’S YOUR REQUEST? SERIOUSLY? (OVER)
On the back, the paper said:
YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS ARE: TWELVE, JUPITER, ORION, DELTA, THREE, THETA, OMEGA. (WREAK VENGEANCE UPON GAEA, LEO VALDEZ.)
With trembling fingers, Leo turned the rings.
Outside the gates, Wolf Head growled in frustration.
The last ring clicked into place. The sphere hummed with power. Leo ran his hands along the surface, sensing tiny buttons and levers awaiting his commands.
Magical and electrical pulses coursed via the Celestial bronze cables, and surged through the entire room.
Leo had never played a musical instrument, but he imagined it must be like this—knowing each key or note so well that you didn’t really think about what your hands were doing. You just concentrated on the kind of sound you wanted to create.
He started small. He focused on one reasonably intact gold sphere down in the main room. The gold sphere shuddered. It grew a tripod of legs and clattered over to the Taser ball. A tiny circular saw popped out of the gold sphere’s head, and it began cutting into Taser ball’s brain.
Leo tried to activate another orb. This one burst in a small mushroom cloud of bronze dust and smoke.
“Oops,” he muttered. “Sorry, Archimedes.”
“Oh, yes, I surrender!” Leo said. “I’m totally surrendering!”
He tried to take control of a third orb. That one broke too. Leo felt bad about ruining all these ancient inventions, but this was life or death. Frank had accused him of caring more for machines than people, but if it came down to saving old spheres or his friends, there was no choice.
The fourth try went better. A ruby-encrusted orb popped its top and helicopter blades unfolded. Leo was glad Buford the table wasn’t here—he would’ve fallen in love. The ruby orb spun into the air and sailed straight for the cubbyholes. Thin golden arms extended from its middle and snapped up the precious scroll cases.
He turned in time to see the ruby sphere take off with the scrolls. It zipped across the room and hovered in the far corner.
He must have been talking to the Taser ball. Unfortunately, Taser ball was in no shape to comply. Leo’s gold sphere was sitting on top of its sawed-open head, picking through its gears and wires like it was scooping out a pumpkin.
Thank the gods, Hazel and Frank began to stir.
“I don’t think so, guys.” Leo turned toward Lion Head. His hands worked the control sphere, and he felt a shock travel through the floor.
Lion Head shuddered and lowered his sword.
Leo grinned. “You’re in Leo World, now.”
Lion Head turned and stormed down the stairs. Instead of advancing on Hazel and Leo, he marched up the
