Kobaloi
Piper put down the book she was reading, as Leo and Jason made their way over to the Canoe Lake. She was reading Twilight, as her old friend recommended it to her a long time ago.
"I wouldn't read that book. That guy; Edward Cullen, he is a douche. I mean he sparkles in the sun, who does that? It's like saying I can fly or Jason looks hot in Speedos." Leo commented whilst reassembling his boat he made out of some nuts and bolts.
"Shut up Leo. I'm not sure what's worse. Either you have read that book to even know the guys name and all about it, or if you have ever seen me in Speedos. This, by the way is just wrong." Jason exclaimed.
"None of the above. But can please move of this topic because that's mentally disturbing, having an image in by brain of Jason in Speedos dancing to 'I'm sexy and I know it'. That would make great entertainment though; you should do that at the campfire soon." Leo said.
"Seriously Leo. Shut. Up." Jason demanded, going slightly red in front of Piper.
"You are so embarrassing Leo. Remind me never to say anything which you can manipulate into something that will be totally embarrassing." Piper said.
"Well there was this one time when-"Leo started before being interrupted by Jason.
"Moving on, Piper why did you tell us to come to the Canoe Lake?" Jason asked.
"Especially when the dinner bell has already rung and I am famished!" Leo moaned. Just to prove it his stomach made a low rumbling sound.
"Well, i erm..." Piper started, not sure where to start.
Jason was becoming more curious when she started fiddling with her hair, which Jason knew was a habit when she was nervous.
"I found something, which you might want to check out." Piper said, glancing into the forest.
"Is it a burrito? I would kill for a burrito right now." Leo said getting excited.
"Leo, stop moaning about food, you don't see me complaining do you?" Jason said, moving to sit next to Piper.
"No, but you don't have muscles like I have." Leo taunted.
"Yes I do!" Jason exclaimed and tensed his arm to prove it.
Leo poked it and looked away in mock disgust
"It feels like mash. Piper hates mash and if you want to go out with her you better make it into boiled potato, or another substance which is harder." Leo commented.
Jason looked so embarrassed that Leo said that in front of Piper, but when he looked towards her she wasn't even paying the slightest bit of attention. Something was definitely up.
"Piper are you ok?" Jason asked, putting an arm around her to comfort her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I suppose I should show you what i found." Piper mumbled and led them to the Forest.
****

"Piper, i wouldn't worry about this, it's nothing. We will just tell Chiron and he will know what to do." Jason said, comforting her.
They were looking at some tracks that led it into the forest. The tracks were just your average pet, most likely a dog. Obviously, that wasn't what Piper was worried about. As the tracks continued deeper into the forest, they changed. The paw prints became bigger by the step until they completely changed shape into what look liked claws.
Jason was also freaking out. No animal (well, was it even an animal?) could morph into something else entirely. It just wasn't natural.

"Maybe the dog was walking along then a giant chicken swooped down and ate it. Then because it was so full it walked until it could fly again." Leo said cheerfully, like he solved the mystery.
"Leo, that's impossible." Piper replied.
"No its not, i would be full after eating a dog. I wouldn't want to fly straight away." Leo said, convinced he was right.
"That's not why it's impossible, well that is impossible but not the main reason. Chickens can't fly Leo." Jason told him.
"Well duh, i knew that. But we are demigods and fight things that shouldn't exist, like them ogres that killed Festus." Leo replied. Sad at the memory. In truth Leo didn't know that chickens couldn't fly, but he wasn't going to tell them that.
"Apart from they were not ogres, they were Cyclopes." Piper interrupted.
"Like there's a difference. Anyway I say we keep following the tracks." Leo said, determined to prove he was right.
"No, it's getting dark, we should go back. We will tell Chiron and he will know what to do." Jason said.
"I agree. I'm tired anyway. There's no point continuing to follow them now. We could come back early before breakfast to see if anything new has appeared." Piper agreed.
"Fine, but just so you know, I'm still placing bets on the chicken." Leo said.
They all walked through the forest and back to their cabins. Leo's cabin was the furthest away. So by then he was one of the last ones outside. Apart from the Stoll brothers who were setting a trap outside the Ares cabin. Just before he entered, he glanced back at the forest, and for a split second was convinced that he saw something moving in the shadows behind the tree, but vanished just as soon as he saw it.

That same night, Leo Valdez woke up after a strange and disturbing dream. The dream was nonsense to him, although it seemed so real. In some form, he willed it to be real. The only reason he wanted it to be real, was because, somebody saved him. Not just somebody, but a girl. A girl of absolute beauty and radiance. Leo never good a look at the girl as he woke up as soon as she appeared, though the girl looked like someone so familiar, someone he knew didn't stay in camp, at least not now. Even though he only remembered parts of the dream, he knew two things that were absolutely certain. The tracks he followed were the same tracks that he, Jason and Piper found in the woods, and two, the tracks led to the girl the dreamt about.
It was between the short time of waking up and remembering his dream, Leo decided to follow the tracks, right then. He got out of his bed, which use to belong to a guy called Beckendwarf. All the campers knew him and said that he was the best at making weapons. He died in an explosion of blowing up some ship to stop the titans from destroying the world. He sacrificed himself to save Percy.
Leo opened the door as quietly as possible, wincing slightly as the floorboards groaned beneath his feet. It was dark outside, and he could just make out the faint outlines of the other cabins. The only lights that where on were the porch lights outside the big house. Judging by the sky, Leo concluded that it would be three, maybe four hours till dawn.
Leo made his way to the edge of the woods, pausing only to look behind him encase the Stoll Brothers or anyone else was following him. He switched on his flashlight as the trees blocked any light that could get through. The undergrowth was moist, and the floor of the woods was slippery. Leo wasn't one to admit to people, let alone himself, that he was scared of things but this was a situation where he was afraid. Ok, so he had been out in the woods in the dark before looking for Festus, before he was fixed and was running riot in the woods, but he knew what he was looking for then. He had no idea what he was looking for now.
"Why did I talk myself into this?"Leo muttered to himself, following the trail around the stump of a large tree.
The snap of a twig made Leo spin on his heel quickly and shine the torch in the direction of the noise.
"Calm Leo, breath. Remember the girl in your dreams. Remember the girl... Remember the girl... Remember the girl..." Leo chanted under his breath
Great now I'm referring to myself in the third person, that's now weird at all.
"Oh, and talking to myself. The first sign of madness, least i have a reason to give people now."
It was at this moment that Leo heard a screeching noise that was so high pitch, it made Leo drop his flashlight onto the forest floor. He couldn't identify where it was coming from, but it stopped seconds after it started. Puzzled, Leo bent down to retrieve his flashlight, but it wasn't there. Now he was really confused. It wouldn't have rolled away, the ground was too soft. He needed that flashlight; it was too dark to see much without it and was starting to have a bad feeling about this. Suddenly an object came hurtling through a gap in the trees and hit him on the head.
"Ouch! You could've told me we were playing baseball; i would've brought a bat! And when I beat you at baseball, i would also use it to beat you physically!" Leo shouted, whilst rubbing his head.
He heard something near the trees, it sounded like laughter. Leo was thinking that he should've listened to Piper and Jason. He didn't want to be here and was starting to panic. What creature steals your flashlight then chucks it back at you? Then the thing made a low hissing noise, like what Leo said to it offended him. Leo didn't waste no more time, he bent down to pick up the flashlight, which was gone again! Not wanting to stay and find out what the thing would do with it this time, Leo turned and sprinted in the opposite direction, back to the cabins... he hoped.
He only made it a few feet before something grabbed his bag pack and unzipped it, spilling all the contents onto the floor. Leo abandoned everything else as he bent down and searched franticly for the picture of his mom. Just as he found the picture, the creature made itself known and jumped in front of him, scratching Leo across his face.
"You Son of a-" Leo muttered. The creature was small, like an elf, but had scales and claws.
Before Leo had time to find a weapon to use as everything was on the floor, the creature grabbed his small dagger and stood a few feet away waving it in its hand.
Man this thing moves fast.
 Totally defenceless, his last option was to run, and pray to God that he makes it back before he becomes a dead man. Leo put all of his remaining effort into the sprint, knowing last time the creature caught him quickly. He ran flat out for 5 minutes, sure he lost the pesky little thing, when it jumped out in front of him and stabbed him in the side of his chest, using his own knife. Leo felt o the ground clutching his chest. He could feel the blood oozing between his fingers.
Well this is it. Out of everything I faced i die by an elf stabbing me. A bloody elf! This wasn't supposed to happen; the girl was meant to come, like in my dreams and save me. I wasn't supposed to get stabbed!
 Lying on the cold, damp floor, Leo gave one last plead of help, and before he blacked out, he saw a figure, fighting of the elf. It was the girl in his dream! She turned to face him. He finally got a look at the girl, and the last thing he remembered as he lost conciseness was the girl... who was Thalia.

****
Leo woke sometime later. He sat up gingerly taking in the scene around him. He was still in the forest, but was lying on a sleeping bag next to a fire and a tent. Something rustled in the trees. Thinking it could be the elf that attacked him before, he tried to stand up, but black spots danced in his eyes and he nearly fell to the ground if it wasn't for someone catching him.
"You idiot, I wasn't finished cleaning your wound and now you've re opened the stitches i put in." A voice said.
He turned his head slightly and saw Thalia. He remembered, she was there just as he blacked out. Thalia handed him some ambrosia and nectar.
"Here eat some more of this; you're going to need it. This will hurt." Thalia said, moving him so that his head rested in her lap.
Leo tried to thank her but was too weak to speak. Thalia lifted up his shirt, revealing his smooth chest and placed some sort of medicine on it. At first there was no effect, and then it started to bubble. It felt like acid burning his skin. Leo cried out in pain and dug his hands deep into the dirt. Beds of sweat were dripping down his face.
"Just once more Leo" Thalia soothed. Leo tried to protest but she put a finger to his lips.
"Don't worry, it will be better soon"
As she poured the liquid on again it bubbled straight away, Leo screamed in agony, the pain much worse than before. Leo couldn't help it and was thrashing around, doing anything he could to try and make the pain go away. Thalia took his hands in hers and whispered in his ear.
"Shhh, it's ok Leo, it's all over." She soothed. Holding his hands tightly.
Leo sat up very slowly.
"What happened? What was that thing?"Leo asked, his voice barely a whisper.
"It was a Kobalio, small like an elf, but very fast and deadly. Mischievous little creatures they are. Fond of tricking and frightening people. According to a myth, they robbed Herakles while he slept. He captured them in revenge but took pity on them when he found them amusing."Thalia explained.
Leo tried to reply but before the words could reach his lips, Thalia leaned close and pushed her lips onto his. Thalia melted into his arms as the kiss deepened. This kiss saying everything words couldn't. It felt so right to Leo, her lips were soft and moist, and tasted like strawberries. A soft moan escaped her lips, and he smiled at the sound. At last Thalia pulled away, looking flushed.
"Thalia I-"Leo started before being interrupted.
"Its ok Leo, go to sleep" she whispered in his ear.
The last thing Leo remembered before he slipped away into sleep was laying down in the sleeping bag, with Thalia next to him, snuggled close.

Leo woke up as the sun streamed through the curtains. He sat up, confused. He was back in the cabin, in his bed. He wondered if it was a dream, but when he lifted up his shirt, he saw the bandage covering the stab wound. He then found a letter by his pillow. He sat up and opened the letter:

Leo,
Everything you remember did happen, all down to the last detail, even the kiss. Meet me tomorrow at eight, by the Canoe lake. Want to see if your ok, and to talk.
Thalia xxx