Chapter 1- Leo's POV
Cons of being the creator of a massive warship: you're always the one stuck going out to find the supplies. Trekking through the woods in search of something I can't even pronounce wasn't exactly my ideal afternoon. The leaves were crunching much louder than was probably safe for someone covered in demigod stench and I had lost my favorite pack of gum in the bottom of my magic tool belt. A tragedy, I know. On top of that, a part of the Argo II's, the ship I so ingeniously created, controls was knocked clean off by Percy's blue bouncy ball. I kid you not, a bouncy ball. Not some scary monster or evil goddess, but a BOUNCY BALL. Imagine my anger.
Now, stuck in the middle of nowhere and assumedly completely alone, I couldn't help but be surprised when I hear the battle cry (or cry for help, I find it hard to tell the difference), of a girl not too far ahead. Walking as lightly as possible trying not to cause too much noise, while still managing to cause an impressive amount, I sneak to the edge of a clearing. From the looks of it, the clearing was newly made by the battle going on between a teenage girl and three, now two, Cyclops. I couldn't make out much of what the girl looked like besides the fact that she had skin white as paper, straight black hair that ended past her waste, and a celestial bronze sword in each hand. It was an interesting scene. The girl was obviously a demigod, a highly skilled one at that, and there was a Cyclops mid dustifying on the edge of the clearing and two more circling her. She lashed out, moving faster than I had ever seen any demigod or person move before. In the blink of an eye one of the Cyclops was keeling over, and before it even hit the floor, she was moving onto the next one. This one was the smallest, but was clearly no going down as easily as its brother. A large purple bruise already forming on the side of her face, she wasn't looking so good. As the two enemies circled each other I figured I would stop being so useless and do what I do best, be distracting.
Summoning a hammer from my toolbelt and feebly hurling it at the Cyclops, I jump out from behind the bush, screaming like the maniac I am. It wasn't my proudest moment, but it got the job done. The Cyclops looked away long enough for the girl to go in for the killing blow. Aiming for the stomach, she cut the beast clean open. Though before it was sent back to Tartarus, it got in one more hit. The monster hit the floor with a thump, while the girl flew like in a cartoon, hitting a tree and slumping to the floor, completely unconscious.
Rushing past the large body quickly turning to ash I run to the girl, grabbing the blades still gripped tightly in her hands and sticking them in my tool belt for safe keeping. I have a feeling she won't be happy if I lose them. I lift her up bridal style, thankful for my training with Jason for keeping me from quivering, and set off in the direction I hope is the Argo II.
Halfway there, I remember I actually came out here for something. I set her down and try and remember what it is, which was extremely hard considering it was an extremely big word. I'll spare you the pain and boredom of me explaining it to you. Luckily, though, it wasn't exactly rare, so I found it quickly, stuffed it in my tool belt, scooped up mystery girl once again and started towards the ship.
Explaining why I was carrying an unconscious girl in my arms to the rest of the crew was difficult, but I managed to blow most of the questions off as I made my way to the infirmary. On the way there, I pass Annabeth and manage to swing Mystery Girl's feet at her to get her attention. She was surprised to say the least. She tapped Piper on the shoulder and they both followed me to the infirmary.
To say we have a nice infirmary would be an understatement. As demigods who spend most of their time fighting monsters and getting hurt, I kind of thought it was necessary. Laying the girl down on the bed, Annabeth grabbed some ambrosia and began force feeding it to her. Then Piper started with the questions.
"WHAT IN THE HADES?!" was her starting statement. As you can see, Piper has a way with words.
"Look, I can explain," was all I said.
"Okay, then explain!" Piper said, tapping her foot. I struggled to find the right words and when I made no move to start talking she said, "I'm waiting!" and continued to tap her foot.
"Well you see… What happened was… I was walking through the woods when I heard a battle going on. Bottom line, Cyclops bad, slashy slashy, a hammer may have been thrown, and she ended up unconscious," I gestured my hands in a ta da manner at the girl. They both just stared at me blankly. When they didn't look away I said, "Take a picture, it lasts longer," with a wink as I sat down next to the bed. They both groaned.
Annabeth was mixing herbs, medicines, and such and just doing her doctor thing. She was our self-proclaimed Apollo child seeing as we didn't actually have one. Not going to lie, she was pretty good, but sometimes she needed to call in Hazel who, since being on the ship, has taken up a real knack for the whole doctor thing. Annabeth let out a sigh of frustration, slamming down whatever she was working with and grabbing some nectar. Like I said, she's not a real Apollo kid.
"I think it would be best if we just let her rest until she wakes up. Maybe while she's asleep we can try and figure out who she is. Annabeth, have you seen her around camp? If anyone has it would be you," Piper asked.
"I don't think so…" Annabeth thought about it for a second. "Yup. Nope, never seen her before. Did she have any weapons on her?"
I pull out the two swords from my tool belt. Annabeth inspects them for a seconds before handing them back to me and sighing. "I just don't understand where she would have gotten two celestial bronze swords from. Let's Iris message Chiron. I'm sure he will know what to do," Annabeth says, while pulling a drachma out of her pocket. Grabbing a spray bottle, she makes a little rainbow and tosses the drachma into it, saying "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Chiron, Camp Half-Blood."
Chiron appears in the shimmering light, looking slightly exasperated. I take a step back. You would think I'd be used to the weird by now, but I don't think I will ever get used to someone using a rainbow like an Iphone. "This better be good," He says. "I'm kind of busy at the moment."
"Oh trust me, it's important." Annabeth steps to the side so Chiron can get a clear view of Mystery Girl. Chiron's face fell. He looked like someone had just punched him in the gut, and within seconds the Iris message was ended.
"What was that all about?" Piper asked.
"I'm not sure…" Annabeth mumbled. She turned back to Mystery Girl with a weary expression, obviously troubled. I couldn't help but feel the same way. Chiron was practically the Dumbledore of Camp Half-Blood, so if he had that kind of reaction, what does it mean? Naturally, I jumped straight to the worst possible conclusions first. Evil, psycho goddess? A monster only Chiron can see? Bigfoot in disguise? I always knew he was real…
"I think we should just let her sleep while we consult the others," Piper suggests. Annabeth and I nodded our agreement. We got out of our chairs and made our way to the dining room, and I alerted the others to meet us there over the intercom. Yeah, yeah, an intercom, I know I'm just good at thinking things through like that. It makes things convenient.
As we all sat down at the table, Annabeth took her rightful place at the head of the table. "What's this all about?" Percy asked. Piper and I looked to Annabeth. If she wanted to be our leader then she could do the talking. That, and she was just better at it.
As she explained, everyone's faces just began to look more and more confused. They're faces were priceless by the time she was done. I fought the urge to take a picture.
"So Chiron just… Hung up?" Percy asked. Annabeth nodded, the troubled expression returning to her face.
"I say we just wait for her to wake up. We can leave someone to keep watch after her in case she's dangerous," Jason suggested.
"Waiting for her to wake up may be our only option unless we want to throw her off the side of the ship," Annabeth said. I thought she was joking until I saw the look on her face. "I'll take first watch," was all she said, though.
"No," I interjected. "I will." No one argued.
The chair next to the infirmary quickly became uncomfortable and I was so exhausted I fell asleep. So much for keeping watch. I was shaken awake by Annabeth. "Go back to your room. It's my turn to keep watch." I wasn't going to argue with that.
Back in my room, I barely reached the bed before I fell asleep. On top of the covers, still in my dirty clothes, lights on, the whole "I'm too tired to even exist properly just let me sleep" shebang. Despite my clear signs of exhaustion, I was oh so rudely shaken awake. What could be so important as to interrupt my beauty sleep? I looked up through groggy eyes at Piper's concerned face.
"She's awake!" Piper said urgently.
"Who?... Oh," it took a second for my tired brain to process what she was saying, but when I did my eyes grew three times they're normal size. It's a gift, I know.
I bolt out of bed and chase after Piper down the hall. When we reach the room, everyone else is already there, surrounding the bed. I push my way through to find a very confused, very awake girl looking back at all of us. But it wasn't her scared expression, or her ghostly skin, or even her jet black hair that caught my attention, but her eyes. The same eyes I know everyone else in this room was staring at. They weren't like any color I had ever seen before, at least not naturally. Bright violet wasn't exactly top of the charts in contact sails I guess either. They were definitely two of a kind.
While we were all busy staring was when she made her move.