~ Disclaimer ~
Camp Half-Blood Series and all related characters and places belong to Rick Riordan.
~ The Rising ~
Chapter One
5:30. PM.
Leo briefly wondered what PM stood for. Then pushed that thought out again.
He couldn't stop throwing furtive glances at the clock, even though there was still half an hour left until The Time. The Time with Capital T's. He felt as if he had swallowed a bowlful of jumpy beans which were now performing acrobatics in his stomach. He wanted to jump up and down until a rainbow shimmered in the air and Piper would wave frantically and yell "LEO!" He was excited and nervous, perhaps overly so. It wasn't like him to be panicky.
On his defense, he was a newbie for it. You had to excuse the guy for his nervousness.
Even though they had been friends for years, Leo felt something akin to stage fright when he thought of her now. She wasn't just his friend anymore, the events of that fateful night a week ago had made them finally accept something that both had been denying for years. But he didn't know if she was his goldfish - sorry, girlfriend - yet. Neither of them had referred to that night's confessions again, and they hadn't given their new state of relationship a name.
Piper was holding back until she could "tie up the loose threads" as she put it, and Leo was okay with it, even thought it was frustrating. Waiting wasn't something the demigods were very good at - but he knew that she had a point. Their fates had been out of their own control for all their lives that they now had to pacify a lot of people before they could take their own decisions.
Did he think that she regretted the choice? Was that why she left on this journey alone, even after everything they promised?
No. Leo knew his first friend well. She was stubborn, she hated depending on another person. In her mind, this was her own battle, and she had to confront it alone; she wouldn't let anyone else fight in her behalf. Leo had a suspicion that she still felt guilty and blamed herself for the curses; but he didn't know how to correct it. He let her leave alone for this time.
But this would be the last time.
He walked around the bunker restlessly, but the hands on the clock didn't seem to be moving at all. Leo tried to resist the urge to open it up to see if it was broken. Why was the time so slow? He had run up to the Bunker after barely touching his lunch, afraid that he'd be late, and then hung around alone for four hours. He had a ready excuse, but the real reason was that he wanted to take the Iris message away from his brothers.
To pass the long minutes, he found a Swiss army knife from a tool box and started taking it apart. This was his newest hobby – upgrading regular everyday objects into sinister demigod-friendly weapons. He had been curious about the way how some of the demigods had weapons that could transform into simple dormant forms like a pen or a charm bracelet. He could create weapons like that, but now he was experimenting with combining them with godly powers. It wasn't easy as I sounded – the godly powers were not tame, they certainly didn't like being compressed into small physical forms. Bangs and explosions in the Forges and Bunker Nine was a now a regular occurrence, with accidents just seconds away.
But that was half the fun of it!
The pen knife was a neat tool on its own, but he wanted to make it…more special and monster-specific. A tiny bottle opener wouldn't have much use against a Cyclops, but if he could make it morph into an ax or a boomerang… and still retain the regular parts of the army knife… and double-task as a miniature flamethrower, tapping into his own pyrokinetic powers…
He had a sketchy blueprint in mind, but it was complicated. And dangerous to make any mistakes in, which was why he was doing it alone up at the bunker, away from his siblings at the forge. Still, he did need some technical help from time to time for work outside the Hephaestus' span. He was just thinking of sending a message to the Hecate cabin, which usually performed the complicated spells, when a girl hopped into the Bunker.
Laura, daughter of Hecate, was one of his close friends outside the Hephaestus cabin who usually helped in remodeling regular objects. She had her own spark of creativity and imagination, and her spells were useful, at least when they were not backfiring on the creators. And she made it clear that she was out of his league in the first five minutes of their acquaintance, having already been head over heels about another. Perfect.
"Lou Ellen says that we're fresh out of mice turning into chariot drivers, sorry," she announced, casually snapping her fingers. "But if you want a driver turned into a mouse, no problem."
"That's okay," Leo replied, also casually scooping up the magical flames that had just appeared on his head and blowing it back on her direction. Leo and Laura usually greeted by trying to set each other's head on fire. "I fixed it with some cockroaches. Want to see?"
Someone had been crazy enough to dare that they recreate Cinderella's chariot; a challenge they accepted with a laugh and so far having a rock-and-roll luck with. Fairy Godmother had it easy, but they had to go take the hard way.
"No thanks, I'll pass. I just had lunch. The animal-to-human transformation is harder than turning a human into a mouse. Or guinea pigs, as Percy claimed Circe did to him. And the mist forms…" she shuddered. "I don't think anyone in my cabin are powerful enough for that."
She moved over to look at the army knife (or what used to be one) on the table. "What's the new design? Can I blow up your Bunker again?"
"Err…I'm still thinking about it. But you're not blowing up my bunker. I have this sketchy idea…" he looked at the clock again. "But it'll take a long time to explain."
She looked down at the table, then at the clock, and laughed. "You're too distracted to explain it, you mean. Don't worry, I won't stay long – just came to tell you that Chiron's calling a meeting of cabin counselors and deputies after camp fire tonight. Tell your girlfriend that Lacey agreed to represent."
"Hey, she's not my-"
She laughed. "Spare me the denial, Valdez. You know it."
"Why haven't I locked you up inside a cupboard yet? Oh yeah, because your Blowfish will strangle me with his mighty grape vines?"
"Say another word and he will, I promise. Anyway, don't forget the meeting. Chiron said that some ambassador's coming. He'll shoot anyone who skips the dinner."
"Okay...I don't mean to get shot dead just yet. But did you say after campfire? Why so late?"
She shrugged. "No idea. I don't know who the ambassador either. I gotta run, though. Sword training in fifteen minutes and your bunker is entirely too far away from the arena. Give my regards to Piper, okay?"
"Shall do."
She winked and ran off, leaving him to carry on the army knife. Adam, another son of Hephaestus came in a few minutes to report the progress in the forges, and Leo promised he'll come down in a few minutes. Adam left with a nod, but Leo wished that he didn't have that smug look. Great. He was going to have a talk with Lacey about the gossiping Aphrodite girls. He and Piper weren't even a proper couple yet and the whole camp was already passing rumors?
He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't hear it when air before him shimmered with a rainbow. The visitor watched him work for full five minutes before interrupting.
"Being busy, Leo?"
"Piper!" he looked up with a grin. "Didn't see you there! How's everything? Where are you today? Did you meet anyone?"
She laughed. It felt so good to hear her easy laughter, it said that she was alright and recovering from the shock of the last week. Perhaps the time alone and away was a good idea, so that she could bury the memories alone and come back to camp with a fresh mind. A new beginning. Yeah, that was a good hope.
"Well, I'm fine. Didn't meet my mother yet, though. She's not in Olympus. I tried to Iris message her, or contact her in a dream like you suggested, but she's not responding. Maybe she's avoiding me." Piper's face fell for a minute. "But she's got to talk to me sometime. I mean, we're not kids anymore, and the fate of the world doesn't rest on our shoulders!"
Leo nodded. "Of course. But who knows, we're never free from it really. We're demigods." He made air quotes around the word. "No telling what will happen next. Did you meet anyone else, anyway?"
"Yup. Lady Psyche, my…uhh, immortal sister-in-law? She said that Aphrodite has been avoiding her too, for about three thousand years." The girl shook her head disbelievingly. "Could you imagine that?"
"Nope," Leo stared. "Keep long grudges much? Your mom, I mean?"
"Apparently?"
"Do you want me to come over and help find her? This place is so boring without you. You need to be here. I can't remember where anything is."
She smiled wistfully. "I know…I miss you, too. I'll be back as soon as I can. I promised you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, okay," Leo nodded. "Go on debriefing, ma'am. Where are you, though? Are you…back at home? I thought your dad was filming in Canada...?"
Piper nodded and waved her hand around the room. It was her room at the McLean mansion, even though it looked like she had just moved in. The bed was still covered in a neat quilt, and her backpack lay on it half open. The windows were closed, the cupboards locked, the dressing table empty, and it was eerily quiet except for her voice.
"After meeting Psyche, it felt like I should go back home. It was…just a feeling. Like I had to be here, like there was something here I needed to see or someone I had to meet. I haven't figured it out yet. No one was home when I came here. You know, sometimes she scares me." Piper looked at him with a hint of desperation in her eyes. "Psyche. It's like…she can see right into my head. But then, Psyche is the Goddess of Soul, so I guess that's usual for her."
"That still sounds creepy, Pipes."
"Yeah. And…and she…" Piper blushed. "She wished us good luck."
Leo felt his own ears going red and hot. He smiled sheepishly, not knowing what to say. He made a mental note to thank this lady if he ever met her. That was pretty nice of the goddess, even though he had just been feeling scared of her. If she was Piper's half sister and if she had wished them good luck, she couldn't have been all bad.
"So you don't know when your father will be back?"
"No," she sighed. "I just got here, actually. I'll send him a call tonight. By the way…" she looked down. "I met Jason."
Leo felt like he was suddenly drowning with a weight tied to his legs. "And…?"
"Not in the camp. I kind of ran into him in Medea's department store. He said he was sorry and left before I could say anything else. He seemed to be in an awful hurry to get away…"
"What were you doing in Medea's store?"
"I was just passing through. I saw Aphrodite there once, in our first quest – she told me not to say it then because of Zeus' ban."
"Oh, okay." Leo wasn't sure if he could let down the heavy weight in his mind yet: Jason. Of course, having officially 'dumped' Piper for a Roman girl he shouldn't be a problem anymore, but Leo couldn't help feeling nervous about him. Jason was, after all, both their first friend in the demigod world. And Leo was probably destroying the guy code, since Piper was Jason's girlfriend, and Jason was his best friend. Sure, their memories were altered, but it didn't change the truth of those facts. It was all so complicated.
"Don't worry, he'll come around," Piper said, but she herself didn't seem to believe the words much.
"What will you do next?" Leo asked, partly to change the topic. Piper considered it for a bit, and shrugged.
"I'm not sure yet. I have to find out why I was sent here. Guess I'll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow."
"Sounds good," he agreed. "Take care, okay?"
"I will, I will," she laughed. There was some sound of knocking a door far behind her in the other end. She turned back confused, and the knocking repeated. Piper muttered something about trespassing fans and looked back again. "See you later, then? Seems like some paparazzi noticed my breaking in…"
"Yeah, sure. Goodbye and goodnight, Pipes. Say hello to Dad from me."
"Sure thing," she smiled. The knocking repeated behind her a third time, sounding more urgent and demanding. "See you tomorrow, Leo."
She waved her hand across the rainbow cutting the connection, just as a loud crash was heard in the background. Leo fervently hoped that the Tristan McLean had a strong door that was paparazzi-proof. Piper would be able to send them packing with a single dose of Charmspeak. She had faced horrors much worse than gossip-hunters.
The door was paparazzi-proof, if it was any relief to the son of Hephaestus. It could hold well against a whole mob of fans, if the need be.
What he didn't know was that the door wasn't built to hold back more sinister forces.
Much more sinister forces.
But he didn't know that. Yet.
A/N: Hello again! Some of you might have happened to read my three-part oneshot Rough Draft, which was demanded a sequel by some readers, including myself *cough* because the seeds of the continued story had already been sowed towards the end. BUT, it was only the beginning of a new twist. This time, it's not only Leo and Piper who would be caught in the turmoil. To quote Leo, "We're demigods. No telling what will happen next."
As the story progresses it will be able to stand on it's own, but if you're confused, I would recommend skimming through the 'prequel.' For those in the know, we're a week forward from the night at the glade.
A fair warning: There Will Be OCs. And one major canon/OC pairing. There will be no Mary Sues.
Many thanks to S. Layton, dearest friend and partner-in-crime, and the most trusted beta-reader. You Rock! :D
R&R, hope you enjoy! :)
Coming next chapter: A messenger and an announcement. And bad news.
