Echo`s POV:
Echo sighed. Lately she had been thinking about Leo more and more. She smiled at the mere mention of his name. Leo. She missed him.
"Hey, Echo," Narcissus said. "Are you okay? You`ve seemed…distant lately." She winced; she probably had been pretty distant, especially with him. Echo couldn`t help comparing Narcissus to Leo. Narcissus still had the habit of checking himself out sometimes. Sometimes she wondered if he only loved her because she saved him. Was this her punishment, or her prize?
"Echo? Echo! ECHO!" She blinked, "Oh, sorry, Narcissus, what were you saying?" He grinned. "I was going to tell you that I convinced some of the water nymphs to help me build a boat." Echo was very confused. "You`re a shipbuilder now? I guess it`s not the worst hobby, but I had you pegged for an… archer or something." He smiled wider. "Noooo, we`re going on an adventure!" She looked at him in complete and utter shock. "Really?" He nodded. She flew up out of her favorite spot on the beach, where Leo and Hazel had appeared, and jumped into his arms. Then, struck by a sudden thought, she pulled back and asked, "Can we go to New York?" Echo had done research on Leo Valdez. There were books about him. He went to somewhere called Camp Halfblood, a place in Long Island, New York. Narcissus nodded.
"Of course. Anything for you, hero."
She smiled, albeit sadly. "Thank you. I`m going to go to bed now, alright?" "Sure," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Goodnight, Echo. We`ll leave tomorrow morning, okay?" "Okay."
Those four little words broke her heart. She felt like that girl from those vampire books (nymphs like romance novels, apparently). What was her name? Brella? Echo decided it didn`t matter. She thought it was stupid that she was acting like a damsel in some fairy tale, torn between two men, er, boys. Leo probably hadn`t hit 5'7" yet. She definitely wasn`t a hero; she`d only saved him from death. She inwardly sighed; she`d figure this out later.
What she did have to worry about was whether the nymphs would let her off the island. They still were completely infatuated with Narcissus. She didn`t trust any of them, not even that confused nymph who occasionally squeaked, "Team Leo!" And she couldn`t just tell them she didn`t really, truly love Narcissus; they`d find a stake and either stab her through with it or burn her at the thing. She winced; angry nymphs were horrible creatures.
Narcissus`s POV:
Echo steps out of her cave. Narcissus smiles, thinking she`s the most beautiful being to ever walk the Earth. She was so sweet and gentle. He was happy he was doing this for Echo. She spots him and hurries over.
"Alright, Nar, can we go now?" He laughed, "Someone`s a bit excited." Echo blushed. "I want to see the world. Everything." "Will do," he said smiling. "I`d capture the moon for you." She smiles, ducking her head. He reaches for her arm and grasps it lightly, then pulls her to the boat he and the nymphs had made. She laughs. "Calling this thing a boat was pretty generous; this is more like a raft with a roof." She was right. The boat was just a few trees lashed together with some rope and a roof. There were two oars to row with (obviously). Echo smiles slightly at this. "Good, you don`t expect me to sit here doing nothing while you row." "You know, most nymphs would rather me do all the work, and they sit and watch or relax or whatever." Echo laughs quietly, behind her hand. "I think we both know I`m not most nymphs. I remember those nymphs that wouldn`t have cared much if you died. 'Marry me before you die, Narcissus!'" "Okay, then, milady, let`s get this show on the road."
Leo`s POV:
They`re back. Back at Camp Halfblood, where they belong. The world was saved. But he misses Echo. She doesn`t deserve to be stuck on that island, trying to save Narcissus. It`s not even Leo that he wants her to be with, just not a self-obsessed jerkface who couldn`t be bothered to save himself from oncoming doom. Leo kind of hoped Narcissus was dead. But would that mean Echo died? No. She had more of a purpose than that. He had to forget her. They couldn`t date; as much as he wanted to date her, she was a nymph and had her lovely Narcissus to hang with. Leo shook his head. Okay, that`s my happiest thought of the day by far.
At the climbing wall, Leo didn`t climb fast enough. The lava didn`t hurt him, but clashing rocks? Ouch. He would have to find a new pair of pants. His thoughts kept wandering to Echo. Ugh! He`d go to the forge. Yeah. That would take his mind off her.
Leo managed to make a hammer shaped like a girl in a Greek chiton without noticing. Piper and Annabeth walked by, and noticing Leo`s frown, they came in and asked what was wrong. Piper, being the wonderful, love-detecting daughter of Aphrodite she is, noticed something was wrong immediately. "Awwww, Leo you`re in love." Leo blushes. "Am not." Annabeth laughs. "Are too. You look just like Percy used to a year before we started dating." Leo looks up, immediately interested. "What did he do? Ask you out?" Annabeth gapes like her boyfriend`s subjects at him. "Are we talking about the same Percy here? Percy Jackson?" "Really?" "Yes; I baked him a lopsided cupcake and somehow, we ended up kissing underwater." Leo notices the red creeping up her cheeks. "Ask Clarisse," Piper advises. Leo laughs. "So…" Annabeth starts, "is that… Calypso?" Leo looked at the ground. "No, it`s Echo." Annabeth`s face softens. "I`ll see if I can Iris-message her, Leo, that`s the best I can promise to do." Leo cautiously glances at her. "Can you not, you know-?" Piper chuckles. "I`ll make sure there`s no threatening, Leo." Leo smiles at them. "Thanks." "No problem."
Echo`s POV:
Narcissus and Echo are rowing when the air in front of Echo shimmers and an image of two girls appears. She yelps and leaps back. Narcissus stops rowing and comes to stand next to her. "Hello," the blond girl says. "Are you Echo?" She nods, wordlessly; this girl is a little terrifying, there`s so much gravity about her. Both girls smile. "Leo described you well," the second girl, a brunette, says. "I`m Piper, and this is Annabeth." Leo. Echo gets little shivers up her spine. She manages to find her voice. "Is he okay?" Now that she found it, the words flew out with so much ferocity, she couldn`t reign them in. "Is he alive?" She couldn`t think of any other reason he`d contact her. " Whole? Healthy? What happened to him? Does he have a girlfriend?" All three beholders looked as surprised as she was, but the two girls shared a small smile. "He`s alive, he`s pretty much whole, he`s physically healthy, and still scrawny," Piper said. Annabeth smiled and said, "No, he doesn`t have a girlfriend." "Would you like to come to Camp Halfblood?" Narcissus shoots Echo a look. "We can`t," he answered before Echo could. She looks at him, confusion overtaking her face.
Was he jealous? No, that`s ridiculous. But he was being so… protective. Could he really be-? No.
Narcissus`s POV:
At first, the name Leo didn`t ring any bells for Narcissus. Then he remembered…Team Leo. The nymphs armed with squirt guns. That accursed Celestial Bronze. The way he`d looked at Echo, if Narcissus fought his memory hard enough to gather details and feelings other than rage. Narcissus never wanted to see him again. Then he looked at the girls in the shimmer. Hmmm… the brunette, Piper, is quite pretty. He blinked. What? Oh, wait, she said Camp Halfblood? Demigods? She must be a daughter of Aphrodite. Curse that love magic! Echo looked at him, pleading, and he sighed. "Fine, we`ll meet you and this 'Leo', but not at your camp." Piper and Annabeth smiled, obviously relieved. "Alright, where?" Piper asked. Narcissus went through and rejected tons of ideas in an instant. "What`s convenient for you?" he questioned, letting them decide where to meet. They glance at each other, sharing thoughts, then Annabeth says, "Connecticut, in America." "Okay," Echo agreed. Then she cut the connection.
Leo`s POV:
"Great news, Leo!" Piper yells. "Echo`s coming here!" "REALLY? I have to clean the forges, and-," "Leo, calm down! It`s Connecticut, not camp." "Okay, okay, I`m calm. What?" Piper glances at the ground. "Narcissus is coming with her."
Echo`s POV:
Narcissus looks at her sadly. "Do you love Leo?" he asked quietly. Echo couldn`t meet his eyes. They were bound to be pleading and hurt. "I don`t really know," she muttered, wishing this conversation was over. When she glanced up, she was surprised to see Narcissus smiling a genuine smile. "If you love him, I want you to be happy. Give him a chance." Echo gasped. "Really, Narcissus? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Then she thought for a minute. "Maybe you could be with one of the nymphs?" she suggested tentatively. Narcissus made a face. "No thanks. I`d rather not be married and then murdered when she gets tired of me." Echo laughed, thinking that was a good choice. "So… let`s go to Connecticut!"
Narcissus`s POV:
They begin to row. Soon, they reach land. They manage to get to the ocean. Soon, he and Echo are in Connecticut. Echo scrambles off the raft, and promptly heaves into the sea.
Echo looks up at him. "We never specified where in Connecticut we`d rendezvous." She says sounding panicked. "How will we find them?" Narcissus walks around, trying to figure out how to Iris-message them. Then he face palms. We`re at the ocean, idiot! "Do you have a drachma?" he asks Echo. "I`m broke." "Yes, I think so," she says hesitantly. "Here."
He tosses the gold coin into the sea spray. "O, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept our offering. Show us Piper and Annabeth at…wherever they are." He squeezes his eyes shut, silently praying it will work. "Hello?" he hears Echo yell. "Can you hear me?" He opens his eyes and Annabeth and Piper turn around and grin, then nod. "Yeah," Piper says, "we can hear you."
Leo`s POV:
Leo hears Echo yelling something, and then Piper says, "Yeah, we can hear you." Leo slips closer to where the Iris-message should be. "We`re in Connecticut," he hears Echo call. "Where should we meet you?" Annabeth and Piper glance at each other, then Annabeth asks, "How about Circuit Street?" (AN: I tried making something up. I doubt it`s real, but if it is, I don`t own it.) He hears a distinctly male voice agree, and can`t help the scowl that appears on his face when he realizes who it is. Narcissus. But soon he`ll see Echo… Leo sighs. He can`t wait. "We`ll see you in about five minutes," Echo says. Leo can hear the smile in her voice, and grins at the sound. Yes.
Echo`s POV:
I`m so close! Echo couldn`t focus on anything else. Soon, she`d see Leo… She was so excited.
Narcissus`s POV:
Narcissus thought he might lose Echo. He didn`t want to, but if she`d be happy… It was his job to make her happy. He didn`t have to make Leo happy though, did he?
Leo`s POV:
Echo. The thought kept echoing (AN: I`m sorry, that was a horrible pun) through his mind. Suddenly he spotted her. He tore through the crowd of people and tackled her in a hug. She didn`t see him, and probably wasn`t expecting it, so she stumbled, but didn`t fall. Leo could see Narcissus glowering in the background. He pulled back from the hug, but Echo just ripped him back into it. He finally untangled himself from her, and looked at Echo. Her curse must`ve worn off, because when he blinked, or glanced at Piper to see if it was acceptable (it was), he still had her image clearly burned into his brain. Not that it was a bad thing. Echo laughed, "You haven`t changed much at all!"
Echo`s POV:
Leo had a mock-hurt expression after Echo said that. She just laughed harder. He actually had changed; his face was a bit more angular and he was a few inches taller than her now, about 5'7". "So…um," Leo sounded bashful. Echo looked at him, surprised, curious, and confused as to why he stopped. "Doyawannagooutwithme?" Echo looked at him, with confusion written on her face, but amusement in her eyes. "Pardon?" Leo immediately turned bright red. "Would you…maybe…sometime…want to…go out with me?" She smiled at him, completely forgetting about Narcissus. "Of course I would." Leo looked disbelieving. "Really?" She chuckled, "Yes." Then, to prove her point, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. When she pulled back, he could`ve put out a fire if he had a hose.
Narcissus`s POV:
Narcissus couldn`t help the jealousy that spread through his body. He loved Echo, didn`t he? This was to be expected. Annabeth and Piper were standing next to him, holding his arms lightly, keeping him back. There was no need. He`d already set a timed fire-starter where he estimated Leo would be standing when Echo had gone to the bathroom. He smirked. Leo had what was coming to him.
Leo`s POV:
Leo felt like something bad was about to happen, but he decided to pretend nothing was wrong anyway. "So, um, Leo," Echo started, "what do you want to do?" He mentally facepalmed. Right. Um…how about we… "Go to dinner?" he suggested. Echo chuckled. "It`s noon, Leo." "Oh…. Lunch?" Echo laughed again. "Sure."
Then, because Leo had the best luck in the world, a fire started next to Echo. She yelped and jumped out of the way. Since Leo was fire-resistant, he wasn`t scared for himself, but for Echo. She wasn`t flame retardant. Oh, schist, what about the mortals? Echo must`ve had the same thought, because she was already herding them out. Ugh, how do I put the dang thing out? Ooh, ooh, fire extinguisher! He looked around for one. While he was running toward it, he saw Annabeth yelling at Narcissus and Piper charmspeaking the mortals so they`d be calmer, though she looked pretty panicked herself. He grabbed the fire extinguisher and started spraying the fire with the white stuff. Once the fire was out, he wondered why Annabeth was yelling at Narcissus.
Echo`s POV:
Echo caught some of the words Annabeth was shouting. "You…..schist! …mortal could`ve…! Echo could`ve! You should…better!" Annabeth was kind of good at this. Leo was pretty brave, with the fire extinguisher and all. Wait. He was immune to it. It was still a little brave, though.
Narcissus`s POV:
Narcissus felt no remorse; he had no regrets. Well… Okay, when Echo jumped away from the fire, he felt a little bad. 'Little' as in 'he wanted to punch himself repeatedly. Ugh. But they`re so cute. His eyes widen and he looks at Piper, who is chuckling and smirking. "We`ll set you up with Calypso." He shrugs. Why not?
Leo`s POV:
Echo and Leo are at Angelo`s, the sandwich place across from Percy`s mom`s apartment. Leo grins; he`s dreamed of this.