LEO

THE FIRST THING THAT WENT THROUGH LEO'S MIND was 'Reyna's gonna kill me, and I didn't even hit on her yet…'

Turns out, that wasn't why Reyna wanted to talk with him. She watched Jason, Percy, and Frank head toward the temple, before turning to him. Leo wanted to duck, maybe make up an excuse, possibly even go listen to Annabeth talk about architecture for three hours.

Gods, he must either really like this girl or was really scared of her if that was his cop-out. Or both.

"So, tell me how you ended up like this?" Reyna asked. "Frank told me some of it, but since you guys were running from eidolons, maybe he missed some of the story. I still remember you firing on New Rome, Leo. I haven't forgotten."

Leo told her the story: how Hera, his godly grandmother, had tried to toughen him by babysitting him as a child, how Gaea had tricked him into burning down his mother's warehouse, how he and Piper had found Jason and all three had gone to save Hera, how he built the Argo II, and all of the adventures, the loneliness he had felt across the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

He expected Reyna to say, 'Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry.' or 'Well, that's a demigod's life for you.' What he didn't expect her to say was, "You switched from English to Spanish constantly."

"Oh, sorry," Leo sighed. He started to repeat his story, but Reyna stopped him. "I understood perfectly. I speak Spanish too, you know." In perfect Spanish nonetheless. Leo tried to ignore his heart skipping and his pulse racing.

"Así que, mi reina, ¿por qué usted realmente me pregunta aquí después de que los chicos dejaron?" Leo smirked. She didn't even miss a beat. "Why did I ask to talk to you after the guys left? Well, as you might have heard, the giant Orion hunted me, Nico di Angelo, and Coach Hedge up there as we transported the Athena Parthenos back to Half-Blood Hill.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Please. One giant? I could have taken him no problem." Reyna glanced at him skeptically. "Leo, several Amazons and Hunters were killed trying to stop him. He's the giant born to kill Apollo and Artemis."

Leo tried not to look scared, but he had seen the Hunters in action. He'd met Apollo and Artemis. The guy born to kill them must be… "So what, he shot you or something?"

Reyna scoffed. "Lo intentó varias veces, pero Nico consiguió sombra nos viajar lejos en el tiempo. Es lo que dijo en San Juan, mi casa, que quería hablar contigo."

Leo began fiddling with his remote adapter. "Orion said something? What did he say that threw you off?" Reyna looked troubled, but she spoke anyway. "He said...he said," her voice quavering. "He said 'Jason Grace scorned you. Percy Jackson refused you. Haven't you been dumped enough?'" She must have been really upset, because she stayed in English the whole time.

Leo walked slowly over to her and put his arm around her. "Hey, hey. You haven't been dumped. Jason and Percy just have others. You'll find someone. But, why didn't you ask Piper. Her mom's Aphrodite."

"Yeah, but so is yours, technically. I already talked to Piper, but she didn't really know what to say. Aphrodite told me back in Charleston that "'You shall not find love where you think or where you wish. No demigod shall heal your heart.'" I...I am starting to believe that it might be true."

Leo suddenly had an urge to tell Reyna what Aphrodite had told him, as he and Festus crossed back over the Atlantic. But he withheld himself. 'It wouldn't be fair,' he chided himself.

Suddenly, Reyna gasped. She stared at Leo's hand. "Your hand's on fire!" Leo shook his hand and extinguished it. "No, its a power of Hephaestus. It's really rare, but yeah, I'm a fire user." Reyna began to stare at him, as if she was seeing him in a whole new light.

"You know," she began in Spanish, "that every crew member has a unique power that their regular siblings don't have. Percy and Jason are natural born leaders. Piper has charmspeak. You have fire, Hazel has Mist manipulation, Frank has shape-shifting, and Annabeth has super-intelligence, even for a child of Minerva...or rather Athena.

Leo leaned forward. "So, what's your unique power? The power that other children of Bellona don't possess?" Reyna grabbed his hand, and suddenly Leo felt much stronger. Like he could raise Gaea and slam her back down again three times.

"My power," Reyna stated, "is that I can transfer my strength, sort of like lending it, to other people, armies even, if necessary. I told Nico that it's a power of the children of Bellona, but that's not exactly true. My sister Hylla does not have this power. I don't like talking about, because everyone will think I'm controlling them. I want people to see me as a leader for reasons I myself have, not because of a power my mother gave me."

Leo realized she had just said that all in Spanish, and not once did he feel like she was sizing him up, comparing him to Percy or Jason or even Frank. The other girls, even though they'd never admit it, did that all the time.

On the quest to save Hera, Leo had been aware of Piper secretly comparing him and Jason. When he'd met Hazel, she seemed to be comparing him and Frank. After Percy joined the crew, Annabeth did so as well, but she only did it for like a minute.

And why shouldn't they size him up? It was because of Leo that the Romans chased them to Charleston, then rounded on Camp Half-Blood. Jason didn't do that. Neither did Percy or Frank. No wonder he was always the seventh wheel.

But Reyna didn't compare him. She saw him as a person, a person that she could talk to. He wanted to be that person, but he was worried he'd hit on her, and she'd curse him, then kill him with everyone watching.

Leo wasn't even aware that they had successfully integrated Festus into the broken hull. The Argo II was now fully repaired, and sixty feet longer. Apparently, Reyna worked while her mind and voice were elsewhere, just like Leo. Hot.

Above them, something rolled off the deck. "Grenade!" yelled Hazel's voice. The grenade exploded with buttered popcorn everywhere. Apparently, Hazel and probably Piper had been crouching above them, listening.

Leo was about to tell them off, when he noticed the sun had set. He and Reyna had been talking for hours, and they were about to leave.

"Guys, we can't leave. Not till morning," Leo exclaimed. He was about to tell them what Hephaestus had said when he heard the commotion.

Heading down the hill, were Jason, Percy, and Frank, chased by evil...somethings. They took the shape of shadowy figures, lashing out. Everywhere they went, the shadows disappeared, making the figures darker.

Annabeth began to call out, "Those are skierá stoicheía. Shadowy figures born straight from the eternal pit Chaos. What are they doing here?

Things began to click into place. Leo was starting to form a terrible picture about the terrible foe that Hephaestus and Aphrodite had mentioned. Was it possible?

But first, he needed to save his friends, who were getting beaten up pretty badly by the skierá stoicheía. He turned to Reyna, who said, "Go. We'll get the horses and come save you guys." Leo turned and jumped over the rail, and surveyed the scene.

Frank was shifting from a lion to an eagle to a rabbit to a wolf. In between changes, Frank fired bows until he was just a blur. Unfortunately, nothing Frank the Amazing Circus Animal did was affecting those shadowy figures.

Percy had summoned some water and encased Riptide with it, in the shape of a trident, literally made of water. He threw the water trident, impaling one of the shadows. But it instantly began to heal. The other shadow came from behind and whacked the son of Poseidon into a hotdog cart.

Jason managed to hold down the shadow Percy had hit with Riptide, but his attacks didn't seem to be doing much damage. "Jason, hit with lightning," called Annabeth. "I think that that, combined with Percy's attack, should destroy it. Leo and Frank, see if you can take the other one.

Thunder broke the sky, but Leo didn't see the bolt. He was focused on his trusty tool belt, and the concentration needed to pull out a bottle of gasoline. He took careful aim at the shadow and threw it.

Frank readied his bow, and Leo snapped his fingers, sending down a spark. The entire arrow lit up, scorching with flames. Frank fired the bow, piercing the bottle of gasoline, sending the shadow up in flames.


The four boys met at the at the gangplank, watching the two shadows sizzle and burn.

"Nice work, guys," grinned Jason. "I don't think we'll see those guys again."

Frank grunted. "But they probably have brothers, and a master. Our job is never done."

Leo stared at the combusted shadow. On the ground, Leo saw the shadow of a building, and on top of the building, he saw the shadow or silhouette of a kid. But when he looked up, no kid was on top of the building. He was thinking about bringing this to the other guys' attention, when four horses descended from above.

The first horse was a black pegasus. Annabeth rode on its back, gesturing to Percy. "Ok, Blackjack. To the ship." The second horse was dark and stormy; Jason's lightning steed, Tempest, with Piper on its back. Hazel had rode up on Arion, and Frank shakily got on, nervously eyeing the horse. Reyna rode a white pegasus, Guido, and she offered Leo a hand up.

The horses headed to the Argo II. Sure enough, Coach Hedge was standing at the ballistae, watching them approach.

"Cupcakes, listen up. Nico has just gotten an Iris-message from the Romans. He just told me what they said. The harpy, Ella, and Rachel Dare, the Oracle, have pieced together a prophecy, and Rachel is certain it ties into you guys."