AN: I don't own PJO. I know I said I wouldn't update until I got enough reviews (and I didn't, by the way) but I really like this story so I'm going to update it anyway. Still, please review or favorite/follow, and thanks to the two people who reviewed.
rebecca de silva: thanks! Esperanza is my favorite character, or maybe Jamie (though Jamie hasn't gotten to show of her awesomeness yet, she's a crazy awesome swordsman). I've only seen one other PJO time travel story, and the author stopped writing it :( so I figured my favorite fandom deserved some time travel.
Don'tJudgeMyImagination1234: Thank you! *tips tophat and takes a fancy bow to readers, pretending they can see me*.
Esperanza nearly giggled and did a stupid dance when she saw the engine room. She stood in the doorway, mouth open in awe of the awesomeness of the ship. "It's…. It's beautiful." She whispered.
Next to her, Raiden smirked. "Yeah, shiny. You have an engine obsession."
"It's not an obsession." Esperanza defended her hobby. "It's a healthy interest. And this ship is the awesomest thing I've ever seen. Who built it?" She asked, turning to ask Annabeth, who had been watching the exchange with interest. Esperanza knew who built it of course-she had heard stories about the Argo II since she was a baby. But even without that, she would've known it was her dad's work. The machinery wasn't as sleek as his work in the future, but his handprint was all over the engine, like a signature.
"Leo, the boy on the deck." Annabeth said.
"Damn, that kids smarter then he looks." Esperanza said, running a hand over the metal of the machinery. "I mean, this engine… it's crazy advanced. It's genius."
"Yeah, Leo's good at what he does." A girl with unevenly cut dark brown hair tied in little braids, kaleidoscope eyes, and a golden knife strapped to her belt. "Percy filled me in on what's going on. You two are Zane and Raiden, right?"
Raiden nodded, and Esperanza gave a thumbs up. "I'm Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite."
Esperanza got to work on the engine. For what was at least ten minutes, the other three just stood and watched her. Piper and Annabeth couldn't help but think that everything about her-the way she moved, the friendly way she talked, how she started humming a Rolling Stones song after a few minutes-reminded them of Leo. "Zane" was too much like Leo for it to be a coincidence.
When nobody was looking, Raiden snuck a glance at Piper through the corner of his eye. She was definitely his mom, just younger. It felt strange to know that someone he knew so well and cared about so much stood next to him, but to her he was a stranger.
Finally Annabeth and Piper left, leaving Raiden sitting cross-legged on the workbench, watching Esperanza work and handing her tools.
"We're on a quest." Raiden said suddenly.
"Yeah, we are." Esperanza said without looking up from her work. She held her hand out. "Flathead screwdriver." Raiden handed her the screwdriver.
"I mean, I seriously didn't see all this coming when I woke up this morning." Raiden said.
Esperanza snorted. "You're telling me. I thought this would be another great day messing around, but instead we're on a damaged ship, going who-knows-where, with people that don't know us, and off to fight the earth mother herself. I mean… we've always heard stories about this. But now we're here, and if we screw up…." She trailed away.
Raiden nodded. "This is bigger then we ever thought we'd get mixed up in."
Esperanza grinned. "Yeah, most important thing we've done up to now is nearly burn my school down."
"Hey, that was you, not me."
"Same dif."
"You are such a pyromaniac."
"Not like I can help it." Esperanza said, holding out her hand. She snapped her fingers, and a small flame burst out above them, lighting up the dim room slightly. "Still not totally in control. What if I get too mad while we're here, and burst into flame? There's no way they'd miss that, Raiden."
"We'll manage. Teddy might be able to bend the mist to help us out a little, too." Raiden assured his best friend. "And you can control it. You just have to remember what your dad taught you."
"Yeah." Esperanza said. She turned back to the engine and sighed. "There's nothing more I can do. We need bronze, probably tar and lyme too, before I can do anything more. Some help from Leo wouldn't hurt, too."
"He's still getting interrogated." Raiden said, clambering to his feet with a groan. "Let's see if we can help."
"Sure thing, boyscout." Esperanza said. "Do you think they'll figure out anyone but me? I mean, I look a lot like my dad, but do any of the rest of us…?"
"Maybe Teddy, with the golden eyes and curly hair." Raiden guessed. "But Jamie's adopted, no danger there, especially since her dad's aren't even here. Cassie, Charles, and I all look… like mixes of our parents. So they're less likely to guess who we are." Raiden said, running a hand through his hair. It was a nervous tick of his, something he did when he was thinking. Probably why his dark blond hair always stuck up at the front. He had his mom's eyes, but they were more blue then her's, so unless anyone took a close look at his eyes they wouldn't notice. He wore a purple t-shirt and jeans, and had a golden knife like the one his mom, Piper, used.
"They might guess about you." Esperanza sighed. "But I'm the one in most danger. I wish I wasn't wearing the stupid army jacket, I had forgotten that was dad's thing."
"I think you look great in the army jacket." Raiden assured her, and then his face turned red as he realized how that made him sound. Esperanza didn't seem to notice as they trooped up the stairs to the deck.
"Thanks, bestie."
When they got to the deck, everyone else was already gathered. They turned to hear news about the engine.
"We need bronze, tar, and lyme." Esperanza reported. "And we're only good for probably one more landing, since the oars are totaled."
"Where can we get all of those at once?" Annabeth asked. She turned to Leo. "Can Festus scan for them?"
Leo nodded cheerily. "Sure he can. He started as soon as Zane said we needed them." Suddenly Festus's head turned to face them, and started making a bunch of squeaking creaking noises.
Esperanza understood the noises. All of her dad's machines sounded like that. When she was a little girl and spent all her time in the workshop with her dad, she learned to understand it. But, unfortunately, she had forgotten that "Zane" wouldn't understand Festus.
"Salt Lake City, Utah." She said, regretting the words as soon as they were out. An expression of panic flashed across the faces of her friends, but they quickly masked it.
The older demigods, on the other hand, were all staring at her. "How did you know that?" Leo demanded. "I'm the only one who understands Festus. How could you have known that? Why do you look like me? Why do you act like me? Who are you?" He stared at her intensely, and Esperanza started panicking.
"I told you. My name is Zane-" Behind the rest of the crowd, Cassie mouthed, Sanchez to her. "Zane Sanchez. I don't know why I look like you! You look like me! But I've never seen you before today and I don't know a thing about you! If I knew, wouldn't I have said something? I'm as confused as you are, man. Until today, I thought the only one with a face this nice was me." She pointed at herself, trying desperately to calm herself down.
Think non-fiery thoughts, she instructed herself. Fire extinguisher, sprinkler system, fire hose….
"Right. Sorry, Zane." Leo sighed, shaking his head. The other older demigods were looking guilty as well.
"S'okay, dude." Esperanza said, brushing aside his suspicions. "Annabeth said you built this ship, right?" Leo nodded. "The engine is awesome. The core flux numbers alone, powered on Lethe? That's nuts!"
Leo broke into a grin. "All in the casings you use."
"Celestial bronze and Imperial gold mix?"
"Yup. Plus silver to hold it all together, add a little blasting powder to the fuel mix-"
"But how'd you get past the feedback problem?"
"Heat dump in the back."
"Seriously?"
"Suped up heat dump." Leo corrected himself. The other demigods and legacies were giving them wtf looks and being confused. They clearly weren't following this conversation at all.
"Translation please, Zane?" Jamie sighed. "When you start talking tech it's as good as speaking in German."
"Machine… very… cool." Esperanza said slowly. "Might… go… boom… but… very… cool."
"Hey, it won't! I designed the heat dump myself, it's fully-functioning." Leo protested.
"No it isn't. It got banged in the attack. It's why we can only land once… any more then that and the engine would be a fireball." Esperanza said, shaking her head.
"Then I guess we'd better head to Salt Lake City." Annabeth said, interrupting before Leo and Esperanza could start chattering about the engine again.
"Shouldn't some of us stay on the boat and some of us go look for lyme and tar and all that?" Teddy suggested. He remembered that that was the way they had done this before someone started tampering with the time stream.
"It's best if no more then three or four of us leave together at a time." Hazel said softly. "We'll attract monsters. There's a reason quests are usually limited to three demigods."
They eventually decided that Hazel, Leo, and Raiden would go find the lyme and the bronze. Annabeth, Frank, and the twins would find the tar. The rest of them (meaning Piper, Jason, Percy, Jamie, Esperanza, Coach Hedge, and Teddy) would stay on the ship.
Nobody was necessarily happy with this arrangement. Annabeth didn't trust the legacies, and the legacies didn't want to be split up. Frank seemed grumpy about Hazel going somewhere without him, especially when the people she was going with was Leo and a stranger. The twins looked terrified when they found out they were going anywhere with Annabeth. And Jamie moaned about how she was stuck on the ship with the lame-os.
"Thanks." Esperanza rolled her eyes. "If we're lame because we're not leaving the ship, what does it mean that you're here with us?"
"Stuck babysitting you?" Jamie suggested.
"C'mon," Teddy said softly, rolling his eyes. He linked his arm through Jamie's. They were cousins, but thought of each other as siblings. "Hit something with a sword. It always cheers you up."
"I want to spar." Esperanza volunteered. "I can't do anything else for the engines until they get back with the materials we need. Could I borrow someone's sword?" She had her sword, of course, but it had been in her bag when they had come through the vortex, so the demigods from the past didn't know she had it. Any more similarities between Leo and Esperanza (his toolbelt and her messenger bag) and they would start asking questions again. They were already suspicious, Annabeth especially.
Jamie had her sword and Esperanza borrowed Percy's sword, riptide. They circled each other on the deck, everyone else who had stayed behind clustered at the railings at their left and right.
"I will not hold it against you if you choose to give up while you still have the chance." Jamie offered with a smirk. Esperanza grinned as well-smack-talking with Jamie was always fun.
"In your dreams, goth girl. Are you too scared to fight me or are you just worried about losing in front of everybody?" Esperanza cackled.
"Let's just do this already. Your banter is going downhill, and it's painful to watch." Jamie sniggered. Esperanza rolled her eyes, and lunged.
The legacies that already knew the two girl's knew what to expect. The demigods from the past, Piper, Jason, and Percy, didn't know what to expect. So they were surprised at the level of skill they both showed. Jamie and Esperanza had both trained since they were five, and though Jamie was better, they sparred almost every day, so the winner weren't definite. Especially since Esperanza was craftier.
Esperanza's sword was aimed for Jamie's stomach. Jamie turned to the side so the blade passed her. She reached out with her free hand and grabbed Esperanza's wrist (the one that held her sword), twisting her sword so the tip was under Esperanza's chin. Esperanza twisted her own sword, nearly slashing Jamie's hand, and doing what was almost a backbend as Jaime's sword nearly beheaded her. Jamie stabbed again, and Esperanza twisted her own sword so Jamie nearly had to drop hers, forcing both of them to dance backward and away from each other.
They circled each other, about seven feet apart. Piper, Jason, and Percy all exchanged looks of surprised. They hadn't expected the younger girl's to be such good fighters.
This time Jamie attacked first, slashing down towards Esperanza's shoulder. Esperanza raised riptide, and their blades met with a clang. They stayed frozen in that pose for five seconds, ten, neither of them willing to break away. Finally Jamie twisted her sword so that Esperanza stumbled back, but crouched and kicked Esperanza's feet out from under her out in one swift movement. Esperanza fell on her face, and rolled onto her back, groaning.
"Ouch." Teddy winced.
Jamie stood up, grinning down at Esperanza. "You okay, loser?"
"Never been better, cheater." Esperanza responded with a grin. "Help me up already, jackass." Jamie smirked and grabbed Esperanza's hand to pull her to her feet, both of them laughing.
"Are they friends?" Percy asked Teddy in a whisper.
"They are. They just like making fun of each other." Teddy nodded. "And hitting each other with big pointy pieces of metal, of course."