Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Percy Jackson and the Olympians/ Heroes of Olympus.

Enjoy:)

"You ready?" Percy asked, grinning. He was stood on the beach with Leo and Tyson, arms folded across his chest, as they surveyed the mighty bulk that was Leo's newest invention. It was a ship, but nothing like the Argo II; the Paralus II was smaller,
built with a shape similar to that of a large speed boat- and that was exactly what it was made for. Speed.

Leo had been working on the boat for weeks now- pouring over and perfecting the designs before working tireless hours with the Hephaestus cabin to get it built. They had been using Bunker 9 as a workspace for the ship, and finally, finally it was
finished.

"I was born ready." Leo replied, rubbing his hands together. His eyes held the familiar wicked gleam they always did when he was about to do something crazy, and he had a smudge of dirt across his cheek from greasing the deck stands.

Percy laughed. "Awesome. Let's do this."

The boat was only built for a small crew, so Leo and Percy had opted to try it out on their own, for safety reasons- it seemed only rational with Leo being the engineer of the ship, and Percy being unable to drown. They clambered on, and Percy lingered
patiently whilst Leo did a few final checks. As he waited, Percy leant against the ship's rail and looked over his shoulder at Frank, (who had now joined Tyson on the beach), giving them a thumbs up. Tyson waved back too over-enthusiastically and
ended up accidently smacking Frank in the face, which made Percy chuckle, but his smile faltered lightly as he spotted the small group of spectators starting to arrive toward the back of the beach. Underneath all their talk and joking around, Leo
and Percy were both anxious that something might go wrong on the experimental vessel.

"I think we're starting to draw a crowd, Leo." Percy commented dryly.

The smaller boy looked up, wearing an impish grin and spinning his spanner round precariously. "Oh, that's just me. I have that kind of impact."

Percy found himself scanning the throng of people, looking for that familiar curly blonde head, and had to remind himself that Annabeth wasn't there. For some reason, he hadn't been able to shake the unnerving feeling that something weird was going on,
and had been consequently worrying about his girlfriend since she'd set off for Portland that morning. It was stupid, he knew. Annabeth and the others were only on a simple excursion to retrieve some demigods, and it wasn't like she couldn't handle
herself- Percy knew that from experience. Plus, she had Piper and Hazel with her, so she'd be fine. But still… something didn't stick right with him. Begrudgingly, he wondered if it was some kind of after-effect from everything they'd been
through. He hoped not. Everyone would just get sick of him if he turned into some paranoid weirdo.

He sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair as he his thoughts returnedto that morning; just before Annabeth had leaned in to kiss him goodbye, she'd ruffled it, laughing that he'd let it get way too long. And she was right, as always,
he thought, as he recalled the feeling of her fingers running through his hair, I'm in desperate need for a trim.

Leo stood up, breaking Percy's train of thought. He wiped one hand on his trousers, tapping the deck stand with the other. Percy knew he was hyperactive, but Leo was another level. "I think she's ready!" He gave Percy a mock-salute. "After you,
captain."

Percy rolled his eyes and headed to the hull. Leo, filled with nervous energy, followed him, and pressed a button to start the ship up, grabbing the wheel. The vessel started to move, and Percy could immediately feel the hum of the sea underneath the
wooden flooring, calming him and washing his worries away.

"Hold on tight!" Leo said. He looked slightly demented- the sea breeze messing up his curly hair and his eyes alight with excitement. Percy grabbed the railing closest to him as Leo flicked another switch- this one was larger and redder, and looked like
one of those Do not push me! Buttons that Percy was always itching to touch. Now, faced with Leo's manic grin, he wasn't so sure. The two boys braced themselves, and Percy's stomach lurched as Leo shouted, "Here we go!"

And then the Paralus II burst forward through the sea, speeding out across the body of water; Percy was sure he'd never moved so fast- it was like being on a jet plane. He could feel his subconscious urging him to slow the ship down- his body's automatic
reaction to control the speed of the vessel, but he ignored it, allowing himself to enjoy this moment of freedom, as he let go of everything. He could hear Leo laughing next to him- with relief, with exhilaration, he wasn't sure- but he found himself
joining in, cheering to the winds as the boat flew them across the water. For the first time in a long time, he felt free.

Camp half blood was long gone, as they cruised along the coast. They'd been driving for the majority of the afternoon, but they were coming up to the border of Canada now, which was incredible; they must have been moving at the speed of an aeroplane,
but it hadn't felt like they were unstable at all.

Percy couldn't hide his amazement at Leo's engineering. "Man, this is unbelievably cool. Your construction's actually awesome." he said nonchalantly, as they relaxed on the leather seats Leo had installed, drinking cans of root beer.

Leo laughed awkwardly, the tips of his ears turning red, but Percy could tell he was pleased with himself. He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, the mini fridge was Nyssa's idea, not mine."

"I see." Percy grinned. "I guess she's the real talent here."

They sat in silence for a little while, watching the view of the coast and sipping their drinks. Percy would have loved to stay late and watch the sunset, but he was desperate to get back to camp to see if Annabeth had got home from her quest- strictly
speaking, they weren't due back till the next evening, but that was really only if something went wrong; plus, that weird feeling still hadn't left him. Maybe Annabeth will watch the sunset with me, sometime, he thought, when she gets back.

"We better head home." Percy said, glancing at the clock on the censor control.

"You're right." Leo replied, turning the boat in an impressive U-turn. "Annabeth would kill a certain someone if he wasn't back there to meet her."

Percy smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. He suddenly felt restless, impatient to get back to shore, to Annabeth. He caught himself tapping anxiously on the boat's side, but Leo didn't seem to notice.

"-wonder if Piper will come running dramatically over to me," he was saying, "since Jason's not here and all. I'm looking forward to the dramatic reunion…" Jason was away at Camp Jupiter; he often went there to help Reyna out with things, sometimes taking
a couple of others with him, like Frank, Hazel, Leo or Piper. The camps were interconnected nowadays, with borders open to both Greeks and Romans, and it really felt like they were all one big- but slightly dysfunctional- family. Though, that wasn't
to say they didn't have their hiccups.

"Can this thing go any faster?" Percy asked.

He didn't mean his voice to sound sharp, but Leo glanced at him uncertainly. "Er… yeah, sure. Hold on." he fiddled with some controls next to the wheel, and the boat put on another burst of speed, bumping over the water. Leo eyed Percy's fists, which
were clenched tightly in his lap, and the turbulent look in his eyes. It was moments like this that Leo could see what people meant when they said Percy looked exactly like his father- he hadn't met Poseidon often, but he could see the sea brewing
in his son's eyes.

"You okay?" he asked, keeping his voice relaxed as he steered the boat.

"Yeah." Percy lied, dragging his eyes away from the horizon to glance at Leo. "Just a weird feeling, is all." He didn't seem to want to elaborate, so they drove back to Camp Half-blood in silence.

As soon as the boat moored, Percy hopped off. Tyson, Frank and the crowd of people had long-since dispersed, (probably realising that the two boys weren't coming back any time soon), but Percy couldn't help but feel like the camp was too empty. All of
a sudden, it felt deadly silent. Stop it, he chided himself. Stop freaking yourself out. He took a deep breath.

"Man, I bet Annabeth's dying to see you." Leo said, slapping him on the shoulder as he hopped off the boat. "Don't stress." It was a small comfort, but Percy was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for the kid. He was a good friend, even if he
didn't quite understand Percy's sudden mood swings.

"Thanks, Valdez. And… well done for today. You should be proud."

Leo smiled; he looked like he wanted to say more, but settled for throwing Percy a grateful smile, and together they made their way up the beach to meet their friends.

Please review!