Nyssa woke up to a lot of running around on the Argo III. She had gone days without a full night's sleep and today was no exception. The dream she had that night still ran through her brain. She dreamt of Hephaestus Cabin being torn down by from an invisible force, almost as if it were coming from the inside. She tried running to the cabin but was being pulled back, like being sucked into a black hole, away from Cabin Nine. She looked behind to see what was pulling her and only saw the Argo III and the rest of her cabin beckoning for her to join them; they were pulling her away from something that she wasn't meant to see. She took one last look at the cabin to see the door open and someone slip out unnoticed, the cabin imploded as soon as the person left. The figure appeared on the hill, walking to the pine tree towards three large shadows with open arms; the person reached the largest shadow and was gone in an instant. Nyssa tried to scream and move but was already on the Argo III, slowly being crushed by the force while hearing a bone chilling laugh that seemed to echo through the world.
She walked out of the captain's quarters to see her entire cabin running around, picking up tools and sleeping pillows, and running as fast as a power tool on full speed towards the cabins. She stopped one of her friends, Jake Mason, to see what the problem was and why everyone was running around.
"What do you mean? No one's told you yet?" Jake yelled, surprised no one had told her about the mysterious problem. Why would I be asking if I knew what the problem was?
"No, no one's told me anything. I just woke up. So calm down, and start from the beginning." She tried to calm Jake Mason down since he looked as worried as when he couldn't find his monogrammed screwdriver a few summers ago.
"Okay, so last night Leo's friends went to our cabin to find him; something about not talking to him in a while or something. Anyways, when they went in they found all of his stuff gone. POOF! There were only a few things left on his bed, even his tool set we made him was left on his work bench!" Jake stammered through the story, trying to gather his things and head out the door as Nyssa followed suit.
"So what happened to Leo? Is he okay?" Nyssa questioned, very concerned after remembering her dream last night; hoping it didn't involve her brother.
Jake turned around to face Nyssa as he stood on the ramp that led up to the Argo III with his bed ridden hair, the sun was just over his head and cast a small shadow over his eyes as he said, "Leo ran away. And we're going to go find him." He quickly turned around and ran towards the campers gathering around the Big House and some smaller groups gathering by the cabins.
Nyssa stood motionless on the Argo III, wondering if Leo went with monsters, if he was coerced into going with them to save his friends, or if he was taken by another camper as she didn't see any other way Leo would leave the camp.
She looked at the Argo III, at the bronze work, the white sails, the wooden floor, the carvings on the wall that told of the Seven's journeys and quests, and the plaque that was by the door that led to the Captain's quarters, "The Argo III, may this ship carry our bodies safe to shore." A small flame was painted under those words; along with the initials "LV" to show who put the most work into the creation. Nyssa immediately felt empty inside, they had lost another counselor and this time he chose to leave. It made the act hurt that much more. She turned and slowly walked down the ramp to help with the search for their runaway hero.
A group of friends sat around a table with a small umbrella shooting out of the middle of the table to shade them from the light snow that was falling from the sky down on the city of Manhattan, they sipped on their hot chocolate and their coffee and talked of their past journeys and adventures; they always did this before the Winter Solstice. It was their tradition to dedicate a month before the meeting of the gods to search for their Runaway Hero, Leo Valdez. Jason and Piper sat next to each other as they chatted with Frank and Hazel about a possible vacation from their busy lives, away from the troubling life of a demigod. Annabeth talked with Reyna about old Rome while Percy sat and stared at the traffic that whistled by, catching bits and pieces of both conversations until he was snapped out of his daze by a marshmallow flying towards his face at a high speed. Percy quickly opened his mouth and ingested the white fluffy substance as Jason began speaking about their vacation.
"Haha! as I was saying, Perce, you and Annabeth should join us on our trip! We're going to Brazil for a bit. A change of scenery would do us all some good." Jason said, wrapping his arm around Piper as she fiddled with her wedding ring.
"I don't know man, we've got a lot going on at the company right now and I can't just leave when I want. Well, I could, but we are on the brink of something big! I can feel it in my Seaweed Brain!" Percy leaned forward in his chair as he sipped his coffee and took a bite of a blueberry muffin.
"Well, I'm sure your company can manage a few days without you, can't it? You can take a break, have some fun like old times, and come back so you can work on your water stuff." Frank said, interlocking his hands with Hazel's.
"One, its water purification not just 'water stuff'! And two, I still have fun!" Percy retorted as he tossed the last of his muffin into the air and caught it in his mouth. "See?" He tried to say but bits of the muffin launched out of his mouth and onto the table, he quickly finished what was in his mouth as the others stopped their laughing.
"Ya know you can come along if you want Reyna. I think it would be nice for you to do something other than search for a change." Piper said concern in her voice for her friend.
"I can't, I still have to…" Reyna started but was interrupted by Piper putting her hand on Reyna's arm.
"I know, but it's been six years Reyna. We aren't that much closer but I'm not saying you have to give up; none of us will. I'm just saying I think you could use a break." Piper insisted, remembering how hard Leo leaving had been on all of them.
Percy sat and watched his group of friends as he remembered how the last six years of their life went by without Leo. As soon as Leo's disappearance was discovered, everyone began the search for the Hero of Olympus; even the gods and goddesses. Olympus, Camp Half-Blood, The Hunters, the Amazonians, Camp Jupiter, and even Camp Fish-Blood searched the four corners of the Earth for Leo Valdez.
After the second year, the gods and Camp Fish-Blood eventually stopped diverting all of their resources towards the search for him and back to their regular routine; though still keeping an eye out for him. During the third year they had gotten a sliver of hope when a satyr spotted a person that fit Leo's description near Detroit. He was also spotted near Los Angeles but the weird thing was that it was a day after his sighting in Detroit; no one could move that fast on foot even if they had a Pegasus.
After the fourth year, only his close friends kept up the search but only for one or two full months out of the year instead of constant searching. Hephaestus cabin rarely came out of the workshop or their cabin, mourning the loss of another of their counselors, and trying to overcome the resurfaced curse that had fallen on their cabin. Some believed there was no curse of cabin nine at all; it was all just in their head to try to cope with the loss of another counselor. Hephaestus children stopped popping up altogether. The Blacksmith God had been unable to have any children after his favorite son had left, even with the help of his wife who could not stand to see her husband so miserable. Some campers grew bitter towards the hero, believing he was doing this to gain attention or try and overthrow Olympus; their claims were silenced swiftly by other campers.
It seemed it was only yesterday they were all on the Argo II on their way to Greece to stop Gaia, only yesterday…
"He has to slip up some time guys, remember when he was spotted near Detroit? Or how about LA? Or what about Pittsburgh a few months back? We'll find him eventually, we have to." Jason said, trying to convince his friends, along with himself, that there was still hope in finding their friend.
After finishing their drinks and snacks, the group started walking down the streets of Manhattan towards one of Percy and Annabeth's apartments. Despite the situation of their meeting, the group was in high spirits that one day they would find Leo, and one day they would all be happy together…whether Leo wanted it or not. They passed by a middle school letting out, with seventh and eighth graders running around towards the busses and parent's cars to get home. The group of childhood friends remembered when they were younger and were just discovering they were half-bloods, it was frightening and fun at the same time. As they rounded the corner of a street the group was split in two by a blur of blue followed by three more blurs as if they were chasing the first. Just as Frank was about to complain about manners in the city he was interrupted by the yelling of one of the blurs that was directed to the first.
"VALDEZ! GET BACK HERE!"
The group immediately looked at each other and sprinted off after the group that appeared to be kids in middle school. They ducked and weaved between alleys, trying to pass the chasers while trying to follow the first one at the same time. Jason caught up to one of the chasers and pulled him back as the others raced passed them.
"You're going to go home, do your homework, and leave that kid alone. Understand?" Jason said, making electricity arc around his eyes to add effect. The kid stammered a "yes sir" as he sprinted off in the other direction yelling about something called a Bioshock.
Piper caught up to the next one as she put her hand on his should and used charmspeak to calm him down, "Would you be a dear and go home for a bit? You look extremely tired and you could use some rest, why not eat some donuts or something?" She said, hoping her friends had caught up to the last one.
Frank caught the last one has he simply turned him around mid-run and said "Go home kid." In a stern voice, channeling his inner Mars, making the kid whimper and back away from Frank towards his house.
Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Reyna had caught up to the first blur to see where he was going and they finally got a good look at him as he hid behind a hot dog cart. He wore a blue hoodie with orange and red flames on the sleeves, cargo shorts that looked worn and passed down to him from someone older than him, tan skin that looked like caramel, and a mop of black hair that wasn't curly like Leo's but very untamed like Percy's. He sat behind the cart for a good five minutes before sighing in relief and walking down an alley, looking around him nervously.
Right as he turned onto the street from the alley, Jason, Piper, and Frank caught up with their group as they followed him deeper into the city until they came into the "less maintained" area of town. There were some abandoned apartment complexes and houses as well as one small hotel in this area of the city although not many people ventured to this part of town as they deemed it "unsafe" and a possible suicide mission thanks to the gang activity. The boy walked down the street with his hands in his pockets towards the abandoned hotel. As he opened the door to the hotel, the group decided now would be as good a time as any to follow him into the mysterious hotel. As they started walking towards it, however; they seemed to slow down like they were carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.
"Wh-what's happening?" Hazel said, struggling to walk straight until she started leaning onto Frank for support.
"I-it's the Mist. It's trying to get us to turn away, push through." Annabeth struggled to say as she was the closest to the hotel. As the group came to the hotel doors, they read a sign that said, "Obey the rules and you may stay. LV." The effect the Mist had on the group seemed to dissipate as they opened the door to the hotel, it had a cherry red carpet shining on the floor that led to the reception desk, surprising clean floors despite the occasional toy or piece of paper lying about on it, clean windows that let the sun shine brightly into the lobby, bright paintings that looked like a 5 year old painted with their hands, soft piano music playing from another room rang through the hotel, and a few kids walking around that ranged from five to eighteen years old. As they neared the reception desk they saw one girl, about 17 years old, sitting on the desk eating some chips and a boy about 18 years old siting behind it writing something down.
"What's a four-letter word for…stop right there!" The boy yelled as he noticed the group walking into the hotel unescorted.
"Halt?" The girl offered; looking slightly confused at the boy and his outburst.
The boy stood up from his desk and walked around to greet the new people, he had extremely red hair that rivaled Rachel Elizabeth Dare's but hung down on his forehead just above his eyes, freckles covering his entire nose and cheek area, bright blue eyes that resembled the sky on a sunny day with no clouds, and a long bronze sword strapped to his side that shined from the light.
"How'd you get here, what do you want, and do you want to live?"
"Oh be nice Ronald, why not welcome them and show them around? I mean really, why are you so grumpy all the time?" The girl questioned, turning to face the group while she sat on the desk, she had long blonde hair that looked like a thousand golden drachmas, dark brown eyes that resembled milk chocolate and one small scar on her left cheek. She had a bow resting on her right, painted red and orange with flames, and a full quiver of brightly colored arrows resting on the desk next to the bow.
"Because, Izzy, I was assigned to guard the place by him! And what did I tell you about calling me Ronald? I told you to call me Ron." The boy asked, looking slightly annoyed by the girl who stuck her tongue out at him.
"You know you like it."
"No, I most certainly don't."
"Yea-huh."
"No. I don't."
"Yes huh."
"Nuh-huh."
"Okay listen, we just want to talk to that kid who just walked in." Annabeth said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm down from the bickering in front of her.
"No one's talking to anybody; we don't know who you are and what you want. So you can either leave or I can make you." Ron said, pulling his sword from his waist as Isabel hopped down from the desk.
"What he meant to say was, we don't get a lot of new people here and would appreciate it if you could tell us who you are and how you got here." Isabel said as she lowered Ron's arm, she had a smile on her face that would cause the Minotaur to love her.
"I'm Piper, this is Jason, my husband," Piper added quickly, noticing the look in the girl's eye, "this is Annabeth and Percy, Frank and Hazel, and Reyna. We just want to ask the boy who walked in here a few minutes ago some questions. We are looking for someone and we think he could help us, could you go get him please?" Piper said, trying to add charmspeak to her voice. She never used it unless absolutely necessary. Seeing as how this involved Leo...she deemed it necessary.
"Don't try to charmspeak us. It won't work here." Ron sternly stated as he stepped forward, Jason jumping right in front of Piper to defend her in the process.
"Look, we can go get him. Just tell us his name and we'll send for him, but you talk right in front of us and he doesn't leave the hotel. Okay? That seems fair, right?" Isabel said, trying to calm Ron and Jason down and work out a compromise.
"She's right guys." Frank said to his friends before turning back to Izzy, "We only know his last name, Valdez. He has a hoodie with flames, and a mop of black hair." Frank answered, not wanting to have any conflict with the young teenagers.
"Matt?" Ron questioned, lowering his guard and looking at Frank.
"Okay, but don't forget the rules we stated earlier." Ron stared at Frank until he nodded, then at the group as they nodded in compliance, "Okay then," he turned to Izzy, "Go get Matt okay?" Isabel nodded and ran down the hallway to the right calling for Matt. They waited for a few minutes in awkward silence before Matt was walking towards the group with a smile plastered on his face.
"Did my girl scout cookies come in yet?" He said as he put his arm around Isabel, who slid it off just as quick.
"Are you Valdez?" Jason said, seeing a slight resemblance to Leo.
"Yea, I'm Matthew Valdez. Did I do something wrong again? Because I swear, it wasn't me! Unless it involved hamsters, haha now that was me." He laughed, his eyes looking over everyone in the conversation.
"You wouldn't happen to be related to a Leo Valdez would you?" Piper asked, wondering if and how they could be related.
"Yea I am!" Matt puffed out his chest, "He's my dad!" he finished as he began smiling at the shocked group in front of him.