Reyna opened her eyes. Everything looked hazy, but as her surroundings slowly came into focus, she realized that she was in a sewer. Firelight danced on the pipes, and Leo and Piper were huddled around.
"REYNA!" Piper said in relief. She threw her arms around Reyna and gave her a huge hug. Reyna screamed in pain.
"OhmygoodnessImsosorryReynaareyouok?" Piper asked worriedly. She looked terrified.
"Why are we in a sewer?" Reyna asked, "And how did Leo start a fire?"
Leo grimaced and held out his hands. Tiny flames danced on his fingertips.
"Isn't it great?" Piper asked, cheering up again. "Leo's a fire user!"
"Start from the beginning," Reyna said, trying to pull herself into a sitting position and failing miserably. Piper helped her up and began.
"So, you sacrificed yourself to save us," Piper began proudly, "Then Leo went off to find the dragon. Just as he left, these Cyclops ambushed us. They sounded exactly like you Reyna," Piper said, and her voice quivered.
"It was really creepy. I had no idea what was going on. They tied me and you up and brought us over to their campfire. I tried to buy time, but they wouldn't believe you were infected. They said a son of Mercury in a purple shirt said that and he still tasted good anyway." Piper looked at Reyna, as if she expected Reyna to know who the Mercury kid was.
"Sorry, don't know him," Reyna said. "Go on."
"Leo came back, rigged the machines to bust the two kid Cyclops's, and then crushed Ma Gasket with fire!" Piper finished, gleefully.
"With fire?" Reyna asked.
"Yes, he melted a chain and smashed her."
Leo blushed. "Hungry?" he asked, offering her a sloppy hamburger. "Tofu doesn't taste that bad after all. You want some, Piper?"
Reyna shook her head, and winced. She did not feel like eating. She gingerly ran her good arm over her ribcage.
"I think I broke a rib, broke my arm, broke my collarbone, and dislocated my shoulder.
"Wow." Piper said, amazed. "How do you know this stuff?"
"Don't know," Reyna said, annoyed. "I never know, so don't ask me anything." She slumped down, frustrated with herself. Of course, she'd planned it all. She hadn't broken her whole ribcage, or her neck, or her legs, or her feet, or her skull, or her wrist, or her spine. She was lucky. No, not really. She was strategic.
"Leo, let Piper finish cooking," Reyna commanded. Both Leo and Piper burst into protest.
"I'm no good! I'll burn the burgers! I'm nervous around fire! I've never done it before!" Piper said desperately.
"She's no good! I've done this all my life! She'll burn the burgers!" Leo complained.
"Ok, Piper can set my shoulder and Leo can continue cooking." Reyna said. Piper and Leo exchanged looks, and Piper immediately picked up the spatula.
Leo scooted closer to Reyna. "So, you want me to set your shoulder?" he asked hesitantly. "I don't exactly know how."
"Oh, I'm aware of that," Reyna said, brushing a spider off of her pants casually. "First, do you have any bandage in your magic tool-belt? We also need something that will work as a splint."
Leo pulled out a roll of duct tape and two wooden boards about the size of a ruler.
Reyna shrugged. "That'll do. Now first, set my arm. Can you tell which way it needs to go? Just grab my wrist and pull out until it straightens itself." Leo studied Reyna's swollen arm, and gently put one hand on her wrist. Very slowly and carefully, he tried to line it up with the rest of her arm.
"LEO!" Reyna gasped. "Don't do it slowly. That just makes the pain last longer. Remember, the bones in the lower arm twist as they come down. They aren't perfectly straight."
Leo tried again. When he'd finished, the arm still didn't look quite right, but after Reyna ran her fingers along the break, she pronounced it good enough.
Leo put the two ruler things on the front and back of her arm. He pulled a gardening glove from his toolbelt, ripped it in half, and wrapped the tape around the splints, with the two halves of the glove acting as padding. Reyna winced, but when it was done, it even looked a bit straighter.
"Thank you for considering my comfort and using a glove. Now you straighten my collarbone. Take my arm with both hands, one just above the elbow and one just below. Ow. Ow ow ow. Never mind, it doesn't hurt. Ow. Ok, push it up until I say to stop."
Leo pushed. Reyna screamed for him to stop.
"GODS that hurt," she gasped. "No Leo, you don't push it in, you push it up. We need to line up my collarbone."
Leo tried again. Reyna bit her lip until it bleed, but she didn't scream until the bone had lined itself up.
"Stop," she said. Leo stopped immediately.
"It's not level," he noticed.
"Well of COURSE it's not level. My shoulder's dislocated too, remember?"
Leo mumbled "Oh," but said nothing more as he unrolled a layer of duct tape.
"Now, strap it to my other shoulder. Over under. Good, no wait, you've got my shirt wrinkled." Reyna looked up. "Done," she announced.
Leo fell over backwards. "WHEW!" he said gratefully. His face was flushed. Piper hesitantly uncovered her ears and straightened from her huddled position. Reyna laughed a little, as the smell of burning tofu filled the sewer.
"Glad I don't have to do that again," Leo confessed.
"Actually, you do." Reyna told him. "My shoulder, remember?"
"And then your RIB?" Leo asked, helplessly.
"No." Reyna said. "I think a few squares of ambrosia will have to fix that."
Leo rolled his eyes and took Reyna's arm again. "Which way do I push it?" he wondered aloud.
"You don't push, you twist," Reyna said. "Clockwise. One hard twist. NO! GODS no. The other clockwise, brilliant! Start from the top, go right."
Leo rolled his eyes and jerked her arm again. It popped, and Reyna gasped with pain, then sighed in relief. She realized that tears were streaming down her face.
Leo closed his eyes and turned away. Piper dumped the smoking remains of a meal into the fire. Reyna composed herself, then looked around.
"Why are we in a sewer?" she asked. "And what does 'M' mean?"
"We tracked the storm spirits," Piper explained. "We need a gift for Aeolus, remember? We also thought that whoever lives in this 'M' mansion could help you. We decided to enter through the sewers, so we would have less chance of being ambushed."
"Where are we?" Reyna asked. "What city?"
"Chicago." Leo said. He started his miniature steam engine and watched it chug down the tunnels and out of sight.
"You should've given it a headlight." Piper said, dully.
"And a whistle." Leo added. The mood was damp. Everyone was exhausted. Piper handed Reyna two squares of ambrosia. They tasted like warm, buttery, baked potatoes, and it seemed to help her rib.
"Um guys?" Reyna asked. "I had this dream. Hera told me my greatest mortal enemy would be in Chicago. I'm not so sure about this."
Piper and Leo exchanged glances.
"Whoops," Leo said.
"But we had no choice," Piper pointed out. "Miss M what's-her-name has the storm spirits."
"Oh I didn't say I wasn't ready to face my greatest mortal enemy," Reyna corrected, "I just said I wasn't sure about this. How do you know the storm spirits are in the building? How do you know we aren't walking straight into a trap?"
Piper pulled the wind map from her backpack and waved it.
"Oh," Reyna said, and felt foolish. Leo stood up and hit his head on the top of the sewer.
"Well, let's get going!" he said, rubbing his head and helping Reyna up.
"Leo?" Reyna asked shyly "Could you, um,"
"What?" he smirked, waggling his eyebrows.
Reyna turned red. She hated it when Leo misinterpreted her emotions.
"I was going to ask you to show me how you can use fire again," she said, a bit angrily.
"Sure your highness," Leo said, leaning back against the walls and casually stretching his fingers out, so that a little flame burned on his palm. His twinkling eyes studied Reyna's face, daring her to top his magnificent performance.
"Leo, really. This is getting old." Piper groaned, heaving her backpack onto her shoulder.
"Where're we going?" Leo asked.
"When in doubt, start at the top."
Author's Notes: Really sorry I had to skip the Cyclops part, I was looking forward to it. I think that because it was my favorite part in the book, I had to either do it right, or skip it. I hope the Leo-humor in this chapter made up for the lack of Leo-awesomeness in the chapter that I skipped.
Nothing else to say, except that I hope you liked this chapter! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!