Thanks for nearly 30 reviews! You guys are awesome!
For the reader's question from last chapter: Fans of both fights, you'll get both :) They will be the last two fights, though, for... purposes.
Annabeth
Annabeth flailed around desperately, but Leo's grip was strong. At the last possible moment, when Annabeth had already resigned herself to die by falling on a sword (How much more embarrassing and cliché could her fate possible be?), Leo twisted and the two demigods managed to fall to the side, though they both yelped in pain from scratches. Blood pooled on Annabeth's upper arms, and the sight of the red liquid cleared her mind. She felt the cold rage in her gut disappear with the Furores, leaving her breathless.
"Well played! Tomorrow will have two duels: one in the morning, and one extra duel afterwards, sometime in the day, in honor of Ouranos being chopped up! That's actually my birthday, too. Isn't that wonderful?" Annabeth felt sick. Lyssa continued cheerfully. "And after that, a duel a day! After that… well, the Olympians will have to take notice of me! Don't even think about calling for outside help, though. I've just put a block around the ship. Toodles!" Annabeth silently thanked Hephaestus for coming to the demigods' aid the day before. If he hadn't… she didn't even want to think about what could've happened. What might still happen, in fact. Annabeth needed to tell the others her plan as soon as possible. Suddenly, a snapping sound caused the six restrained demigods to fall off of the wall. Another snap, and everyone was standing in the dining room. Annabeth suddenly became aware of a pounding in her head, and of the numerous burns and scratches littering her arms and legs. Gods of Olympus… she tried to avoid Leo's eyes. She was sure that if she met them, she would either break down, or scream bloody murder. Possibly both.
Frank gasped. The sound wasn't any more audible than the sound of a pin dropping, but it was as deafening as a gunshot in the unnatural quietness of eight severely ADHD demigods.
"Leo, Annabeth—we've got to get you to sick bay!" he announced, just as Leo moaned softly, clutching his wrist tightly and clenching his teeth together to keep from crying out. Annabeth winced, glancing at her own injuries. She'd need a lot of ambrosia. Leo would need even more.
Percy nodded. He helped Annabeth get to the door gingerly, being careful not to touch any of Annabeth's burns. Annabeth definitely appreciated that, but… damn, her burns hurt. Jason followed them, dragging a pale Leo along, who kept cursing in Spanish.
As soon as they finally reached the sick bay, Annabeth saw black. And white.
The first thing Annabeth noticed was that the dream was different. Everything was black and white. She was back at Camp Half-Blood. But she was standing in a strange, unfamiliar cabin. It was full of weapons, hammers, and all sorts of tools, and one or two curtained-off beds were visible. Blueprints and drawings littered the tables and walls. What cabin was it? Suddenly, a figure stepped into view. Leo. He looked just as surprised as Annabeth felt to see her there.
"Annabeth?" he asked incredulously.
She gaped at him, "Leo? What is this?"
"No idea…" he muttered. "Why the hell are we in a dream with each other in my cabin?" And then, even though the dream was in grayscale, Annabeth could've sworn on the Styx that Leo blushed. "That sounded different from what I meant…"
Ignoring that, Annabeth thought that it made a lot of sense that they were in Cabin Nine. After all, Leo lived there. But Leo was right. The real question was, why were they in a dream, fully aware and interacting? Annabeth suddenly remembered something she'd read in a footnote of an old Greek book. "I think… did we pass out at the same time? That could've linked us in a dream, along with our injuries. Hypnos doesn't always control or even monitor his powers that well, even when there's not a goddess like Lyssa blocking off the Argo from the gods. I mean, he's usually sleeping and all."
"Uh, right," Leo smiled half-heartedly. "This is kind of embarrassing, though. This is like, the second time in, what, two days? That I've passed out, I mean. Well anyway, I might as well take this chance to tell you I'm sorry, without everyone else breathing down my neck. Frank maybe literally, if he decides to turn into a dragon or something," he joked weakly.
"You're sorry?" Annabeth ignored his joke. She couldn't believe her ears. "I started it! I should be the one that's sorry!"
"Well, technically Lyssa started it." Leo smirked slightly, his confidence boosted. He quickly became somber again. "I burned you…"
"And I broke you wrist," retorted Annabeth. Why was the mechanic so down on himself?
"No. I mean, I burned you," he said softly. And Annabeth understood. She started forward, intending to hug him, but the world became colorful again just as she did so.
Annabeth! Are you all right?!" A gorgeous boy with messy black hair and bright, sea-green eyes leaned over her. Percy. Annabeth nodded weakly and took in her surroundings. She was lying in a bed. The sick bay. She glanced at Leo, who was already sitting up, exchanging jokes with Jason and Piper. He caught her eye and grinned broadly.
Annabeth smiled back. Percy was adorably confused. "Uh… weren't you guys trying to kill each other, like, ten minutes ago?" she smiled and kissed him. Leo was almost finished with the anti-listening device, Annabeth had a plan, and Percy was with her. The world was a wonderful place at that moment. Well, excluding Lyssa.
"We figured it out in a dream," Annabeth explained. Percy frowned and pouted.
"We've never shared a dream before!" he complained, but he was smiling. Annabeth had to roll her eyes.
"You're such a Seaweed Brain," and she kissed him again.
Later, Annabeth was chatting to Frank about the fascinating wonders of modern architecture on the Argo II's deck (Well, she was chatting. Frank looked half-asleep, and was indeed fighting hard to stay awake.) until Leo barged onto the deck, whooping loudly with the anti-listening machine in one hand. Annabeth was reminded ridiculously of an athlete holding the Olympic torch.
"I DID IT!" he yelled, beaming. Percy stumbled up to the deck from his cabin, yawning widely. Piper and Hazel stopped sparring and walked over. Nico climbed off of the crow's nest, where he'd been for most of the afternoon. And Jason followed after Leo, grumbling something along the lines of how he did some of the work, too. Leo laughed good-naturedly. "Yep, Sparky, holding the hammer and hitting stuff for me was real hard work!" he gestured to his wrist, which was still bandaged heavily, even after several squares of ambrosia.
Suddenly: "WHAT IS THAT?!" someone screeched loudly. Annabeth looked around wildly, her hand creeping towards her dagger. Nico already had his sword out. None of the demigods spoke. "WHAT IS THAT, VALDEZ?" the voice yelled again. Oh. Lyssa.
"Uh…" Leo trailed off. "It's my broken wrist?" Annabeth, Jason, Nico, Hazel, and Frank facepalmed. Percy was too busy yawning to facepalm.
"It's a jewelry box for his girlfriend, Calypso. What does it look like?" Piper interrupted, sighing dramatically. "They're so cute together!" she squealed. Personally, Annabeth thought Piper was laying on her kid-of-Aphrodite act rather thickly, but whatever.
"Ha! The stupidity of demigods never fails to amuse me!" Annabeth's eyes widened. Did Lyssa know what the unassuming box really was? "It's not like you'll ever get a chance to give that to the traitor goddess!" Annabeth relaxed. Thank the gods. Well, actually, just thank Hephaestus! She thought somewhat bitterly. After a few moments of silence, once Annabeth was sure that Lyssa was gone, she cleared her throat.
"We need to meet in my cabin. Now."
"Leo, could you set up the… uh, jewelry box?" she requested, once everyone was in her cabin with the door shut.
"I'll help, I know a lot about jewelry," offered Hazel. Leo and Annabeth both nodded. Leo pressed a button, and suddenly a light humming sound emitted from the strange anti-listening device. "Is that supposed to be happening?" Hazel asked nervously, eyeing the device with obvious distrust.
"Yeah, it won't accidentally blow us all up or something, right?" added Frank.
"Nope, it won't. Only the person sitting directly facing it will be vaporized," Percy butted in cheerfully. Nico, who was sitting right in front of the humming creation, jumped back several feet before giving Percy a death glare.
"Jeez, guys, it's just gonna block out our sounds," explained Leo, plopping himself down on the floor. "And I recorded some of your conversations—" (Nico looked like he was about to strangle both Percy and Leo.) "So if Lyssa tries to eavesdrop on us, she'll just hear this." He connected a few mysterious green and orange wires, and suddenly Jason's voice boomed out of the device.
"I want real food for lunch!" Jason blushed as his amplified voice burst out from the machine, sounding rather whiny. (Sorry Jason fans. But come on, anyone would sound whiny saying that.)
"Read food is boring!" That was Percy. The Percy sitting next to Annabeth nodded in agreement with himself.
"Blue gelato isn't food!" Frank made noises of agreement with the Jason on the recording. He was lactose intolerant, remembered Annabeth.
"It seems like anything that actually tastes good isn't food!" Percy complained, just as his voice on the recording said so.
Piper burst out laughing as the tape ended, and the rest of the demigods, even Nico, joined in. "Gods, when did you even record that?"
"On the original Argo II. I found the recordings in the engine room. That was Percy and Jason arguing over blue gelato for lunch." Leo snickered. "Anyway, Lyssa will just hear stuff like that coming from this room."
Annabeth nodded gratefully. "Now, for the plan…"
"Athena always has a plan." -Annabeth
Hmm, what's Athena come up with now? Next chapter: Jason's POV. And if you've been paying attention to how I arrange my chapters' POVs (Why two Annabeth chapters in a row?), you should be able to figure out who the fight is between.
