HI guys! I'm sooooo sorry it's been so long but I've been super busy with school. Honestly, it's time to wrap this story up. Don't get me wrong, I am not changing the ending because I have no time to write, oh no no no no, that is not the case at all. I have been planning this ending for a while now and I'm writing it the way I decided on when I started this story. So, that being said, there will probably be like 3 more chapters. I really hope you guys have enjoyed it this far and will continue to enjoy it. Let me know what you think and if you are upset with anything? Idk, just comment how you feel and Follow the story so you can be notified when I post my last couple of chapters!
One more thing. I was listening to this song called Glowing by The Script and it strangely, accurately represents/goes along with this story and I thought it was the strangest thing ever because I had never heard the song before but I heard it a couple of days ago and I was so amazed like I couldn't stop laughing, the lyrics go perfectly with this story. Anyways, listen to it if you can it's super good I love the song.
Wait I'm not done. I was thinking and omg how cool would it be if someone made freaking fan art for this story? I would do it but I can't draw :( If somebody does do it and sends it to me I would probably put it as the picture for this story and post it like literally everywhere. I think that would be the coolest thing ever. It's an authors dream to have people making fan art based on what they wrote. Like anybody could tell you that. I'm not asking for anything but hey if you guys can draw and want to, then omg please do so and send it to me! Alright well, here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy :)
As the morning went on me and Leo kept playing cards and soon more and more demigods were filling in. The best part was that as they came in we would start playing a different game with them until we eventually had almost everyone playing cards. It was probably the most fun I had had in a while. Eventually we had to stop and eat because we had a whole day ahead of us and we had a lot to get done.
"So," Annabeth started, getting everybody's attention. "What exactly needs to be done?" She asked looking at Leo.
Leo swallowed his waffles and nodded. "Right, we mostly need a whole lot of wood to repair the mast and the side of the ship from that squid thingy-"
"Kraken," Annabeth corrected.
"Whatever it was. The point is it destroyed my ship and I don't take that offense lightly. It would probably be best if we split up and looked for wood and any materials we might also need like celestial bronze, metal, or rope. I think it also damaged the bilge." Leo explained. Everyone looked at him with a slightly confused look since nobody except for Annabeth knew what the "bilge" was.
"Okay, so me and Percy are going back out to look for the Athena Parthenos. Hazel and Frank can stay back and watch the ship since Hazel probably shouldn't go out yet. You," she said looking at Leo, "Sarah, Piper, and Jason can go out and look for wood and parts that you need. It would probably be best if you guys split up, two and two, so you can cover more ground."
Everyone nodded. "I'll go with Jason in one direction and you guys go in the other direction, we'll meet back here in no more than three hours." Piper said looking at me and Leo. I nodded and we finished eating.
Once we were done we grabbed our weapons and I stocked up on as many arrows as possible. I was good at running out of them in the middle of a fight. Once everyone got what they needed we all met up on deck. We said our goodbyes and good lucks to each other before heading out. Percy and Annabeth headed North in search of the Athena Parthenos, Piper and Jason went East, and Leo and I went West in search of any material to fix the ship. I was glad I was with Leo because I wouldn't really have to try and figure out what to get for the ship. I had no idea what he wanted and since he was here, he could make the decision, all I had to do was fight any monsters that came around.
Leo and I talked about random things while we walked along looking for anything that might help us. We finally saw a smaller wooden building with a sign that read "Manny's Mechanics and Warehouse". We walked inside and was immediately greeted by a man with black hair, large brown eyes, and a nose equally as large. His name tag read 'Manny'. "Welcome!" He shouted happily with a big smile. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No, just looking," Leo answered walking away from him.
"Thank you," I smiled trying to be polite since Leo seemed to be too distracted to give him a thank you or even a polite smile. I followed behind Leo to a wall on the side of the store. "Why didn't you ask him for help or tell him what we need?" I asked him.
"Because I know what I need, I don't need help finding it. Plus, don't you think he might be a little suspicious if we tell him we need twenty pounds of wood and metal?" Leo pointed out. I thought for a minute before nodding. This is why I was letting Leo do all of the talking, I knew nothing about any of this. I looked around the warehouse. It wasn't the biggest store ever but it still held a lot of parts and machines. There were shelves everywhere reaching almost the ceiling, winding through the store in a maze like way. I hoped Leo knew what he was doing because I was extremely confused. I decided it would be best if I stuck next to Leo the entire time, if I strayed from him even a little I would probably get hopelessly lost in this sea of machine parts.
We continued walking along the wall, Leo scanning the shelves while I stood facing the other way watching for anything strange. We had a pretty good system going until Leo turned to look at me. "You know, this would go faster if you helped me look," he pointed out.
"I would help but I have absolutely no idea what we're looking at," I admitted.
Leo laughed. "Okay why don't you look for a metal processing part. It's long with holes all along the side, open on the top, and tinier holes around the big holes," Leo explained as best as possible. I stared at him blankly, it didn't help at all. Leo groaned, "Just look for some wood," he decided.
"Wood, right, I can do that," I said nodding and walking away to the other side of the store. I wasn't crazy about straying away from Leo but we needed to find this stuff as quick as possible. The store had a couple people in it looking around trying to find parts to fix their motorcycle or car. Most people here were older men holding blueprint in their hands. I walked past them and kept looking through the maze of isles to find the wood. Seriously, how hard is it to find wood? I finally reached a section of the store that had stacks of wood laying on the ground. I wasn't exactly sure where in the store I was but I knew I was somewhere in the back. I looked at the pile of wood and realized I had no idea how much we needed.
I walked back to Leo and found him a couple of isles away from where I had left him. He was now holding a basket that was filled with different pieces, his eyes were scanning the shelves hungrily. He looked like a kid in a candy store. Maybe it was a bad idea to just let him go find stuff, he was going to take the entire store with him. "Hey, Leo," I called to him.
"Yeah?" he asked not looking away from the shelves.
"How much wood do we need?" I asked.
"Umm, I don't know, get a couple of planks," he replied reaching us grabbing something from a shelf. He looked at it carefully trying to inspect it and I had a feeling I wasn't going to get anything else from him.
I walked back to the stack of wood and started trying to figure out how we were going to get all of this back to the ship. I didn't have much time to think about it though. When I got back there was a tall burly man standing in front of the wood, his back turned to me. He was wearing a flannel shirt and baggy jeans. His body blocked me from seeing any of the wood. I tried to get around him but he was blocking the path. He was abnormally big. "Excuse me," I finally said to him as politely as possible.
The man grunted and looked around to me. "Oh, am I in your way? My bad," he said.
"It's fi-" I stopped talking as I looked up at his face. He had a large, black, curly beard that took up most of his face. That wasn't what made me stop though, above his beard there was one large black eye, almost as black as his beard. I stared at the one eye that took up the part of his face that his beard didn't take up. I stared at him opened mouthed and tried my best to close it. "I- um- n-never mind. I-It's fine. Turns out I don't need any wood anymore," I stuttered stepping backwards. I didn't know what he was but I had to get out of here, he could not be good.
The man (was he a man?) laughed a laugh that seemed to shake the walls. "Don't be silly, here you go," he said handing me a rather large plank of wood.
"I- uh- thanks," I managed to choke out. I grabbed the plank warily. I looked down. Hanging from his jeans was a large wooden axe. My eyes widened. It looked just like- uh oh. I had to get out of here. Now.
"How much do you need?" He asked me handing me another plank of wood.
"I think this is good," I said grabbing the plank of wood he was handing to me. This time he didn't let go of it.
"You sure? You don't need anymore?"
"No, this should be enough," I said trying to give a smile. I gripped the wood in my hands and tried to pull the one he was handing me but he didn't let it go.
"Wait, don't leave yet, I have something to give you," he said smiling and reaching into his pocket. I didn't really want to stay around to see what he had. I tried to run but my feet felt glued to the floor. I watched with wide eyes as he pulled his hand out of his pocket. He held his hand out and revealed a small lighter. Wait a lighter? What was he going to do with that? My mind answered the question too slowly. The one eyed man flipped the lighter open and flicked it causing a little flame to appear. He quickly brought the lighter to the plank we are both holding and lit it on fire. I yelped and let go of it sending it crashing to the ground. The man chuckled. "What's the matter? Don't like a little fire?" he asked moving his hand to the stack of wood. He set a plank on fire and it quickly spread to the others causing a large fire to erupt. It looked like a bonfire you would make at night to roast some marshmallows. Unfortunately, there were no marshmallows around. I looked up at the man and had a feeling that if I stayed any longer that I would be the marshmallow.
The wood that I dropped was still flaming and it had now spread across the wooden floor. I looked around me and realized that this entire shop was wooden. If I didn't get out of here I would be a very burnt demigod for his dinner. I screamed and ran, almost running into a shelf holding sharp metals. I stopped in time and looked around desperately, I had no idea where in the shop I was or where I had to go. I was lost in a mechanic shop. How pathetic on my part. I ran to the right down another isle. "Leo!" I called. I turned right into another row. Why couldn't the shelves be organized like a normal shop? "Leo!" I yelled again trying to find him and my way out of the shop. I tried to look around the shelves but they were too high to see over. "Leo!" I heard a drop of metal from a couple of rows down.
"Sarah?" he asked running over to find me. I followed his voice and turned down into another row where I promptly ran into him. We collided together before falling back rubbing our heads. "Ouch," he muttered. "What happened?" he asked me looking at my terrified face.
"Guy- one eye- wood- fire," I gasped trying to catch my breathe and explain.
"I have no idea what you're saying, Sarita," he mumbled shaking his head.
"We have to get out of here," I said standing up and grabbing his arm. I started running and dragged him with me.
"Wait, what? Why? What are you talking about? What happened?" he asked me confused at my behavior. I stopped at an intersection where the isles split into two different ways. Who the hell designed this place? I was going to kick their ass for this. As I looked back and forth trying to decide which way to go Leo stopped and looked up. "What is that smell?" he asked looking around. I looked back to see the fire now making its way across the rows towards us, smoke raising in the air. "Oooohhh," Leo said looking at the fire. "Yeah we should probably get out of here," he said grabbing my arm and going down the right isle.
We ran forward and Leo stopped causing me to run into him. I yelped and looked at him annoyed, rubbing my nose. "Why'd you stop?" I asked and then looked up to see why. The fire was burning in front of us. I could feel the heat from where we were standing. I found myself wondering if Leo could feel it too. He didn't seem fazed at all from the fire. I knew he would be okay with the flames, he couldn't burn after all. I, on the other hand, would not be okay. Leo seemed to realize this.
"C'mon," he said quickly pushing me back down the row and going the other way. We pushed forward through the maze of shelves trying to avoid any of the flames. The fire alarm was now blaring and sprinklers were spraying water down on the fire but they weren't doing much. People ran around the building trying to evacuate and find their way out but some were as lost as us.
I watched as the owner, Manny, screamed in terror. "My shop!" he shouted over and over again trying to take in what was happening. We continued running. It was hard to tell if we were close to the exit or not, everything looked the same and the smoke from the flames were starting to make it's way to me, making my head spin. We kept running but the smoke had made it's way into my lungs and I was having trouble breathing. I gripped Leo's arm trying to keep myself from falling over. He looked at me, his eyes filled with terror. Didn't he say something about his mom dying in a fire? I was pretty sure he had but my brain wasn't doing the best at thinking clearly at the moment.
"Hey, we're gong to get out of here alright? Just try to breathe," he said calmly. It was easier said then done. My lungs were burning they wanted to quit. They air was just smoke at this point. Leo didn't seem affected my the ash or smoke, his eyes still scanned the room lively, trying to find a way out. Leo put my arm around his shoulders and did he best to cary me as much as possible. We went down a hallway but fire blocked the exit. We quickly retreated and went down another row only to find it blocked but fire too. We backed up against a wall, fire surrounding us from all sides. There was no way out. I held on to Leo limply. Smoke circled around us filling my lungs. I knew that if I didn't get out of here soon I would die. Whether from the smoke or fire, one of them was going to kill me. I wondered if everyone else in the shop had found their way out or if they had tragically met their end too.
"Leo," I croaked out trying to get his attention. I could feel my head swimming, my eyes trying to close. Everything around me was spinning and turning to black.
"C'mon, Sarah," he said holding me up. "Stay with me." I was trying my best to do as he said but it wasn't working. The flames crept in closer to us. There was less and less breathable air. I breathed in a shaky breathe. My lungs felt like they were on fire.
"Leo," I croaked out again. I couldn't seem to get passed that word. My brain felt like mush. Even if I could talk, my brain wouldn't be able to form proper sentences.
Leo looked at me then looked around the room. He frowned then took in a deep breath. "Okay, work with me, Sarita," he said. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do but I wasn't going to be able to do much. Leo slung my arm further around his shoulder. "Hold on," he said. I gripped on to him as much as I possibly could. Leo took another deep breathe and closed his eyes, concentrating. I was trying to figure out what he was trying to do but I was lost. Leo opened his eyes up and they seemed to burn with intensity. He let out a slow, steady breath and raised his hands up. He stared at the fire and slowly moved his hands outwards. I looked up and watched as the fire in front of us slowly parted making a small pathway. I stared with wide eyes. I never knew he could do that. I looked at Leo. I wasn't sure he new he could do that. "Alright, walk as fast as you can," he said through gritted teeth. I took a shaky step forward and almost fell. I had to try and find the strength to move myself since Leo was too preoccupied trying to keep the path open, he couldn't try and support me and keep me upright. We took another step forward. I still had my arm slung around Leo for balance. Slowly we made our way though the path.
Leo misstepped at one pint and almost broke his concentration. The fire shuttered dangerously, threatening to crash in on me and burn me to a crisp. I coughed and continued walking forward. As we walked the fire in front of us opened up and once we passed it it closed back up but Leo made it so that it couldn't touch us. We continued walking forward on the scorched floor that was brown and crumbled, threatening to come apart. I looked up and saw the door up ahead. We were almost there. Leo seemed to notice it too. "C'mon, almost there," he said half to me half to himself. We walked forward. I stepped on a board that broke making a whole in the ground. I carefully stepped over it and inched towards the door. I took my arm out from around Leo and lunged at the door trying to open it. It was a risky move but luckily it worked. I pushed the door open and me and Leo fell through.
We stumbled outside and I fell down on the ground, all energy and strength sucked out of me. Leo quickly picked me up as much as possible and ran me over to a small ledge were he sat me down. My head still pounded but at least I felt a little less like I was going to faint. I looked back at the store which was now collapsing to the ground in flames. Fire engines blared around the corner a little late to the scene. I hoped no one else was still in there, if they were they would have been dead by now. The fire trucks came in and hosed down the building that was now nothing but a pile of burnt shards. I noticed big nosed Manny staring at the store weeping. "My store!" was all he could manage to get out.
I coughed and looked over at Leo who seemed as drained as I was. His eyes were closing and his skin was paler than usual. He must have used up all his energy trying to get us out of there. I coughed again desperately trying to get the crap out of my lungs. They still felt like they were on fire. I tried to clear my through which resulted in a coughing fit. Leo looked over at me worried. "You're not okay," he noted. If I was doing better I would have given him a glare and a sarcastic comment but I couldn't talk. Leo scanned his eyes around my face trying to figure out what to do. "Uhh, fire, smoke, ash, umm... I'm not sure what to do I don't get like that, smoke doesn't bother me," he said trying to think. He continued numbing words to himself. "What do they say at school? Fire, smoke rises, get low, stop, drop, and roll... water..." Leo stopped and looked at me smiling form a broken revelation. "Water!" he shouted. "Water, you need water," he said again looking around. "Do I do the wet rag or get you water to drink? Where can I get a bottle of water?" he mumbled to himself looking around. I watched as he seemed to trail off.
"Leo," I muttered grabbing onto his shirt sleeve and tugging. He looked down at me. "Water," I managed to croak out trying to get him to focus.
"Right, water," he said. "Okay, just stay here, I'll be right back," he said running off into a nearby store to find a bottle of water. I nodded but honestly, where was I going to go? I couldn't even stand up let alone walk. I sat there trying to focus on breathing while I waited for Leo to come back. The coughing had slowed down a bit and my breathing wasn't as raspy as it was before. I felt myself calm down a bit from the whole thing.
As I sat and waited I couldn't help but let my mind wander a bit. I wondered about the man that had set the whole place on fire. The axe he had looked like the same axe from my dream. I couldn't be sure if it was him because I never saw his face in my dream but it had to be. I wondered if he had made it out alive or had died in the fire. I hoped that he had gone down with the fire but that wouldn't make any sense. Why burn down a building and kill your self in hope that the fire kills me too? Why not just use his axe to kill me and then kill Leo? And what did he plan to happen with the fire anyways? He could only kill me in the fire, not Leo. Had he known that? Did he use fire on purpose? My mind raced with thoughts. Nothing about the attack seemed to make much sense. I looked up to see if Leo was almost back. There was a nagging suspicion in my stomach. Something didn't seem right. My gut feeling was confirmed when I felt a giant hand close around my mouth from behind me.
My eyes widened in fear and I tried to scream but I couldn't be heard. My eyes raced around trying to get a view of my attacker but they were holding me so that I couldn't move. I felt a face lean in close to my ear. "Don't move," it said in a quiet drawl. I didn't know the voice. "We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way," the voice snarled.
I thought for a minute and decided to do things my way. I opened my mouth and licked the hand that was closed around my mouth. The hand quickly disappeared from my face. "Ew! She licked me!" Another voice screamed. It was the same man from the store.
I took the moment to try and escape. I couldn't run because the man from the store had his arm holding me back but know that my mouth was free I could scream so I did the next best thing from running. "Leo!" I shouted quickly praying that he was on his way back and could hear me. "Leo!"
The first voice growled. "You idiot! Gag her!"
"LEO!" I managed to get out before a black handkerchief made its way around my mouth, stopping me from yelling. I tired to scream again but it came out muffled, a small sound that could barely be heard by me.
"I see you've chosen the hard way," the voice snarled again. "Grab her!" he hissed the one eyed man. The man nodded and grabbed my arm with one hand pinning it against my back and holding my shoulder with the other hand. I shook and struggled tying to get free but every time I moved the man dug my arm into the side of my back sending waves of pain. I screamed in pain but the gag made the sound go nowhere. I finally stopped moving. My arm was stinging, my head throbbing, and I still could barely breathe from the fire. The man then grabbed both my hands and held them behind me with one hand. He used the other to lift me off the ledge I was sitting on so that I was standing. He wrapped his arm the wasn't holding my hands around my body and pulled tightly making me bend over in pain.
I heard a yell. "Sarah!" I looked up to see Leo running over with a water bottle in his hands. He looked at the scene, his eyes wide in terror.
"Well, that's our cue. Time to go," The first voice growled and he threw a small, black ball on the ground. The ball broke when it hit the ground and sent smoke up in the air circling all around us like hands trying to grab us. The last thing I saw was Leo running towards me, shouting my name tying to reach me in time but he was too late. The black cloud engulfed us and I felt a lurch as if I was being pulled away from the world. In a second the cloud seemed to consume us and disappear into the wind, dragging us along with it.