CHAPTER XIX

LEO

IF LEO HAD BEEN CONSCIOUS WHEN HE HEARD THE GRIFFINS HE WOULD HAVE SMACKED HIMSELF IN THE HEAD. He also needed to remind himself to ask Lucy to create a music box of her singing because as soon as he blacked out dreams wrapped around him, as if punishing him for being immune to them for so long.

Leo could barely see a thing. At first he thought he was swimming in darkness. He could smell the dank, stale stench of dried blood. The air felt damp and cold as if it had been heavily raining and Leo was ready to freeze to death.

Then everything was suddenly bright, as if he was in a spotlight. He took him a while to get his bearings straight as the light suddenly became more even. When his vision only became mildly blotchy he saw Jason... or what was left of him.

Jason was hanging by his wrists by nails hammered right through the gaps in his bones. His face was as pale as milk, there was a big knot on his forehead from being hit several times. Blue, black and red covered his body. His lip was cut and swollen, he had a black eyes and his shirt was missing, with slices all across his chest. For a second Leo thought he was going to be sick, then panic and fear filled his chest. Oh gods, don't be dead Jason. Leo couldn't move he was too paralyzed. He didn't know if Jason was breathing, and if he was it was barely at all, Leo couldn't even make out the smallest movements of his chest. The dank room made Leo shiver before the far wall opposite Jason and to Leo's right disappeared long enough for Piper and Jinx to step through before it was back again. No exits.

Piper scowled at Jason. "I still think we should have skinned him first."

Leo felt his blood run cold, he was in plain sight but he prayed that they didn't see him.

Jinx shook her head and tutted at Piper. "If you did that with so little experience he would be dead before the others got here, you want him alive. Then you want to enjoy him."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She looked different, a lot.

Her hair had steadily tinged red at the ends as if she'd dip-dyed it, which against Leo's will made him think was actually quite cool, but he knew better than to know she'd dyed it. Like Jinx, the curse was affecting her appearance. Her eyes were still as black and Leo couldn't help but think that was very significant, but how he had no idea. The J in her neck was burning bright and Leo saw that the words on her arms had spread outwards forming patterns of flames. The scariest thing that made Leo know this wasn't the real Piper was that for the first time since the Aphrodite blessing, Piper was wearing makeup. Her eyeliner had been done Egyptian style and behind that eye shadow like a flame which Leo could almost swear was moving. Her face was covered in powder and on her cheek was a picture like a tattoo of a flame just framing her face, but Leo could see it went to the back of her ear.

Jinx looked over at Piper with a raised eyebrow. "The curse looks good on you." She commented.

Piper smiled cruelly, "of course it does, I was destined for this." She said smugly.

Jinx rolled her eyes, as if this were a normal, annoying puberty problem.

"I hear you're having problems." Piper teased.

Jinx growled. "So, the light side took over for a few minutes." She admitted as if it was nothing. "She couldn't do anything, all she could do was beg." She snarled. "Like she thought he would actually help her, he just sat there." Leo felt his stomach fill with guilt. Jinx had used those few precious seconds to ask him for help and he hadn't done anything, he felt ashamed. "Sometimes there are problems, you'd be lucky not to have any."

Piper narrowed her eyes. "I'm perfect." She said. "I can't do anything wrong, I won't have any problems."

Leo blinked. This defiantly wasn't Piper, this was the complete opposite of Piper, everything she hated to be or hated in other people, like Drew. In fact that's sort of what she now reminded Leo of now. A slightly bloodthirsty Drew, it was disgusting.

Jinx snorted. "Keep telling yourself that, princess." Then mumbled as she walked towards Jason. "Royal pain in the ass."

She smacked Jason across the face, pulling him from his sleep. His eyes snapped open and he instantly began struggling.

"That's a waste of time boy-o. If I were you I'd stay still." Jason was dangling, and judging by the way his ankles were bleeding if he dropped he'd break them. Leo guessed that was done on purpose, so that if Jason did escape he wouldn't be able to get away.

"What are you going to do this time?" personally I was surprised Jason could still speak; I would have been too terrified to speak.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Piper?"

Piper's eyes raked slowly, calculatingly over Jason. She seemed casual about this, with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, leaning against the wall as if she had all the time in the world. This freaked Leo out all the more. She cocked her head almost innocently which was exactly the opposite of what it was. Honestly, Leo wasn't sure if she was checking Jason out or figuring out the best way to torture him.

"I think we've had enough of the torture don't you think Jinx."

Jinx pretended to choke herself with her finger down her throat. "Well, I'm not watching."

If possible, Jason became even paler. "Why are you here Jinx?" He asked desperately. Even to Leo it was obvious he was trying to stall.

Jinx popped her head. "Piper and I have something in common. We were both looked down on when we were lighter. We both suffer from hard emotions, we both find it easier to be darker ignoring our heartfelt emotions and welcoming the darker side of us-"

"Piper!" Jason said desperately. "This isn't you! You're better than this. You were the one who was brave enough to stand up to the giants and force them to do your will! You're good! I'm sorry I hurt you! I'm so sorry! Please Piper I never wanted this to happen."

I didn't expect anything of it, and it was obvious Jason didn't either but he still pleaded with everything he had. Like Jinx had... and it worked.

Piper's image flickered. For a brief second she was back to normal, no red hair, no tattoos but the 'J' on her neck was still there. Her image flickered back and forth until the normal Piper was there. She looked terrified staring down at her hands as if they had popped off of her wrists. She looked around the room.

"W-what have I... what have I done."

"Piper!" Jason said desperately. "Look at me!"

She did as he asked and her eyes widened. Her bottom lip began to tremble. "Did I... did I-"

"Piper, it's okay, you're okay! Piper, I'm so, so sorry!"

Piper looked like she was about to step towards him but Jinx screamed.

"Piper, he betrayed you! We are sister's you and I, we were both abandoned by our soulmates, both our soulmates didn't want us!"

Piper shook her head, her pupils started expanding, the black taking over the colour.

"Piper!" Jason pleaded. "My dad made me, I was coming for you! I love you!"

Piper froze, the pupils going back to normal. She looked at Jason, teary eyed.

Jinx screamed again and was in front of Jason again and punched him so hard he was unconscious.

Leo's eyes burst open. The room was completely empty. He vaguely heard sounds up on deck but it was quiet. He crept up trying to be as quiet as possible. His friends had been caught. A griffin was dangling all his friends by it's talons. How he had managed to capture Eliza and Rose he had no idea but it had. It kept swinging them like play toys and Leo felt sick to his stomach. He felt a sense of da-ja-vu of when it was the same situation with Jason and Piper, but he had a feeling it was going to be a lot more difficult.

Leo crept the edges of the ship, he felt paralyzed by fear from his dream. Jason was alive, there was still hope for Piper... and Jinx.

And now Leo knew the truth. There was no one left, he really was Jinx's soulmate. He was the only one who could help her.

He prayed the griffins wouldn't see him as he crept along the edge to the controls for the ship, this had to work.

He couldn't help remember when he had been talking to frank so long ago on the Argo, talking about Hazel. Jinx has smashed a plate and stormed off, only now that made sense. So many more things made sense now.

As quietly, and efficiently as he could, he grabbed a remote and some mechanics from his pocket. The levers and buttons and Nintendo wii would attract too much attention. He grabbed the control chip and, as fast as he could, he started work on the silent device before the power in the ship switched off at the generator and they descended to the ground. He had about ten minutes till that happened and he didn't know if he would make it.

As he worked with his quick hands he also remembered when he and jinx had worked together against the giant, he couldn't remember the name of, streaks of light had poured out of them, their power had combined, it had been such an obvious sign and Leo had missed it. He'd ignored Jinx.

He fought against the gadgets that didn't want to fit, as quickly as he could he grabbed an oil can from his tool belt and adjusted all the gadgets in the little box of a remote.

His friends were still dangling and Leo could see the two griffins had created a game similar to catch with them, which did not look fun on his friend's side of things. He could hear them grunting and screaming – though it sounded more like Nico than the girls screaming – and a lot of cussing.

Leo crept at a speed which could have counted as sprinting, he figured the griffins wouldn't notice him while they were playing catch, but he never listened to Annabeth's boring lectures so he had no idea how good their hearing or their sight was, so he thought it better to not risk either.

When he got to the side he pointed the control down at the oars. Just in time for the chip to connect with the ship so it wouldn't fall from the sky. The ship obeyed his command and he sprinted for cover so the griffins wouldn't see him.

The oars of the ship instantly started doing weird movements that was not in the direction of where they were going so the ship was bobbing about in midair like a giant bird drunk on helium. The griffin's noticed immediately and one of them went down to check out the situation.

Then Leo realized a flaw. Stupid Valdez, stupid, stupid. If the griffin dropped his friends from that height they would be dead from the fall. He pushed a combination of buttons on the control and a sail unhooked over the griffin like a net, making the ship go rigid, but trapping the griffin.

The griffin did exactly what he thought – and hoped – it would; it stopped and flung the sheet off, just a few feet above the deck. Before Leo lost his chance he blasted a volume of fire towards the creature and it burst into a pile of sand and dropped his friends with a small thud.

The second griffin rocketed upwards and Leo blast it with another hit before it could come anywhere near. When he was sure it was gone. He collected as much of the sand from the other from deck and threw it over the edge to stop it from reforming as quickly as possible.

Eliza looked up at him with a huge grin. "I'm beginning to see the Luna crest in you, nice one!"

Leo knew it was vague but he felt proud that someone had said that.

Nico spat out griffin sand and gagged. "Oh, man, next time Leo can you blast it not directly above our head."

"That's what you get for watching flying pigeons." Malcolm said dryly.

"Your welcome." Leo mumbled.

"Thank you Leo." Rose said.

"How did they catch you?" Leo asked.

"Struck us from behind." Clarisse grunted. "They were not as proud at the beginning so they were smarter, thought you were dead and beat us from behind." She admitted coldly.

"Well," Eliza said, looking refreshed. "There's one problem solved, nothing like almost dying to save my day, who feels like researching Pluto's temple?"

If you like Lucy, you'll LOVE Kalika Valdez in

Her Treasuring Smile!

Meet Percy Jackson's sassy, kick ass sister and Leo's loyal, sweet Great, Great Grandmother!

Humour, Friendship, Action, Romance, Loyalty!