Hello everybody! Hope you had a really nice Christmas! :) Thanks for all reviews!

Here comes the chapter!

Chapter 25 – I miss him

HAZEL

Hazel felt like she was going to throw up.

The ship was on water again, and it was a stormy day. The big waves rocked the ship from side to side, and Hazel felt like all the food she ate was going to crawl up in her throat.

The mood in the mess hall wasn't good either. Frank wouldn't stop glance at Hazel, his eyes rimmed with red and full of pain. Leo was staring in to his plate, frowning and looking troubled.

"So, what's up?" Jason asked. "When are we going to reach Greece?"

Leo didn't seem to hear what Jason had said. Piper cleared her throat.

"Leo?" She said.

"What?" Leo raised his head. "Oh, right. Uh… We're going to reach Greece in just a few days."

"It's August 1th in a few days too." Nico muttered-

"Frank, are you okay?" Piper asked, frowning. "You look like you've been crying."

Frank shot a cautious look at Hazel, who looked away.

"Well, see you later." She said and rose from her seat.

"Hazel, wait!"

Hazel walked out from the mess hall as fast as she could, hearing Frank behind her.

"Hazel!" He said.

She turned and met his gaze.

"What? What do you want?" She asked him sternly.

Frank looked terribly sad, but he said:

"I want you to forgive me. Please, Hazel, it was just a mistake, I didn't mean to-"

"You tried to test how long it would take before Leo and I became more than friends! And you wanted us to kiss, so you could blame Leo and scare him off so he never would even speak to me! That's so terrible, so scandalizing, I can't understand how you of all people would do something like that! It isn't you, Frank. I'm not sure if I really know you anymore." Hazel almost screamed, her voice trembling.

Frank's eyes widened. He looked shocked, sad, angry and devastated at the same time. Hazel felt like she just had yelled at a cute puppy. How could she do that?!

"Okay." He said quietly. "Well, I-I'll see you."

He left, and a new voice said:

"Hazel?"

She turned to see Leo stand a few meters away. He looked nervous.

Hazel felt the tears burn in her eyes.

Since when did I start to cry so much?! She scolded herself.

Leo looked as cute as ever. Hazel wanted to kiss him, but then there was Frank, and even if they were broken up it just felt wrong…

She forced a smile and cursed the tears that were running down her cheeks.

"Hi." She said.

For a second, Leo looked torn, but then he walked to Hazel and hugged her tightly. Hazel stiffened of surprise, but then hugged him back.

"It's okay." He murmured in her hair. "Or at least, it's going to be."

Hazel sobbed. Leo felt just like Sammy, and the only thing she really wanted was to be with him. She wanted Sammy back. She wanted to be with him, laugh at his jokes, in that normal world she had lived in before; there she worried about being bullied and not being killed by monsters every day.

Leo didn't say anything. He just held her, and Hazel continued to sob in his shirt. Somewhere in the back of her head, she thought that he maybe didn't like having his shirt soaked in snot, but she didn't care right now.

If Hazel tried really hard, she could pretend that she was being hugged by Sammy. She could pretend that she was back in the schoolyard, maybe Rufus had hit her and that was why she was crying, and Sammy tried to comfort her. She could pretend that she was a normal girl in the 1940's, not a demigod who had died and come back.

"I miss him." Hazel sobbed quietly, but she had the feeling that Leo heard her. "I miss Sammy so much."

Leo didn't respond. Hazel didn't really want him to - he had to feel uneasy with her speaking of Sammy. And as selfish as it sounded, she didn't want him to say anything to ruin this moment. Hazel felt home in his arms.

Slowly, Leo pulled away from the hug. Instead, he wrapped one arm around her and led her to his cabin.

They sat down on the bed. Hazel had stopped crying now. Leo looked nervous and uneasy again, with traces of red on his cheeks.

"Feeling better?" He asked her uncertainly.

Hazel nodded. She felt a little embarrassed over her break down, but she felt better. Leo rose and walked to a mini fridge and dug out a small box.

He turned to Hazel and showed her the box, grinning.

"Ice cream. Always helps for a break-up. At least in movies."

Hazel laughed. Leo gave her a spoon and opened the box.

"Thanks." She said to him. Leo looked surprised.

"For the ice cream?"

"No… For understanding. And being there." Hazel said quietly.

Leo looked troubled. He shifted.

"Hazel, I have something to tell you-"

Then, suddenly, he stopped. Something was wrong, Hazel could see it in his eyes.

"Leo?" She asked uncertainly.

But when she looked at him again, that look in his eyes was gone. He looked normal again.

"Are you okay?"

"I-Yeah." Leo said. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He still looked a little troubled.

"You were going to tell me something?" Hazel said.

Leo swallowed. He met Hazel's gaze, looking… Scared?

"I can't tell you. It's-I-"

It looked like he was trying to tell her, but something just didn't let him.

"What's wrong, Leo?" Hazel asked, worry rising up her throat.

"Stupid hands." He muttered.

"What?"

"Hands. Cold hands. Khione working with ghoul-woman. Underworld. Evil plan."

Leo got a terrified look in his eyes. It was like he couldn't get the words out from his mouth, and it was terrifying Hazel.

"Leo? What's wrong?!" She asked, almost panicking.

Suddenly he started to tremble.

"W-Wha-" Leo trembled even worse. He looked like he was going to be sick. He fell down to the floor.

"I-Mom-" He inhaled sharply. "No-"

Leo trembled so badly, that he fell down on the floor. His eyes twitched.

"Leo!" Hazel screamed, fell to her knees and shook his shoulders. She dropped the ice cream box on the bed. "Leo, w-what's happening?!"

He looked like he couldn't breathe. His shaking hands rose to his throat.

"Stop it!" Hazel tried to rip his hands off his throat, but they were as hard as steel.

Leo got a distant look in his eyes. He stopped tremble, just laid there completely relaxed (but his hands, which still clenched his throat).

"I can see her." Leo said, longing. "I see her-"

Hazel felt the panic crawl up in her throat, hurting and sticking. She knew who he was speaking of. His mom.

Leo coughed. His hands clenched harder.

"HELP!" Hazel yelled. "HELP! H-HE IS LOSING IT!"

Fortunately, she heard the sound of running steps outside the cabin. Nico and Coach Hedge stormed in.

"What?! What's up with Valdez?!" Hedge asked.

"I felt someone dying." Nico cursed and knelt next to Leo.

With Coach Hedge and Nico's help, Hazel managed to pull away Leo's hands from his throat. His eyes were glazed over so you could only see the whites, and he seemed to be unconscious.

"Wait…" Coach Hedge said warily.

Suddenly Leo blinked and inhaled sharply. Then he started to cough.

"What happened?! We heard-" Piper and Jason suddenly appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. Her eyes fell on Leo and she paled.

Leo looked around him with wild eyes, he looked like he didn't recognize any of them. His skin was colder than usual, and he started to tremble again.

"Leo?" Piper said with a soothing voice. "It's okay. What happened?"

But even her charmspeak couldn't calm him down. He looked scared, even terrified, and it wasn't before he lay eyes on Hazel he stopped shiver.

"W-where is she?! I saw her. She was here. S-She-" His voice broke. He looked so vulnerable, so scared, worse than that night when he dreamed the dream about his mother.

"It's okay, Leo." Hazel said slowly, but it didn't work. She clenched his hand.

"Who is he speaking about?" Jason asked and frowned.

Hazel shot him a look of unbelief. Jason was Leo's best friend. Didn't he know?

"Let's take him to the sickbay, cupcakes." Coach Hedge said. The boys picked Leo up, who didn't even protest, and carried him away. The others followed them.

Hazel realized Frank wasn't there. She glanced over her shoulder and wondered if she should go and get him.

No, honey. He's not your responsibility. Not anymore.

Hazel felt how her body listened to that horrible voice. She wanted to scream no, she wouldn't listen to that stupid voice, she could control herself, but still she just nodded when Piper asked if she was coming.

I know, not very good, but it's kinda' important for the story :/

See you!