Ok, long break.
It took me forever, because I wanted to make this chapter longer.
And the fact that my computer wants me to write in Spanish. I have no idea how I changed that setting...
I made a tumblr page! Username is teamleo4, blog is teamleo4 (the win!). Hope to see you there!
Thank you for all the reviews, and here's the next chapter!
-teamleo4 (the win!)
Piper
Piper walked away from the new couple.
They deserved some alone time, after all the drama on the ship. To her it seemed like everyone was going crazy. She could only imagine what they all seemed like to Calypso.
She walked back up on deck. Hazel and Frank were talking near the starboard side. She looked over towards the helm, where she found Jason still attempting to steer the ship.
"How can Leo do this?" Jason complained as soon as he noticed Piper.
"'Cause he's Leo," she said simply, walking over towards him.
Jason sighed, and looked back over the water, flailing his wrists wildly. "This thing has auto-pilot, right?"
"Um. . . yes?"
"What button do I press-"
"I got a better idea. FESTUS!" she shouted, gaining the attention of the bronze dragon directly ahead. "Switch to auto-pilot."
Festus creaked, which Piper hoped meant, 'can do!' and did another one-eighty turn to face forward again.
Jason set down the remotes carefully, making sure that they weren't still controlling the ship. They stayed on course, at least as far as she could tell.
"Now what?" she asked, looking up at Jason.
He smiled, reaching for her hand. "We wait for the New York shore to show up."
Her face echoed his. She pulled him over to the side rail, taking in the view. A few scattered islands surrounded them. They looked similar to Ogygia, but she could definitely tell the difference.
"Beautiful," Jason breathed. Piper looked up at him, to realize he wasn't looking out to sea. He was looking at her.
Naturally, she blushed.
Jason chuckled. "I was expecting that." He put one hand around her waist and pulled her into a kiss.
"How did I get so lucky to have you?" he asked, breaking away. He seemed genuinely puzzled.
"Maybe I'm just a sucker for cheesy lines from movies," she replied. They both laughed at that.
Then Piper heard a thud from down below. She glanced at the stairs.
Jason had noticed too. "It's probably nothing. . . Leo's most likely trying to show off."
"Yeah. . ." she said, biting her lip.
"You need to stop worrying."
"I'm not worrying! I'm just – just concerned about the well being of others!"
There was a pause.
"Piper?"
"Mhmm?"
"That's called worrying."
Piper rolled her eyes. "Fine."
Jason laughed at her expression.
"Everything is going to be fine," he assured her. "You've been pulling more than your own weight on this ship for long enough. Let someone else focus on that."
Piper thought about that. She had been trying to keep everyone moving forward for a while now. Maybe it was time to give someone else a chance. But with everything that was happening-
"Pipes," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Relax. Nothing else is gonna happen. All that drama is behind-"
He was cut off by Leo bursting back on deck.
"Leo, aren't you suppose to be going to sleep?" Piper asked, a little annoyed.
"I was- but then- blood-" he got out, then ran back down the stairs.
Jason just stared at the stairway, obviously not believing his luck. "So much for no more drama. . ." he sighed, slipping his arms out from around her waist and instead grabbing her hand. "To be continued," he grinned, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing it.
Piper laughed and followed him to the stairs.
"Leo, stop worrying," she heard Calypso saying.
"But-"
"I know, I know."
"That means-"
"I figured it out already. There's nothing we can do now."
Piper reached the bottom of the stairs, where Jason was waiting, staring warily at the two in front of them.
"What can't we do?" Jason asked, slowly approaching Calypso and Leo.
"Apparently," Calypso said, through clenched teeth. "The gods saw it fit to make me mortal." She held up her hand as evidence.
"Welcome to my world," he replied. Piper elbowed him, but Calypso just laughed without humor.
"I feel so accepted," she mused, examining her hand. She looked at Leo. "Can you get something to wrap this? I need to put some kind of pressure on it to stop the bleeding."
"Okay." With that, he jogged into his room.
Calypso slowly got up, being careful not to hit her injured hand off anything else. She sighed, then looked at Piper. "Sorry."
Piper just stared at her, confused. "For what?"
Calypso waved her arms around. "For all of the chaos I've created."
Both Piper and Jason laughed. "We're used to it. And I think we've all caused our fair share," Jason said, giving an apologetic glance at Calypso. "I'm sorry about leaving the island like that."
"You were just trying to help. . . I hope," she said, smiling slightly.
Leo came back out, holding an old shirt. "Just put pressure on it with this."
"This better be clean," Calypso warned, grinning wider, and taking the shirt with her good hand. She pressed her hands together, with the cloth in between.
She flinched as she did so, and it didn't go unnoticed by Leo.
"Are you-"
"Okay?" Calypso finished. "Hardly. But that doesn't matter right now." She looked him straight in the eye. "Go sleep."
"Make me!" Leo said stubbornly.
Her eyes shined strangely, making Piper feel like Calypso actually could make him.
"Hmm," Piper said in mock thoughtfulness. "Sorceress vs. Repair Boy. Who will win. . ."
Calypso laughed while Leo grumbled. "Fine. . ."
He glanced at her hand. "I should make sure that gets better."
Calypso removed the shirt, and surprisingly, it had stopped bleeding.
The other three stared at her in shock, and Calypso blushed, yet shrugged. "I guess I heal quickly." She continued, as if the attention made her nervous. "And now you have no reason to stay up, so goodnight."
Leo sighed in defeat. "'Night," he muttered, then kissing Calypso quickly on the cheek. Then he grinned suddenly, like he had thought of something. He grabbed Calypso's shoulders, and turned her around slowly, as if she was unstable.
The former goddess rolled her eyes. "I do know how to turn around," she complained.
"Well, obviously you don't." Leo remarked.
Calypso blushed furiously and marched into Piper's room, slamming the door.
Piper and Jason just stared at the door, really bewildered. Leo smirked.
"That's how she cut her hand," he explained.
"Uh huh," Jason said, hiding a grin. "Well, that's enough confusion for one day."
Piper stared at Leo pointedly. "Don't make me get her back out here. Go back to your room."
"Tattletale," Leo said, but he turned away from them, walking back down the hallway, and into his room.
Jason shook his head. "How did they even become a couple?"
She just switched her gaze from between the two doors where they had disappeared. "I blame Aphrodite."
Jason chuckled. "So, back up on deck we go?"
"Sure. At least guard duty makes sense."
They walked back up on deck, where Hazel and Frank were waiting.
"What was that about?" Hazel asked, sounding worried.
"Nothing really," Jason said. "Calypso's apparently mortal now. Leo wouldn't go to sleep, stuff like that."
"Calypso's mortal?" Frank asked, scrunching his eyebrows together.
"Yep," he responded, popping the 'p'. He then shook his head, mystified. "Don't ask me why, I'm just a bystander."
"Okay?"
"So," Hazel said. "What now?"
"No idea," Piper replied. "We get to Camp Half-Blood in. . ." she checked the time. "About twenty-nine hours. Do you think we can hold it together for that long?"
"If we tie Leo and Calypso to the mast, possibly," Frank said thoughtfully.
"Frank!" Hazel chided, "It's not like they're trying to cause problems."
Frank was about to say something when the air thickened in front of him, an inch from his face. He stumbled back, already reaching for his backpack.
But Piper just smiled, realizing what it was. So while the rest of them all tensed, she calmly walked so that she was beside Jason, who must have been the one the Iris-Message was sent to.
"Hello?" a voice asked, sounding distant. "Can you hear me?"
"Reyna?" Jason asked, shocked.
"Thank the gods! These things are so unreliable. . ." Reyna trailed off, and Piper caught something about Greek communication.
"Yeah, they haven't been working for a while. I tried to send a few to camp," Jason explained.
Reyna was in a worn gray shirt, and her cloak that signified her praetorship was in tatters. She looked physically beaten down, like she hadn't gotten any sleep in days. There were dark marks under her eyes, along with a cut on her cheek, which had definitely been healed for a week or so.
Her expression then turned grim, telling Piper that she wasn't here to deliver them all good news.
"What happened?" Piper asked.
"Octavian," she said flatly. "He's still rallying support. I think I have things under control-" a crash resonated in the background and the mist blurred, then came back into focus "-but it would probably be better when you guys got back. Nico and I can't hold them off forever, and neither of us have that good of ties with the Greeks. Chiron's helping-" another crash "-Nico take care of that!" They heard the son of Hades mutter under his breath about certain praetors but then some shuffling.
He appeared in the image quickly. His hair was even longer than before, and he spotted Hazel. "Hey, glad you're-" there was a crunching sound and Nico looked down.
"You stepped on my jelly beans!" Reyna complained.
"Whoops," he replied, rolling his eyes, then grinning.
Reyna pushed him out of the image, smiling as well. They heard a door open and close, marking that Nico had left. She took a deep breath than continued, becoming serious again. "Chiron's helping, but I don't know how long this will last. Three of us against both camps, and with Octavian stirring up the Romans-"
"Yeah," Jason nodded, getting it. "There's still a chance that it'll break out in war."
She looked like she wanted to deny it, but couldn't. Then she looked at Frank. "It would help if I had my fellow praetor here."
"We'll be there by tomorrow," he replied, looking a little guilty. "Do you think you can hold them for that long?"
Reyna was about to reply when an even louder smashing sound interrupted. They heard a door open and Nico calling out, "I need some backup!"
Reyna sighed again, and her expression was wary. "I'll see you-" there was a yell and Nico cursing in the background, and something disconnected the Iris-Message.
They all just stared at the sea in front of them, where the message had been.
Finally Jason spoke up. "Well at least we got an update." He turned to face all of them. "Let's see if we can get to camp before it blows up."
You have no idea how long it took me to get the idea of the Iris-Message.
I don't have much to say, except that softball season is back, and I'm trying to post sooner.
And school starts on the 2nd of September for me! No idea what classes I've got yet, so I'm anticipating that.
I already have a few ideas for the next chapter, which will be a... Calypso!
I'm skipping around with the characters now. And, they will, in fact, make it to camp in the next chapter! I have some stuff written out too already, so I hope to update soon. I'm gonna start right after I post this!
Thanks!
I made a tumblr page! Username is teamleo4, blog is teamleo4 (the win!). Hope to see you there!
Don't forget to review!
And as always,
-teamleo4 (THE WINNNNNNNN!)
