Hi everybody! I gotta say I loved the positive reception to the last chapter. Nice to see some other Leyna fans out there :)

This one's pretty short, but you can probably expect another update on Friday, so never fear. Thanks to all readers/reviewers. Enjoy!

XXXVI
LEO

Problems, Leo was used to.

Especially girl-related problems. He had a tendency to go after girls who were way out of his league, who didn't even look at him twice. The sort of girl-related problems he wasn't used to, however, involved girls that did happen to look at him twice—and that might actually like him. Well, okay, there'd been that one incident at camp last fall with that thirteen-year-old girl from the Hermes cabin who'd stalked him for a month, but other than that, Leo was sort of in the dark where it came to dealing with things like love.

As this insane journey had worn on, he had started to think that maybe Reyna had finally gotten past the whole eidolon bombing incident and was ready to accept him as an ally—maybe even a friend—and then she had to go and throw him for a total loop by taking it a step further and kissing him. Then she'd apologized and he'd wondered if it had been some kind of mistake, but when he initiated the second kiss, one thing was undeniably certain—she had kissed him back. And he'd have to be a complete and utter idiot not to realize she had liked it.

Maybe even as much as he had.

But then—this was Reyna. Cold, scary, serious, Roman Reyna. She may not have hated the Greeks as much as some of the others did (that slimeball Octavian, for example), but still, she was Roman to the core. Maybe this was some kind of trick? She didn't seem like the type to do something like that, but after all, Leo didn't know that much about the Romans, aside from Jason, Hazel, and Frank. How could he say what they were capable of?

He knew he would have to confront her about it at some point. The only problem was that if he wasn't careful, he could very well end up driving a gigantic wedge between the two camps. And with such an important quest looming over their heads, that was the last thing he wanted.

Either way, Reyna had been the last person to emerge from their room that morning, which left Leo somewhere in the vicinity of zero time to try and talk to her. Not that he would have known what to say, anyway. He'd been up the rest of the night trying to figure it out, but without any real luck. He had to hope that when the occasion came about, he'd figure something out. His mind worked better under pressure, after all.

When Reyna finally did join the rest of them, she didn't even so much as look at Leo. In fact, she seemed to be deliberately avoiding him. Her demeanor was unusually cold and closed-off, more serious than she'd been since the night her camp had disappeared. Leo knew all too well what that meant. He was always at his most obnoxious when he was hiding some other emotion he didn't want anyone else seeing. Reyna must have been doing the same thing.

What bugged him the most, however, was what that meant. If Reyna was as conflicted as she was trying not to appear, then what had happened the previous night must have meant something to her. But if that was the case, why was she avoiding him? Maybe the whole thing was some kind of mistake, and now Reyna was so angry that she couldn't even bring herself to look at Leo.

But what about him? How did he feel about it? Ever since they'd met, Leo and Reyna hadn't exactly hit it off. His unfortunate bombing of her city had ensured that. Even throughout this quest, as she'd kind of calmed down and he'd gotten to know her a little better, there was always that fear that any second she could snap and take his head off. Sure, she was pretty and all, but he'd never thought of her in any way other than a friend—and a tentative friend, at that. That is, until last night. Now he didn't know what he was feeling.

The whole thing was just one giant headache.

Unsurprisingly, Reyna retreated belowdeck as soon as they boarded the Argo II, which was perfectly fine with Leo. He'd decided to take her lead and act as though nothing had happened. Maybe after they rescued their friends and defeated Nyx, there would be time for a nice heart-to-heart chat. But at the moment, none of them could afford to be distracted from their mission.

Apparently, though, the act didn't fool everyone, and Annabeth emerged from belowdeck a while into the trip and confronted Leo on the quarterdeck.

"What happened with you, Hazel, and Reyna last night?" she asked bluntly, without so much as a 'hello'.

"What do you mean?" Leo said casually, focusing on the ship's control panel and doing his best not to give anything away. "We all went to bed at the same time. Did something happen after that?"

Normally, he was pretty good at hiding things. But this was Annabeth, who had a nasty habit of seeing through people like they were made of polished plexiglass. She wouldn't be easy to fool. "You tell me," she said simply. "None of you have even talked to each other all morning. Reyna seems angrier than usual—definitely more so than last night. Hazel turns bright red every time she looks at either one of you. I'm not an idiot, Leo. I know something's up. And if it's gonna jeopardize our teamwork, I want to know what's going on."

"Chill out, Annabeth," Leo responded. "Nothing's wrong, okay? Reyna's probably just worried about her camp. I bet it's got nothing to do with me."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, hands on her hips. "I know you're lying," she said flatly. "Just tell me whatever stupid thing you said to her so I can talk to her and try to fix it. We're heading straight into enemy territory, here, and we can't afford to be at odds with each other."

There was something about the way she was talking and irritated Leo. "Why do you assume I did something?" he argued defensively. "Everything that goes wrong isn't always my fault, you know."

"That's not what I'm saying," she said impatiently. "Look, it's obvious that whatever Reyna's mad about, it's directed at you. Now just tell me what you did and I'll—"

"I didn't do anything!" Leo shot back angrily. "She kissed me! I'm the victim here! If anything, you should be downstairs yelling at her."

Annabeth's eyes shot open so wide, Leo was afraid they'd pop out of her head. "She kissed you?" she repeated incredulously.

Leo blanched, his throat tightening like someone was trying to strangle him. "N… No, that's not what—Aw, Styx," he muttered, realizing that it was too late to backtrack his way out of this one. Annabeth's offensive tone thrown on top of all the pent-up frustration he was already dealing with had made him speak without thinking—and consequently dig the first shovelful of his own grave.

"Oh, Leo, are you serious?" Annabeth went on, her eyes still wide and her tone now hushed. "That's why she's upset? What did you say to her?"

"Nothing!" he insisted somewhat helplessly. "I swear, I never got a chance! Hazel—" Suddenly Leo's gaze swept over Annabeth's shoulder and he froze, words dying on his tongue. "Annabeth," he said stiffly.

"Don't try to change the subject," she scolded him. "I want to know—"

"Annabeth, look!" Leo grabbed Annabeth's shoulders and spun her around, staring out beyond the ship at the great desert spread out below them.

A few hundred yards away and approaching fast was a deep, sandy valley surrounded by rough vegetation. At the base of the hill sat a jagged formation of fifty-foot-tall obsidian pillars, inside of which sat the lost city of New Rome. And around the city, guarding it like a prison yard, was a ring of a few dozen monsters, all of whom looked large enough to tower over Leo and his friends.

"Oh, no," Annabeth breathed, her shoulders tensing.

A lump formed in Leo's throat as he took in the sight before them. He stepped up beside Annabeth and said, "I think we'd better come up with that plan now."

It's almost showtime, heh heh. Time for things to really start boiling over.

Drop me a review pretty please, and I'll see you again Friday!

-oMM