Hello hello! I want to start by first off apologizing for the unintended hiatus. With all the craziness that is going on in the world right now, I've been pretty stressed and was just focused on finishing my semester out online. I plan on updating regularly again. As I haven't posted in a while, not much happens in this chapter, it's more of a transition one as the next few have alot going on.

Cchang3- You-know-who on the island of you-know-where is basically going to go the same way it does in the books...kinda ;) stay tuned

Maryam Claus- yup! Leo is on Calypso's island at this point. Honestly, in the book, there's not much about the time between when he's blasted off the ship and when he comes back to the Argo, I plan on exploring that time in between a little.

Radoddish- lots of sassy Rosie and drama coming!

stay safe everyone!

Rosie clutched the Post-it pad, sharpie in hand as Buford scuttled around her frantically. She winced in the harsh, direct sunlight. The days of winter coats and scarves woven tightly around necks were gone. Khione had blasted them somewhere hot- Jason's guess was Africa. The venti's palace, flanked by water on both sides, was enormous and daunting- it seemed to almost be teasing them. Despite being surrounded by water, the air seemed to be sucked clean of moisture, humidity hanging threateningly in the air.

Frankly, she didn't care where the hot location was. All she knew was something from all the way back to her Wilderness days- Rosie Reiger did not thrive in the heat. Her hair was piled messily on top of her head, baby strands of it plastered onto her forehead with sweat.

"Rosie!" A sharp bark caused her to turn around, only to see Nico standing there, scowling at her.

"What?"

"You said you were going to figure out the GPS controls," he said, his words dripping with annoyance as he gestured to the control board by her side.

"I know, Nico. I will, okay?" She wasn't in the mood for Nico today (was she ever?).

"Will you?" He shot back at her. "You said you could fix the ship."

She winced inwardly, regretting ever saying those words. She had watched Leo create the ship piece by piece, but she wasn't sure she could fix the enormity of damage the ship suffered. Even with Jason summoning the southern winds, trying to fix the Argo II was an utter disaster right now. No one could deny it- none of them were even close to being as good at building as Leo was. Annabeth, maybe, she realized with a pang in her stomach.

"Rosie?" Nico said. "Are you even listening? What are you even doing anyway?"

Before she could react, Nico grabbed the post-it note pad from Rosie. She yelped in protest as Nico flipped through the pad, scowling as he read it.

"'I just witnessed Frank put the milk before the cereal- I'm convinced he is not of our kind'," he read, looking up at Rosie in confusion. "What the heck is this?"

"Can I have that back? It's not really your business."

"If this is what you're doing instead of fixing the ship, I'm going to need to know what it is."

Rosie sighed, aware that her patience for Nico was getting thinner by the day. Leo being gone had given her a significant edge.

"I had the chickenpox."

"Sorry?"

"Leo and I used to go to the same school. Back...before all of this. And for a while...he was my only friend- Piper didn't come to school until a few months later. And um...I had the chickenpox one week." The memory came back to the surface, and a smile slipped onto her face.

Nico raised his eyebrows in confusion. "You're smiling about having the chickenpox."

"I am. I think that's the most pain I've ever been in pre-demigod days.""

Nico scowled. "You're the single most annoying person I've ever met."

"Thanks. Anyway, I was completely locked up in my room for a week, absolutely miserable. Leo would write stuff down that happened on Post-it notes- he would slide them underneath my door. So I guess I wouldn't miss out."

"Well," Nico said, ripping off the Post-it note he read. He crumbled it up into a ball and threw it at Rosie, it bouncing off her forehead. "I'm so glad you're wasting time writing updates- maybe you can write one about how terrible you are at fixing the ship!"

"I never claimed to know what I was doing!" She shot back aggravated. "I said I would try to help with the ship's damage! I have it under control."

At that exact moment, the boom of the ship swung towards them. Rosie and Nico simultaneously yelped, both ducking to avoid being hit by it.

"Under control, huh?" Nico sneered, jumping back up.

"How on earth was that my fault? Poor timing, sure-"

"Enough, you two!"

Piper had emerged on deck- she had been in the engine room with Coach, fiddling with some of the pipes.

"That's enough," she repeated. "Jason wants a meeting, now."

The six of them sat around the mess hall table, a feeling of failure in the air. Jason sat at the head, slumped into his chair.

"Still no word from the king?" Hazel asked.

It was obvious they needed help- fixing the ship was a big undertaking only Leo could do. Without him, they need the southern venti to help. While originally, these winds had been helpful, they now became lazy, refusing to help. Matters were made worse by the fact that Jason still couldn't get an audience with the king of the southern venti.

"No," Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I can't get a word from either counterpart, Notus or Auster."

"We'll never fix the ship without him," Nico stated matter-of-factly.

"Festus and Buford are helping," Piper pointed out.

"But Reyna is going to be waiting for us at Epirus," Frank countered.

"We're kinda also missing someone," Rosie pointed out.

Everyone winced inwardly at the indirect mention of Leo.

"Right," Jason said kindly, nodding at Rosie. "We also need Leo."

Nico stood up suddenly, walking toward the exit of the Mess Hall.

"The ship isn't going to fix itself," he muttered.

"He's stressed," Hazel said in an apologetic tone to the rest of them. "The closer Percy and Annabeth get to the Doors...well, he made a promise."

"It's okay," Jason said gently, once again defending Nico. She held her tongue in annoyance. Jason stood. "I think I'll go talk to him. Pipes, can you check on Coach?"

"Sure," she offered helpfully, following Jason out of the room.

A heaviness hung in the air as Rosie was left with Frank and Hazel. She decided that was one of the worst Mess Hall meetings they had ever had.

After a few seconds of awkward, defeated silence, she peered over at Frank. "Have you ever tried changing into a dachshund?" It was a question that she had for a while- she knew never when the right time would be to bring it up.

Frank sighed, like he knew where this was going. "No, why?"

"If you became a wiener dog," she said. "You'd be like a frank further." Leo would've died at this- full belly laughter.

Hazel bit her lip, holding some laughter in. Frank sighed again, sounding quite defeated.

"Maybe one day," he said weakly. "Like a holiday."

"My birthday's June 10th."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Hazel tapped Rosie on the arm with a gentle smile on her face. "You look like you need to get your mind off things."

Weirdly, it felt like Frank and Hazel were the only ones she could talk to since Leo was gone. There was still all that unspoken tension between her and Jason, since they hadn't discussed that night yet. Piper seemed to be avoiding her, like maybe she wasn't quite sure if she needed to walk on eggshells around Rosie or not. And of course, there was Nico, who hated her guts.

She gave Hazel a smile. "How'd you know?"

Hazel grinned. "I could use some Mist practice….you in?"

Rosie grabbed Hazel's hand in silence. She shot a grateful smile at the two of them, aware that there was a time she didn't even like them that much- thank god that had changed.

"I'm in."