Chapter 3: Let us keep the dance of rain our fathers kept and tread our dreams beneath the jungle sky

Many thanks to the ever thoughtful and always wonderful ViscountessAberowen. I couldn't do it without you!

"Pass the ketchup, would ya Ghost Boy?" Leo smirked and waggled his eyebrows from across the dinner table. Nico scowled but handed the condiment over to the son of Hephaestus. Leo smiled his thanks and proceeded to squirt copious amounts of ketchup over his Walnut-Lentil Bolognese. He saw Nico wrinkle his nose in disgust, but the demigod refrained from saying anything.

The changes in Nico were subtle. His hair, which before had been growing out and shaggy, now brushed the tops of the demigod's shoulders. More cuts and scratches in varying degrees of healing littered his hands and arms. A small scar, already a shimmery white, marred the area above his lip.

Just like Jason's. The sudden thought sent a stab of pain through Leo, and he worked to keep the smile on his face. Lityerses complimented Emmie on the Bolognese, and the fresh green snap peas served as one of the sides. Leo's face hurt with the effort of maintaining his smile. He had no appetite for the plate of food in front of him. Just keep breathing. In. Out. In. Out.

Under the table, a foot collided painfully with his shin.

"Ow!" Leo looked up to find Nico glaring at him, eyes narrowed. The son of Hades subtly tilted his head toward Jo. She gazed at Leo expectantly.

"Sorry, Jo. Wha- my head wasn't in the conversation." Leo directed his winning smile to Emmie's other half.

"We were just going over patrol. So take the loop tonight- no patrolling Washington. Circle South, West, Maryland, Meridian. Then come back home. No pit stops. Got it?"

Leo looked around the table. Lityerses, still eating, focused on a pamphlet: Transportation for Elephants Made Easy! All you need to know about caring for your pachyderm friends!

Sssssarah sat next to Olujime, throwing out questions for the Yoruba demigod's upcoming accounting quiz:

"Give me the ssstraight line depreciation formula!"

"Cost minus salvage value divided by the useful life in years."

"Ownersss interessst in the asssetsss of a corporation is…"

"Stockholders equity."

"Precisssely!"

The seat Hunter Kowalski had occupied previously was empty. Having promised Sssssarah that she would write, the Hunter had left with Thalia and the rest of Artemis' troupe when their visit had come to a close. The two young boys from Commodus' cells, Stan and Deacon, alternated between shoveling food in their mouths and talking shop about the latest rendition of their MtG Commander decks.

Calypso delicately ate her meal in the seat furthest from Leo, stubbornly keeping her eyes on the food directly in front of her. He sighed and looked back at Jo.

"No offense Jo, but why are you telling me? My main man Lit's in charge of our patrol tonight. Mr. Cornhusker over there is more than capable of leading our merry little group of boyband misfits." Leo grinned as both Nico and Lityerses scowled at him. "What? I mean, I might be better looking than both of you, but that doesn't mean I'm the leader, okay? Come on, guys."

Lit rolled his eyes and returned to his pamphlet. "Not going tonight. Too much to do with Livia." He opened his reading material to the middle and continued. "Besides, it's been pretty quiet. I'm sure you can handle it all on your own, Valdez."

"Whatever, man." Leo looked over to Jo. "Why are we avoiding Washington?"

Jo and Emmie shared a glance before Emmie spoke up. "We're not avoiding it; we just want Nico's first patrol to be shorter. Get used to the way we do things."

Nico cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Emmie, I do have some experience. I'm not some wet behind the ears demigod."

Emmie shifted in her seat, but it was Jo who spoke up. "We know that. And we're looking forward to adding you to our longer patrols...once you know how we do things."

Nico opened his mouth to argue, but Leo kicked him under the table. Payback, baby. Nico glowered at the son of Hephaestus. Leo just smirked and turned his attention to the caretakers of the Waystation.

"I'll be sure to stick to the kiddie route, Jo. Ease Nico here into the saddle." Leo didn't look, but he was sure that if the other demigod could ghostify people with his looks, Leo would be a specter by now.

"Do not become complacent, Leo." Olujime had finished with Sssssarah and her quiz, feeling confident in his accounting skills. "While Lityerses is correct that things have been quiet, I have a feeling that it is the calm before the storm."

Emmie and Jo exchanged uneasy glances. "Olujime? Is there something you'd like to share with us?"

Jaime bowed his head, and his voice was quiet thunder when he responded. "Not at this time." Without another word on the matter, the Yoruba demigod turned back to the dracanae and asked whether she had ever tried ostrich eggs, which immediately piqued her interest.

Emmie muttered to Jo loud enough for everyone to hear: "Maybe Lit should go."

Leo felt the tips of his ears burning and reached a hand up to make sure they were not on fire. His mouth was dry. He began to hotly voice his opinion about Lit's abilities compared to his own, but Nico beat him to the punch.

"I'm sure whatever is going on, Leo and I can handle it. Did you know he maneuvered us and his ship out of harm's way when an ourae attacked? And Hazel said that he outwitted a bunch of nymphs in Utah. Not to mention…" Nico trailed off as the conversation around the table quieted down, and everyone turned their attention to the demigod. His face turned the lightest shade of red, and he looked down at his plate, his voice an octave lower when he spoke again. "I think we can handle it."

Jo grinned." It's settled then. Lit, Calypso- you two take dishes tonight so Jaime can study for his test." She winked at Leo and Nico. "Check in with me when you get back."

The September night air brushed against Leo's skin, a comfortable if slightly cool breeze gently rustling the leaves in the trees. He and Nico walked in companionable silence all the way down South Street.

Lit had been right. It was a quiet night. Which made it a slow night. Which meant it was a boring night.

Leo sighed heavily. "This is boring, dude."

Nico glanced over and shrugged. "Yeah."

"I hate to say it, man, but sometimes," Leo looked up at the stars as he spoke, hands fiddling with several wires and two bright pink pipe cleaners. "Sometimes I miss being on the Argo II."

Nico scrubbed a hand through his hair, forcing it back out of his face. He grimaced. "Yeah."

"And, I mean, what's up with this kiddie route? I know Emmie and Jo mean well, but... we're not kids! Well, I guess we're teenagers. But still- not kids! We've seen more action than most demigods, for crying out loud!" Leo twisted the pipe cleaners together until they wrapped around each other as one.

Nico nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah."

Leo groaned. "Is that all you're going to say, Ghost Boy? Yeah?"

Nico looked over at Leo, his expression flitting between annoyance and humor. "Yeah."

The son of Hephaestus snorted and shook his head. "Whatever."

"It's Ghost King, actually." The dark-haired boy looked straight ahead as he spoke, eyes shifting and taking in the sights on either side of the street.

Leo raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything. Nico glanced at him, eyebrows drawn downward and reiterated. "Not Ghost Boy."

Laughter erupted from Leo. "I am not calling you Ghost King."

"Nico is an acceptable choice then. It is my name, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Leo waved a hand back and forth as if to brush away Nico's suggestion. "I'll come up with something. I always do."

The pair of demigods reached the intersection of South and West Street. Leo glanced up and down the roadways before crossing West and turning right. He glanced behind him to make sure Nico followed. A frown settled upon Nico's face, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What's up, Ghost Boy?" Leo really couldn't help it.

"King." Nico hesitated for so long after the correction, Leo believed the demigod had no more to say. He was wrong.

"Why were you faking earlier?"

Leo tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. He caught himself before the ground would have kissed his face and grumbled, wiping imaginary dirt from his knees and hands while he collected himself.

"What're you talking about? Leo Valdez does not fake."

Nico raised an eyebrow before sighing softly and looking away. "I'm sorry if my being here is upsetting you."

Leo choked back a cough. "W-what?"

Nico's shoulders bowed inward, and he looked at the ground, kicking pebbles and dirt with the toe of his shoe. "You were looking at me and then...I don't know. Your heartbeat changed, and it was like you were forcing yourself to breathe."

"Dude," Leo's face felt like it was on fire. "You-my heartbeat-what?"

"Son of Hades. I can detect life force. I thought you knew?"

Leo shrugged. "I thought it was more of a sense of impending death, shadows falling over people kind of thing, or something."

"I sense that too."

"Well," Leo cast about for the words he wanted. "Well, stop spying on my heart, or whatever!"

"So you were upset and faking." The son of Hephaestus could hear the smug triumph in Nico's voice.

"I...I was thinking about Jason." Leo confessed.

Nico fell quiet for a beat before uttering a soft, "Oh."

"Yeah." The heavy sigh that fell from Leo's mouth had all the weight of the world. "I just really miss him sometimes. He was my bro. Even if the before time wasn't true...he was still there for me in the after. And...and I ruined that by being gone." Leo groaned. "Ugh. Why am I even telling you all this?" The familiar ache settled about his heart. Stupid heart giving me away to Nico di Angelo.

They walked down half a block before, "Leo."

A light drizzle started up, the drops soft upon the pair of demigods' skin. Leo looked away from Nico. He spied a sign saying "Victory Field," which identified a green patch of grass with bases directly to Leo's left.

Nico pushed forward, disregarding Leo's lack of an answer. "I miss him too."

The raw emotion and longing in Nico's voice finally caught Leo's attention. He turned his head to the right. Anguish settled across Nico's face, his eyes glassy even through the falling rain, which had begun to come down in earnest, soaking through the demigods' clothes. "He was the first-"

Nico cut off abruptly, his eyes darting to the field space behind Leo. Without warning, Nico reached forward and pulled Leo behind him, summoning his Stygian Iron blade. The black metal materialized, steaming in the deluge.

Leo squinted through the sheet of rain. Something was moving on the field. Undulating toward the pair of demigods. It moved in a jerking and odd manner, like a marionette with an inexperienced puppeteer.

He barely heard Nico hiss, "Hydra." Leo moved to stand beside Nico and glanced over at the son of Hades. Nico's eyes were narrow slits, watching the progress of the monster with confusion.

Leo cleared his throat. "Why's it moving so weird? Is it hurt?"

Nico shook his head. "Only one way to find out." Without warning, Nico ran toward the chainlink fence surrounding Victory Field. He took a flying leap five feet from the chain obstacle and, grabbing halfway up and kicking off with his shoe, vaulted over the top of the fencing.

"Show-off," Leo grumbled. He didn't even try to vault the fence, instead opting for climbing over and dropping to the ground. Then, he turned and began to run toward Nico and the monster.

Nico was stopped ten feet from the hydra.

"Dude... what's wrong with it? You don't think it's sick or something, do you? What's that purple stuff?" The hide of the hydra was cracked and peeling as its seven heads waved backward and forward, confusion holding it in place. Bits of scale chipped and flaked away like burned paper. Beneath the crumbling skin, a dark umber and purple mass of energy crackled and sparked. It was like one of those electro-lamps with the colored "lightning" that sprang toward your fingertips when you touched the glass.

Cool.

"I...I don't know what that is." Nico took a step toward the monster and raised both arms, waving them back and forth to get the creature's attention. "Hey! Big guy!"

The hydra squirmed beneath the rain but paid no heed to the small demigod.

Leo grabbed one of Nico's arms and dragged it down. "Stop! What are you doing? Do you want to be hydra-chow?!"

Nico yanked his arm away from Leo. "Something's obviously not right. It doesn't even seem to know where it is. It's not actively trying to kill us-"

"-because it hasn't seen us-"

"-so maybe we can convince it to go away. Turn around. Not all creatures-"

"-are evil things that try to kill and EAT us?!"

"-are bad. Given a chance, they might be good! Like Bob!" Leo and Nico's voices rose, one over the other until Nico shouted the last sentence. It could be heard over the rain. The hydra's seven heads snapped toward the demigods. At last, it had heard them.

"Well, Ghost Boy. It would seem you have the room." Leo scowled and gestured toward the creature, nervously dipping his hand into the pockets of his toolbelt.

Nico swallowed and stepped forward. "Hey…."

"Buddy. Call it something nice. Calm it down."

"H-hey...buddy. You feeling alright?"

The hydra rotated its body until its feet pointed toward the demigods. Three of the heads focused on Nico and Leo. Two looked at each other as if wondering, "Who, us?" A sixth head glanced behind it, "Yep. Must be talking to us- there's no one behind!" The last head looked up toward the sky with unevenly sized eyes, its mouth slightly open as if to say, "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a place that would be!"

Nico continued gently but loudly talking to the monster. "You're really close to someplace you don't want to be. So turn around, and we'll leave you alone, okay?"

The hydra's heads all turned their attention back to the son of Hades- except the one staring at the rain, now trying to catch the fat water droplets in its mouth.

Taking a cue from Nico, Leo opened his hands in what he hoped was a non-threatening and placating manner. "¡Oye, güey! We're all good here. Do like Nico said and just turn around and walk away. We don't want to have to hurt you." Leo stage-whispered out of the side of his mouth," I think we should go for it while it's distracted."

"Leo, don't threaten-" But the damage was already done. The mouths opened as one and issued an echoing hiss that sounded like hundreds of baby rattlesnakes. "We should run." The heads, including the one that had been fixated on the rain, pulled back, preparing to strike.

"Now!" Leo didn't have to be told twice. The two demigods turned and sprinted back to West street. Nico once again vaulted the fence while Leo scrambled over the top. He threw himself from the top and heard a loud 'POP' as he landed on his feet. His right ankle buckled to the side.

"Hephaestus' underpants! That hurt like a-" Nico reached down to the cursing demigod and pulled him to his feet, hooking one arm around Leo's waist while he pulled the tinkerer's arm around Nico's own shoulders.

"Come on." Half holding-half dragging Leo, Nico took a sharp left onto West heading toward Maryland.

Leo groaned. "We should go back the way we came. It's shorter."

"Too late now." Leo looked behind them. It was, indeed, too late. The hydra had barreled through the fencing and onto the street, going in circles like a cat trying to capture an elusive red dot. Until it picked up their scent. Four of the seven heads looked up and shrieked as it caught sight of them through the rain.

The pair, hampered by Leo's ankle, hobbled as quickly as they could toward Maryland.

"Nico! Just use your creepies and transport us home! Back to the Waystation!"

The son of Hades sounded confused. "My what?"

"Your oogie boogies! Your creepy crawlies! Your sombra!"

Nico snapped in annoyance. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Your shadows, Ghost Boy! Use 'em to get us the heck out of here!"

Nico growled in frustration, and his voice was tight when he answered, "I can't."

"Yes, you can! Just summon your shadows and stuff and get us from point A to point B. We cannot be heavier than the Athena Parthenos!" Leo's breathing grew heavier as the pain increased.

Nico shook his head. "You don't understand. I can't. I can't shadow travel anymore."

"What do you mean you-"

"I just can't! Leave it alone!" Nico closed his eyes shut in anger. When he opened them again, they were curiously blank, and his tone was level and unassuming. They rounded the corner onto Maryland. Nico came to a halt. "Here. Stop for a second."

Leo looked behind them to make sure the two demigods even had a second. When he returned his attention to the son of Hades, Leo noticed shadows had begun to creep and ripple toward them, oozing like liquid tar covering the wet ground. "I thought you said-"

"I know what I said, Valdez!" Nico's voice was strained with fatigue and concentration. "Be quiet!"

Leo flinched as the shadows covered the tips of his shoes and surged upward and over his legs, his torso, his neck. As it covered his face, Leo held his breath until he felt Nico whisper in his ear: "Breathe."

Leo let the air in his lungs out in a whoosh as Nico's warm words caressed his neck and sent shivers down his back. "Look."

The son of Hephaestus did what he was told. The hydra lumbered past them, heads swiveling from side to side, trying to find the pair. But the shadows did their job well: the hydra couldn't see them.

Leo felt Nico's hand slide into his and the slight tug as the self-proclaimed Ghost "King" tugged him forward, following behind the hydra. It continued down Maryland, passing by Meridian.

"Good." Leo glanced over at Nico, surprised to see a pleased smile gracing the demigod's face. "I was worried we'd have to lead it away from the Way-" a snarling scream of victory pierced the night air as the hydra spun and moved back toward Leo and Nico's spot, it's multiple tongues flicking in the air as it tasted the demigods' scent. The son of Hades winced. "-Station." The darkness slid away from Nico and Leo. "Schist. I can't hold the shadows anymore. We gotta move."

Their dash lasted all of five seconds before Nico's fatigue and Leo's rapidly swelling ankle made it into more of a zombie shamble. So down Meridian street they shuffled until they stumbled onto a sidewalk flooded with people.

Multi-colored lights illuminated the windows of a bar named Tiki Bob's. A neon palm tree light flashed in the night sky on the front of the building.

"Come on!" Nico dragged Leo behind him.

They entered the building, shoving through the doors and into a sparsely decorated but garish sports bar. Surfboards acted as countertops for standing patrons. A slightly lofted seating area boasted a fireman's pole. Blue high seats lined the main bar. A horrible-looking wooden parrot glared out over the crowd of people, wings spread above the place's namesake. Leo had never seen a more threatening bird in his life. Leo definitely doesn't want a cracker from you, bro.

Leo had barely finished the thought when a thunderous crash came from the storefront of the bar. Human screams filled the air, and people dashed about in their panic to escape the danger.

"Leo." The exhaustion in Nico's voice was palpable. "I don't think-" Whatever Nico had been about to say was cut short as his eyes rolled up into his head, and he slumped onto the floor.

"Nico?" No response came from the unconscious demigod. "Schist." Leo flicked his gaze from the hydra, down to the passed-out son of Hades, to his own swelling ankle, and back up to the hydra. It hissed and drew nearer, forked tongues flicking out to taste the air. More skin had fallen away, dark violet energy pulsing underneath the sheath of its body.

The ceiling creaked ominously: the hydra had taken out one of the main concrete supports when it had gatecrashed the party. With just the right push, the top would come down. At least the businesses above were closed for the day, and no residential occupancies were greenlit in the district.

Leo gulped and felt his hands catch fire, feeling his energy draining with each second he maintained the flame. Why does rain have to mess with me so much? "Guess it's just you and me then, ey amigo? But first," Leo pointed back behind the hydra. "What is that?!"

The hydra turned all of its heads to look, and Leo launched several fistfuls of fire at the supports. As concrete and rebar crashed down on the hydra, Leo pulled Nico out of harm's way and back under a seating booth to the side.

As the dust settled, Leo peered out. The hydra lay sprawled beneath the crumpled mess of the partial floor from above. Several of its heads were smashed to smithereens, bloody masses on the ground. Two heads whipped tiredly back and forth, like a snake that had been run over by a car. The last head- the rain-loving, odd-eyed head-nudged the one next to it whose glassy eyes stared off into the distance unseeing. It hissed lowly- mournfully, a sound like the air being let out of a tire- before lowering to the ground and growing still.

The purple energy still crackled with life. It spread along the carcass of the hydra, engulfing it until it crumbled away into ash and dust, seeping into the ground.

Leo sighed. So much for a quiet night.

He stood and pulled Nico, who was beginning to stir slightly, to the demigod's feet. "Come on, Ghost Boy. Let's go home." Together, the son of Hephaestus and the son of Hades slowly moved toward the Waystation.

A/N: Until next time!