Chapter 9: Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation; not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive you are free of them yourself is pleasant.

Thanks to the lovely ViscountessAberowen and help. I struggled with this chapter and she helped me see the light!

Leo was cold. Wet and cold. And it smelled terrible. His head laid pillowed on something soft but cool and water-logged. Something kept brushing against his head periodically, smoothing hair out of his closed eyes. Two voices whispered from somewhere above his head.

"What do you think those things are?"

"I don't know. You've been around a lot longer than I have."

"I haven't lived here that long."

"I meant from before. Back before Hercules killed you."

Leo heard a disgusted sigh followed by, "Can we not talk about that guy?"

Something-a hand, maybe?- brushed the hair out of his face again.

"He got hit pretty hard, didn't he?" The first voice sounded familiar- deep and confident.

"Yeah." The hand stilled in his hair. "There's a big lump from that thing's hoof. I-I didn't warn him in time. I didn't see the other one." The second voice rang with concern and regret. Leo hated hearing that voice sound so upset.

"It's not your fault. We were both preoccupied and-"

"Quiet! I think they're coming back."

Leo felt the surface under him shift as he was dragged and heard several splashes. Then he was floating on his back, two hands under his arms keeping his head above water. He moaned softly as frigid water seeped through his clothes.

"Shhh, Leo." The second voice leaned in close to his ear. "It'll be alright. But, you've got to be quiet now. I've got you."

Leo struggled to open his eyes. The sky was fully dark, stars winking on the trio from high above. He could hear growls and bellows nearby. Moving his head around, he saw Lit near his feet, hands resting on top of the water. Leo strained to look behind him, but the person who held him leaned forward instead until they entered the son of Hephaestus' vision. He recognized the dark hair and eyes.

"Nico? ¿Qué pasó? ¿A dónde estamos?" Why did his head hurt so bad? Now that his eyes were open, Leo realized his vision was blurred, and streaks of pain shot through his right temple.

"What did he say?"

"I don't know. Keep an eye on the shore, Lit." Nico barely listened to Lit's growled reply, "What do you think I'm doing?" before focusing his attention back on Leo.

"Take it easy, Leo. You got kicked in the head. By-" Nico shook his head, "- I don't know. We're not sure what. Lit's sword shattered on impact, and it took mine and threw it." Nico bit his lip as if embarrassed. "We grabbed you and ran. It started raining, and they seemed pretty put out by it, so we figured that maybe they don't like water. Which led us here."

"Where-" Leo broke off in a cough. His throat ached. "Where is here?"

Nico wrinkled his nose as he looked around. "A retention pond. Best we could do under the circumstances."

So that's where the smell was coming from. Leo knew the large rectangular bodies of stagnant water closest to the Waystation. Being near roads and in the city, they most likely wouldn't have to worry about animals beneath the surface. Still, they would have to keep an eye out instead for rusty rebar and jagged edges of concrete and metal.

Nico was staring across the water again, looking in the same direction as Lit. He sighed in frustration. "What do they want?"

Lit shook his head. "No idea, but we can't stay in this pond forever."

Nico scowled. "Aren't you a son of Demeter? Make something grow for Hades' sake! Stick them where they are."

Lit turned away from the edge of the pond and glared at Nico. "Not all of us have such weak fighting skills that we have to rely on powers from our parents to get us through a battle!"

The only thing that stopped Nico from moving toward Lityerses in anger was Leo. However, it didn't stop Nico from throwing out his own barb of, "Maybe if you relied on your powers a little bit more and cultivated them like a real son of Demeter, Hercules wouldn't have beat you at harvest! Imagine that! A son of Zeus beating a son of Demeter at husking CORN!"

The two demigods continued to squabble, their voices rising with each insult.

"Death Breath!"

"'Reaper of Men?' Please. 'Disappointment of Men' is more like it."

"Come over here and say that to my face!"

"I am saying it to your face. Or do you have trouble with directions too?"

Lit's face twisted in a fury, and he did the only thing available to him: he splashed Nico. The son of Hades' spluttered as the dirty water ran down his face. He coughed and blew water out of his mouth.

"Seriously?"

Lit scowled and cupped his hand, all danger forgotten, and heaved a wave of water at Nico, drenching Leo in the process as well. Leo struggled to get his feet beneath him and stood, feeling mud seep into his shoes as he sank an inch into the ground. Nico's face, if possible, grew paler with anger. The son of Hades grinned, but there was nothing humorous in it. His lips curled upward with a sinister malevolence while his teeth shone in the faint light. His voice, when he spoke, was smoke and mist.

"If you wanted to play, Lit, all you had to do was ask."

Nico shifted to put Leo behind him. His free hand reached forward, ghostly white fingers splayed toward the other demigod. The grass about them rippled as if in a breeze until Leo realized it wasn't the grass that was moving but the earth.

"Nico, what are you-" A sucking squelching noise erupted from the muck surrounding them. A multitude of mud-covered objects hurled themselves toward Lityerses, smacking him over and over in the face. It took several moments for Leo to recognize what was speeding toward the son of Demeter: rat bones. All Lit could do was hold his hands up to ward off the worst of it. It wasn't until bodies of partially decomposed mice, rats, and the occasional lizard flew towards Lit that he roared and dove under the water, trying to escape the patter of dead things.

Gradually, the torrent of bones and rotting flesh abated. Leo struggled to pluck his feet from the pond bottom. Nico turned toward him, concern etched on his pale face.

"Are you alright, Leo?" The demigod reached a hand toward the son of Hephaestus before pulling back abruptly. "What the-" Nico's whole head and body jerked underwater. He sputtered to the surface once before going under again. Lit rose, water dripping off the point of his nose and a smirk of triumph on his face. His eyes gleamed, and he glanced toward Leo, the smile on his face falling away into a look of abject horror as his gaze flicked to the far side of the retention pond.

"Duck!"

Wasting no time, Leo tried to crouch and fell clumsily forward into the water as his legs remained firmly stuck. He heard a muffled thwump as a large object hit the water directly to the right of where he had been standing. Under the sediment-filled water, Leo glimpsed a shadowy figure lying parallel to the bottom. Nico. The demigod struggled to free himself from where weeds had wrapped around his legs and torso and held him tight.

Leo scrabbled for the surface, swallowing mouthfuls of rancid water and feeling bobbing rat bones bump into his face. "Lit! Let Nico go!"

Lit didn't reply, busy grabbing whatever bits of concrete and rebar he could get his hands on. He chucked them an impressive distance where they crashed against one of the creatures. It stood on the bank, seemingly confused and angry. It bellowed and screeched and hissed. The human head stared straight at Leo, mouth wordlessly opening and closing like a lazy fish.

"Lit!" Leo yelled as loudly as he could. "Let Nico up!"

"I'm trying! It's been a while since I practiced!" Lit's face twisted with effort. "Do you see the second one anywhere? It's never far behind!"

Leo ignored Lit and wrenched his feet free, losing a shoe in the process. He splashed over to where he had last seen Nico. He took a deep breath and let himself sink into the water. Nico still struggled, but his actions seemed weaker and more drawn out. Leo reached toward Nico and tapped his fingers against the demigod, letting him know he was there. He tugged and pulled at the weeds, but they would not give. Nico's hand found Leo's arm and gave a soft squeeze.

Leo shot toward the surface, coughing and screaming at the son of Demeter. "NOW, Lit! You're killing him!"

Lit roared with exertion, and the water behind Leo exploded. Leo watched as the weeds expanded, growing at so furious a rate the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk came to mind. Still wrapped around the son of Hades, the weeds skyrocketed forward.

"Stop, Lit! STOP!"

Lit's face was an ashen grey, and his hands shook as he hefted the next rock, but the weeds slowed in their climb to the heavens. Leo squinted to the skies. Nico swayed in the air at least eighty feet off the ground, captive in the tangle of weeds.

At least he's not drowning anymore.

Leo placed his hands on the overgrown plants and glanced over at Lit. "I'm going after Nico. You good, homie?"

Lit shook his head, struggling to breathe. "You shouldn't be climbing. Your head." The son of Midas threw another concrete block at the creature. It fell several feet short. "Can't you call your pet dragon or anything? To help us?"

Leo frowned. "Noooo. But that's a really great idea. Kind of like, you know, Tony Stark activating a button to get his suit to him. I guess if I-"

"How about you focus on the problem at hand, Captain Toolbelt?" Lit fell back to stand beside Leo, drawing in shuddering breaths as he did so. His grey face had not improved. "You won't get to work on Festus if we don't get out of here."

A loud shrieking hiss echoed through the air. The pair of demigods looked up. Leo swallowed heavily. "Guess we found the second one."

The bronze-hoofed creature flew through the air, circling closer and closer to Nico.

"Schist." Lit squinted, trying to see Nico through the night air. "He's defenseless up there." Lit trailed off and surveyed the creature stalking the shore. Its attention was on its flying counterpart. Air whistled between Lit's teeth as he breathed out, nodding to himself. "Right. Here's the plan. We're in trouble. One of us has to get Nico." He returned his attention to Leo. "How fast can you run?"

Leo blinked at him, startled. "Uh, fast? I mean, I think I'm fast? Like, not cheetah fast. Or like, "Hunters" fast but, I'm okay? I didn't really have any time for races back at camp, and Nike's kids were kind of intense, and I don't like-"

"Leo. Focus."

The son of Hephaestus shook his head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fast. Ish."

"Okay. So, I'm going to try to get Nico down. But, you need to distract that one-" Lit pointed toward the one still prowling the ground. "-before it decides to join in the fight up top."

"But, what about-"

"Now!"

Lit pushed on Leo, and Leo took off running.

Crashing through water. Not really running, bro. Is anyone fast in the water? I guess Percy. And Poseidon- but he's a god. He doesn't count. I wonder how fast Nico is in the water? FOCUS LEO!

Leo scrambled to the bank opposite the creature, catching his breath as he made it to land. He stood still for a moment before the creature's sudden realization he was accessible made it shriek. Leo took off.

Every step sent a sharp jab of pain through his skull, but Leo pressed on, pushing forward until he reached a lush baseball diamond. And he realized, no matter how fast he was, the creature behind him was faster. He felt the closeness of the thing as it gained ground toward him and risked a glance behind him.

The creature's fiery eyes sparked in confused anger as they met Leo's. The lion's head roared, and the human mouth opened wide to reveal sharp needle-like teeth.

As his eyes remained glued to the creature behind him, Leo realized that demigods should never run forward while looking backward. Leo tripped over a sprinkler head and went sprawling. Any remaining distance between the creature and Leo vanished rapidly.

As it approached, time seemed to slow down. Details stood out as they hadn't when he had been in the pond and he wondered if he was hallucinating. The bull head's horns sparkled with glitter and the lion's mane was twisted into braids with bright pink beads on the end. Even the human head had what looked like carrot earrings hanging from its lobes.

So, I'm going to get killed by a fairy wannabe monster? Can my death be any lamer?

Only the fortunate timing of the automatic sprinklers going off saved him. The spsst spsst spsst of water beating out in streams from the black plastic heads echoed across the field as it further drenched Leo and the creature. As the sprinklers spattered the water across the monster, it froze and seemed to come out of a daze. It looked around in confusion and down at Leo before backing away.

The thing seemed to forget Leo was even there the further away it got. Purple energy raced across its back and arched over its chest, rapidly covering the creature. It wandered in circles, becoming a purple and umber beacon. It took several trembling steps back the way it had come until, after five paces, its legs crumbled out from beneath it. Then, like ashy paper breaking about in a slight breeze, its body fell away softly.

Leo remained on the ground. His head throbbed with pain and his vision swam, the field tilting alarmingly from side to side. He heard Lit calling his name in the distance.

He closed his eyes against a sudden wave of fatigue.

Just for a second. Just resting for a second before I have to get up and move.

"Leonidas Valdez! If you don't answer me this second, I swear on the River Styx, I'll ask my dad to let me be the one to punish you when you die." There was a pause before the voice Leo now recognized as Nico's called out again. The son of Hades' voice seemed to rise in panic. "Leo!"

Leo tried to answer- to call out, but his voice came out low and weak.

Hope Nico doesn't get too creative with his punishments.

Leo slipped from consciousness into the total and welcoming darkness.

"Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation; not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive you are free of them yourself is pleasant." ~ Lucretius