Leo ended up with Hazel. He wasn't entirely sure it was for the best, considering how she kept looking at him. Like she knew him from somewhere.
They were riding a horse who ran like he was on ketamine, running faster than the speed of sound. Arion, Hazel had called him. The horse's hooves turned the surface of the lake to mist. Leo put his hand against the horse's side and felt the muscles working like a well-oiled machine. For the first time, he understood why car engines were measured in horsepower.
In front of them was an island. A line of sand so white it could have been pure table salt. Or Columbian cocaine. Either one worked. Behind the shore lay grassy dunes and rocky, weathered boulders.
Leo sat behind Hazel, one arm around her waist. The close contract made him a little uncomfortable, but it was the only way he could stay on the horse.
Before they left, Percy had pulled him aside and explained Hazel's backstory. It sounded like he was doing Leo a favor, but the tone of his voice sounded more like, 'I don't care that you're fireproof, you hurt her and I'll burn you alive in Hell.'
According to Percy, Hazel was from the 1940's and had only been brought back to life a couple of months ago. Explained why she had no idea who Iron man was. But he still found it hard to believe. He had met revived ghosts before, and they weren't like Hazel. They were cold, and seemed like they were alive a long time ago. Hazel, not so much.
Arion stopped on the beach. He stomped his hooves and whinnied triumphantly, which reminded Leo of Coach Hedge. Leo and Hazel dismounted as Arion pawed the sand.
"He needs to eat." Hazel explained. "He likes gold, but-"
"Gold?"
"He'll settle for grass." She turned to Arion. "Go on, I'll call you when we're done."
And just like that, he was gone, a trail of mist left in his wake.
"Fast horse. Expensive to feed though." Leo said.
"Not really." Hazel said. "Gold comes easy to me."
Leo raised his eyebrows. "How is gold easy? Please tell me you're not related to King Midas. I really don't like that guy."
Hazel pursed her lips, like she regretted bringing up the topic. "Nevermind."
Leo became more curious, but decided it wouldn't be best to push it. He knelt down and scooped up a handful. "That's one problem solved, at least. This is lime."
Hazel frowned. "The whole beach?"
"Yeah, see?" He held up the handful of lime. "The granules are perfectly round. It's not really sand. It's calcium carbonate." He pulled out a ziploc bag and started to fill it with lime.
Suddenly he froze. He remembered all the times the Earth goddess Gaia had appeared to him in the ground—her sleeping face made of dirt or sand. He imagined her face swirling in the lime, smiling sweetly with her eyes closed.
"Run away, little hero. Without you the ship can't be fixed." She said.
"Leo?" Hazel asked. "You okay?"
Leo took a shaky breath. Gaia wasn't here. He was just freaking himself out. "Yeah." He said. "Yeah, I'm fine." He resumed filling the bag.
Hazel knelt down next to him and helped him. "We should have brought a pail and some shovels."
That made Leo smile. "We could've made a sand castle."
"A lime castle."
Their eyes met for a second too long.
"You're so much like Sammy."
Leo frowned. "Who's Sammy?"
Hazel's eyes widened. "Nevermind."
They finished filling the bag in silence. Leo stuffed it into his toolbelt. It disappeared, no weight, no mass, no volume. He knew that it would be there as soon as he reached for it though. Anything that could fit into the pockets, he could carry around. He loved the toolbelt. He just wished that the toolbelt pockets were big enough to fit a chainsaw, or a bazooka.
He stood and scanned the island. Bleach-white dunes, blankets of grass, and boulders encrusted with salt like frosting on a cupcake. "Festus said that there was Celestial bronze close by, but I'm not sure where-"
"That way." Hazel said, pointing up the beach. "About five hundred yards."
"How do you-"
"Precious metals. It's a Pluto thing."
Leo remembered what she said about Gold being easy. "Lead the way Ms. Metal Detector."
LINE BREAK
Percy and Zoë enjoyed the trip to get tar. At first. In the beginning, it was like they were on a date as regular mortals. Only thing strange was that this 'date' was to a roofing supply store. But they were sure that mortals had done weirder things on dates.
The last few days had been nice. Just the two of them, like old times. They loved their daughter to hell and back, but there were just times where they wanted to be alone. So it was nice to have that again. Though, they were ready to get their daughter back, slaughtering everyone who stood in their way.
Percy held open the door to the store. He followed Zoë inside. They walked past aisles, scanning the labels for one that read 'Tar'. It was near the back. They turned into the aisle and were met with rows of buckets, all labeled TAR in black lettering.
They picked up a bucket each, but were surprised to find them to be light. Now, they were strong. They could pick up things no mortal could with ease. Maybe even lift things some gods couldn't. But these buckets just didn't feel like they had anything inside.
Percy set his down. "Do these feel empty to you?" He asked his wife.
"Yeah."
Percy pried the lid off. True to their suspicions, the buckets were empty. "Well that's not right." He said.
Zoë rolled her eyes fondly and shook her head. Of course he would joke when they were on a mission.
An employee came up to them. "Anything I can help you with?" He asked.
Percy narrowed his eyes at the teenager. It couldn't be a coincidence that as soon as he opened the bucket, the employee came up to them. 'Well, no duh, they probably have cameras. They saw that I opened it.' He thought to himself.
"Uh, yeah. We need tar for our roof, and the buckets are empty. Do you know where we can get some?" Zoë said.
Percy didn't like it when she lied, but he recognized when one was necessary. At least she didn't do it often, or to him. He assumed Rory didn't get his pride when it came to lying.
The man snarled. Suddenly black liquid erupted from his head as he melted. There was a black steaming puddle where the man was standing a moment before. Suddenly it rose up and formed a jello looking thing. Actually, you know B.O.B from Monsters vs Aliens? Imagine him, but made of tar. And the eye was red. Then you have a good idea of what this thing looked like.
Percy brought out Riptide and uncapped it. Zoë drew her knives and got into stance. It roared at the supernatural couple. Percy leapt at the tar monster and slashed it with his sword. Riptide went straight through the tar, not affecting the monster in the slightest.
Zoë charged with her knife. She hoped that she would have a different outcome. Even she knew it was a foolish hope, cementing itself as one when her knife went right through it.
The monster punched Percy. It didn't hurt him—the only thing it did was ruin his suit. Which he was mildly pissed at. Percy backed up, as did Zoë. They were left with the same question. How do you fight something you can't hurt?
The tar monster strode towards them. Percy noticed how it left a trail of tar behind it. Maybe the tar wasn't its actual body, but instead a covering. Like a suit of armor or something. Or maybe, it was a body, because it didn't have a physical form. Like a demon.
Percy shot Zoë a look, conveying his thoughts to her. She nodded, giving him the go ahead. Percy turned back to the tar monster and waited for it to get within reach. Once it was close, Percy reached out and plunged his hand into the creature. He felt around, before pulling his hand out.
Tar started to fall to the ground as the 'soul' of the body was taken out. In Percy's hand was a golden ghost. An eidolon. Percy looked at the thing, annoyed. Seemed like it if couldn't fuck with them on the boat, it'll fuck with them outside of it.
Percy squeezed his hand. The eidolon glowed brighter, before it disappeared in a cloud of golden dust. Percy brushed the dust off of his suit jacket, before leaning down and filling the bucket with tar.
"Come on. Let's get this back. We still have to deal with Octavian."
A/N. Hey, a normal chapter. And on time for once! Are you proud of me? Anyways, hope you enjoyed that. Rest of Leo and Hazel's mission, and Percy and Zoë dealing with Octavian in the next chapter.
Thoughts?