Returning to mom and breaking the news had been one of the worst experiences of my life, and that's including all the nightmarish things I had gone through, but mom did her best to try and stay strong. I made all kinds of promises to her, telling her that I was going to bring Percy back at some point, that I would spend the rest of my life making everything up to her and everything else I could think of, but she would just smile and give me hugs and kisses until we were both crying and Paul would come over and hug us together, because we were both total wrecks. If it weren't for Paul, I don't think mom or even I would have gotten through those first few weeks with Percy gone. I carried on with school and returned to camp on the weekends in order to drop in on everyone, teach a few classes, check to see the progress of the new ship that Leo was building with his cabin and with each visit I would help Jake Mason heal a little more from his burn injuries. In a couple of months he no longer had to walk around in a full body cast like some kind of Egyptian mummy, though the scars were still prominent. I doubted there was much I could do about that, but Will and I worked together on some healing methods and even tried to figure out if we could somehow combine our abilities. Sure, Percy had the raw strength and could manipulate way more water than I could on a day to day basis, but I would say I had better control over it when it came to finder details. I could turn water to ice and manipulate its shape plus heal people from injuries if I was fast enough. The water listened to my will, though I couldn't make tidal waves like Percy's. Not anymore.
By New Year's I had my qualifications and started preparing for college, working hard so that I could apply to several schools and Chiron offered me glowing letters of recommendation even after that little stunt I pulled on him, which still made me feel guilty. It was worse because he understood how I felt, and I had to wonder how Chiron could stand having to stay behind and let all those heroes go over the centuries and most of the time having to just watch them suffer and die without being able to ride to their rescue. He had the hardest job of them all, but I was glad for him. That year was probably the hardest one yet, and that's saying something, because time seemed to move so slowly as everyone waited on Leo to finish his ship. By the time summer rolled around, eight months had passed since Percy had gone missing though at some point Grover was able to contact us to say that he'd gotten through to Percy at some point but only briefly and he didn't seem to understand anything he had been saying. It was enough to reassure me that Percy was currently alive, Annabeth and I practically tearing out our hair for worry because of him. By this point I didn't know if I was going to hug him or kill him when I finally found the guy. Probably both. To make things worse, in those eight months Luke had gone completely off the grid. The last postcard I'd gotten from him had been in April from way down south then after that it was like he'd gone to radio silent.
Out of desperation I had tried to contact him through Iris Messaging but either the goddess wasn't feeling particularly helpful or Luke was refusing my calls. Seriously, these guys were going to be the death of me. I even tried asking Hermes to give me a hint to let me know if Luke was okay but nothing, so I even went searching for Luke and followed his trail but it went completely cold after Mexico City across the border. The last bit of information I managed to get about Luke Castellan that he had suddenly turned on his heel and backtracked heading east to port, but then vanished across the ocean. So he wasn't even in the States or Mexico anymore. Whatever the reason he'd flown across the water, it better be a good one. I couldn't help but feel abandoned. The one time that I could have done with having him with me to have my back, he wasn't there. I needed him now more than ever and considering after all the crap I'd gone through just for him, I figured he owed me. It hurt and I felt betrayed, which made me bitter towards him. After everything I'd done for him, everything I had sacrificed and risked…he couldn't even answer a stupid call. Well fine. Screw him then. I'm not about to wait around like a pining princess hoping that he'll tell me he loved me back. I've got more important things to be dealing with.
At the very least the trip down south had taken up enough time so that when I got back to camp, the ship was finally ready. Leo was thoroughly proud of his masterpiece, grinning from ear to ear as I entered Bunker Nine to take a look at the final result of all his labours. I'd felt sorry for the kid being cooped up here all the time whilst everyone else pretty much got on with their own lives, even Piper and Jason who were supposed to be his best friends seemed to be too wrapped up in their own world to remember Leo, so I had been the one to keep him company in my spare time. Having a good sense for ships, I'd been able to tell him what was and wasn't working, how the Argo II was feeling, what needed tuning up and recalibrating and how to best utilise a ship's layout for naval and air travel. By the way Leo talked, he seemed to think I was a total rock star when it came to ships. He even had a tour of the Siren and thought it one of the coolest things he'd ever seen, admiring every single improvement and actually took a lot of ideas from my ship to put it on his own. With one warship for the sea and the other for the air, I was thinking Camp Half-Blood now had some serious firepower. Leo had even built me a cabin, making the number nine instead of the originally intended eight, as well as a stables for Snowstorm to rest in. He'd intended to make a cabin each for the seven in the prophecy and another for Coach Hedge, as he called the guy, but built another for me since I'd already told everyone that I was going with them at least to get Percy, after that I wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen but I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Anyway, despite the fact that Leo was a hyperactive and rather intense kid to hang around, he was an absolute genius and Hephaestus should be damn proud of him. The Argo II was a masterpiece, and when I saw it completely finished for the first time my jaw had dropped. "I know right? Go on you can say it. I'm amazing. I'm phenomenal. I'm an insanely attractive guy who knows how to handle a wrench and screwdriver." Leo grinned at me cheekily as he flipped a wrench in the air but missed catching it again so it hit his fingers then clattered to the ground which made him cuss. I couldn't help but laugh.
"You're definitely something Leo Valdez. Have you told the others yet?" Bobbing up from where he'd grabbed the wrench he shrugged and said he'd figured he'd announce himself in style. Basically, he wanted to take the ship for a spin first. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's get this beast into the air." Beaming from ear to ear, Leo scrambled to climb up onto the deck of the ship and I followed up behind him, Snowstorm snorting warily and informing me that she would be waiting for me in the clouds. The moment I stepped onto the ship it seemed to come alive around me, whirring and ticking like it was breathing and had its own pulse, which considering how much gadgetry had gone into it I wasn't surprised. Leo had done an amazing job to get this finished in just eight months, especially considering he had me and Annabeth breathing down his neck for most of it. Annabeth terrified him, but he seemed to be fine enough with me I think probably because I understood ships and I wasn't as intense as Annabeth. Even I found her terrifying at times. Watching as Leo controlled everything from his multitude of keyboards, sound systems and gods knows what else, I felt the ship start to thrum more intently as I listened to it carefully. "So far so good, nothing's blown a gasket or gear. Take it away Rocket Man." Seeing Leo's signature grin flashing my way, I sent him a wink.
"As you command Miss Rumble." They were stupid nicknames but seeing as Leo seemed to persist in calling people such nicknames I gave up telling him not to and just rolled with it. 'Miss Rumble' was one of his favourite ones for me since I could make earthquakes and all that, his nickname was pretty self-explanatory. The canopy of the bunker parted at a flick of a button, opening up with creaks and groans to allow the Argo II to float and rise upwards, disturbing a bunch of birds in the trees and causing several nearby monsters to wail and flee for their lives in fear of the rather monstrous looking ship that bore the head of the bronze dragon Festus. I knew Leo had taken it hard when he'd lost Festus during his quest, but at least this way he still had a part of him and Festus could enjoy new adventures together with him. Everything felt strong and steady as we flew up though I was praying fervently to Zeus not to strike me out of the sky for being in his territory, making a point that Jason would probably end up on the sea at some point so he should cut me some slack since I could always vouch for Jason at sea with my dad. Sometimes it was just such a big hassle being a child of the Big Three, you inherited such a boatload of crap along with it. "Ha! It's working! It's working! And we haven't blown up yet!"
"Is this the great Leo Valdez doubting his own work?" I teased him as I looked over some of the instruments to frown at the readings, gradually getting a sense for what they meant. Air pressure. Elevation. Wind speeds and direction. That kind of thing. Since this wasn't entirely a naval ship, I didn't have as much understanding of it as I would with the Siren, but enough that I could probably manage it if Leo wasn't around for whatever reason, though his control system went totally over my head even as he tried to explain it to me. I had to tell him several times to slow down because he was just talking so fast and I could almost swear the kid was totally hyped up on at least thirty cups of coffee on a permanent basis. "So we're in the air and that's great and all, but what about actually…?"
"Moving forward? Got you covered." Using a toggle stick, the Argo II suddenly shot forwards with so much speed that I was thrown backwards and would have slammed against the wall were it not for my quick reflexes helping me to recover my balance as Leo let loose a scream. The ship slammed to a sudden halt, both of us breathing heavily from the shock until Leo guiltily laughed. "Oops. Guess I jumped the gun a little."
"A little?! We're only three inches from a tree!" I yelped back, pointing out the viewport to the prow of the ship where Festus was growling at a tree trunk. "Before you let rip with the speed, maybe get us above the treeline first. It would seriously suck if you put in all this effort and you crashed the ship on your first run. What was I thinking? You don't even have a driver's license. Why the heck are you driving? Maybe I should take over, you're way too trigger happy." But Leo insisted he got it, readjusting everything and getting us safely above the trees before moving forwards more slowly this time. The ship whirred happily to glide through the clouds like they were ocean waves and I couldn't even begin to think about how this ship was actually flying. Like I said, Leo was a total genius. I could understand why Cabin Nine had elected him their head counsellor after Jake Mason had decided to step down. At least now their projects weren't going haywire anymore, so things were steadily turning back to normal. Soon enough all the other kids would be returning to camp from their schools, ready to spend another summer training to fight and develop their skills as heroes. I hoped I was able to catch Molly, Jacob and the other kids before we head out. Some of the other kids I'd met and trained in Kronos's army were already back, and it was great to see them doing so well. They always tackled me with hugs whenever they saw me.
Sighing softly I let my vision fade and settled down in the extra chair that Leo had placed in the captain's cabin, mostly for me since I was up here so often. "So what do you think? Pretty neat huh? I'll do some last minute calibrations and final checks, stock up on supplies then we can go find your brother. I can be done by tomorrow at the latest." Leo announced to me, swivelling around in his chair though I sensed him balk when he noticed I was blind again. "Oh um…you okay?"
"You don't have to get wigged out every time you see me like this, you know." I told him lightly, twisting my bracelets around my wrist. "But yes I'm fine. Thank you for doing all this Leo, it really means a lot. You have no idea how much I've…" I couldn't even put it into words what I'd been feeling these past few months. Between Percy and Luke I just didn't know really what to do with myself anymore. I felt tired all the time and rarely had an appetite. I tried my best to be upbeat and optimistic around everyone, especially the kids when I was teaching classes and using my time in a military outfit to teach campers how to fight as a unit, but most of the time I just felt hollow. Like, what's the point? Giants were coming back, Gaia was waking up and the gods were still hiding on Olympus. We couldn't kill the giants unless we had a demigod and a god fighting together. Now I knew some would leap down to help us if we could prove to Zeus that he needed our help, but until he could pull his head out of his own ass then we were on our own. I felt haggard and thin, almost frail, as if the only thing keeping me together was my own skin even as the Fleece continued to heal me. I didn't have to wear it all the time now, in fact I could go most of the day without it before starting to feel the effects of my own body breaking down, so mostly I just wore it at night where it worked best. Peleus was growing impatient, he'd show up at the most random times and just growl and stare at me expectantly, like he was telling me to hurry up and get better so that he could have his treasure back before he simply ate me to solve the problem.
"Believe me, I know how you feel." Leo was saying to me as I deliberated on my woes, bringing me back as I listened to him. "I know what it feels like to miss someone." Now I felt a little guilty, because Leo was right. He did know how I felt, only his loss was deeper because for me at least Percy was still alive and I held a hope of seeing him again. Leo had lost his mom because of Gaia, and she was never coming back. Leo and I…we had a rather peculiar friendship. At first Leo had flirted with me like crazy and I'd often end up knuckling him on the head and telling him to pack it in because I was too old for him, but that only seemed to make him want to try harder until it had become a running joke. Then we started hanging out together as he worked on the Argo II and I did what I could here and there, which wasn't much but I think Leo liked the company, and we talked about things. I got to know who Leo was, finding him to be this rather insecure, self-doubting and even lonely kid who had a terrible habit of always falling for the girl he couldn't have. He made jokes and fooled around so that people would think him funny and wouldn't either beat him up or push him away, and to be honest I found that utterly heart breaking. Deep down he was a sensitive guy who just wanted to find his place in the world, and when he'd told me stuff about his past like how his mom had died and that crazy psycho babysitter in the form of Hera letting him take naps in fireplaces, I understood he'd had a rough history.
Seeing as he'd opened up about himself, I thought it was only fair I did the same. So I told him everything. I began with how I had been blinded and cursed by Zeus when I was just a kid, how I'd grown up with Smelly Gabe Ulgy-ano, how I'd lost mom to a minotaur, how I'd met Luke and then how everything seemingly just down-spiralled from there. I told him about good things too, like my mom and how amazing she was, learning how to fight and making friends, but when I actually heard myself talking about my own life I realised just how messed up it was. Leo was horrified to learn the truth about how I had almost died on the Andromeda but then became a hostage under Luke, how I'd spied on Kronos and his army and somehow ended up becoming his lieutenant, how I'd fought to keep Luke alive and save him, fighting Typhon alongside the gods and how I'd almost died again and the reason why I had to keep on wearing the Golden Fleece was because if I didn't, I would spontaneously combust. Leo had thought my life was insane, and I was inclined to agree with him. Having told one another about our lives, we kind of became close and Leo grew to be somewhat of another little brother to me, so I was naturally very protective over him.
Turning my face so that a patch of sunlight fell on me, I breathed in deeply and closed my eye to feel the hum and whir of the ship, getting my bearings more and more the longer I was on board as I grew to understand how it worked. It was a technological masterpiece, so of course I would never understand it like Leo did, but I felt fairly confident that I could at least help with maintenance or with the flying if things became desperate. I sensed Snowstorm was outside flying alongside the ship, and when we hovered over the camp I could very well imagine the slack jaws of everyone staring up at the underbelly of the ship. "You should be proud Leo. No one else could have done this." I said to him as I got to my feet and stretched. "You're one in a million, kiddo."
"Please, tell me something I don't already know." He boasted but I could hear the pleased tone he carried, making me grin all the more.
"You're also an imp."
"Hey!" Laughing, I managed to collar him and ruffle his hair before I then let go and suggested we head outside so that Leo could greet his adoring fans and this seemed to sit very well with him, because the moment we were out on deck I heard him run to the side of the ship and climb up in order to shout to everyone who was gathering below. "Behold! The glorious might of the one and only Lord Leo! Bow before me you peasants or I'll blow you up!" Sniggering, I called for Snowstorm and she immediately landed on the spacious deck beside me, shaking out her mane and feathers as she nuzzled my cheek.
'The boy is an idiot.'
'But a loveable idiot, so we forgive him. Come on, we better head down.' After that things moved quickly. Annabeth had no patience left and practically frog marched everyone to get their things together and load up the last of the supplies and equipment that we would be taking with us. I salvaged some things from the Siren who sighed sadly at me so I promised her that I'd be back and that I'd miss her. She seemed a little ruffled that I was going on another ship other than her, so I once again assured her that she was still the best in my books and that nothing could replace her because she and I belonged on the sea. I was only going in the air because I needed to reclaim that idiot brother of mine Percy. Siren was satisfied with me and her sails rustled in a none-existent wind as if to wish me good luck, so I patted the main mast before heading back to the Argo II. Snowstorm was already giving me a long list of all the supplies that she wanted to be brought, including plenty of apples, oats, hay and of course, sugar cubes. I really need to get her onto something other than sugar cubes. Once she managed to get a hold of an entire bag of sugar and gone completely nuts. Ever since I had introduced a sugar limit for her, though she wasn't happy about it. Anyway, I made sure that all our stuff was packed before we carried it together to the Argo II, my headphones slung around my neck with music quietly playing through my iPod.
Chiron gave a farewell and good luck speech with the entire camp present, a lot of them giving us hugs goodbye though the younger kids seemed rather adamant not to let go of me, wailing and hanging off my arms and legs like human weights to try and keep me from the ship. Clarisse and a bunch of other older campers helped detach them from me, and I even shook her hand to thank her whereby she told me to make sure I found Percy and don't let the world end. "I'll do my best, Pork Chop."
"Watch it Fish-Breath. I'll still fry you." We smirked at one another then let go. I waved goodbye to everyone, promising the little ones that I'd be back before they knew it, and then we were away. Finally, this was it. Just a few more days and I'll see Percy again. I'd already contacted mom to let her know, promising to keep her updated on what was happening because she was as on edge as I was. Jason gave us our heading for Camp Jupiter, the camp for Roman demigods and the Argo II set off with a heavy atmosphere, only Leo remaining bright and upbeat as he tinkered away as Gleeson Hedge remained completely oblivious to our mood since he was confident that he would be able to crack some Roman heads with his club. I have no idea why he was coming along with us, I'd much rather have had Grover with us, but since Grover was unavailable at the moment and too far away, Hedge was all we got. I just hope the satyr doesn't start a new war with his rather violent tenacity otherwise all of this would have been for nothing.