Welcome everyone to chapter 22!

Dun dun dun! Here comes Bad Amira doing Bad Amira magic! Also more Leo X Amira fluffiness.

I hope you enjoy and let's get right into this!


"Where are we?" Murtagh asked as the small group of demigods led him over Half-Blood Hill.

"Camp Half-Blood. It's one of the two safe havens for demi…" Annabeth trailed off as her eyes scanned her camp and home.

"Uh… Not to point out the obvious but there is a dining pavilion missing." Nico stated.

"No duh! I didn't realize!" The blonde exclaimed, her voice dripping sarcasm.

"That's why he pointed it out." Leo joked, trying to shove in a little humor among the insanity. Annabeth shot a glare at the Latino. "Well, it's not like a giant building can just randomly disappear."

"Wait a sec, where is everyone? I don't see anybody anywhere." Frank realized, looking around. The other demigods saw that, yes, there was no one in sight.

"What the Hades is going on? This is so weird." Annabeth muttered.

She felt a hand tap her arm several times and turned to see Leo trying to get her attention. He was looking away from her though, off to the side. She followed his gaze only for her grey eyes to widen.

Thirty twenty feet away, rising from her knees, was Amira Moraow.

Amira's POV

When Amira opened her eyes, she was greeted with a very bright light.

She winced and blinked several times but when her vision cleared to tell her that the sun had barely moved its position in the sky, she frowned and wondered what could have woken her. She had expected to be out much longer after a spell as large as her last one. So she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then she heard talking.

Amira spun around. Who was that?

Her eyes widened in panic as she saw her former friends (she couldn't see Murtagh) standing several dozen feet away.

How were they there?! Her spells should have gotten rid of everyone! Had they not been here during the spell?

Luckily they hadn't seen her yet. Amira quickly looked around, searching for a way away. She slowly stood from the ground, praying to whatever gods there were that she didn't make a sound, but he either had incredible hearing or really good peripheral vision because as soon as Amira moved, Leo looked over and saw her instantly. Her eyes met Leo's and she froze halfway to her feet. Amira's heart was thumping in her chest at the sight of the Latino.

Without breaking their gaze, Leo reached back and tapped on Annabeth's arm. The blonde looked over and her grey eyes widened but the Alagaesian was gone before she could say a word.

Amira ran towards the road, sliding down the hill on her feet. Why did they have to come now?! Why couldn't they have been here when she cast her spell?!

Then she slid to a stop. Didn't Tartarus say they had got something really powerful from their gods? Did they have it with them now? Maybe if she followed them she could see what it was and find a way to stop them from using it.

Then Amira shook her head then brushed her purple hair out of her face. No, they already saw her so they'd be looking for her now. Plus, it's not like she didn't want them to win.

She reached up to grab the pendant on her chain to transport back to the Underworld but nothing happened. She frowned and tried again; maybe she was too close to Camp Half-Blood. She shook her head and started off again, still in the trees but closer to the road.

'Stupid Leo. Were it not for him then I would not have frozen like that.' She admitted mentally. Amira felt something grab her shoulder and she quickly spun around, her hand moving to her sword. Her purple eyes widened and she froze.

"Leo." She whispered. "H- how did you find me?"

"I followed you from the hill. You weren't really going that fast." Leo shrugged. Amira's heart began aching again when she saw the sadness and pain in his eyes. She dropped her gaze in shame.

"Leo I-"

"Why?" Leo muttered, heart-break clear in his voice. "Why would you do that, Amira? Was it me?"

"No! No, it- it was not you." Amira looked at the ground, not meeting Leo's gaze.

"Was it the others? What did we do, Amira, why did you leave us?"

"Leo, it wasn't any of you! It was- it was my decision. I chose to do as I did. You and your friends did nothing."

"They're not just my friends, Amira. Whether you believe it or not, we're all still your friends." The half-blood told her quietly. "Annabeth, Nico, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank; we all still care about you and want you back. I still care about you and I still want you back."

Amira's eyes were locked on the ground. She almost didn't believe him. They all still cared about her after what she did? She felt Leo's hand on her cheek, lifting her chin to look at him. Amira wanted to look away, knowing that one look at those brown eyes would melt her.

'Do not look up, do not look up, do not look up, do not look- damn it!'

Amira's purple eyes locked with Leo's brown. Her heart-rate started speeding up until she thought it would beat out of her chest. He slowly pulled her closer to himself until they were barely an inch away.

No longer able to deal with the suspense, Amira grabbed him and closed the gap, pressing her lips against Leo's. Her chest exploded with emotion at the feeling as his arms moved around her waist and pulled her closer.

She missed Leo.

It had been but a single day but she already missed everything; she missed being able to sit outside in the sun around actual living people, she missed flying with Eragon and Balenda, she missed listening to Annabeth talk about the places in this world, she missed eating supper with Arya, she missed the weird days at Camp Half-Blood, she even missed arguing with Murtagh.

Amira didn't have a pile of regrets but the one thing she already regretted was making her oath.

"Leo? Leo!"

Amira pulled back from Leo's kiss and embrace, purple eyes widening as she recognized Piper's voice. She grabbed the pendant around her neck and focused. Her surroundings flickered but she lost her focus when Leo's hands tightened around her. She tried to leave but he just grabbed her hand.

"Please don't go, Amira. Please… don't leave me." He begged, voice barely audible. Amira could see his feelings in his eyes, the pain and hurt of seeing her turn away.

"I am sorry Leo but I cannot stay." She argued, voice quivering.

"Yes you can. You just don't think so. Please, we can help you. Whether you believe it or not, we still care and worry about you." The fire-user tried to convince her.

"I want to stay with you, truly, but I have my orders. If I stay then he will come for me." Amira could hear her voice quivering. The thought of Tartarus coming to Camp Half-Blood made Leo pause.

"Leo! Where are you?" Jason's voice then called. Leo looked back at Amira, their gaze again locking. He casually moved his hand from her hand to her wrist, tightening it suddenly as he shouted,

"I'm over here!"

"What are you doing? You cannot make me stay." Amira repeated with a sigh.

"Maybe. But that's not going to keep me from trying." He told her firmly.

Getting desperate Amira reached out with her free arm, grabbing the front of Leo's shirt and yanking him down to her height. She pressed her lips against his until his grip relaxed then pushed him away. He stumbled back.

"Goodbye Leo." She grabbed the pendant around her neck just as Jason and Hazel came into view.

Leo disappeared and Amira found herself back in the Underworld.


"Wait, Amira was here?"

Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Murtagh were at Camp Half-Blood sitting in the Big House. They knew it would be safer inside the camp's protection and decided they should try to figure out their next step and find out where everyone went. After half-an-hour of searching the camp they found that, yes, all the campers were gone.

"Yeah, I caught up with her." He agreed slowly.

"What did she say?" Murtagh asked impatiently. Leo frowned.

"It wasn't really much of a conversation. It was really just a 'What were you doing' 'Why do you ask' 'Because I want to know' 'Too bad." Kind of conversation." He lied. Annabeth narrowed her grey eyes but no one noticed, them all believing him. Murtagh slumped back in his chair.

"That isn't helpful." He muttered, his fingers tracing over the gem on the hilt of Zar'roc.

"Well at least we know she's alive?" Hazel tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"Yeah. For all we had known, Tartarus could have turned her into some kind of creepy zombie. Now we know she's alright." Piper added.

"True." Jason and Nico agreed in unison. Annabeth nodded, frowning as she tried to piece it all together.

"Do you think..." Hazel paused.

"What is it?"

"Well, if Amira somehow managed to get rid of everyone here at Camp Half-Blood… do you think she might go after Camp Jupiter?"

Annabeth pursed her lips.

"I don't know." She admitted.

"What is the size of the other camp?" Murtagh wondered.

"It's pretty big. Bigger than this camp but a lot of open space helps make the size. Why?" Frank answered.

"Just a thought…" The Rider trailed off, getting lost in his thoughts.

"Is there any way we can get to the Underworld to try to get Amira? Without her, Tartarus would have a lot less power." Jason wondered. The Son of Hades frowned from his place on the wall.

"I don't think so. I'm still tired from shadow-traveling around so much. There are a few ways to get in but I already checked and Hades blocked them all off. So as far as I know, there's no way in."

Disappointed sighs were heard.

"I'm uh, I- I'll be right back," Hazel announced quietly, going outside.

"Well if there's no way in then what do we do? We can't just sit here and do nothing." Leo argued, his leg bouncing up and down as he created a miniature automation dog, pulling endless wires and tiny machine parts from his toolbelt.

"Yeah, we all know you can't do that." Frank gestured towards his bouncing leg. The Latino shrugged in agreement, knowing it was true. There were long minutes of silence as thoughts were gathered and brushed away. Then Hazel walked back in with a frown.

"I just thought of something, Nico. What if we make a way in?" She suggested.

"What?"

What if I made a tunnel? You'd have to help lead me in the right direction of course, but we could create an opening that leads down to the Underworld." She suggested, sitting back down.

"That could work." The Italian agreed, nodding slowly. "We'd have to find the right place to tunnel and I can't be positive that Tartarus won't sense us and try to stop us. But I guess it's worth a try though."

"Can you do that, Hazel? That's really far down and you don't have the best history in that place." Frank worried, taking Hazel's hand in his own.

"I'll be fine, Frank." She told her boyfriend, flashing a smile. "I've been practicing. I'd have to take a break here and there but I'll be able to do it."

"Alright then. Looks like we got ourselves an entrance to the Underworld." Annabeth announced.

"Shouldn't someone stay behind to guard Camp in case of an attack?" Jason pointed out.

"Hm. I hadn't thought of that. Frank? Will you stay and guard Camp?"

"I guess." Frank agreed, a bit disappointed. "I doubt I would be able to fend off an attack by myself though."

"True. Murtagh? Will you stay with Frank?" Piper asked the Alagaesian. She didn't necessarily not want Murtagh to go with them but she had a feeling he had a quick temper and she wasn't sure how he would react if Amira saw him.

The dark-haired Rider looked ready to deny but the Charmspeak laced in her offer prevented him from saying no so he agreed. Annabeth looked out the window to see the sky darkening.

"Alright. We got that sorted out so why don't we all try to get some sleep? We can set out after breakfast tomorrow." She decided.

No one protested as they were all tired. They said a quick goodnight before heading off to their respective cabins for the night. Annabeth showed Murtagh to one of the Big House's rooms then left to her own cabin.

When she got there she was greeted by silence. She sighed sadly, already missing her siblings. Out of everything Amira did, getting rid of Camp Half-Blood was the worst. The silence was unnatural and it made her shiver.

She changed into her night-clothes then flopped unceremoniously onto the mattress and closed her eyes, sleep quickly taking over.


And that concludes the twenty-second chapter of A Strange and Different Land!

Thank you all for reading and I hope you chose to continue the story. Please feel free to leave a review. Criticism, advice, compliments, or corrections are welcome.

Have a good one and I'll see you later!