Hello, little chapter for you here!
Next one might be up today as well :)
Enjoy!
(I don't own HoO/PJO)
Chapter twenty: Unsatisfactory Explanations
~Leo's POV~
When Leo opened his eyes, he saw Annabeth, Frank and Percy staring at him. And why was he lying on the ground with his head in someone's lap?
Oh, that someone was Penelope...He felt his cheeks redden.
"Why are you all staring at me?" he asked, noticing how his cheek hurt and his arms were bruised.
No one said anything for a moment, and then Pen said quietly
"Leo, don't you remember what happened?"
He thought, and it all came flooding back to him, well, as much as it could.
He remembered how he'd been showing the Roman git around, when a cold feeling had spread inside his head. Then, he'd shoved Octavian away and went over to the ballistae, firing on New Rome.
Oh gods...
His horrified expression must have shown on his face, because Annabeth said
"You do know what happened. What made you do that?" her voice was shocked, and they were all looking at him with, was it distrust?
That hurt him, and he tried to explain the coldness and everything, though some, Percy and Frank
for example, didn't look convinced.
"Look" Leo said, desperately "I'm sorry I-"
Percy suddenly rounded on him, his face angry "You're sorry?! You just fired on our future allies! Not that there'll be any chance of that happening now! That was Jason's, Frank's and Hazel's home!
And you say sorry?"
Leo shrunk back, the expression on Percy's face was scary.
Then, Annabeth put a hand on Percy's arm, keeping him back.
"Percy, that wasn't Leo's fault. He must have been possessed or something, I've been feeling that coldness, too. We just have to make sure it won't happen again."
The son of Poseidon didn't seem happy, but he stopped glowering at Leo at least, who now noticed that some people were missing.
"Where're Piper, Jason and the other girl?" he asked.
"Piper's downstairs with Coach Hedge and Jason." Penelope said quietly "Jason got hurt."
"What?" Leo yelped "Is he going to be okay?"
"We don't know" Percy said, who now looked more miserable than angry.
"And Leo, the ship's damaged. We need you to fix it, please." Annabeth told him. "And then we can talk about what happened to you."
Leo nodded, ready to go talk to Festus and check what exactly needed repairing.
"How do we make sure it doesn't happen again?" the big guy, Frank, muttered.
Leo looked at him, only to see Frank eyeing him with suspicion. This made Leo feel worse.
"We can use the buddy system." Percy said, and the others nodded.
Annabeth went downstairs to check on Jason, Percy followed her and Frank lumbered off to wherever, which left Leo and Pen alone.
Penelope helped him up, and Leo noticed she winced a little.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
"What? Oh, yes, it's nothing." Pen answered, not meeting his eyes.
Oh gods.."Did I do that?" Leo wanted to know, horrified.
She didn't answer at first, then nodded.
Leo closed his eyes in horror. Why did it have to happen to him?
"Hey" Pen said, softly "You weren't yourself. And anyway, I slapped you."
This made Leo open his eyes. "You did?"
She nodded, blushing "It was the only thing I could think of to make you snap out of it."
She looked so ashamed, that Leo almost laughed. Almost.
"Come on, let's go talk to Festus."
Penelope nodded, following him.
She wasn't angry, but Leo couldn't stop blaming himself for what had happened.
He'd fired on New Rome. He'd destroyed their chances of an allegiance with the Romans. Jason had gotten hurt because of him. He'd hurt Penelope.
How could he ever make this okay again?
Well, he thought grimly, you can start by fixing the ship and getting us out of here.