ONE MORE DAY until I can read House of Hades.
Ohgods, it's driving me crazy! Grr...
Anyway, thanks to all of you who read this story, you guys are amazing :)
Some action for ya in this chapter! Hope you enjoy it!
Got a little sneak-peek at the end of the chapter, so read on!
(::) {- (Here's a free cookie for all you awesome people)

Chapter thirty-four: Under Attack
~Leo's POV~

Flying was something Leo had always thought of as amazingly awesome, and he'd always been jealous of Jason for being able to control the wind. Now, dangling in Frank the eagle's huge talons,
Leo's mind had definitely been changed.
He yelled and cursed, trying to get Frank to land on the Argo II, which was sailing towards them, but suddenly a tide of arrows shot underneath Leo's feet, making him yell in surprise.
Turning his head, he realised the Romans had finally caught up with them. Great.
They'd barely escaped those maniac ghosts at the museum and now they were going to be killed by mad Romans instead. Somehow this was not how Leo had planned his day.
The assault of the Romans made Frank overshoot the Argo, and they headed straight for Fort Sumter, which stood on an island, looking menacing.
Just then a huge BANG went off behind them, a sound which Leo recognized instantly as someone,
probably Coach Hedge, shooting from the ship's ballista. It made the pegasi pulling the flying chariot above them bolt and singed Frank's shoulder, making him cry out in pain.
Leo had barely time to think Uh-Oh, before he was released from the talons and started to fall, very
fast. Jason, obviously in pain as well, made a grab for him, but the weight was too much and both of them were sent flailing down towards the very hard looking ground of Fort Sumter.
CRASH.
Leo slammed into a wooden bench, his breath disappearing in a big whoosh and his whole
body screaming in pain. For a moment, he lay there dazedly, but then realised more Roman enemies were advancing on them.
Cursing, he got up, thanking the gods that he hadn't broken anything, and tried to shoot blasts of fire at the enemy demigods, but still his hands wouldn't respond. At least they didn't hurt anymore though, when he tried.
The whole situation pissed Leo off extremely, and he whipped out a hammer from his tool belt, swinging it like a mad man, occasionally seeing Jason in hand to hand combat with another Roman, and once he even thought he saw Annabeth, blonde hair flying, dodge through the crowds of demigods and tourists. The mortals, of course, were being dumb, yelling "Look at the re-enactment, it's so real!" to their friends.
Stupid blind people, Leo thought, as he dodged a spear flying towards him and sent a random stone back in return. Gods, these kids were skilled.
Suddenly, Jason appeared beside him, shouting "We have to get to the ship!"
Leo nodded, and together they raced towards the ramparts, where the Argo II was waiting for them.
"Jason, watch out!" Leo yelled, as he grabbed Jason and yanked him to the side, making an arrow
miss the guy's head by inches.
"Thanks!" Jason called back.
They had reached the ship and saw Percy, Piper, Hazel, Penelope, Frank and Coach Hedge fighting against an onslaught of Romans trying to crawl aboard.
Jason held out his hand, and Leo ducked, knowing what would happen. Sure enough, a bolt of lightning came down from the sky, cracking right into the crowd before them.
The Romans yelled, as the leapt out of the way, leaving Jason's and Leo's path clear, for only a second. But that was all they needed.
Once aboard, Leo ran to the helm, ready to take off and leave these idiots behind. But Piper stopped him, yelling "Annabeth's still in the Fort!"
Damn! Leo cursed, and grudgingly took up a place next to Pen at the side of the ship, aiming the ballista at oncoming enemies.
"So, how was the museum?" Pen yelled over the racket, and Leo grinned in spite of himself. He loved it how Penelope could stay normal even in a life threatening situation like this.
Suddenly the clouds grew dark, and the water around them started to churn angrily. Leo saw Jason and Percy standing at the front of the ship, swords crossed, and realised they were summoning a storm together. The sight made Leo's spine shiver, and for a moment he forgot where he was just by the overwhelming effect of the forces around him.
Just then Piper hauled Annabeth on board, who screamed at Leo to "go, go go!"
He didn't need telling twice, and before another minute had passed they were racing away, leaving the fort in the distance, a smudge of black on the horizon.
They were now heading for the Mare Nostrum, home of monsters and giants, a thought Leo tried to keep out of his head as he typed some coordinates into his controls.
Some time later, the winds and sea finally calmed down, and Coach Hedge ordered Leo to let go of the wheel.
"You've been steering for two hours." Coach told him.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Now let go."
With some difficulty, Leo prised his hands away from the wheel, and walked below deck, to sickbay, where Percy and Jason were lying in the beds, looking like they were suffering from the worst hangover, ever.
"Nice job" Leo grinned at them, and they managed a faint smile.
Annabeth and Piper were fussing over them, though the girls both looked pale as well. Over in the other corner, Hazel and Penelope were tending to Frank's arm, which seemed severely burnt.
"Hey, Leo" Frank called.
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for dropping you, man. I swear, it wasn't on purpose." the guy looked so guilty and worried, that Leo's resentment vanished almost immediately.
"Don't worry about it" he grinned, waving a hand.
All in all, he thought, they had managed a relatively clean escape, and he was thankful for it.
"Come here" Penelope, who had walked over to him, said and led him to a chair.
"What?" Leo asked, eyeing the wad of blue stained cotton she had in her hand suspiciously.
"We need to clean that" Pen answered, pointing to something on Leo's shoulder blade.
He craned his neck and saw a raged cut there, filled with tiny splinters of wood. He guessed it was a souvenir from his crash landing on the table, yet he hadn't felt its sting until now.
"Oh" he managed, and Penelope smiled sympathetically.
She made Leo sit down, and then dabbed the blue liquid on the wound.
"This will make the splinters dissolve" she told him "It's less painful than pulling them out."
Grateful that he wasn't about to be picked at with a pair of tweezers, Leo let Penelope clean his wound, and ate the tiny square of ambrosia she handed him.
"You okay?" he asked, giving her a once over. There were no obvious wounds, and Penelope nodded "I'm fine." She seemed kind of distant, but Leo decided not to worry about it.
"Good." he told her.
An hour later, they were all more or less back on their feet, except for Percy and Jason who were sleeping in the sickbay room, still knackered from the use of their powers.
The rest of them were sitting in the mess hall, exchanging stories.
Frank and Leo told the girls all about the angry zombie ghosts in the museum, and Annabeth explained their encounter with Aphrodite.
"So then Piper told her we had to leave, and she let us go. ...That's all really."
Here, Leo noticed the tiny look pass between Penelope and Annabeth, a look clearly saying that there was something Annabeth wasn't telling Frank and him.
He decided to ask Pen about it later.
They talked about strategies for a while longer before having an early dinner and returning to their rooms.
Penelope and Leo were the last two to leave, and before Pen could walk out, Leo held her back.
"What was that look between you and Annabeth?"
Penelope raised her eyebrows "What look?"
"You know which one I mean." he said, not backing down. "What weren't you guys telling us?"
Pen sighed. "Aphrodite wanted to talk to me in private. That's all."
She said it as if it didn't matter, but the words gave Leo a bad feeling.
"What did she want to talk to you about?" he asked stiffly, kind of dreading the answer.
"Oh, it was nothing really. She said some stuff, none of which made sense, and then I left." There was only the slightest tremor in her voice, but Leo knew Pen well enough to notice it.
"What stuff?" he asked, putting a hand on Pen's shoulder.
But she shrugged it off, pushing past him "I don't want to talk about it, okay?" she said, her tone suddenly irritable.
Before Leo could say another word, she rushed down the hall and into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Slowly, he walked back to his own room, sat down on his bed and stared at the wall.
He'd thought that they'd all made a clean escape, but now, with Penelope's words still ringing in his ears, he wasn't so sure anymore.

Sneak-peek:

Leo watched in horror as the monster advanced on Jason and Penelope, easily deflecting their attempts to destroy it, snapping its long sharp fangs.
Suddenly, it lunged and smacked its claw into the two, sending them flying
towards the ground.
Leo's body felt paralysed with fear, and he realised that if he didn't do something right now that creature would kill his friends.
Shouting, he ran forward, but it was too late...

DUN DUN DAH.
Review, you fine people!