Sorry for not updating yesterday! I'd had this chapter written but I
didn't like it, so I chose redo it today. Still don't think it's particularly
good, but oh well. It has to be here so we can get back to more
exciting parts.
So I realised that my sisters name is Thalia and my second name is Grace.
Like, seriously, not kidding. That's kinda cool I think...
Anyways, I don't own anything 'xcept Pen and hope you enjoy this
chapter! Review to tell me what you think!

Chapter fifty-one: Guilt
~Leo's POV~

His dreams were not good that night. A red creature kept stalking him, whispering horrible things.
"It's your fault she died..." It cackled, sucking the air as if it was feeding on Leo's emotions.
"Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus because of you..." Terrible laughter accompanied her whispers.
"Go away!" Leo shouted, but the demon just crept closer. "And you mother too..."
Her face was a terrifying sight, with features that might have been beautiful if they hadn't been contorted and twisted, as if she was wearing one of those fun-house mirrors that made you look fat or thin or fish-eyed.
The demons eyes gleamed like charcoal, and her teeth were black studs. With every word she said
she sucked in air, and Leo could feel guilt enveloping him, making him want to jump of a building.
It was all his fault. Percy and Annabeth. Penelope. Leaving the others alone.
Up ahead was a cliff. Leo stepped up to the edge, looking down to see sharp rocks like spikes
awaiting at the bottom. The guilt he felt was so intense he was tempted to jump. He should do it.
It was all his fault anyway. Suddenly the demonic red woman crept up behind him and pushed him,
so that he fell, face forwards, towards the spikes.
"Ah!" Leo yelled, waking up with a start. It took him a moment to realise where he was.
Tree branches surrounded him, the countryside was lush and in the far distance, there was a clustering of white ruins.
He was near Lagina, on his quest to rescue Pen. Everything was okay. Well, maybe not okay, but
he wasn't dead.
Yet why did he feel so hot? It was as if he was being slow-cooked, sweat beading on his forehead.
When he felt his head, it was blazing hot, like during a fever.
Quickly, Leo took some ambrosia out of his bag, ate it and immediately felt cooler. He couldn't
get sick now, he had to rescue Penelope!
After a quick breakfast made of some provisions he'd packed, Leo checked he had everything on him and started downhill towards the ruins.
Yet somehow they didn't seem to be coming any nearer, no matter how long he walked for. The sun had already made its way halfway across the sky, and still Leo trudged on.
The guilt he'd felt in his dream was just as bad as before, and it made it difficult to think clearly, let alone focus on the task ahead. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he stopped Percy and Annabeth from falling into Tartarus? Why hadn't he prevented Moros from attacking them? Why why why...
Leo was so preoccupied, he didn't notice the ledge which suddenly appeared before him. He would have walked straight over it and fallen onto the rocks below, had a voice not suddenly spoken inside his head: Stop.
It shocked him so much, he stopped, and just in time. One more step and he'd have tumbled to his death. His heart beating fast, Leo looked around, but he couldn't see anything. There was only beautiful countryside behind, and the jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff, before him.
With a shiver, Leo realised they looked exactly like the ones in his dream.
"Who's there?" he called, afraid for one moment that the demon of his dream would also appear, but thankfully it didn't. As a precaution, Leo summoned a hammer from his toolbelt, swinging it loosely in his hand. "Show yourself!"
Nothing happened. And then, out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw something shimmer. He whirled around, but there was nothing there. He waited, and after another minute he saw that same shimmering again, right at the edge of his vision. What was it?
When he turned to see it, slower this time, it disappeared again.
"What the-?" he murmured, and the sound of his voice in the silence gave him the creeps.
You cannot look directly at me, Leo Valdez.
The same voice said in his head, and Leo started. It was a beautiful voice, soft and clear, and it reminded him of someone...
Penelope, he realised. Could it be?
"P..Pen?" Leo stuttered, unbelievingly.
Alas, I am not your lost friend. She is almost beyond your help. You will have to hurry, son of
Hephaestus.
"Tell me who your are" Leo tried to sound sure of himself, but it was difficult to hide his disappointment. For one tiny second he'd dared hope that Penelope had come to find him, and now his heart felt heavy again.
I am a peri, the voice said, and Leo thought he could hear an odd melancholy in its tone.
"What's a pee-ri?" Leo wondered out loud, and a sound like the wind sighing swept across him.
The light had reappeared at the edge of his vision, but he knew better than to turn to it.
A peri is a peri, young hero. More I cannot reveal. Hurry, you will have to overcome these cliffs by noon tomorrow, otherwise you will not succeed.
This made Leo's heart beat fast with fear. "What do you mean, I won't succeed? And why do you think it will take me so long?" He was already getting the Archimedes sphere out of his toolbelt.
Hopefully, he could rig some kind of climbing device, and simply rope down this cliff.
This obstacle cannot be overcome by tools or strength. You will have to confront the demon that
has been stalking you. Only then will you be able to pass.
"What..what do you mean?" Leo asked, but the shimmering glow had disappeared, leaving Leo alone again. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, and he tried to fasten his climbing construction to the rock face anyway. As soon as he let go however, it flew back up and onto the grass. So tools really wouldn't help him here. But then what would? The peri had said to confront the demon that had been, (what was it?) stalking him. Did she mean the red lady demon from his dream? Yet that hadn't been real, had it?
Sighing, Leo sank onto a nearby boulder. If the weird spirit thing had been telling the truth, he had only until noon tomorrow to save Penelope. Somehow he knew that if he could overcome these cliffs, he would arrive at the ruins afterwards.
But for now, until the monster came, there was nothing he could do. He waited out in the open,
trying to emit as much demigoddishness as he could, hoping to attract the demon.
Nothing appeared however.
Guilt and helplessness creeped up inside him, and for a moment he almost felt like turning back.
Almost.
When night fell, Leo searched for another place to sleep, eventually choosing two boulders, which formed a sort of den, as his camp site. After a sparse dinner, Leo lent back against the stone wall behind him.
He'd never realised how lonely a solo quest was. There was nobody he could talk to, nobody to
keep watch while he slept, nobody to watch his back in a fight.
Poor Annabeth, Leo thought. She'd had to confront Arachne all on her own. And now her and Percy were in Tartarus, if they weren't already dead.
Don't think like that he tried to tell himself, but sitting there alone in the dark, in a strange country thousands of miles away from his friends, it was difficult to remain optimistic.
Why did the gods allow things like this to happen he wondered. If they were so powerful, why
couldn't they take care of their children, like other parents did?
It simply wasn't fair. Resentment filled Leo, and he said out loud "Why don't you care?!"
to no god in particular. There was no answer. Of course there wasn't.
With his heart heavy, Leo lay down, cradling the black Amazonite in his hands. The stone wouldn't protect him, but he felt better holding it. It connected him with Penelope, and that was the best
comfort Leo could find.
That night, the same nightmares plagued him.
But they also gave him an idea.