Leo's POV

I led us to the right after we exited the mess hall. Peri walked next to me while Octavian was sulking behind us.

"Oi!" Peri said suddenly. She ran up a bit in front of me before turning around to face us and walk backwards.

"I just remembered something!" She said, still walking backwards. "You never told us why you weren't in the mess hall earlier."

I scowled just thinking about it, but told her the story.

"Early this morning, I got up to go check on the Argo II, and when I was inspecting her oars, some crazy ass termite statue popped outta nowhere!"

"Terminus?" Octavian jumped in, suddenly gaining interest.

I waved my hand lazily. "Termites, Terminus. Whatever. The dude was crazy, talkin' 'bout the Argo was just a giant weapon. She's more than that, I tell you! He just kept exploding and popping up all over the place, screaming! And then he had the audacity to call my ship a monstrosity!"

"No!" Peri cried dramatically.

"YES! So eventually, I found a way to kick him off the ship, and I re-parked the Argo."

Peri nodded knowingly. "Sounds like a crazy morning."

"Not as bad as you," I noted. "So some Roman chick tried to kill you?"

"Yeah, I-" She stopped short, and Octavian accidentally ran into her.

"What are you doing?" He grumbled.

Peri stood stark still. She sniffed the air repeatedly before speaking again. "Do you guys smell that?"

"Peri, I think you've had enough to eat for one morning!" Octavian exclaimed.

"No!" She swatted him in the arm lightly. "It's not food, it's. . . " She sniffed the air again. "I dunno."

Suddenly, she took off running, sniffing around like some wild dog. We had no choice but to follow her, and Octavian didn't seem too eager.

I dashed down the dirt road trying to keep up with her.

"Holy schmow!" I heard her exclaim, and I ran even harder.

When we caught up to her, she was standing in awe at the fantastical Argo II floating in mid air.

That's right. Not fantastic, but fantastical.

I smirked, satisfied with her reaction. "Yup, that's the Argo II."

"Oh my gods!" She cried, turning to face me. Her brown eyes were sparkling in excitement. "This is totes amaze, dude! When you said you built a ship, I didn't think- How can someone even- How long did it take you to- Just, WOW!"

I laughed.

Just then the Argo's figurehead, Festus turned his head 180 degrees to look at us. He blew white-hot pillars of flame into the morning sky.

Show off.

"Slamacow!" Peri screamed. "Is that a dragon?! It's moving!"

She ran even closer to the Argo II, examining its Celestial Bronze hull from the ground.

I watched, confused, as she sniffed up.

She turned back to us, grinning. "This is what I was smelling! I could smell all this Celestial Bronze!"

"No way." I said, striding up next to her.

Festus snorted smoke and made a series of squeaking, whirring sounds. Over the last few months, I had learned to interpret this machine language. I called it Creak and Squeak. Clever, I know.

I understood Festus's various sounds saying, Is this the Omega-Blood?

"Yeah, that's me!" Peri said immediately.

All three of us, including Festus, froze.

Peri's hand flew up to her mouth. "What the what?" She murmured.

Slowly, I turned to Peri. "Y-you can understand him?"

"I-I guess so," She said slowly.

Octavian threw his hands up in the air. "This is too weird for me!"

I stared at Peri, shocked. It took me weeks to learn Festus's language, and she just picked it up in, like, two seconds. There was only one explanation for that.

"How did-?" She started.

"It must be part of the Omega-Blood power thingies." I concluded. "You said your dad told you that you could control Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold better than the average demigod, right? Well, then that must be why you were able to smell the Celestial Bronze warship and understand an automaton. It's in your blood."

Festus creaked. You were right, Leo. She is pretty.

"Festus, stop talking!" I cried, my ears turning bright red.

Peri suddenly got a load of interest in staring at her shoes.

For once, I was relieved to hear Octavian's voice. "Ugh! This is so bothersome! Are we going to go in this so-called ship or what?"

"Uh, yeah. Come on." I gestured towards the hanging rope ladder.

Peri went up first, followed by Octavian. I went up last, hissing at Festus as I climbed, "You are so gonna get it!"

"Whoa, bombastic!" I heard Peri exclaim as I climbed the last rung of the rope ladder. She was slowly spinning in a circle, taking in all the surroundings that was the Argo II. Which is understandable, she was pretty impressive.

The ship, I mean.

"Ah," Peri breathed, her hands outstretched. "I can feel everything in here."

I showed the pair the Argo's control mechanism. I pointed to a random button. "This button-"

"Controls the oars' rowing speed." Peri said automatically. She touched her temple. "Whoa, weird.

"That's right!" I said, my excitement rising.

I decided to test her. I pointed to another button. "And this one?"

"Opens and closes a glass hatch on the bottom of the Argo II located in the horse stable." She responded instantaneously once again. She blinked. "Ooh, we have horses?"

"This is so cool!" I exclaimed. "You know this warship front and back, and you just stepped on it!"

Another thought occurred to me, and I smirked. "Maybe you could help me fly her sometime on our quest."

She grinned and did her sailor-like salute. "Anytime!"

Octavian grumbled and rolled his eyes. "I hate to interrupt you two morons giggling over some warship, but I've got to go to the bathroom. Where is it?"

I opened my mouth to answer him and give a snide remark, but Peri beat me to the punch on both accounts.

"Once you leave this room it's the last door on your left. Jackass."

I snickered and gave her a fist bump as Octavian fumed out of the main control room.

Peri and I went back to our little game of naming the buttons and keys on the Argo II

Peri's POV

Leo is cool people. Honestly, he's just really fun to just chill and hang with.

He fired off questions about the Argo II and I answered them without hesitation. Somehow, I knew all about this crazy, amazing warship, and he seemed to be fascinated by that. I was glad that Octavian left to go potty; he was getting on my nerves anyway. But mostly, I was glad he was gone because that meant I got to hang out with Leo.

Leo leaned over his keyboard, and I waited for him to ask me another question.

Only he didn't.

His hand hovered over the many buttons, and I wondered what he was doing.

"Leo?" I questioned.

He didn't move at all.

Is he ignoring me?! I hate being ignored!

I reached over and grabbed him by his shoulder, turning him to face me. "Le-oooohhhhh!"

I let go of him with a start, jumping back on instinct.

His eyes were golden.

Just like Tiffany's.

"What the junk?!" I yelped.

His face was completely slack, void of all expression. His large, golden discs stared me down hard.

"Leo!" I grabbed his shoulders and shook him roughly, trying to rouse him from his possessed stupor. "Leo, what's wrong?!"

He spoke in a hollow voice that didn't suit him at all. "Destroy them. . . Destroy them all."

I scrunched up my face in confusion. Before I could say anything more, he slammed his hand on a red button, his movements stiff and robotic.

"Leo, no! That's the button to fire the ballistae!" I scrambled around him frantically."What are you doing?! You're gonna fire on Camp Jupiter!"

Out of the Argo's windows, I could see hundreds upon hundreds of flaming arrows raining upon Camp Jupiter. Small fires rippled across the land. Romans scattered, some running for weapons, others running for the hills. People screamed as they got caught up in the raging chaos.

In a matter of seconds, Camp Jupiter was up in smoke.

I reached around him to turn off the ballistae, but Leo lashed out and held my wrist fast.

What is wrong with him?!

"Leo, stop this!" I cried to him urgently. I struggled to get my wrist free of his grasp, but Leo was crazy strong. I figured all sons of Hephaestus had to be strong to work in the forges all day.

He grabbed my other wrist tightly in his hands, and we twisted around furiously as I fought against him. He had me back up against the keyboard and dash. Leo brought my wrists above my head as he pushed me back against the keyboard. He pushed all his weight on me, and I growled underneath him angrily. As we grappled, his face came closer to mine, those eerie golden eyes boring into my own.

Just then, I heard a toilet flushing, and Octavian entered the room, drying his hands on his and I froze. Octavian stopped in his tracks when he saw Leo on top of me, bent all over the keyboard, my hands above my head, our faces flushed from our tussling.

Oh, gods! Talk about awkward!

Octavian folded his arms. "What the hell are you two-?!" His voice died when he looked past us and through the Argo's windows. Fires raged in the background upon Camp Jupiter as the ballistae fired off a seemingly endless amount of flaming arrows.

"C-Camp Jupiter. . ." Octavian murmured.

"Octavian!" I wrestled with Leo some more. "There's something wrong with Leo and-"

His eyes hardened and he glared at us. "I'm telling Reyna! She'll deal with-!"

"You dipshit!" I snapped. "Don't you think she already knows?! Help me!"

Octavian spun on his heel and ran to the rope ladder.

"What are you doing?!" I cried. "Get back here and-"

He was already gone.

"You are so off my friend list!" I screamed down at him, but there was no way he could have heard me.

I growled in frustration.

Then, I got an idea.

"Leo," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm so sorry about this."

I kneed him where the sun don't shine as hard as I could.

He howled in pain, crumpling to the floor.

Breathing heavily, I spun back towards the keyboard. I typed furiously at the controls, shutting the ballistae off as fast as I could. For some reason, I couldn't turn them off. It was like the Argo was disobeying me. I gasped aloud when I realized what was up.

Festus is trying to stay loyal to Leo.

I couldn't help but have some begrudging respect for Festus at this point. He clearly knew that this was wrong, but he was determined to do as Leo said.

"Sorry, Festus, but Leo is. . ." I glanced over my shoulder at the boy still rolling on the floor clutching his private parts, ". . .out of commission for the moment. So I'll be in charge for the time being."

Whether you like it or not, I thought to myself.

I hovered both my hands over the keyboard and closed my eyes, but didn't push any buttons. I took a deep breath and felt the machine underneath me. I felt my hair stand on end as I connected with the machine. I could sense anything and everything on the ship. The buttons on the keyboard flashed various colors in a random pattern. The warship shuddered suddenly, and I heard Festus let loose a mechanical roar that only an automaton dragon could pull off.

Then, the warship stilled, purring softly.

The Argo II was now under my control.

I clenched and unclenched my fists experimentally, and I felt the oars retract and come out accordingly. I blinked my eyelids rapidly, and the sails of the ship went up and down.

Sweet!

I moved my hand in a sweeping motion to the left, and the Argo II steered in that direction. Unfortunately, that sent a barrage of flaming arrows onto new territory of Camp Jupiter.

"Oh shit!"

I waved my hands frantically trying to right the ship, but that just sent a spray of arrows all over Camp Jupiter. The fires raged even more now.

"Crap! How do I-gah!"

Leo had recovered and crept behind me. He presently had me in a choke hold, his strong arms restraining my body.

"Destroy. . . Destroy them all." He murmured in that creepy voice.

"Leo what is wrong with-?!"

"You're doing a good job at destroying, Omega-Blood." He whispered in my ear, grinning in an I'm-going-to-kill-you sort of way. "Perhaps we should let you live."

I felt a surge of anger.

He had to be possessed. There was no way happy-go-lucky Leo could be wanting to 'destroy' all these people. There had to be something that came over him, like with Tiffany. But. . . I'm not sure if I could bring myself to kill Leo. I mean, Tiffany was an accident, but there was no way I could stab Leo.

"LEO! PERI!"

I jerked around to see Percy and Bonnabelle scrambling up the rope ladder.

The pair were racing towards us, their clothes covered in various breakfast foods and charred areas. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Leo froze, staring at Percy and Bonnabelle.

"This is not- This is not what it it looks like!" I said to them, but I don't think they were buying it. "This isn't our fault! Well, it's not my fault anyway. Well, it's kinda my fault. It's about ten percent my fault!"

"Destroy them. . . Destroy them all." Leo said again, which most definitely was not helping.

That's when I made my move.

I twisted out of Leo's hold with sheer brute force and speed. Before he could react, I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my shoulder in a badass judo-flip. His head hit the wooden deck harder than I would've liked, and his eyes rolled up so that only the whites showed. I had knocked him out cold.

A giant gray dragon soared into view. Like, a real one! I almost shit my pants when it circled the ship and landed at the bow, depositing Jason and Piper, who both promptly collapsed once safely aboard. The dragon made a poopy face and then shrunk back down to the shape of Frank Zhang.

Coolest. Power. EVER.

"Go!" Percy yelled at me, rattling me from my thoughts. "Get us out of here!"

I nodded quickly and closed my eyes, trying to reconnect with the warship.

"What are you doing?!" I heard Percy ask. "I said-!"

"AWAY!" I screamed, throwing both of my hands straight up into the air.

The Argo II groaned. The bow tilted up at a ridiculous angle. The mooring lines snapped, and the Argo II shot into the clouds.