LEO'S POV

I carried Peri into the Argo II bridal style, her head lolled back and her limbs weak.

As soon as the three of us entered the lounge, a lot of things happened at once.

Everybody saw Peri's unconscious body in my arms.

They freaked.

The group swarmed us.

Questions were rapidly fired off.

Annabeth barked orders.

Then Hazel puked all over the place, making everyone jump back in alarm. She ran out of the room with Frank, leaving me with a mess on my shoes and a lot of explaining to do. There was still no sign of Jason or Piper. She must've still been belowdecks nursing him back to health. The thought gave me another pang of guilt that I quickly tried to shrug off.

Ten minutes later, Peri was in the infirmary, and everyone was briefed on our mission.

After everything that had just transpired, I was thoroughly exhausted. I slumped into the Deluxe Demigod Recliner 9000 and sighed deeply. The only people left in the lounge were Percy, Annabeth, and myself.

"That girl sure likes to pass out, huh?" Percy joked, and I gave him a wry smile.

Before I could drift off into a blissful and well deserved rest, Festus's creaks and squeaks rang throughout the intercom.

As much as I wanted to curl up and sleep, I knew I needed to get this warship up and running.

Reluctantly, I headed to the engine room to begin repairs.

PERI'S POV

I jolted upright, my face beaded in sweat, panting heavily. Clutching my rapidly beating heart, I looked around frantically, trying to identify my surroundings.

I blinked.

I was lying in a cot in the infirmary of the Argo II. The warship was shaking violently from side to side.

I heard shouting from above on the deck, and was that. . . Hazel making those terribly miserable moaning sounds? From below, there were horrific clanging metal sounds like someone was doing an Irish jig with anvils tied to their feet.

Oh no. . . How long was I out? Is everyone alright?

I slipped out of the medical cot - to find someone had removed my shoes. My socks blushed into the smooth hard wood of the Argo II. I spotted my blue shoes from Camp Jupiter waiting patiently for me beside the infirmary door. I stuffed my feet in them hurriedly before stumbling up to the deck to see what all the yelling was about.

I burst through to the deck, almost tripping and falling due to the incessant rocking of the ship. My eyes widened as I finally found the source of the shouting.

Percy and Coach Hedge were up on the deck. Percy was busy doing what he does best - being a badass with his water powers. From the angle I was at, he looked to be shooting water - but at what, I couldn't tell. He looked somewhat tired, like he'd been up here water spoutin' for a while.

Coach Hedge? He was shouting obscenities at the lake, waving his baseball bat wildly. His furry goat legs bounded back and forth across the deck as he tried offending as much of the lake as possible.

"What the what is going on?!" I had to shout to be heard over Coach Hedge's colorful vocabulary.

Percy whipped around to look at me, and his green eyes brightened in a smile. "Peri! You're up!"

As he spoke to me, he still managed to send blasts of salt water out in varying directions.

Coach Hedge clopped over to me, his hands on his goat hips. "Well, it's about time!"

"Wha-?" I sweat dropped. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," Coach grunted. "The nymphs are attacking."

I ran to the edge of the ship and looked over the side. The lake itself was lashing out on the Argo II, rocking her back and forth.

Percy sent another blast of water, and it went straight for the lake. On impact, there was a large whoom of water, and the boat shaking momentarily ceased. Then the lake nymphs collected themselves back together, and proceeded to rock the boat once more. Each of Percy's attacks were only effective for a short time, and they greatly fatigued him.

"Well let me make up for lost time," I said, smirking.

Holding my hands out, I channeled my powers. I didn't really know what to bring forth, though. What could get the job done the best? I let my powers decide.

Then, a massive Celestial Bronze fist with spikes on the knuckles materialized before me in the air. My eyebrows went up, but I only smiled and shook my head.

Stranger things have happened.

I clenched my own fist and brought my hand down hard into my open palm. The mystical bronze mirrored my movements and plummeted into the lake. The chilling water exploded upwards, shimmering in the night. I repeated the action again and again, stirring up those hormone-stricken nymphs as much as possible.

"Yeah!" I heard Coach Hedge cheering as the icy spray of water rained down upon us.

I saw Percy smirk. He waved his hands around furiously, and at first I had no idea what he was doing. . . Until realization washed over me.

Percy was scattering the nymphs around so they couldn't reunite and attack. They relied on numbers for their power.

We didn't.

We worked together - me bashing, Percy scattering. We picked up a rhythm, effortlessly blitzing the nymphs like one well oiled machine. Coach Hedge ran back and forth across the deck, periodically screaming, "Oh yeah!" and "That's what I'm talking about!" into the night.

I opened up my mouth to shout something, but froze. I closed my eyes.

The engine!

The engine was humming - purring even! Like a kitten with a ball of yarn! He did it - he must have!

I heard rapid thumping, slowly increasing in volume like it was coming closer. I looked around wildly.

The door to the deck burst open, and Leo emerged.

He was caked in sweat, lime dust, and some black sticky crap I assumed was tar. His orange T-shirt looked like it had been caught in an escalator and chewed to shreds. The TEAM LEO on his chest now read: AM LEO. Still, he was grinning like a madman.

"GUYS!" He cried. "I finally got the. . ." he trailed off when his eyes met mine. I saw him gulp.

"Peri," he murmured. "You're okay,"

I smiled softly at him. "Yeah, I-" I gasped in surprise when he lurched forward and embraced me.

His strong arms wrapped around me tightly, and he buried his face in the crook of my neck. He whispered there, making me shiver. "I was so worried."

I stood there, frozen at his touch for a moment. Then I relaxed and wrapped my arms around him, too. I relished in his warmth and-

"Ahem!"

Leo pushed himself off of me quickly. I looked up to see Coach Hedge glaring at the two of us, his arms folded and his hoof tapping on the deck. Percy stood behind him snickering silently at our discomfort.

Leo rubbed the back of his curly head nervously. "Um, uh. . . I, er. . ."

"Hey, Leo, you fixed the ship didn't you?" I elbowed him in the rib. "Didn't you?!"

"Oh!" He lifted his index finger high into the air. "Yeah! Yeah, I did. Meeting in the mess hall, one hour!"

"Valdez-" Coach started.

"Kay, bye!" He said, and before I knew it, he'd grabbed my hand and whisked me away belowdecks.