PERI'S POV

I paced the deck back and forth as the sun began to get lower and lower. It had been hours since Piper and Jason left to see Hercules. I hoped they were okay.

I chewed my lip. Imperial Gold weapons sprang up periodically, and I guessed it was because of how completely and utterly stressed the fuck out I was feeling.

"Would you relax already?" Leo sounded exasperated.

Percy sucked in sharply and shook his head. "Ooh, never tell a woman to relax, Valdez. Bad move."

I snapped my fingers at pointed at Percy knowingly. "He's got it."

Leo rolled his eyes and put his hands on my shoulders, massaging the tense muscles there. His strong hands felt soooo good kneading into my skin. "Fine, don't worry then. Jason is tough, and Pipes is smart. I'm sure they'll be back any minute now."

I wanted to argue more, but the way he was rubbing into my shoulders so tenderly made me clamp my mouth shut to keep from moaning. Instead I nodded fervently, and Leo smiled brightly, clearly pleased with himself.

I found myself blushing. Did he know what he was doing to me? Was he just teasing me?

I caught Percy smirking at my discomfort from behind his blue chocolate chip cookies and scowled at him. When is that boy not eating?

A flash of lightning interrupted the comfortable serenity of the Argo. Without warning, half a dozen storm spirits appeared on the ship's deck, and they did not look very happy.

"Aurae!" Percy hopped to his feet and uncapped his pen, blue cookie crumbs all over his mouth.

"Finally!" I exclaimed, snatching up an Imperial Gold spatha that had just materialized by my feet. I gripped it with assurance, my eyes narrowing at the enemies before us. "A lovely distraction."

"This is your idea of lovely?" Leo balled his fists before they became enflamed with a sudden gust of heat. He squared his shoulders, ready for battle. "You got issues, girl."

Two of the storm spirits charged at Percy who deftly dodged their attacks, swinging Riptide menacingly. Four storm spirits advanced on Leo and I. We had to act fast.

Leo shot fireballs at one of the aurae, dropping it instantly and causing it to explode in golden powder. But the other spirits were too quick. They dodged his attacks and would be upon us in mere seconds. My turn.

I could feel my body radiating a warm, powerful energy from within. I charged at the storm spirits, slashing and dodging their gusts of winds. I lashed out to my right before hearing an unnatural scream of anguish and seeing a puff of golden dust. I heard another scream like that of the first and spotted Percy finishing off both his aurae in one strike.

"Awesome!" I shot him a thumbs up.

He grinned and bowed, but when he looked up his brows were knit together. His face twisted into a scream suddenly. "Leo, watch out!"

My feet were already moving towards him before my eyes could see. The remaining two evil aurae floated on either side of Leo, and their stormy bodies rippled with electricity.

"NO!" I screamed, hands outstretched desperately. I was too far from him, and even if I wasn't, what then? What could I do?

All I know is that I have to protect him.

I'm not entirely sure what happened next.

I remember a bright flash and then seeing gold everywhere I looked.

The aurae were no longer surrounding Leo. Instead, there was a solid gold sphere about 6ft in diameter where Leo once stood. The aurae stared, confused as to where their tasty little demigod meal had just disappeared to.

Then, in an instant, there were thousands of pointed spikes jutting out from the sphere in every direction. Hundreds impaled each storm spirit. There were a pair of hellish screams then an explosion of golden powder in the air as they died.

The spikes retracted into the huge sphere as suddenly as they had appeared. There was a whistle, like one would hear from a steam engine. Then, from top to bottom, the hollow golden sphere began to melt away. It dissolved like a melting chocolate egg until all that was left was Leo sitting confused in a puddle of golden goop.

I sprinted towards him and slipped among the golden liquid pooling around him. I crashed on top of him but didn't even care, embracing him as tightly as I could. My heart was pounding so hard and so loud in my chest.

"Leo, you almost scared me half to death!" I croaked, not daring to let go of him.

I could see the confusion on his big brown eyes. He cupped my face, brows furrowed. "Your nose is bleeding. I-I don't understand how... you did this?"

I wiped my nose and sure enough, there was a deep red stain on my hands. I felt quite fatigued, but I'd rather be exhausted for the rest of my life than to let anything happen to Leo Valdez on my watch.

Percy approached us and knelt down to touch the golden liquid pooling around us. He sniffed it then tasted it, which I personally thought was weird as hell.

"Well I'll be damned," he murmured and continued when I gave him a questioning look. "This is ichor. Ya know, the blood of the gods?"

My eyes went wide, and I put my fingers in the thick golden mess. "But where did it come from?"

"Well you are the Omega-Blood." Leo shrugged. "Anastasios maybe?"

Percy nodded as if that explained it all. "Well whatever it was, it was pretty fucking cool. You should try and hone that special power. It could come in handy in a pinch."

I fingered the golden ring on my right hand, a million thoughts running through my mind. Could this power help me to rescue my dad? Was this the extent of my powers? What else could I do?

Leo's hands trailing down the small of my back interrupted my thoughts, and I realized I was still in his lap- though he didn't seem to mind. His eyes bore into my own, though I'm not sure what he was thinking or feeling behind them.

My head, and clothes for that matter, were a complete mess. I had to go. I scrambled to my feet and ran belowdecks as quickly as I could.

"Hey, where the hell you going?!" Percy cried after me. "I know you don't think I'm cleaning this shit up!"