Chapter 4
Leo stumbled his way past the wooden architecture of the main deck, his mind ablazed. No one was here. Good. He didn't think he could face any of them if they were. Finally he stopped and kneeled down jarringly, his head in his hands. What did I do? he thought. WhatdidIdowhatdidIdo? He made a mistake. A very big one.
The River Styx. Calypso swore not to love him on the River Styx. She made a mistake, too. A very big one.
Leo pushed his palms into his shut eyes, breathing rapidly through his mouth. This couldn't be happening. Was this happening? Was it real? Gritting his teeth, he pulled his knees tightly to his chest. He felt like crying, and he hated it. Gods. He needed to stop. This wasn't the end of the world. But he couldn't help but feel that devastating empty, gaping hole in his chest. It almost physically hurt. Everyone he loved… were they all going to just leave him now?
Not necessarily true… he had Piper still, and Jason, Hazel, Percy, all the others.
It still hurt, of course. So much.
To be honest, he didn't think Calypso was going to do that, no. He would be lying if he said he'd thought an oath on the River Styx would come out of this.
The tips of his fingers erupted into flames again, and they flicked across the pointed ends of his dark, curling hair, doing no harm to them. Then he smelled smoldering wood, and forced the fire to stop burning. He might've been fireproof, but the Argo II wasn't.
Leaning back against a wooden pole, he punched at the ground hard, clenching his teeth against a wail. His fault. It was always his fault. He kept on playing with fire when everyone around him wasn't immune to it. Couldn't he do something right for once?
How could you do that, Calypso? he had wanted to ask. But perhaps the better question now was, Why do I have to mess up all the time?