What's up, lovely readers of mine?
Did you like that ending? Didjadidjadidja?
Well, I haven't gotten complaints so far, so I'm assuming you guys don't mind that I skipped a few years. Here's another big hug scene for you guys!
And thank you, THANK YOU, so so much, for sticking with me! You guys have NO idea how much that means to me!
Here's chapter twenty!
Disclaimer: I sent Santa an early letter asking for the PJO franchise for Christmas. I have his response right here.
Dear Archduchess of Books,
HA! Keep dreaming, kid.
Sincerely, Santa.
There was complete silence for a moment before Jason turned to Leo and hugged him.
"Oh Leo…" Piper whispered, getting up to do the same.
Once again, Leo was the center of a demigod group hug. He had been staring at the table, and now, leaning back into his friends, he gave a small smile and said softly "They're okay now. Anni found them on Facebook a few weeks after on a library computer. Jack's apparently going to have a new scar on his chin and Elizabeth has one on her hip, but their mom said they were going to be just fine."
The next memory started, and Leo, seeing it, shrank back into his web of support. Seeing the concerned looks, he sighed, then whispered "This is the last time I ever saw her."
The demigods shot each other apprehensive looks as the sounds of a bus station filtered into the room.
Anni and Leo both looked exhausted and tense, standing in the middle of a crowded terminal. Leo's face was scratched up, and his hair was plastered to one side of his head like he had just woken up.
Anni, meanwhile, was studying the terminal, her five-foot frame so tense she was practically vibrating, like a stretched rubber band. Her hands were shaking. She clenched them into fists, shoved them into her pockets, blew out a huff of air that sent unwashed strands of blonde hair out of her face and turned forcefully to Leo.
"Alright, here's the deal."
Leo raised an eyebrow at her.
"That damn cop saw us coming in here. While I'm sure we've lost him for now, we have a tiny window of time before he gives up searching and calls for backup. Hopefully by then we will be on the bus, heading to California and safety. But if our window of time runs out, I vote we stay here until tomorrow. Okay?"
Leo nodded. "Sounds good."
"They were there for a little while longer, nothing more eventful happening until the bus began to pull up.
Anni and Leo got up excitedly, swinging backpacks onto shoulders, before Anni glanced behind her and her eyes widened.
"Fuck."
Three officers in LCPD (Las Cruces Police Department) uniforms were coming down the platform. Leo noticed them too. His own eyes widened. He and Anni gave each other panicked looks. They had only a minute before the police saw them… and a minute would not be enough to get them both on the bus.
Leo looked back and forth for a moment before he turned to Anni, a determined look on his face. He pushed her towards the crowd amassing to get on. "Go."
"What?"
"Go without me. I'll get there another way."
"I am NOT leaving you here! Are you psycho?"
"Anni, just go! I'll meet you…in San Francisco, okay? The place you can go for a tour of Alcatraz Island. I'll be there as soon as I can."
Anni looked at him for a second, bottom lip trembling, before she flung her arms around Leo's shoulders in a tight hug.
Leo closed his eyes. Anni's jacket had smelled like dust, gravel, and wet grass, with a hint of body odor and stale cigarettes lingering underneath. Her arms had been trembling even as she practically strangled him with the force of her grip. He was half sure he had felt a tear land on his shoulder and had felt Anni give a shuddering breath into his shoulder before she had let go. He wished he had held on to her that tightly, but he had given her no more than a quick, hard squeeze before pushing her gently away, towards the bus.
"You are psycho." Anni muttered, stepping away from him. "You better meet me there, understand, shithead?"
Leo nodded, tears glimmering in the corners of his eyes. "Got it. Now move."
Anni headed for the crowd and vanished just as the police noticed Leo.
"Hey, kid!"
Leo took off, leading the police out of the terminal and away from Anni.
There was silence. Leo was sitting there in the middle of a demigod group hug, eyes closed. Percy was staring up at the memory. Hazel had her arms wrapped around Leo's shoulders. Frank had one arm wrapped around Hazel. Annabeth, Jason, and Piper were the three Leo was leaning against.
Suddenly, Annabeth spoke.
"Leo, we can stop in California, you can see her, let her know you're not dead…"
She trailed off, as Leo was shaking his head gently.
"Thanks, Annabeth, but that wouldn't work."
Six pairs of eyes blinked at him. He sighed and pointed up to the projection.
"Watch."
Leo was lying in what was clearly the Hephaestus cabin in Camp Half-Blood, fast asleep. His features scrunched up and he twisted around, the sheet and blankets tangling around his legs.
"This was right after the quest to free Hera." Said Leo quietly. "I had been thinking about leaving and going to find her, it had been almost a year, but then…" he gulped and blinked. His voice grew quiet and choked with tears. He gestured.
"This happened."
The memory zoomed in on Leo's face, before changing into a completely different scene. The air took on a hazy, dreamlike quality.
In Leo's dream, Anni, looking very much the same as she had since splitting up with Leo except taller, skinnier and more exhausted, was walking with her head bowed and shoulders hunched down a dark street lined with colorful buildings. It was obviously very late. Her hands, balled into fists, swung at her sides. She shoved them into her pockets.
A light on caught her attention, and she paused right beside a streetlight. The light belonged to a twenty-four-hour store seven doors down from the corner she stood on, with only one very bored-looking cashier at the counter. No customers.
A predatory smile flickered across Anni's face, her tired green eyes brightening for a moment. She looked back over her shoulder, then forward along the street, then flicked her hair out of her eyes, pulled her hood up, and walked down towards the store.
She walked in, not acknowledging the clerk at the counter, and headed for the back, where a sign advertised a restroom. She locked the door of the girl's bathroom, then pulled her hood off. She stared into the mirror for a moment, then slowly reached for the waistband of her jeans.
From her jeans she pulled a very realistic toy pistol. The only thing to give that fact away was the bright orange tip on the end of the barrel. Calmly, Anni snapped that piece off and dropped it into the trash can next to the sink.
She tucked the toy, now resembling a real pistol, back into her waistband and pulled her shirt down over it. She turned on the sink, cupped her hands beneath the stream of water, and tossed the water back onto her face, pushing it back through her hair, plastering loose strands back against her head. She gazed into the mirror one more time before pulling her hood back up.
The cashier, a middle-aged man, barely glanced up as Anni exited the bathroom. She made her way down the aisles, heading for the door. Her hand slipped out of her pocket and snatched a bag of Goldfish, slipping it into her pocket before continuing, at the same measured pace. She reached for a bottle of water…
"I wouldn't do that if I was you, miss."
The cashier had stood up and was looking at her.
"No one steals from here."
Anni looked at him for a second before a grin spread across her face and she snatched the bottle.
"Come and get me."
She spun and ran out.
The cashier cursed heavily, reached down behind the counter, and grabbed a shotgun from behind the counter, striding towards the door.
Anni had almost reached the corner when the sound of a shotgun being cocked sounded behind her. She spun, her hand going to her waist, and pulled the toy pistol free. A small, triumphant smile spread across her face.
The cashier, looking panicked, pulled the trigger.
There was a very loud blast and a spurt of red.
The bullet caught Anni's temple, knocking her head to the side and her body back. Time seemed to slow as her body fell in a grotesquely graceful arc, landing half in, half out of the streetlight. The small smile was still there, her eyes glassy and glazed over. A small pool of blood stained the sidewalk and a streak of Anni's hair ruby red.
The dream froze, and Leo, who was suddenly standing on the corner beside Anni's body, fell to his knees beside her body.
"Anni, Anni, don't you dare die on me, you bitch, you better not die on me…" Leo was crying, his hand helplessly fluttering over Anni's hair and her wound. "If you die I'm gonna bring you back to life and kill you again, do you understand me?"
"She can't hear you." A soft female voice spoke.
Leo whipped around and almost fell on his butt.
Hera was standing behind him, a sad look on her face, dressed in jeans and a white sweater with brown boots.
"This happened a week ago, Leo. There wasn't even an obituary." Hera said gently. She came forward and crouched next to him.
"I know we didn't part on good terms, Leo, but I also knew you would go after her. You would go, but never find her. You needed to know about this." She gestured towards Anni's body.
"You are one of my chosen heroes, Leo. I do care about you. I showed you this to help you understand… to help you understand why you can never go back to your old life."
She smiled at him gently, then held out her hand, palm up. A white rose appeared in her hand. She laid it gently on Anni's chest before standing and walking away, disappearing in a white mist that smelled like poppies. Leo stared after her for a second before slowly reaching out and closing Anni's eyes.
The dream suddenly faded away and Leo sat bolt upright in bed, gasping. It was morning. One of his siblings glanced curiously over at him.
"You okay, Leo?"
He nodded. "Yeah, just…bad dream."
"Oh gods, I hate those. Especially then they're warnings, you know? Or when the gods talk to you."
Leo blinked. "But… their just dreams. Right?"
His brother shook his head. "Not if you're a demigod. Usually, when we dream things, it's real."
Leo blinked, then said, slowly "So if, say, somebody died in your dream. It's real? The person actually would die?"
"Yep."
Leo paled.
His brother frowned. "You don't look so good."
Leo shook his head. "I'm fine."
He lay back down.
"I'll be out in a minute, okay? Don't really feel like breakfast."
His brother gave him a strange look but said nothing else, just left. Leo was alone.
And, for the first time since Abuela had died, he cried.
Past Leo wasn't the only one. Everyone in the dining room was crying and hugging each other. Leo was being smothered on three sides by Hazel, Piper, and Frank. He was crying too, silent tears sliding down his cheeks and chin.
"I still miss her. I didn't even hug her properly back at the bus station, I was so anxious to get her on there. And she died waiting for me. In a way, it's my fault."
He took a deep, shuddering breath as three pairs of arms tightened around him.
They stayed like that for a good few minutes… until Coach Hedge busted in, waving his baseball bat and wanting to know why the Hello Kitty he had been locked up in his room.
A week later, things had calmed. The demigods treated Leo the same as always, except they tried to also let him know he was a valued member of the team. Every time Hera came up, one of them would gracefully steer that conversation away… unless they were Coach Hedge. The coach just wanted to go find the goddess and smack her with his baseball bat for daring to lock him in his room for that long.
But disaster had to strike.
"We're gonna have to stop somewhere and stock up on supplies and find out what the fuck is wrong with this engine." Leo had become more free about using language to express his frustration.
Festus let out a series of creaks and clicks. Leo listened carefully, then grinned at them all.
"Alright, kiddos, hold on. Uncle Leo's gotta make a stop."
"Where?" Annabeth asked.
"My old stomping grounds. We're stopping in Houston."