LEO

Even though he knew Triton's magic conch was supposed to make Leo afraid of him, all he found it did was make him angry. All it did was make him want to throw a fireball or two and burn that mocking smirk from the merman's pretty green face.

He also knew this would probably be a bad idea. If Triton was causing this trembling Leo didn't want to find out what kind of damage he could do if he was really mad.

"Welcome," Triton said, more of a growl than a greeting. He nudged the hippocampi forward and whispered to them harshly even when their fronts were nearly fully exposed on the blackened beach. They nickered nervously at the ground but silenced themselves quickly, clearly well acquainted with their master's short temper.

Leo watched Percy grip his sword a little tighter and stand defiantly before his immortal half-brother and he wished he could look half as impressive - unfortunately, a tool belt did not exactly strike him as "impressive" and he was short on magic swords. Maybe he could summon one - he'd never tried that before, it had never crossed his mind. Now that would be impressive, suddenly drawing a celestial bronze sword - or a hammer maybe - out of the belt and challenging his enemies to battle…

"…can't really let you pass." Triton had been talking and Leo had missed it. No one seemed to have noticed he'd spaced though. They were all too preoccupied with the intimidating and sour faced merman who, Leo now noticed, had begun to move from his chariot.

A strange, etherial light began to pulse from somewhere behind him and for some reason Leo found he couldn't look away and for some other reason Percy was yelling at him but he couldn't hear what he was saying and then he was on the ground and Annabeth was on top of him and there was a blast of white light blistering and freezing as it swept over them and the island.

Annabeth coughed sand and rocks and sat up next to Leo who blinked out the dust from his eyes, squinting through the chalky haze that now filled the air and seeing the figure walking calmly towards them.

Triton had his conch in hand and was still glowing slightly, or maybe it was just Leo's eyes and the fuzzy edges the dust was creating that made it seem that way.

"Leo, get up." Annabeth had stood and was now staring coldly at their foe, as was Percy but Leo didn't think he had ever stopped.

The son of Hephaestus staggered up and instantly felt just a tad sub-par standing between the two others.

The two others -

Jason, Frank, and Piper weren't there.

And then he saw what Triton had actually done. His friends weren't the only ones missing. In fact, there was a whole strip missing in the ground around them and the island-like part that Leo, Annabeth, and Percy now stood on seemed not exactly stable.

"What are you playing at?" Percy shouted, raising Riptide a little higher as Triton got nearer.

"What am I?" he chuckled. "Well what do you think, Jackson? What do you think I am 'playing at'?"

"Let me think. Oh, that's right. World domination sounds pretty up your alley," Percy shot to another, louder laugh.

"World domination? That's all you pin me for, yes? Pity, pity. I'd had thought maybe you'd be a little more imaginative than all that foolish human elimination talk."

"That's what you want though," Leo heard himself say. "Don't you?"

"Well of course I do, any sensible god would want that, but as we have seen, there are very few sensible gods nowadays."

"Oh, like you?" Annabeth said with mock flattery.

"Exactly! Oh, Jackson, I like this one. She has sense enough to almost make up for your stupidity!"

Leo waited for Percy to explode but his corner was unduly quiet. Percy was standing with his eyes closed, sword at his side, head down. If Leo didn't know better he'd have said the son of Poseidon was asleep.

But he did know better and was therefore not nearly as surprised as Triton was when the massive breaker slammed into him from behind and sent him flying across the beach and into the cliff wall.

"I know," Percy said calmly, raising his head again like nothing had happened. "But she's the only one who's allowed to remind me."

Triton spluttered up from his personal tide pool and snorted like an angry horse as he raised his conch to the ready -

The sound was horrible, as expected, and somehow not as loud as the last time. It was more, something - rock-shattering Leo thought - than loud.

"Leo!"

Leo looked up just in time to see a very large chunk of the rock face tumbling down the mountain at terminal velocity, headed straight towards him.

The deja vu was killing him.

He didn't have time to move out of its way even if his legs hadn't buckled under him. Instead, he stuck his hands over his head like some kid learning to hide under his desk from nuclear bombs and sent a lucky stream of flame at the stone.

It broke apart in tiny, flaky fragments of black above his head until all that was left was a flat slab about a foot long that fell onto Leo's head, glistening in the night and burnt at the edges as it fell to the ground with a plink.

He stared at it in astonishment as did the others at him and slowly rose to his feet. He threw out a shaky grin and a more pointed glare at Triton as the merman burst into laughter.

"Just can't get rid of you, can we, son of Hephaestus?"

"Sorry for the inconvenience."

"How unfortunate for you that you are in my way, however."

"Again, sorry for the inconvenience. We probably should've phoned ahead, huh, guys?"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake again and this time, Leo was even less certain about the stability of the ground beneath them. An opening gaped at them as the loose chunks were lost to the blackness below and a massive crevice that spread like arteries around them.

"Triton!" Percy yelled above the roar of stone and waves. The minor god took no apparent notice but Percy kept talking. "I have something that belongs to you. Poseidon - Dad, wanted you to have it." He dug the forkified trident from his pocket and instantly the silver glowed and expanded until the three silver prongs glinted wickedly in all their full-sized glory in the half light.

Triton must have been paying attention after all because Leo seemed to see him grimace slightly as the weapon finished its transformation in Percy's hands.

He held it up, an offering, Leo realized and for about three seconds he almost believed Triton was going to accept it.

For about three seconds and then Leo saw him whip a hand impatiently into the air. An impact like the shockwave of a thousand massive waves pushed them towards the edge of their little rock island. Leo's feet slide mercilessly on the rapidly crumbling ground and suddenly all he felt was air beneath him.

Forcing himself to hold on to the surprisingly and unhelpfully smooth lip, the chasm breached out below him like the gaping mouth of some abyssal sea monster.

"You do not tell me - " he heard Triton bellow from somewhere to his left, probably at Percy. "Father does not tell me - " The ground shook a little more and Leo nearly lost his grip. His foot hit a crag in the stone below and he forced his arms to push him up until he could wriggle his body back onto "solid" ground. At least the rumbling rock shards were better than falling into a chasm. Although, by the looks of it and the rapid degeneration of the ground, Leo judged it wouldn't be too long before the chasm was all there was.

He looked around desperately, still flustered over the sudden disappearance of Jason and the others yet again. He'd have to suggest giving them all cowbells once they got back.

Or walkie-talkies, he thought. Walkie-talkies'd be cool.

But for now, he only had his sight to help him locate his friends and that wasn't going so well.

Not that he had much time to look as his analysis from earlier was quickly becoming reality and the now little more than gravelly surface was sinking. Soon, there'd be nothing for them to stand on and they'd fall to - well to wherever god-induced undersea voids led.

He had the feeling he wouldn't like it.