Hey, this chapter was one of the hardest to write for several reasons: I had to return the Lost Hero to the library (so I couldn't read any Leo chapters to help) and I had to figure out how to fill the chapter. So it ended up weirdly. It might not sound very Leo cos I didn't have the book but it has a lot of action in it.
Oh well, thanks for reading the next chapter! BTW, the other demigods haven't discovered the flood yet, they are still sngging and stuff.
I've been through this- I don't own the original book.
Hope you like this chapter:
Leo's POV
The current clawed at Leo's hair and face. He tried to swim up for oxygen, but another wave crashed over him, pushing him into the icy depths. His lungs were burning in his chest feeling like they were about to burst. He kicked rapidly upwards, breaking through the watery wall that was the current and breathing in the sweet, sweet relief of air.
The water tried to pull Leo under again, but he fought it. The waves washed over him filling his mouth and ears with the cold greenish liquid. The salt from the water made his throat feel like sandpaper. He spat out another mouthful and let the liquid drip off his face.
Leo's clothes clung to him like soot; the extra weight was almost dragging him back down. He struggled to stay in the cool fresh air. Another wave battered him aside like a feather. He couldn't fight the sea forever, and drowning in this watery grave seemed inevitable.
A large wave pounded over Leo, forcing him under, its icy chill knocking the breath out of him. He emerged again and drunk in the oxygen. He felt metal. Or rather he sensed metal. Perhaps a boat. Something was close to him, and it was his only hope.
Thrusting his numb hands out in front of him, Leo swam in the direction of the ship. The waves arched gracefully in front of him. They were now facing the same way he was and glided him forward with strength and power that his limbs didn't poses.
The current, although now his best ally, was also his enemy. Water was gushing into his mouth and nose, causing him to choke. He didn't have the strength to stay above the water for long. Now that his legs and arms were numb, the water felt warming. Like if he sunk it would gently rock him sleep. Cocoon him in its tranquil freedom and let him sleep forever.
Leo shook his head and ploughed on. He couldn't drown. He wouldn't drown. Dying was not an option. Not yet.
A dark shape loomed in front of him, formally concealed by the darkness. With one last surge of energy, Leo threw himself at it. Reaching his hands out to touch the cool metallic body.
He pulled himself upwards, his wet clothes and the dragging current pulling him back. For a second, Leo was tempted to give in to them, and drop back into the sea. But something about the metal told him he was safe. That it would protect him. The metal gave him new strength and he pulled himself onto the boat. All his energy was drained out of him. He lay on his back and was plunged into darkness.
Leo liked dry lips and found the tangy taste of salt. Last night events flooded back to him.
"Argo II, I was on the Argo ll," Leo sat up. He remembered the control room, where he had been working. Then it had attacked. What was that thing again? Just an 'It'.
Leo shook his head and rubbed his burning eyes. He couldn't remember the 'it's' name but if he tried to remember the Greek names for everything that tried to kill him, he'd be here all day. He could make up names for them.
Now he had a big issue- how did people name monster? Did Hercules just wake up and think "hey, if I see a monster today, I'll name it the Hydra." It probably was deeper than that. That didn't matter; Leo wasn't deep so he would just use the alphabet. That one can be called Alex.
Okay issue two- how was he going to get back to the Argo II? He looked in the direction of where his boat had vanished. It was long gone. All that remained was the morning sun and some sea green waves.
Leo sighed and looked around the boat. It wasn't going nearly as fast as the Argo II usually travelled. In fact even for a cargo ship, this speed was slow. The boat was merely drifting along. Leo peered over the edge to see that the propeller had been ripped apart. This ship was just going to be drifting as there was nothing to make it move at speed.
Leo climbed into the control room and sighed. All the controls where broken and most of the room had been crushed. There was a man and a women who must have been the drivers lying on the floor. The woman sat up and rubbed her neck. Leo knelt down beside her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"What happened?"
"Ur, we were sailing fine and then we went out of control. It was weird. And then the ship hit something. That's how we ended up here."
"Oh," Leo pattered her on the shoulder then went over to check out the man. "I saw the propeller was broken, and the ship doesn't look like it's going to be sailing very fast. But it's not sinking."
"Oh, interesting." The man lying on the floor appeared to have fallen down, there was blood coming out of his head and he was cold. "Oh, just ignore him." The woman said tartly. Leo didn't want to ignore him. He checked his pulse and found nothing. Leo swallowed.
"He's dead." He murmured murmured.
"Oh that's fine. Let's focus on the living." Leo wondered what he was meant to do with a dead human. If this were a monster then it'd turn into dust. But it was a human and that made everything a little more difficult. "Come on, little demigod, just ignore him."
Leo bent down and checked his name tag. It said Mr. King. "What was his name?"
"Joe," the woman replied. "But I'd just ignore him. He's not important. Come on Valdez, leave him be."
Leo looked at the dead guy and wondered if he should bury him or something. That's when he realised what the girl had said. "How do you know my surname?"
"I know your surname and first name, Leo Valdez."
"How?" This was very creepy, why did some random driver on a cargo ship know his name?
"I know everything."
"So are you like a stalker or paparazzi or something."
"No, I'm a monster birdbrain. I followed you all way from America. Now that I've got one of you on your own, I can eat you and ruin the prophecy."
"But, hang on. If you followed us all the way from America to here then you are a stalker!"
"I am not a stalker, I am a monster."
"A monster who stalks," Leo muttered to himself. Suddenly the woman changed and grew out of her body. Her head transformed into a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. Leo swallowed again.
"My mother threw you off the ship and right into my clutches. Now you can die here. Shame we didn't get Mr. Jackson, we're still angry about what happened last time we met. He will pay for calling my mother an Australian marsupial."
"Really, I didn't know there was a Greek monster called Kangaroo." Leo could only remember one marsupial.
"Not kangaroo, Echidna. The Echidna. They are spikey and small."
"Oh, so your mother is small and spikey."
"No! She is big and has a snake's tail."
"Oh, so Alex is a girl and called Echidna."
"Alex?"
"I re-named your mother." The monster looked dumbfounded for a moment. Then it decided that whatever Leo was talking about was not worth it and attacked with her tail.
"Wow," Leo dived to the side and reached into his tool belt for a hammer only to find his tool belt missing. He must have lost it in the water. Leo had no time consider this as the Chimera laughed scornfully and blew fire over him. The washed over him before they died down.
The chimera laughed triumphantly. Then noticed that Leo still stood there. It coxed it lions head to the side in confusion. Leo took advantage and ran for the door. He dived out of the broken cabin and climbed over the boxes of cargo that the ship was carrying.
The chimera came out of the cabin and tried to torch him again. Then it tried to hit him with its tail. Leo ducked out the way and reached up for the nearest crane. It was supporting a pile of boxes. Leo pulled at the ropes and sent the boxes tumbling down towards the chimera. The monster screeched as it was covered and pushed down. Leo knew that would only hold it for so long and that soon it would push them off. He scrambled up more of the cargo before stumbling into a whole between two boxes.
The chimera roared and Leo could hear it moving the boxes of it. Leo wondered how he could beat this thing. It breathed fire so Leo guessed it would be just as immune to burns as he was. And he had no tools to rig up the cranes with like he had with the Cyclops's. But the Chimera's attack was fire breathing and Leo wasn't harmed by that, so it couldn't kill him either.
"C'mon kid, I've got a bet to win!"
"Wha'," Leo turned to see Mr. D sitting next to him.
"I've got a bet going with Hermes, ask Annie Bell for details…"
"Who's Annie Bell?"
"Beth, Bell either way I have to win this bet. So basically I need you alive."
"Wait, what bet?"
"Oh, Hermes and I have a bet going that the line 'to storm or fire, the world shall fall' will come true on this voyage. And your fire. So you dying will be terribly inconvenient for the world to fall. So I'm afraid you have to survive."
"Really, so you're going to help!"
"No, I'm not that desperate to win. But I will warn you that the Chimera's tail is poisonous so I wouldn't touch it."
"Okay," so the monster could kill him.
"And I borrowed this from Ares, so if he comes onto your ship at one point, don't blame me!"
"Wait…" Mr. D was gone before he could even complain. Leo didn't really want an angry Ares after him. He decided he'd hide behind Percy when Ares shows up.
Some of the boxes shifted behind Leo and he knew that if he didn't move soon then he would be flattened. He'd have to face the Chimera.
Leo snatched what Mr. D had left on the crate for him and bolted out of the crack. He didn't dare look around, but he could tell that the monster was on his tail. He scrambled up some more boxes to find he was on the top of the pile. He threw himself of the top and landed in a heap on some more boxes. The chimera roared from the top. Leo rolled over and slammed himself against some of the cargo.
He breathed heavily now he was hidden from the Chimera. He couldn't hide here forever. Leo looked at what Mr. D had left him. In the palm of his hand sat a small screwdriver. It was too small to rig the cranes with as it was used for precise work. He twisted the flat headed screwdriver in his hand. It would be useless in this situation. Leo sighed and heard the chimera roar again. It was coming closer.
Leo was about to put the screwdriver in his pocket when he noticed a button on the top. He pressed it and suddenly a full length sword grew out of it.
"Cool," Leo whispered. He admired the shiny celestial bronze. There were some a small marking on that said: την Φλόγα, Leo wondered what that meant in English. He'd ask Annabeth. Another roar reminded Leo he was in a life threatening situation. He leapt out from behind the boxes brandishing the bronze sword.
The chimera roared angrily and charged. Leo swerved to the side and raised the sword. It spun around and bared it's lions teeth as he attempted a parry. It threw him off balanced and he fell into the boxes.
Leo stumbled to his feet and launched himself at the beast, the sword waving madly in front of him. The beast battered him aside and blew fire over him. It then launched itself at Leo, pinning him under its mighty paws. Leo squirmed and tried to break free but the chimers was too strong. It raised its jaws to the sky and roared in triumph.
Leo lay trapped helplessly. There was only one way out. It would be risky and he could die in the process. The chimera stopped roaring and turned his head to face Leo, it's jaws wide and ready to make the kill. Leo shot fire out of his fingers, eyes trained at the rope that one of the cranes held. The fire caught onto the dry rope and it ignited instantly. The rope seared and burnt. The binding burnt through and the rope snapped. The heavy crate fell from the broken rope and landed on another one.
Leo watched helplessly as the crates fell like dominoes onto one another. The chimera dug it's claws into Leo's shoulders drawing blood and he gasped in pain. The chimera was hit straight in the stomach by a crate. It released Leo and ran. The box bounced off the floor with momentum. Leo snatched up his sword and dived under a ridge between two boxes. The boxes lay scattered over the floor of the cargo ship.
Pain shot through Leo. His shoulders ached where the chimera's claws had dug in and a box had snagged his leg and cut into it. Leo forced the pain out of his mind. For his plan to work he had to move fast. He pulled himself to his feet and dragged his body over the boxes.
Leo hobbled from the box over too where the chimera had pinned him. Raising the sword he spotted the chimera's goat body trapped beneath some boxes. He gulped and pushed himself over too it.
The lion roared and began pushing boxes of it. He had to stab it soon or it would be too strong. With the last of its energy the chimera shoved the boxes off it and turned around to see Leo. It roared and frustration and moved into attack. The chimera's head moved in for Leo.
Leo felt the Chimera's breath on his cheek and felt the sharp sting of its teeth. He felt warm blood ooze down his cheek. The chimera leaned back and roared in a mocking laugh. Leo just stood there as the blood ran down his chin. The monster thrust its head at Leo as he raised the sword and plunged it into the beast's neck. Golden blood ran down Leo's arm and drew the sword out again.
The monster crumbled into dust in front of Leo. He breathed heavily and sat down on one of the boxes. He noticed something lying in the dust of the Chimera. It was spoil of war. Leo shrugged. He didn't want the token right now. He just wanted to be back on his own ship surrounded by machinery and his friends.
Leo kicked the chimera's dust and looked down miserably. He couldn't fix this ship and he defiantly couldn't swim all the way back to the Argo II.
Leo sighed. He could only sit here and wait for help to arrive.
Hey, thanks for reading this!
BTW if you're wondering why the other demigods didn't seem to worried about Leo going missing (two people asked me) it's because I love getting rid of characters and stuff like that but I can't write all that- I'm not good with misery and people worrying. But hey, there demigods they need to get used to death. If anyone writes a really miserable bit about where Leo has gone and PMs it to me or writes it in a reveiw then I'll put it in Chapter 2 or 3.
Hey Hipster101 READ THIS!
I couldn't PM you so I wrote here instead:
I don't own the books, I get them out from the library. The issue being that I don't have PJ at my fingertips. My library don't buy many books so I can't read new books like the Heroes of Olympus. So they don't have The Son Of Neptune (a mate leant it too me). If Percy, Frank or Hazel are out of character then it's because I haven't read them in like a year.
Random stuff over- basically can you PM or write in a reveiw to me and say who's out of character cos I can't read the books for a while now (they are not there!) so any help is good.
And random readers who read this bit (nosey much! [kidding]) can you help me toooooo! Please! :0)
BYE! :0)