Ch-2

No, this couldn't be happening. Leo Valdez, the one rumoured to be dead, is back. Gods, he must be dreaming. He had not told anyone, not even Annabeth that he had given up on hope of Leo being alive. Six months without a trail, not even a small sliver to indicate his was existence. Sure he had asked Nico about whether his soul had reached hell, Nico being the son of the lord of the dead himself and he had told him each and every time he asked that no, his soul is not to be found in the dead and that if he gets any news to Leo's whereabouts, he sure will inform him.

Percy abruptly stood up from his seat next to Annabeth and stormed towards The Big House. He heard Nico screaming something that sounded like "He brought guests!" but right then he was too preoccupied with his mind to think about other guests, thank you very much. He was very much excited to meet his friend for right now.

His chain of thoughts were broken when he heard found himself in the Big House, panting. He looked around wildly to find a familiar black haired someone sitting with his head bowed down and twiddling with screws and nuts and pipe cleaners like he always did when he was really nervous about something. Percy chuckled. Some habits die hard, he thought to himself.

Leo heard someone chuckle and found himself face to face with the son of Poseidon and his friend whom he was meeting after how long, he had no idea. He grinned weakly and said in a sly voice, "How you doing, Water boy?"

Percy grinned. He wanted to ask a million questions like 'Where have you been for six months?' , 'Why didn't you contact us' ,etc, etc, But before he could utter a word he saw something blond speed past him and the next thing he knew, Annabeth was in front of Leo with a look he was altogether familiar with, as he himself was usually the one on the receiver and of that look many times. Annabeth stood in front of Leo with a look that would make Kronos cry and run for his mother. Leo stood there and braced himself for anything and Annabeth pounced on him and tackled him in a hug.

Leo for one was surprised but soon smiled and hugged her back. Leo and Annabeth had developed a strong platonic relationship during their Quest of the seven. Annabeth would usually be the brains behind Leo's inventions and Leo himself was not a bad thinker himself. He never realised how much he missed his sister and friend until then.

Percy for one, smiled at the scene he was audience to. He knew the relation between Annabeth and left the friends to enjoy their moment. He could wait . Meanwhile, he surveyed the Big house and found out that Leo was not alone. He saw that he had been seated opposite to two other people. One he recognised to be Calypso who was smiling at him in an awkward, but warm manner. He smiled back the same way and moved over to sit beside her.

"Hey" he greeted her.

"Hello," she greeted back.

There was an awkward silence between them. Percy for one did not know what to feel for her.

Happy that she had at last been freed of the curse the gods set her in? Angry for cursing Annabeth for being Percy's girlfriend?(he hadn't forgotten what happened to Annabeth and him in Tartarus) Guilty for not being able to fulfil his promise to her about freeing her? Not that it was his fault that Calypso hadn't been freed, He had asked Zeus a favour long back when he defeated Kronos after the Second Titan war, but apparently, even the Gods had ageing problems which included loss of memory. He then finally decided to feel happy for her as she had finally been freed from the island and had found the love of her life.

"So…. When did Leo free you?" Percy asked in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence between them.

"Actually it has been a few months since I left Ogygia," she replied "But right now we are in need of help."

Percy looked up from the spot he had been staring fixedly on to find her staring at someone beside her and found that there was another man he had never seen before seated by her. He was wearing something like a bathrobe on and had a shock of Platinum blond hair. He had steely grey eyes and an air of superiority about him. He was staring at a polished stick of about eleven inches that was being twirled in his hands and looked very out of place.

"Care to introduce me to your new friend?", Percy asked Calypso.

The aforementioned boy looked up and met his eyes and a shiver ran down Percy's spine at the coldness of his eyes which was void of any emotion.

"Oh," this time it was Leo to answer "this is where we need your help. Meet Draco Malfoy, a blessed one and follower of Hecate."

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