I'm so sorry for not updating for more than a month. I would say that was because I went on vacation, but that's not an excuse because I actually had plenty of time to write. Again, I'm sorry.

Just wanted to thank ClaraoftheSea for reminding of that in a very nice and polite way. No, I haven't dropped it, though it may have seemed like that. I don't ever abandon a story unless I notify you guys first. Well, most of the time.

Thanks for being so patient with me.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Of course it was the pot-bellied fire demons. It had to be them, right? Hazel was just glad that Leo had given Frank that fire-proof pouch to protect it from burning up.

It all started when Hazel heard Jason shouting, "Fire! There's a fire on the quarterdeck!" Hazel didn't even know what a quarterdeck was. Of course, when she followed the sound of Jason's voice, she saw that it was the part of the boat where the oars and the crossbows were. The back of the boat, basically.

And then she saw Jason desperately trying to put out the fire while Piper was yelling at around five fat pygmy-looking creatures with long, oily black hair and crooked legs who were dancing in the flames. Great. Just great.

"What happened?" Hazel asked them as she got closer.

"I don't know. When we got up here, these creatures were setting things on fire." Jason gestured towards the pygmies. Piper was still yelling at them in charmspeak, though the demons seemed unaffected. They chittered like monkeys in some language Hazel didn't know.

As one of them dashed by, setting a crate on fire as it did so, Jason lunged for it with his sword, though he missed and crashed into the side of the boat. "I don't suppose you have any water handy to put out the fire?" Hazel asked while moving some dangerously flammable things like Greek fire to the other side of the boat.

"Are you able to land the boat?" Jason grunted as he tried but failed to get another pygmy.

"I'll do my best." Hazel ran by Piper, who was shouting something about putting out the fire. At the helm, she glanced at all the gizmos Leo had installed. She didn't see a wheel or anything like that, only some devices with a whole bunch of buttons. She grabbed some kind of control with arrow buttons on it and pressed the down key. Immediately, the front of the boat lurched downwards, and she lost her balance and tumbled forwards.

The boat straightened out again, and Hazel got back up to try again. She scanned the devices again. "Aargh! Leo! Why did you have to make it so complicated?"

"Did someone say my name?" Leo popped out onto the deck, with Annabeth and Frank following close behind.

"Oh, wow," Frank said, seeing the pygmies and the fire. Annabeth and Frank ran over to help Jason and Piper while Leo headed to Hazel.

"How do you land the ship in the water?" Hazel asked.

"Use the joystick on the X-Box controller," Leo responded as he dodged some unidentifiable flaming objects as the demon pygmies threw them at his head.

"Um, which one is the X-Box?" Hazel asked helplessly.

"I'll do it." Leo picked up a black controller and navigated the ship downwards. "After we chase away those pygmy things, you must be educated more about the twenty-first century gaming devices."

With a splash, they landed in the sea, which did help put out some of the fire, though not all. One of the demon pygmies laughed and leapt up onto the mast.

"They remind me of the dwarves," Leo muttered. "And that's not a good thing."

"I don't suppose you have any giant buckets to carry some seawater?" Hazel asked as they hurried back towards the flames, which strangely seemed to be confined only to the quarterdeck.

Leo shook his head. "If only Percy was here…" He fell silent. Hazel felt a pang go through her heart, but she shook her head. Now wasn't a time to dwell on such thoughts.

"Think you can do something about this, Fire Boy?" Piper asked Leo.

"I set things on fire, I don't put it out!" Leo replied. A demon pygmy launched another flaming projectile at Hazel, but she stepped to the side and it missed her by inches.

"Um, Annabeth, you got any advice on how to deal with these maniacs?" Frank asked, shooting an arrow at a pygmy. The arrow whistled through the hair of the demon pygmy, pinning it to the side of the boat. Frank shot another arrow which hit the pygmy and it dissolved.

"I think they're called Cabeiri," Annabeth said. "They're technically your half-brothers, Leo, because they're sons of Hephaestus. They live on the Greek island of Lemnos, though I have no idea how they got onto the boat. Especially since it was in the air."

"Think you can reason with your half-brothers here, Leo?" Jason asked.

"No. Do they even understand English?" As all the Cabeiri immediately chittered indignantly at him, Hazel laughed.

"I'd say they do," she said as she slashed at one with her spatha. It exploded into yellow dust.

Frank yelped as his hair got singed by the flames. "Uh, guys? I think we should focus on the fire first."

"You think you can try to absorb the flames?" Annabeth asked Leo.

"I don't know. I've never tried before."

"Well, then try now!" Hazel sliced at a Cabeiri, but it only darted away. The Cabeiri were nimble and agile, making them very hard to kill, even though they didn't seem to attack very much, unless they were throwing things at the demigods.

Leo stepped closer to the blaze, the flames licking at his hair. He held his hands out and closed his eyes in concentration. To Hazel's amazement, the flames seemed to flicker and then dissipate, streaming towards Leo's hands, which were starting to glow.

As the fire died down, the three remaining Cabeiri stopped chattering and they grouped together on the railing of the Argo II, staring at Leo in confusion.

Leo's entire body was now radiating heat and light. "I can't control it much longer. I have to let it go." He opened his eyes. "Okay, that kind of came out wrong."

"Yeah, try not to burn yourself up," Piper said.

"You guys should take cover. You know, just in case I explode." The demigods hurried either behind the helm or down on the staircase to the lower deck. Hazel followed Frank to the staircase, though she peeked her head out to watch which she knew might not have been the best idea.

Leo's body blazed even brighter. Hazel had to shield her eyes from the light.

There was a sudden rush of heat, and then it was over. Hazel uncovered her eyes to see Leo looking exhausted but totally normal, and the Cabeiri were gone.

Hazel gestured for Frank to come out. "It's good out here." Meanwhile, Jason was giving Leo a high-five.

"That was pretty awesome, dude," Jason congratulated. "What happened to the Cabeiri?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know. Burned up, maybe? Anyways, I think we should stop soon. Because the ship needs to be repaired. Again."

"Yeah, okay, we have it. You have to sleep, because from the looks of it, you're going to collapse right here," Jason tugged Leo towards the staircase."

"I need to steer the ship, though," Leo protested.

"No, I got it. I think I know how to do it," Frank volunteered, "Might need Annabeth to help me, though." The two of them headed towards the helm, and Hazel followed.

"Where are we going to stop?" Hazel asked.

Annabeth glanced up as the ship rose out of the water once again. "The nearest island. Ithaca. Home of Odysseus."

Some Leo-awesomeness! :D

This was one of my shorter chapters, sorry about that. Didn't really feel it was one of my best ones, either. You guys deserve better, especially since I haven't updated in a while.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Review please!