Leo stopped, this was enough. He was done with this invisible torturer. This was too much. Fighting for his sanity, he took a deep breath in. All he really wanted to do was leave. She was messing with his head, he hadn't feared any of these things for months. Somehow she had managed to bring it all back, giving him some sort of stupid panic for some reason. Or no reason; Her logic seemed pretty warped.
"So, you seem to understand who I am now, puny one?" The voice mused. "Well in that case.."
The cave around him melted away, taking Jason and his pink hair with it. Leo made a mental note to make sure that Jason's hair ended up some sort of neon before the end of the week.
"You are stronger than I originally anticipated."
Leo turned, just in time to see her emerging from the dark fog, held aloft by some sort of invisible throne, which she stepped off slowly.
Her eyes were the first thing he saw. They shone solid brown, even where the whites should of been, yet not at all warm. Every time Leo looked directly at them, a wave of dizziness crashed into him, making him wish even more for his tool belt, because then at least he could of made himself a chair or something.

Her hair was long, it flowed a little past her waist, twisting and twirling, floating around her head in some sort of zero-gravity, as if it had a mind of its same could be same for her dress. It was simple and white, roman style, but it never stopped moving. It's fabric shifted the way it moved in different places every time Leo moved -like water, but sharper, more violent-which was almost incompatible with Leo's ADHD. It seemed like it was working overtime, trying to keep up with every twitch of Leo's fingers, and every movement of eyes. At the same time, it glowed and shimmered, either faintly or very brightly, in completely separate areas, depending on how it's hostess moved.

Her overall effect was disorienting, like the time Leo ate rotting garbage pizza, then had to ride in a taxi for five hours. Which, needless to say, made him want to puke.

Her features were familiar, but Leo couldn't place where he had seen her before. Wherever he had seen her, it couldn't of been a good place, because he had a warning feeling in his gut, like his stomach was sounding the alarm: DO NOT TRUST THIS LADY, SHE MAKES US FEEL NAUSEOUS. COLD-PIZZA-TAXI NAUSEOUS. BAD.
Leo could of figured that out himself, considering what she had been doing to him for the past few hours. Still, now that he could see her, he wasn't so sure. Part of him felt like he should trust her, tell her anything, though he couldn't think of any reasons why.
"Listen, lady. I gotta go. If you're not going to pitch me some sort of fancy, revenge, I-hate-your-godly-parent-so-I-hate-you junk, then can I leave?" He tapped his non-existent watch. " I'm a busy guy, and it's not so fun having your mind messed with you know? So if we're done here-" Leo shut up.
Her hair bristled, she hunched slowly, her yellow glow in her dress tinted green. She blinked, and her eyes turned solid black, and rose a few feet off the ground, "You dare-" suddenly she took a deep breath, closing her eyes and sank back to the ground, her hair stopped bristling. The green glow remained. When she opened her eyes, they remained pitch black.
"So, you wish to know my revenge? I have no bitterness towards Hephaestus and his children." Leo blinked. O-kay.. Then why-
"I have personal reasons, mijo." Leo's shoulders tensed involuntarily. She tossed a lock of floating hair over her shoulder.
"You have something against nicknames, dearie?"
"Who are you?"
She smiled, and Leo froze, suddenly recognizing her. Or at least her mother. "You're-"

she laughed. "So you finally understand, eh?" Her eyes lit up.
"I am the Heir of Princess Khione, daughter of Demterius, son of Dionysus." Leo's heart creepy snow-witch had a daughter, whoopee. Another goddess who wanted to maim him slowly. Who would want to hook up with her anyway? "Oh, great." He muttered.
She continued on, ignoring Leo. "I am Inreri. I have all fear and illogical thought under my control, I am the ruler of minds. I am the Goddess of the depths of personal illusion. I am the very embodiment of insanity."

"Do you not fear me, Leo Valdez?"
Leo looked bored. "Do I fear the God of mental hospitals? Actually, not really." He yawned. "Listen, if this is all you got for me, I'll catch up with you later. I'll get my secretary to schedule a battle to death on, uh.. how about Sunday? Does next Sunday work for you?" Inreri looked ready to strangle him. Leo struggled to keep his bored look on his face. She was a Goddess, and currently, the only weapons he had was his sarcasm and his sparky powers, which- as far as he knew- were temporarily out of commission.

Inreri's face suddenly burst into a smile. "Ah, you do! Wonderful" she spread her hands wide, palms facing upwards. "I offer you a deal, Leo Valdez." Leo's mind immediately flew to Nemesis and her freaky fortune cookies.
Uh, yeah, no. If there was anything he had learned from the last few months, it was not to trust females goddesses with weird eyes and modes of transportation.

"In exchange for your- ah.. Gifts, shall we say, I will grant you a numbered usage of certain privileges in my domain. Certainly useful for someone such as you."

Leo blinked. "Excuse me? You are giving me what?" She sighed impatiently. "Power over thoughts, control over behaviour, minor things," her voice softened."in exchange for things of yours, Mr. Valdez. A fair trade." Leo's ears felt hot.

"Um."

Her eyes widened. Her voice turned sharp. "Not that, you incompetent fool!" She closed her eyes for a moment. When they opened, they were green, soft and familiar. "Gifts given to you." Leo recognized them immediately. He frowned, the gears in his mind grinding.

"What do you want with her?" Inreri turned away from him, walking forward a few steps.

"Not only her. You possess another item I require." Leo's waist suddenly felt heavier. When Leo looked down, he almost shouted with relief. His tool belt, thank the gods. Meanwhile Inreri went on, "Have you already forgotten? Summon it, and give it to me, you have no use of it." Reluctantly, Leo reached inside of one of the pockets, feeling extra weight.

His hand pulled out a.. a roll of paper towels? Then he remembered, the scroll that he had been instructed not to open, that was apparently vital to his future. Leo rolled it from hand to hand; he had completely forgot about it. In all the excitement with Argo and moving camps, he hadn't given a second thought to the toilet paper of destiny. Inreri seemed to know this.

"Not so hard is it, Leo? Just entrust it to me, you will not need it, look at how little you thought of it in the past few days. It will lay unused, forgotten, wasted. Wasted knowledge, my dear, there is nothing for it." She turned around, flying towards Leo. She pulled his chin into a caress. She ran a finger down the side of his face "For me, mijo." Leo stepped backwards, his face expressionless.
"You shouldn't of given me back my tool belt."

Before she could react, a monkey wrench plowed into the side of her face. On impact, there was a mountainous shattering noise, as if thousands of mirrors were being broken at once. Leo's vision went pitch black.
Inreri's voice now dripped with anger. "You will regret this, Leo Valdez. I will make you suffer, I swear it on the River Styx."
Leo swung the wrench again blindly, grinning when it hit something. "You sure? 'Cause I think if you try, you're going to eat metal!" he swung again, missing this time. Then the blackness closed in on him slowly, smothering, thick..

Leo sat up so quickly his head spun.

"Oh, come on! We just got him to pass out like, five minutes ago! Why can't the crazies just stay asleep.." It was an Apollo camper, leaning over him over the stretcher. Leo looked around. He was only a little ways away from the armoury, but not nearly far enough away for him to have had such a long dream.

The girl camper pressed slightly on his chest with her free hand, "Just lie down okay? It helps blood get to your head. Here, eat this." She handed him an ambrosia square.

Leo hopped off the stretcher. "Thanks for your help, guys, but I'm fine." He stuffed the ambrosia square in his mouth. The guy frowned. "Your face is still-" Leo nodded seriously, "Gorgeous, know."He swallowed.

"Later!" He got up and started to walk back. "Hey, where are you going?"

Leo suddenly stopped in his tracks. Then broke into a run, charging towards the armoury. Octavian had just gotten blasted out of the building, closely followed by his girlfriend, who was on fire.

Ta-da! New chapter. The weathers been kind of depressing lately so these past few chapters have been sort of-ish. Just in case, if anyone looks up Inreri,she doesn't exist.. yup. I made up a *Greek* god. My brain hurts. Bye. *.*