Chapter 14

Leo's POV

My stomach grumbled, hunger gnawed inside it. I sighed. I couldn't say I was surprised that Singapore was a trap, it felt like I knew it the moment I got the dream. But hey, lets be positive, at least now we know where we're going. The old falcon told us everything we needed to know. Too much actually. Now that I know the Earth Mother's back, I know I'm totally done for.

Festus, now back in his original mass, must have sensed my great optimism. He snorted softly, a gentle way.

I smiled." Aw, you know me so well buddy."

Thalia, Will, and Annabeth were sitting next to me. Annabeth was chewing her nails, a habit she started to get into since the big bang. Since she's lost Percy, Annabeth has been acting differently, and not a good differently. I guess I could relate, I really miss Calypso. Thalia seemed to get distant. Every time we camp out at night, I would hear her whisper: " No, Mom…Leave alone…go die again…" When I tried to talk to her about it, she would snap and deny it. Will seemed like the only normal-isn person these days. Though even he started to get impatient every now and then.( " Hurry Up! Nico-and the others will be waiting for us!" )

Festus creaked. I looked up. Thalia was hugging his neck like it was her dear life.

" Stop choking Festus, Thalia!" I called out.

" Then get me to the ground!" She yelled back.

I sighed. " You're a daughter of the Lord of the Sky for Olympus sakes!"

Thalia didn't reply. Festus creaked and groaned. I knew I had to do something or else Thalia would completely malfunction Festus.

As we flew over the ocean, I suddenly felt a wave of sadness wash over me. All that work I put into Festus literally had been washed away. Festus didn't seem to mind though. He seemed happy to get that oversized armor off of him.

" Thalia, if you don't want to fall into the Indian Ocean, I suggest you at least loosen your grip!" I heard Will say.

Thalia took a uneven breath, she slowly inched up, and looked down once…she yelped and squeezed Festus' neck again. I sighed we were back on square one.

" Hang in there just a little bit longer kay Festus?"

If Festus could move his eyes, I would have thought he rolled his at me.

As the sun started to set, We all landed in a seemingly uninhabited and safe island. Thalia finally let go of Festus' neck. Annabeth, without a word, started to gather dry sticks on the ground. Will started unpacking what was left from Festsub and I felt completely useless so I just sat down. I found myself poking at the ground, drawing my next plan and invention. There was really nothing I could make without any tools.

After a while of pointless doodling on the ground, Annabeth came to sit next to me. Surprisingly, she started a conversation.

" Do you think Percy and the others will be okay?" She asked. Though it was a pretty stupid question because she should know my answer.

" I really don't know." I admitted." But Percy and Nico have to be alive, they must, or else the entire world will fall."

" Do you think, they escaped from Nyx?" Annabeth looked distant.

" Of course! Nico could've just shadow-traveled them out anyway." Will said, breaking in.

" Plus, we can't underestimate Percy, he's the strongest demigod we ever knew, and the Percy we know, never looses." Thalia added.

That seemed to reassure Annabeth a little bit, even in the slightest.

" I just don't understand why Nyx of all gods would attack us." Annabeth said." She always hated demigods, Percy and I walked through that, but she would never go out of her way just to pointlessly attack us."

I had thought about that too, though I never really met her until today. No god, well, maybe Nemesis, the god of revenge, would go reasonless and attack a couple of demigods.

After a while of quiet concentrated silence, I decided to break the tension.

" Oh well, we got through Nyx, I bet the others will too."

The others slightly nodded.

We gathered a bunch of dried leaves for our beds. I sparked up a fire in the middle. Festus huffed, telling me he would watch over us, I was partly relieved, I really wanted some shut-eye.

I trudged to my little bed made of dried leaves and the blackness took over me before I even finished falling. That night, I dreamt of Calypso.

She and I were walking around Camp Half Blood. There was no one there. Calypso smiled at me, and despite that wrong feeling in my stomach, I smiled back. We walked along the fireworks beach, watching the water ripples shimmer. We sat down where the water met the land. Calypso whispered something, either I couldn't hear, or I imagined it. She leaned over and kissed me on the lips. I kissed her back. I wanted that moment to last forever, I felt my mind fade, my worries starting to disappear. Then I pulled back.

" Where's everyone else? Where are all the other campers?" I asked.

Calypso nudged closer." Who cares about them? You love me don't you?"

" But what about the quest? The Three?" All my troubles started coming back to me.

" Shhhhh…" Calypso hissed." Stop making yourself worry, close your eyes and sleep. Forever. With me."

I pushed her away, and the moment I did, Calypso disappeared. Replaced by a dark cave.

I saw three tremendous creatures. One white, one golden, and one silvery blue. They roared, and the ground, as well as my eardrums, shook. Their roar seemed to say: DEAL? LEAL? LEO!"

I jerked up, opening my eyes. Some boy with blonde hair and a surfer like build hovered over me.

"Oh, hey Will," I quickly remembered.

" Leo, thank goodness. How many fingers am I holding up?" Will held up four fingers.

I rolled my eyes." Oh gee, let me think. Four?"

Will nodded.

" So what's happening?" I sat up and examined my surroundings. I was shocked to see that the trees were knocked down, there were craters everywhere on the sand." Did some hurricane come through?"

Will shook his head." No, some monsters came here. I couldn't tell how many there were. At times it seemed like three, but sometimes, it looked like several hundred were attacking us all at once. And that wasn't the abnormal part of it. You didn't even wake up while they were roaring and smashing stuff."

" Wasn't Festus protecting us? And where's Annabeth and Thalia?" I asked.

Will pointed Northwest." The monsters flew over there. Annabeth, Thalia, and Festus are pursuing them."

I immediately got up." So then why didn't anyone wake me?" I started tying my magical belt to my waist and shagging leaves out of my curly hair.

" Well we tried. You wouldn't wake up. So the girls decided you were too much trouble and left me to deal with you since I really can't help fight."

" Huh, well, now that I'm awake. Let's go."

Will raised an eyebrow." How? We don't have Festus. You aren't planning on walking are you?"

I gave him a pretty obvious stare. Will sighed and followed me.

We walked into the jungle part of the island. The sun was climbing up to it's highest peak, and it was becoming very humid. Despite being the son of the God of Fire, I was very hot. I felt my sweat trickle down my neck and down to my back. Each time I took a step, I was tempted to just collapse. I just woke up and already my eyes were feeling heavy.

Will didn't look any better. His face was unnaturally pink, and his forehead was shining from the sweat.

Finally I decided to take a break. I sat down on a tree root, while Will rested on the soft moss.

" How much farther?" I wiped some sweat off my neck.

" How am I supposed to know?" Will panted.

We both heard a low growl. I stopped talking and froze. Will followed my lead.

" Monster?" I asked.

" Monster." Will agreed.

I summoned my hammer from my tool belt. And Will pulled out a partly bent arrow and bow.

A blur of gold shot out from the bushes. I reacted first, blasting it off course with a red blaze of fire. It hissed. I saw it clearly now. It was a Chimera, one of the lesser ones supposedly only found in the labyrinth.

" Oh this will be easy." I smirked. I never wanted to be the one to feel over confident, but Chimera were easy meal to stronger demigods like myself.

" Leo!" Will called. I looked around.

A couple more Chimera popped out of no where.

" Wha-?" I didn't have time to think. The first one lept at me.

I engulfed myself in flames, and punched it off me.

I saw Will shoot a couple. The Chimera started disappearing into black sands one by one. By the time there was only a couple left, a few hours had gone by. I killed the last ones quickly, but with sloppy effort.

I collapsed on the ground, panting. I wanted to crack up a joke, but my mind was blank with dehydration. I heard another roar, and I groaned.

" No! It's Festus!" Will yelled.

" Huh?" I looked up, sure enough. A metal dragon flew above my head, I felt the wind captured by Festus' wings dry up the sweat on my face. He was like some angel dragon at that moment.

Will waved his hands wildly trying to capture Festus' attention. I did the same, because I didn't have the strength to yell. Festus landed in a clearing near our area, and Will and I sprinted toward them.

" Leo! Will!" Thalia cried when they landed.

" Here!" I croaked.

Thalia waved her hands. But I ran past her. I was more dehydrated than ever before. I found some canteens of water, and gulped them all down. Will, like a gentleman, chugged down his.

Annabeth and Thalia exchanged glances." Uh, are you two alright?" Annabeth asked. She chewed her nails.

" Yea! Fine! After like what? 24 hours without water in perhaps the most humid place in the universe? I bet you would be fine too!" I chugged down another canteen.

" Well that's not important now." Annabeth said.

" Not important? I almost dehydrated!" Will and I said at the same time.

" Dragons." Thalia blurted out.

I paused." What?"

" Annabeth and I found three dragons."

I thought about my dream. Well, not so much dream as reality.

" One was golden, one was pure white, one was silvery blue and brownish." Annabeth said." We didn't dare look any closer. They were huge, and I was sure they could kill us with a roar if they wanted to.

" A cave…" I said.

Everyone looked at me.

" A what?" Will asked.

I don't know where this confidence came from, but I was sure of this." A cave, we'll find the dragons in a cave in the land of Mesopotamia."

" And why should we go looking for dragons?" Annabeth asked, still chewing her nails." It's not wise to challenge three bloodthirsty dragons."

" They will lead us to Gaea." I said." We follow them. They will lead us to the cave where Gaea is."

" Huh." Thalia said." Sounds risky."

" Dangerous." Will agreed.

" Let's do it." Annabeth concluded.

Chapter 14 end.