Hazel took Frank above deck to explain everything, while Piper and Jason talked to Leo.
Leo rubbed his eyes. "What's up guys?"
Piper stared at him. "Leo, what happened about five minutes ago?"
Leo frowned. "I…I don't know."
"Dude, you kissed Hazel," Jason said.
At the mention of Hazel's name, a dreamy expression overtook Leo's face. He gave a love struck smile. "Hazel. She's so pretty isn't she?"
Jason and Piper looked at each other. Jason gave Piper a questioning look, but Piper just shrugged.
"Maybe your mom put a spell on him," Jason suggested.
"Maybe," Piper said. She looked at Leo who was still daydreaming about Hazel. She looked at the arrow on the table next to the cot.
Slowly, she connected the dots. He's in love with Hazel…. We found him with an arrow sticking from his bottom… my mother.
Piper gasped and snatched the arrow from the table. "Jason, go get the ambrosia that Frank ran off with." Jason nodded and left the room. Piper brought the arrow to her face and looked for the little inscribing. Sure enough, by the arrow fletching, there was a little inscription.
It read: ἔρως.
Piper dashed above deck and ran into Jason who was holding a little bag of ambrosia. He held it up for her but she shook her head.
"Meeting. Now."
They sat in the mess hall with Piper at the head of the table. She hated being center of attention, but no one else knew what happened to Leo.
Nico shuffled in and sat next to Jason. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. He had slept through the whole ordeal. Frank sat next to Hazel with their fingers laced. Leo sat across from them, leaning on the table with his elbow. He was glaring at Frank. Frank glared right back.
Piper handed Leo a square of ambrosia. Leo took it and nibbled on it. Everyone watched him expectantly.
He looked at everyone in turn, lingering on Hazel.
"What?" he asked.
Piper took a deep breath. "Does anyone know what this is?" She held up the arrow for everyone to see.
"It's an arrow," Frank said taking his eyes away from Leo. Leo shifted his gaze to Hazel, and waved at her. Hazel gave him a half-hearted wave and looked away.
"Yes, an arrow. But this isn't just an arrow. It's an arrow of Eros," Piper explained.
"Arrow of arrows?" Jason asked.
"No. Eros. Cupid to the Romans," Piper said suppressing a smile at Jason's comment. "Hazel, were you the first person Leo saw when you woke up?"
"Oh gods," Hazel muttered. "Does this mean what I think it means?"
Piper nodded. "I'm not sure how to fix it. Obviously the ambrosia didn't work. I could try charmspeaking him out of it."
Everyone nodded, except for Leo of course.
Piper looked directly at Leo and mustered as much charmspeak as she could. "Leo Valdez. You must stop being in love with Hazel Levesque."
Leo blinked. "Why?"
Piper tried again. "You have to."
Leo knit his eyebrows and pouted. "No. I love her."
Frank scooted closer to Hazel.
"I'm sorry guys. It's not working," Piper sat down. Jason rubbed her back comfortingly.
Hazel stood and walked to her room. She collapsed on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. She was confused. She loved Frank, but Leo was exactly like Sammy. Right down to the way he never stopped tapping his fingers or running his hands through his hair.
She knew that how he was acting was only caused my the love arrow, but she wondered that if he was acting like this out of his own will, would she return the feeling?
Piper sat alone with Leo in the mess hall. She was across from him at the dining table and she listened to him talk about Hazel.
"Her eyes are just so… and her hair is just… wow," Leo sighed dreamily.
Piper had an idea. She laced her fingers and leaned forward. "Leo… tell me about the Archimedes Spheres."
Leo blinked a few times then focused on Piper. "Oh my gods, aren't they amazing! The workman hip, the designs!"
Leo noticed Piper's confused gaze and laughed. "What's wrong Pipes?"
Piper didn't answer him. Instead she watched him put together a little metal robot and watched him quickly disassemble it. As Piper watched she formulated a plan.
She had to talk to her mother.
She left Leo tinkering and stepped into the ship's lavatory. She unsheathed Katoptris and prayed to Apollo that the blade would help her. She concentrated on the blade. The knifes smooth surface rippled and the visions began.
First it showed a column of smoke rising into the sky. Piper stood at the source of the smoke, eyes closed and arms spread wide. Her mouth moved fast, like she was chanting. She was standing on an island, alone with the smoke column. The scene changed and she saw a rushing river. The river looked normal enough, except for the fact that the water was pure black. Hazel stood next to the river, looking out over it. The blade rippled once again and Piper only saw her reflection. She sighed and sheathed her knife.
She knew one thing for sure: she would have to put together a sacrifice to her mother. But she would need something to burn, something that would appeal to her mom. Piper left the restroom and again took the seat across from Leo.
"Leo, can you steer us to the nearest city?" Piper asked.
Leo gave Piper a mischievous smile. "Sure."
Piper and Hazel walked around the small store grabbing all the makeup and perfume they could find. Frank trailed behind them carrying the shopping basket, which was weighed down with the beauty products.
"So, let me get this straight," Frank said readjusting the basket on his arm. "We're going to summon your mom by burning extremely flammable beauty products so she'll tell us how to get Leo to stop hitting on Hazel."
"Basically," Piper said, adding another bottle of perfume into the basket.
"Well, we can't do it on the ship," Frank said nervously. "If the ship catches fire, we won't have..."
Frank didn't want to bring up the friends that they had just lost. Every one aboard the Argo II did their best not to bring up the painful subject.
Hazel put a reassuring hand on Frank's arm. "Don't worry. We'll find a place were our surrounding won't catch on fire.
Piper added a small container of blush to the basket. "I think we have enough."
AN: Like I said I write pretty short chapters. Please review so I know if the story sucks or if I can improve, thanks (:
