AAAAND I'm back! With another full chapter! :) I don't know how I got from 35 reviews to 60...oh I see, but thank you! Feedback is really important. This chapter hasn't been fully edited yet so their might be some mistakes.
I know that most of my chapters are sometimes sad, but I TRIED to add some humor into this chapter, and as always...ACTION!
This chapter mainly focuses on Leo's romance (kinda), which can be hard to write sometimes, so feedback would be nice.
Here is a brief recap of what happened last chapter:
1. Thalia runs away with Vitruvius and wants to kill him
2. Leo gets lost in a forest, trying to find her
3. He meets a girl who turns out to be possessed so he has to kill her
4. He is able to save Vitruvius but it all turns out to be a trap as he gets Thalia'a blood to awaken Gaea and is sucked into the ground :S
5. Leo goes back to the Argo II and see's the creepy girl behind him again.
AND NOW...
Leo II
Leo wanted to go rage mode after he found out a girl was stalking him. Well, Leo didn't mind being followed by girls, just not by a possessed girl who was out to kill him. When Leo had found a girl in the forest he had gotten lost in, he had tried to help her, but it turns out she was being controlled by Leo's most ever, favourite person, Gaea. She seemed to be in everyone's head these days. So what could Leo do? He had to kill the girl. He thought that he had seen the last of her until she appeared right behind him and scared the living daylights out of him.
He had spent the rest of his miserable night grumbling and complaining while he worked on his new inventions. He hadn't even slept in fear of seeing that girl again. He even got teased by everyone on the ship! Leo has a fan, they said, she only wants a hug!
So here he was now, building a machine that would let him talk to Percy and Annabeth. It was about 4 o clock in the morning and there was only one thing keeping him awake right now. It wasn't strength, it wasn't ambrosia…no, it was coffee!
He felt like a mad scientist working on an evil project. He had scoured plans and designs from Archimedes and came up with the idea to link Grover's empathy link with iris messaging so that they could find what was going on in Tartarus and hopefully, his friends were still alive.
Leo finished installing some more wires and then connected a cable from the large box like machine to a computer screen, again, like the other 50 times he had tried this, the screen was black. But Leo wasn't someone to give up that easily. He fiddled around with some other wires for a couple more minutes and then…the screen blared to life! He had done it! He had built the first ever…what was it called? Well he wasn't sure what to name the machine. He called it, Leo is awesome for now.
Leo could feel the excitement pumping through him. He ran out of the room and headed to Percy-no- Grover's room. He needed to talk to Percy as soon as possible and he needed Grover's mind for the machine to work.
Leo burst through the door. Sometimes it was fun to be the captain of the ship. He got to carry all of the keys, give orders to people, and had his own minions. Buford and well…Festus was a friend, not a minion.
"GROVER! Quick, follow me. I got the machine to work!" said Leo, turning Grover's room lights on and off.
"Blah-ha-ha, dude, ever hear of privacy?" said Grover, scratching his head.
"Never mind that, follow me" said Leo, and he took off with Grover grumbling and following behind.
Once they were back in Leo's garage/workplace, Leo made Grover lie down on a chair and go to sleep, which wasn't so hard. Then he stuck on wires and monitors on Grover. Now he felt like an evil scientist about to kill someone.
Then he went back to his computer and began frantically typing in codes, co ordinates, and information from Grover's mind where Percy currently was. Then once he had gotten all the information, he threw a drachma into the machine that created a large mist.
"Uh, yeah, show me Percy Jackson, 37.9778° N, 23.7278° E" said Leo, reading of his screen.
And then…nothing. After he threw the drachma, it disappeared into the mist, but nothing happened. NO, no, no! thought Leo, they can't be…
Wait! There it was! In the mist, there was a small picture forming, and thanks to Leo's invention, he could see the iris message through his computer. It was basically like video-chatting.
He moved closer to his screen so he could get a better view at what was going on. He saw Annabeth sleeping and Percy slumped up against a tree, about to go to sleep.
"Yo Percy, you cool?" said Leo.
"GAAH," said Percy, jumping up and shaking his sword around. Leo could also notice purple energy swarming around Percy, but he didn't ask why. Percy was probably just having…gas problems.
Then Percy caught sight of Leo and seemed to relax a little bit. Annabeth was still sleeping on the ground. He could hear her breathing now and then. She could sleep through a bomb and not notice…
"Holy Poseidon, Leo, how did you-" began Percy, scratching his head.
"How did I manage to find you? Well that's because I'm just too awesome." said Leo, grinning.
"No, but seriously, how?"
"Connected Grover's empathy link with iris messaging and found you, anyways, man you look different, everything okay there?" said Leo.
Percy looked down sadly and then at Annabeth. Then he looked back at Leo and told him everything that had happened since they had last lost contact. Percy told him how they had fallen, found a new world, even found a DRAGON (Festus would love that!) , and how Percy had gotten possesses and obtained some new powers.
"…I still have to learn how to use them, but once I do, the giants better run," said Percy, and how are things with everyone there?"
Now it was Leo's turn to tell the story. He told Percy about how Rachel, Grover and Thalia had come to help, the parts of the key they had rescued, Coach Hedges Death, and basically everything else.
"Uh, Leo, I don't think you need to worry about the satyr, he's with-" began Percy, but he was cut off when the screen went blank. There was an explosion in the mist, and the machine stopped working.
Frustrated, Leo banged a wrench on the machine, and remarkably, it began working again. However, the pictures it displayed weren't Percy's… they were someone else's.
Leo saw an office room, and in the room sat a man whose eyes were closed. For some reason Leo found himself yawning and tiring out. He thought that it was probably because he hadn't slept for a while, but there was something strange about this man too. Whenever Leo tried to look at his face, it kept changing and morphing into another face. Leo could also see that the man was talking to someone.
"All is prepared, great one." said the man.
"The children are at rest for a while now, that should be enough for our troops to move to the camp right?" he said.
Then Leo heard a woman laughing. A very, very, very, familiar laughter. It sounding like nail's scraping a chalkboard. It was Gaea.
"Excellent work. Do this task, and I shall spare you, and maybe even promote you. Make sure the children stay asleep…Morpheus" said Gaea.
Then the god, Morpheus, opened his deadly eyes. "Oh, they shall be asleep for a very,very, long time".
And then the screen went black. The mist began to dissolve and remarkably, Leo's drachma came back out! But there was something written on it.
He walked over and picked it up and turned the coin around to read a note attached to it.
It read:
A gift, from me to you
Go to Steno, return the time
You will not be affected
-Iris
Leo couldn't believe it! It was a message from Iris! Go to Steno? The name sounded familiar, since Leo had memorized some the cities in Greece, but why did he have to go there? And he had to return time? That made no sense. He needed to show his friends.
He walked out of the room, leaving Grover sleeping on his chair. He needed the sleep anyway, concluded Leo. He turned on the intercom that rang throughout the Argo II.
"GUYS, meet me in the mess hall in five minutes, there's something important we need to talk about." said Leo.
Leo was the first to arrive in the hall, so he had to wait for the others to come. But where were they? The ship did seem quieter then usual. Leo decided to take a walk around the ship. He kept his hand on his tool belt just in case he had to whack someone with a screwdriver.
Leo wondered through the halls. "Guys?" he said.
"IS ANYONE HERE?" said Leo.
He climbed up the stairs to the deck of the ship. He took a look around. He could Festus and Buford working on the ship, which was a relief. At least he wasn't completely alone. And then he took a look near the back of the deck and…
"Oh gods…" said Leo.
He ran up to the back of the deck and wanted to scream. Everywhere his friends lay on the ground, all…SLEEPING! There they where, just relaxing and having a good, lazy time.
"C'mon guys! There's work to do! Get up!" shouted Leo, but no one moved.
He walked over to Jason who was drooling in his sleep. Leo shook Jason's shoulder again and again but it was no use. Jason was out cold.
Next, Leo moved on to Frank who had his thumb in his mouth. Leo tried not to laugh while he was shaking Frank's shoulder. This wasn't working… Leo needed a new tactic. He began slapping Frank.
"Frank wake up!" said Leo, and slapped Frank.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!" said Leo and slapped him some more, but Frank didn't even move a muscle.
What on Earth was going on? Then Leo felt the drachma in his hand grow cold and he read the note again. Oh, no. This wasn't happening.
What had Morpheus said? That 'they are all asleep'? Did that mean that his friends were never going to wake up? Leo stomped his foot in frustration.
He read the note that Iris had sent him once more.
Go to Steno, return the time
Well, it was the only option Leo had.
"Festus, Buford, get the ship ready and set sail for Steno!" said Leo.
About two hours later, Leo could see the City of Steno appearing in the horizon, and the sight was remarkable. The city looked as if it was built around mountains, probably because it was. Leo felt that he was back in time with the ancient architecture in the city. There were some skyscrapers off to the east, but mainly, the city looked more like a village, and more peaceful than any other place Leo had seen.
He returned his gaze back to the map he was viewing. He had scoured all possible information he could about this place. In the Iris-message he had seen, he knew that Morpheus had been in some type of office building in Steno, and by looking at the city, it wasn't very hard to find a building like that. He had investigated on the buildings in the city using Thalia's, what did she call it? Her computer device that practically helped locate anything. It was a gift she had gotten from Artemis. She won't mind me borrowing it for a while, thought Leo.
Leo had run a quick scan of the city and had found out that there was a building to the west of the city that said: Dr. M's Sleep Therapy. Well, if you were the god of sleep, then why not open your own sleep therapy? So that is where Leo decided to go.
While they got closer and closer to the city, Leo went back to his room to get some supplies he might need. He kept Thalia's computer next to him, and also added a few more gadgets and supplies on his tool belt. It was a neat gift, since he didn't have to carry any weight.
And then he felt the ship stop, and raced to the deck. Festus talked with Leo through clicks and beeps (Morse code) and told him that they were here. They had arrived in Steno, Greece. Leo lowered the ship and parked it near a dock that was empty. There weren't many fisherman 6 o clock in the morning…
He took one last look of the Argo II as he stepped off his ship. It was a long time since he had done a solo mission, and he didn't exactly feel excited about it.
"Here goes nothing." he muttered to himself, as he walked towards the building.
Leo had dressed up as casually as he could, wearing a regular t-shirt and jeans, he had fixed his hair as well, since it had been a tangled mess, and had hid his tool belt under his shirt.
He took a deep breath and entered the building which was surprisingly open at this early. He ready for whatever was to come, he burst through the door shouting "YAAARGH", AND THEN… well…nothing.
Leo found himself in a small rectangular room with chairs against the wall, magazines on a table, and a desk beside a door that led to who knows where? Sitting on the desk was a small woman who looked to be around her 20s.
" Μπορώ να σας βοηθήσω?" she said and studied Leo's face. Then she sighed and said, "Can I help you?"
"Uh, I was- err- See there was this, Um," said Leo, feeling embarrassed, he sat down on a chair feeling exhausted and gave himself a face palm.
"Yeah, is Doctor…M here?" said Leo.
"The doctor is not accepting patients right now, he has just gone out and will be back soon, you can wait here for him" she said and returned to her work.
An idea flared into Leo's head. He hadn't really thought about what he was going to do once he had entered the building, but now, his head began forming a plan.
Leo fell on the ground and began twitching. "OH NO, oh god, ouch…OH the PAIN" He said as if he were reading off something.
The secretary pocked her head up, gasped, and ran over to Leo.
"Are you okay?" she said with an accent.
"Oh, I'm not sure, this never happened to me before! I haven't slept for days! I would feel better…if I could lay down somewhere, do you have a bed?" he said.
"Like I said, the doctor is not here right now, but I will call him to come sooner, for now, you may wait in the waiting room. There is a bed there" she said and helped Leo up.
She opened the door and led him inside and brought him over to a room. Leo sat down on the medical bed, as he watched the secretary leave the room and walk away. Then he heard he talking on the phone with someone in Greek. Leo grinned, he had done it! He was in Morpheus's lair.
Leo looked around the room, there were several pictures of Morpheus advertising for various products but Leo paid no attention to them. He quietly sneaked out of the room and went to explore the rest of the hall with appeared to be a maze. There were several doors that led to other doors and them MORE doors. This is just great! Leo thought.
What was he looking for? He had no clue, but maybe something to help awake his friends, but how? As he searched through more and more rooms he began to lose hope. Morpheus was the one who was making his friends sleep, he needed to talk to the god and maybe…Morpheus would help Leo, but that wasn't likely.
Just as Leo was about to give up and leave the room, he noticed a door at the end of the hall with a sign that read: KEEP OUT! in English. Could this be? Was this a clue to rescuing his friends? It was worth a shot.
He walked to the door and turned the knob. Locked. But this was Leo Valdez, he always knew what to do…well kind of.
He brought out a hammer and broke the knob open, which was weak in the first place. Then he looked around just to be sure that he was alone and that no one had heard him.
Then he pushed the door open and gasped.
Right there, right in front of him was a large machine that looked like a generator, with the words: sleep generator, on it. It was turned on and he could feel the energy coursing through the machine. Could this be it? Could this be the machine that was causing his friends to go to sleep? But why couldn't Morpheus send his friends to sleep using his OWN powers? Why did the god have a machine to do all his work?
Maybe he doesn't have that much power to send all these demigods to sleep, He thought, that's why Iris was able to save me.
So was it that simple? Did he just have to break this machine? Well that's what it seemed like.
Leo brought out his Pliers and began to snap away at wires. But this seemed to easy…
And just as Leo was about to finish, he heard an alarm go off, and a very familiar sound of a man screaming. It was Morpheus, and Leo had only a couple of seconds before he would get caught.
Seeing no other choice, he summoned his fire and lit the machine on fire! A tiny explosion went off and sparks flew everywhere, and soon, the building would be on fire! He hoped that the breaking the machine was a good idea, because now he heard large, heavy footsteps coming from the hall and a bunch of men breaking open doors and shouting.
He was trapped inside the room! Wait! He wasn't trapped! At the end of the room he notices a smaller door being blocked off by some boxes. He had no choice but to go through that door. I'll take it, he thought.
Leo ran around the machine and to the door. He pushed the boxes away, and entered another narrow room with another door in the front of it. Leo could barely see so he turned his fire back on and opened the other door. Hopefully, he was going the right direction.
After navigated through what seemed like an endless maze of doors, Leo arrived in another small room with two doors. He had to decide which room to take, and fast! He could hear more shouts coming behind him.
He decided to take the left room and opened it. It was locked so he had to once again, break the knob, and once he saw what was in the room, Leo's heart did a leap.
There was a girl, about Leo's age, who was gagged and tied up against the chair. She was wearing a shirt and shorts that had grime all over them. He face was bruised but still looked beautiful. She looked at Leo with a face of horror and then blanked out. Leo shook his head, coming out of his daze. He needed to rescue her! He couldn't just leave her here.
He ran up to her and began to untie the rope that was tied to her. He also took off the gag around her mouth and then picked her up. Leo could see black spots appearing in his eyes, but he just had to keep going.
He exited the room and opened the other door. After a very long time, Leo felt relieved. The door led him straight outside! He had done it! He had saved his friends and the girl. It was still a little dark but the street was well illuminated because of all the lamp posts above him. He began limping towards the Argo II which wasn't very far off, and could taste his victory. But then…
An explosion went off behind him and he could see men with arrows and spears running in Leo's direction. Morpheus was there too, but he didn't look very good. The gods were immortal but an explosion must have hurt his a lot because all he could do was scream.
Arrows flew past Leo as he began to run to his ship. He had to make it! It could not end like this! He was so close! He also noticed that whenever he walked under a street lamp, the lights flickering off, and then on again after Leo walked away from them. Weird…
Then, he turned around just in time to see an arrow miss Leo but hit the girl right near the shoulder!
"NO, no, no!" said Leo. He wouldn't let anyone die because of HIS mistakes.
He ran even faster after that, and reached the Argo II. Luckily his friends were awake, and helped Leo climb aboard. Then, Jason used his powers to push the soldiers away with a strong push of wind. Leo felt proud and happy. He had finally done something right!
Then his attention turned back to the girl.
"S-She needs help" said Leo, panting.
Rachel walked over to the girl and examined the wound. "I think I can help," she said, "Can you take her to my room? I have some supplies their"
And so Leo picked the girl up again and followed Rachel to her room.
"I've got it from here, don't worry Leo, she'll be fine" said Rachel, although the look of worry on her face make Leo think otherwise.
"Okay, I'll be back later" said Leo.
Once Leo arrived back onto the upper deck, he was greeted by his friends, who began to ask him millions of questions.
He took a deep breath and explained to his friends what had happened and how Morpheus was working with Gaea to put everyone to sleep. After he was done explaining his story, Frank was the first to speak.
"Alright that's cool and all, but can I ask why I have bruises on my face?" said Frank.
"Uh yeah, I was trying to wake you up" said Leo.
Everyone was quiet for a moment and then they burst out laughing. It felt good after so much stuff had happened.
It was about 6pm and Leo was outside Rachel's room waiting to see whether or not the girl was okay. He had been waiting for the past 4 hours.
And then, the lock to Rachel's room clicked open and out came Rachel, looking exhausted.
"She's awake now, you can see her, but let her res-" began Rachel but Leo pushed past her and entered the room. Rachel left him alone.
The girl looked more calm and was propped up in a bed. She looked at Leo with a look of gratefullness? Fear? Niceness? Leo didn't know. He could understand every single thing about machines, but he was clueless when it came to girls.
"Uh, hi. How you doing?" he said, walking next to her.
"I….am….good?" she said, with a strong accent. Leo could tell that the girl didn't know English that much.
"Ok, good. Um, can I ask you, why you were in that building?" said Leo.
The girl looked confused for a moment and then nodded as she began to understand what Leo was talking about.
"I…build…machine fur…Morpheus" she said, "I…mechanic"
Leo's heart stopped beating for a second. A mechanic? Finally Leo had someone who was like him.
"Ah, I see, so you're not evil?" he said.
The girl laughed. "No, my name…is Eris"
Then she gasped Leo's hand. "Thank…you. You are good…person" said Eris.
Leo smiled and then decided it was time to let her rest. As he exited the room, he had a brief flashback. A flashback of a crime he had committed a very long time ago. It was a crime he had told no-one about, and had kept it a secret.
"Yeah… I'm not that good" he said.
He left the room.
Sorry if that's a cliff hanger but if I told you about the crime he made...well that would have been to much in this chapter. ANYWAY, I decided that Leo would not have any sort of relationship with a character that was already IN the series, because trust me, if RR wanted that to happen, we'd see it happened a lot sooner. SO I brought a new character. AND WHY DID THE LIGHTS GO OUT WHEREVER ERIS WALKS?
Q/A:
1. I actually decided to introduce a new character into this story because, well, Leo needs a ... friend...
2. I will try to update as soon as possible, but I have a lot of work to do, so I might be a little late :(
3. Does anyone know where the coordinates: 37.9778° N, 23.7278° E are? If you do, then it can be a clue to what is coming up next...
3. I have a new story coming out, it is an interview with all of the characters! :D I'm not sure if there is anyone already doing this, and I want to keep it as original as possible, so be sure to read!
Also, if you have any questions you would like to ask the characters, I'll gladly include it in the new interview/story, I'm currently writing .
Well that's a lot of news, SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, GOODBYE! AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! :D
HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?