Sigh. Looks like my reign of terror has ended. *reluctantly removes chapter 12 from verge of painful end* Here you go! I worked hard on this one! *throws chapter into crowd* Don't fight, don't fight!

Leo's POV

I rushed back into my cabin and quickly threw the metal scraps into a bin. They could be taken care of later; at least nobody would trip on them now. My cabinmates were all running around, trying to clean up the cabin before Piper came in. I sent a silent prayer that she would take her time.

"We're never going to make it!" Christopher yelled from the window. "Piper's done with her cabin! She's coming our way!"

I cursed inwardly. I did not want to do kitchen patrol after a day of shipbuilding. Something crashed behind me and I heard Harley yelp. I spun around. A whole box of metal wires and other scraps had fallen onto the floor and scattered all over the place.

"Leo, get out there and stall Piper!" Nyssa yelled at me, frantically trying to throw all the metal back into its box.

"It won't make any difference!" I protested. "The cabin's still a mess—there's stuff everywhere!" My eyes fell on my below-the-ground bed and I got an idea.

"Just throw everything in my bed!" I yelled at everyone. "We can close the top and Piper won't see!"

"Are you sure?" Shane asked, appearing at my side with a pile of scraps.

"Just do it!" I ordered, frantic now. I could see Piper out the window; ten feet away.

My cabinmates quickly shoved all the random junk they could onto my bed and I pressed the button that would close it. There was a lot of stuff; I prayed the top would cover everything.

A half-second after the top closed shut, Piper walked in the door and we all froze on the spot. "Hey, guys," she greeted us, surveying the cabin critically. "Hmm," she said, marking off things on the clipboard she held as she walked around. "Cabin actually looks good." Then she frowned as her eyes landed on my bed. "What's that?"

I resisted the urge to slam my palm into my head. The top hadn't closed all the way, and a few bronze gears were keeping it from shutting.

Piper gave me the Eye. "Leo, open the door."

I heaved a sigh and pressed the button. I could almost feel my arms getting heavy and sore from shipbuilding and now scrubbing dishes.

The top to my bed spiraled open like a camera lens and Piper gave a hoot of laughter when she saw all the metal that was piled there. "Oh my gods," she laughed as she scribbled out something on her clipboard. "I don't even think I need to ask who came up with that idea," she said, looking at me and shaking her head.

"Kitchen patrol, here we come," I grumbled.

"Actually, you guys lucked out," Piper said, looking back at her clipboard. "I went by the Hermes cabin before yours, and I accidentally found a stash of stuff that they confessed was stolen from the camp store. Guess who's got KP tonight?"

My heart (and arms) lifted. Thank Hermes for his cabin's inherited genes. Now I just had the small problem of getting all the junk out of my bed, and we were home free!

"See you guys later," Piper said, waving as she walked out the door.

"Yes!" Jake exclaimed. "Now today we can really focus on the ship."

"Great," I said, my mind immediately spinning with all the things that were left to do. We still had to put the finishing touches on the steering system, reinforce the exterior, the list went on. "Let's go now."

"Um, don't you want to clear off your bed first?" Christopher asked, with a skeptical look toward the metal mountain.

"Nah, I'll get it later." I said. No way did I want to do that now. "Let's go to the bunker."

My cabinmates fell in line behind me. "How much work did you guys get done yesterday?" I asked. "I'm sorry I couldn't help—"

Jake cut me off. "Don't apologize. You needed a day off." He grinned at me. "You gotta stop working so hard, man. You're making the rest of us look bad."

I laughed. "I don't know about that," I said, trying to be dismissive, but underneath I felt a warm glow of pride.

"To answer the question, we finished the exterior," Christopher put in. "We just need to reinforce it."

"We can do that today," I said, already running through the process in my mind as my cabinmates and I headed into the woods toward the bunker. Once the exterior was totally finished, the ship would almost be complete. I couldn't help feeling a small adrenaline rush; a wave of exhilaration sweeping through me. We were going to do this! The Argo II would be built, and it would be totally awesome!

We headed on through the woods, moving around the trees and over piles of dead leaves. I snorted when Shane tripped on a root and cursed loudly. My cabinmates weren't exactly stealthy.

I remembered how soundless Anne had been when we were running through the woods a couple of nights ago. I wondered what she was doing now. I hoped I could make some time for her soon; if not today, sometime in the near future. That was another good thing about the ship being mostly finished: I afford to spend more time with my girl.

"Di immortales!" Nyssa swore behind me, her voice raised in a shout.

I spun around, my senses suddenly on overdrive. Nyssa was standing protectively in front of crutches-bound Jake, her fists clenched. Everybody else froze when they saw it: a black dog almost the size of a Hummer half-crouched in front of us. Its hackles were raised, its eyes glittering, its teeth bared, and a terrifying snarl was rising from deep in its throat.

Anne's POV

I was running, my bow in my hand and my quiver over my shoulder, in the direction of the woods. The feelings of fear were tugging at me, pulling me that way. I know I sound totally crazy, but blame it on my dad, the one with the oracle and all that. An inherited gene, maybe? But truthfully, I didn't stop to wonder.

Now that I was safely under the cover of the trees, I broke into a full sprint. The apprehension that something was amiss during arts and crafts had intensified into a terror that I could sense somewhere ahead. Somebody was in danger. I myself wasn't feeling the terror, but I could sense it the same way you can when you hear someone scream and your heart freezes. I had no idea what the danger was, but I knew it was something awful.

I tripped on a rock and almost yelled with frustration. I didn't have time to trip over stray objects! I had to get to where the trouble was!

My breath was coming in gasps. I couldn't go fast enough to get there in time. I prayed to my father Apollo, something I seldom did. I didn't want to annoy him with all of my demands and needs. An immortal, superpowerful being's bad side is something you do not want to be on. But a dad…I figured a dad could be there for me occasionally.

Father, please, show me more! I need to get there in time! I can't explain everything, but it's important! Please!

The words seemed to sear through my mind as I ran faster, my heartbeat increasing to speeds I wouldn't have thought humanly possible. Whether it was the adrenaline, the terror that was intensifying by the second, or the speed at which I was running, I didn't know.

Suddenly, something jerked me to a halt against my will. I would have screamed in frustration if I hadn't been so breathless. No! Let me go! I have to keep going!

Without warning, a vision flashed before my eyes and I gasped aloud. Red eyes filled with aggression and hate. Slavering canine jaws baring razor-sharp fangs. Black fur bristling with fury and a growl that made me want to scream with fear.

I didn't dare take my eyes off the creature, but something didn't feel right. The palms of my hands were beginning to feel unnaturally hot. It felt as though I was holding lava. Tongues of flame were licking at my wrists and fingers, but strangely, it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt natural, even though it was crazy. How could my hands be on fire and be completely free of pain?

I swear my heart stopped at that moment I realized: Leo. Leo was facing the hellhound Chiron warned us about, and as I heard the thud of footfalls on the ground behind me, I realized whoever was with him was retreating. Was he alone?

I shook my head hard to rid my mind of the vision and began to run again, sending my thanks to my father as I sprinted as hard as I could in the right direction.

Leo's POV

I cursed myself for not listening to Chiron this morning. Why hadn't I remembered to keep an eye out? How could anyone miss this thing sneaking up on us? And this was a young hellhound?

I heard the soft crunching of feet on the ground as my cabinmates backed away quickly. "Guys, take Jake with you and go to the bunker," Nyssa ordered, picking up a sturdy branch from the ground and lifting it like a weapon. The hellhound growled and took a step closer.

"No, go with them," I said to Nyssa, summoning my fire and lifting one hand toward the monster. I tried to sound braver than I felt. "I got this. Take them to the bunker."

"Leo, I can't let—"

"Just do it! Go!" I said firmly. There was no time to argue.

Nyssa clenched her jaw angrily and retreated, keeping her eyes locked on the hellhound as she turned and began to run toward our cabinmates, who were on their way to the bunker.

The monster growled and took a few more steps toward me. Man, this was sure one of those times I wish I had Festus with me. My old bronze buddy could've gotten rid of this creature in about three seconds.

But this was another example of my rotten luck. All I had was my fire and whatever I could summon from my tool belt. And the hellhound was creeping closer, still snarling, as if it had decided I wasn't much of a threat.

I tried to decide what to do. I couldn't just stand there and have a staring contest with this thing all day long. But I got the feeling it was just waiting for me to attack, and I wasn't sure how to do that. I could wait for it to attack me, but something inside me told me that that wasn't a great idea.

Then, just to the right of the hellhound, I saw a flash of dark green. What was that? Was a dryad watching me or something?

Don't get distracted! I yelled at myself as the hellhound crouched, poised to spring. It bared its teeth in a snarl and I lifted my flaming hands defensively.

But my resolve to be focused crumbled when Anne herself emerged soundlessly from the woods behind the monster, bow and quiver in her hands.

I opened my mouth to call to her, but she slashed her hand across her throat—Be quiet!

I closed my mouth and tried to ESP a message to her: What the heck are you doing?

She tipped her chin at the hellhound and nocked three arrows into her bow. You keep its attention, and I'll shoot it.

I nodded to her and turned my attention back to the hellhound. "You'd better get out of here," I told it, trying to sound like I knew what I was doing. "You like fire, big guy? Not so tough now, are you?" I continued, outstretching my flaming hands. The hellhound stopped growling and tilted its head to the side. Hmm, maybe attacking this flaming demigod isn't such a good idea…

Behind it, Anne lifted her bow, aiming at the creature's neck. I extinguished the fire from my right hand and summoned the biggest hammer I could from my tool belt. If Anne missed, or if her arrows didn't kill the creature immediately, we would have a battle on our hands.

Twang!

Before I could blink, three arrows sprouted from the hellhound's neck. Anne pulled more arrows from her quiver and fired again, hitting the creature in the jaw and shoulder.

The monster howled and spun around toward Anne, who nocked another arrow and aimed it at the creature's eyes. I darted forward with my flaming hand and grabbed hold of the hellhound's tail, setting it on fire.

The creature yelped loudly and took off, well, like its tail was on fire, sprinting headlong into the depths of the forest, hopefully heading for the border of camp.

"Great job!" I told Anne, who was picking up an arrow she'd dropped.

She smiled broadly. "Thanks. You too." She suddenly burst into laughter. "Leo, you are the only person I have met in my whole life that has ever set a hellhound's tail on fire."

I laughed too as she stepped forward to hug me. "Thanks," I said, hugging her back. Her hair was down today, and it flowed halfway down her back. "What brings you out here?"

Her blue eyes took on a freaked-out expression. "Freaky Apollo-child sixth sense, I guess. During arts and crafts, I just had this nagging feeling like something was wrong, and I asked Will if I could leave. He said yes, and I grabbed my bow and ran toward the woods."

"How did you know that's where you needed to be?" I asked, replacing the hammer into my tool belt.

"Call me crazy," she said. "but it was like feelings of fear were radiating from the forest, tugging me in that direction. And as I got closer, it grew into a terror. I was really freaked out, but I kept running. And then I prayed to my dad to show me what was wrong, because I was just running through the woods like an idiot, and—"

"Did he show you?"

Anne nodded and gripped my hand tightly like she wanted reassurance she wasn't crazy. "All of a sudden, I just had this vision. It wasn't like I just knew what was happening, just like suddenly I was there. All I could see was the hellhound, and I knew it was going to attack me. But then," she swallowed nervously. "But then, my hands got all hot, and I didn't look away from the hellhound, but I knew they were on fire. And I remember being really confused but then I realized that you were the one facing the hellhound, and I shook off the vision and kept running." She took a deep breath. "And then I found you."

I hugged her tightly, even though I was a little creeped out by the whole I-suddenly-possessed-you-thing. What else did she find out? What color boxer shorts I was wearing? Can you say awkward?

"I'm glad you did," I said into her ear.

She kissed my cheek. "I'm glad I did too." Her eyes were beginning to lose that deer-in-the-headlights expression, taking on their usual friendly shine.

"Hey, what were you going to say earlier?" she asked. "About your dream?"

"Oh, yeah," I said. "Well, last night…" I grimaced. "Aphrodite came to me in a dream, all insulted because we accused her of putting a spell on us."

Anne laughed. "What in Hades did you say to her? She was really ticked off when I talked to her."

"She came to you too?"

She nodded. "Yep, right after she spoke to you."

I smiled. "Well, that sure makes explaining things a bit easier."

Anne raised one eyebrow. "You're avoiding my question."

I blushed. "Okay, I might have called her huge, but—"

Anne broke down into hysterical laughter. "Leo Valdez! You did not say that to Aphrodite!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" I protested. "I meant huge like powerful and important!"

Anne straightened up, wiping laughter tears from her face. "Oh, my gods."

I smiled at her. She was so pretty when she laughed, even when the subject of her laughter was me and the stupid things I did.

"I'm sorry to run off, but I sent my cabinmates ahead to the bunker," I said. "I gotta go or they'll think the hellhound got me."

"No problem," Anne replied. "I should probably get back or my cabinmates will think I've gone insane. They think I ran in a panic back to the cabin to put my helmet away before Piper inspected the cabin."

I laughed. "And did they believe you?"

She grinned. "Not entirely…"

I laughed.

Anne smiled and kissed me. "See you later?"

"Um, I don't know," I said. "I gotta work on the ship. But sometime soon, I promise!"

"Well, you better make that ship awesome, then!" she called, grinning at me over her shoulder as she jogged back through the woods. "See you!"

"I promise!" I repeated, running in the opposite direction toward Bunker Nine with a suddenly lightened heart.