Anne's POV
I tilted my face up to the sun and closed my eyes contentedly as Leo's fingers closed around mine. We followed Carter to Cabin Nine, where she pushed open the door and walked inside. Leo let go of my hand to drag a battered bag out from his stash of stuff and start throwing clothes in. After a few minutes he turned to Carter and me, who were sitting on a bunk watching.
"Done," he said, grinning and holding the bag up for us to see.
Carter and I exchanged a glance and rolled our eyes simultaneously.
"Got your shoes?" I asked Leo.
"Your toothbrush?" Carter asked.
"Hairbrush?"
"Sunscreen?"
"Jeez, you guys," he said, cutting us off. "Um, okay…I'm wearing my shoes, my toothbrush and stuff are still in the bathroom, I don't have a hairbrush—what?" he said defensively, noticing the looks Carter and I turned on him. "I finger-comb my hair most of the time."
"Suuuuurrreee…" Carter said, rolling her eyes again.
"It's true! Anyway, um…what was the last thing again…? Oh, sunscreen. I'm sure Annabeth has some…some of Medea's special formula or something. I heard her saying something about that the other day. Not that I really trust any of Medea's products, but if Annabeth does…" Leo grinned at us. "So I'm ready."
"Guess so," I said, shrugging. "Just don't forget to grab your toothbrush and stuff."
"Or 'forget'," Carter grinned, making air quotes.
Leo saluted me, stuck out his tongue playfully at Carter, and walked away to the bathroom just as the door of the cabin swung open.
"Hey guys," Ashley said, walking in with a camera in her hand.
"Hey Ash," Carter and I said almost in unison.
"Hi," Leo said, coming out of the bathroom with his toothbrush and stuff in his hand, which he tossed into his bag. "What's up?"
"Chiron told me to come get you guys," Ashley said, holding up the camera. "He wants some pictures of the quest group."
"Oh, gods," Leo said, eyeing the camera like it might bite. "A picture? Now?"
"Yeah," Ashley said. "Piper, Jason, and Annabeth are already out there. I don't think they forgot to pack," she grinned, gesturing at Leo's bag.
"Is that important?" Leo said, looking embarassed. "Now, where's Chiron?"
Still smiling, Ashley led the way back out of the cabin, where Carter told us goodbye and jogged off to wherever her cabinmates were. Leo and I followed Ashley out of the cabins area to a spot where you could see the beach in the background. Chiron was standing there with Jason, Piper, and Annabeth.
"There you are," Chiron said when he saw Leo. He took the camera from Ashley. "Thank you. Now, you four stand together."
I tried not to laugh as the four of them, looking awkward, shuffled a little closer together. Not shy at all, Piper slung her arm over Jason's shoulder and smiled. That seemed to break the ice; Leo leaned his elbow on Jason's other shoulder and grinned at the camera, while Annabeth, who was on Piper's other side, simply stood a little closer to the other three and smiled.
"Perfect," Chiron said, smiling as he snapped a couple of pictures. "Would any of you like to borrow the camera? I've gotten the pictures I wanted; if you want to take some of anything you're welcome to. I have a computer you can use to print them out before you leave."
He no sooner extended his arm before Ashley plucked the camera from his hand. "Leo, Anne, stand together," she demanded with a grin.
I turned my head at the sound of my name and laughed as Leo was shoved over to me by Jason and Piper, both of whom were laughing.
"Hey!" he protested, grabbing onto my shoulder to steady himself. "Sorry," he said to me, straightening up and smiling.
"It's fine," I answered.
"Ready?" Ashley asked, brushing her brown side bangs out of her face before holding up the camera.
I quickly swiped a lock of hair out of my eyes and adjusted the hem of my green tank top before wrapping one arm around Leo's shoulders. He did the same thing, and we leaned together and smiled at the camera.
Ashley pressed the button and smiled as the camera clicked. "Oh, that's great," she said, hitting a couple more buttons and turning the camera so we could see. Jason and Piper leaned over our shoulders to see too. Both of our faces smiled back at us from the camera. I grinned. "That's a great picture. Thanks, Ash."
Ashley smiled and proffered me the camera. "Anything else?"
"Here, let me take one of just you," I said to Leo, taking the camera and pointing it at him. He looked a bit startled, but then just grinned widely and held up one hand like he was waving. I pressed the button and then hit a few more so I could see the picture.
"Lemme see it," Leo said, gently but firmly taking the camera from me.
"Hey!" I protested, making a grab for it.
"No, I have to see if it looks awful," Leo said, turning to face me so I couldn't see the camera. He peered at the screen, his face breaking into a relieved expression. "Okay, that one's good."
I tapped my foot on the grass, crossing my arms impatiently. "Can I see it now?"
"Sure," Leo said, giving the camera back to me. I turned it around and smiled at the picture on the screen. Leo's face was smiling back up at me, his hand raised like he was waving to me from afar. With the ocean behind him in the distance, it was almost like he was smiling at me from the deck of the ship. Gods, I was going to miss him.
I was tugged from my thoughts when someone gently took the camera from my hands again. I looked up to see Leo pointing the camera at me. "You got to take one of me; it's only fair," he said, smiling.
"Fine," I said, pulling a few strands of my hair over my shoulder and smiling, lifting one hand in a motionless wave just like Leo had done.
"Hey, you stole my pose," he said teasingly as he took the picture.
"It was a good idea," I protested. "Now let me see it."
He turned the camera around and I smiled. I didn't look that bad. Except for the one tiny smudge of makeup still on my face, but that was being picky.
"Do you guys want the camera?" Leo asked Jason, Piper, and Annabeth. All three of them shook their heads.
"Nah," Piper said. "We're good."
"Why don't we go print these out," I said to Leo, holding up the camera.
"Sure," he replied. "Will you guys come get me when it's time to leave?" he asked the other four people standing with us.
"I can't; I'm late for whatever my cabin's doing without me!" Ashley said, smiling and starting to walk away. "But in case I don't see any of you guys before you leave, good luck!"
"Thanks," Jason replied, smiling as Ashley jogged away. "And sure," he said to Leo. "You guys go ahead."
"It's not like we'd leave without you," Piper grinned.
Leo laughed. "I hope not!" he said, linking his arm through mine. "Later, guys."
I smiled over my shoulder at the other three as Leo and I walked away in the direction of the Big House. Out front an angry-looking Chiron was reprimanding an Ares kid. Leo and I paused in front of him, not wanting to barge in.
"I have told you repeatedly not to push the Aphrodite children off of the dock into the lake! I don't care if they look funny with their makeup running, we cannot have this at camp!" he was saying to the smirking Ares boy.
Leo and I exchanged an awkward glance. Finally Chiron noticed us and dismissed the Ares kid, who swaggered away seemingly unfazed by his talking-to.
"My apologies. Did you two want to speak to me?" Chiron asked, turning to face us.
"Uh, yeah. We finished with the camera," Leo said.
"We just wanted to know if we could print out the pictures," I added.
"Oh, certainly," Chiron said. Since he was in full centaur form, he gestured toward the door of the Big House, waving us inside. "You know where my office is, and the computer is relatively easy to use." He smiled at us and trotted away, and Leo and I stepped inside the house.
I led the way into Chiron's office and woke up his computer from sleep mode. Leo meandered around the room, looking at the pictures of demigods from countless years that were all hanging on the wall.
"Hey, there's Annabeth," he said, pointing at one of the more recent pictures, in which Annabeth was standing with Percy.
I glanced absentmindedly at the photo while I plugged the camera into the computer with a cord. "Oh yeah, and Percy," I said, not really paying attention.
"That's Percy Jackson?" Leo asked, leaning closer to the photo on the wall.
"Mm-hm," I replied, fiddling with the computer and waiting until it said that the pictures were being uploaded successfully.
"He and Annabeth sure look happy together," Leo said. "He seems like a nice guy."
"He is," I said, remembering Percy from my past two years at camp. We hadn't been close friends or anything, but we'd known each other pretty well, and he'd always been kind to me. "He's a really nice person."
"Nicer than me?" Leo asked teasingly, sidling up behind me where I was sitting in Chiron's desk chair and wrapping his arms around me.
"Maybe," I teased. "I'd think you were nicer if you stopped strangling me."
Leo pulled away with a mock-hurt look on his face. "Well, if that's how you feel," he sniffed, sounding injured. He sniffled loudly and turned his back on me.
I rolled my eyes and smiled to myself. The computer had finished uploading the pictures, so I turned on the printer and asked the computer to print them out.
When I turned back around, I noticed Leo looking at me out of the corner of his eye, still pretending to be emotionally wounded.
I rolled my eyes again. "Fine. You can strangle me all you want."
"Aw, thanks," he said, snapping back into sanity in less than a second and wrapping his arms around me again. I leaned back into him for a second before reaching for the computer again and printing out a second copy of the picture of me and Leo together. The picture whirred from the printer and I picked it up.
"That's a good picture," Leo said, gently taking it from my fingers.
"Yeah. And here's the other ones," I said, handing Leo the one of me and keeping the one of him as well as the other one of both of us for myself.
"I'll keep these close," Leo said quietly, smiling at the photos in his hands.
"I will too," I replied, shutting down the computer.
Leo squeezed my shoulder. "Of course, it doesn't compare to the real thing."
I tilted my head back to smile at him. "Well, keep some drachmas handy. If you get a spare moment, and there's a rainbow nearby, we can Iris-message."
"True, but still, it's not the same."
I sighed. "I know, but it's something."
He sighed too. "Wish I didn't have to go. Just watch me screw up."
"Don't say that," I said, getting up from my chair so I could stand face-to-face with him. "Do not say that. You're not going to screw up. You're going to be great."
He smiled. "Thanks."
I kissed his cheek. "You're welcome."
"I'm really going to miss you," he said, hugging me.
"I will too," I assured him, returning the embrace. I rested my head on his shoulder, something heavy tugging at my heart.
The ticks of the second hand on Chiron's clock seemed to echo in the office, but I paid it little attention. All I could feel were his arms around me. I closed my eyes.
"Leo?" a voice called.
Both of our heads turned toward the door to see Jason walking into the office. "Oh—sorry," he said, a slight flush appearing in his cheeks.
"It's okay," I said, smiling reassuringly at him.
"What's up?" Leo asked.
"I, um, just came to tell you that Chiron told me to come and get you," Jason said, still looking a little pinker than usual. "He said we shouldn't wait any longer. It's time to leave."