Chapter Two

Leo

In a certain in Bunker Eight, Leo was half awake, staring at the still darkness, and lying down on his bed. Dawn was beginning to curl up the horizon, and the misty clouds covered the camp. A great day for sailing, or surfing for that matter. But it was just too early.

He sighed, and then for the umpteenth time, looked under his pillow for something. His hand emerged out with a slightly crumpled drawing, thanks to countless of people grabbing it to compare it to the blueprints that had made the Argo II a reality. Leo couldn't believe it himself that the stupid crayon drawing that he had made as a kid was becoming true. That was at least one thing that was his claim to fame. He took one last look at the drawing, and then stuffed the drawing inside a black backpack.

The Argo II had taken awhile to complete, two months and a week. It wasn't exactly simple to create an enormous ship that could withstand at least a few big storms and a few fights from some sea monsters, much to Jason's dismay. Plus, the gods seemed to be preventing them from going to the Roman camp-it was either too cold or hot, although Leo could tolerate the heat, the cold could go to extreme limits, and it reminded him of the ice princess, Khione. He couldn't help wondering if she had a spy in camp, causing all the damage. The thought escape from his mind just as soon as it came. He wasn't exactly going to welcome her with open arms, and he knew it was the same with her the next time they met. Next time they crossed paths, Khione was out to kill Leo.

Bored out of his mind, Leo stood up as quietly as possible, trying to awaken his other bunkmates. The backpack hung loosely from his shoulders, and he took small and slow steps, wincing slightly as the door creaked as he opened it. A cool breeze came in, not too hot nor cold. He shut the door silently, and then looked out to the camp.

It looked actually somewhat peaceful, with only a few campers hanging around the place, and the nymphs that made a small crowd in their respective places. Although Leo thought the nymphs looked cute, he didn't want to make a move on them, seeing what they did to a certain satyr a few weeks ago.

He scanned the area for Piper and Jason. Jason, he guessed, was probably in the training centre, or still sleeping. Piper was usually with him, but Leo doubted she was awake at four in the morning. The pretty Aphrodite girl valued her sleep too much.

Piper and Jason had been spending a lot of time together lately. Not that Leo was jealous or anything. Sure, he was okay with the two of his friends happy and enjoying each other, but he couldn't exactly hang out with them when it was obvious that they wanted to spend time together. Sometimes, Leo felt slightly left out. Okay, maybe he was slightly jealous. Only slightly. And he hadn't had a good relationship ever since the venti had attacked the three.

Well, it was obvious they were going to end up together, it was clear even if it was clouded by the Mist, a voice said snidely in his head. It was only a matter of time. What, you thought things were always going to be perfect with the three of you, happily contented and-

Shut up, Leo thought angrily, mentally trying to shut up the voice-even if it was true. He didn't need to be reminded of the things that he knew already.

That's like trying to turn off the truth, isn't it?

Leo resisted the urge to attack his head. It wasn't exactly going to help his situation if someone saw him attacking himself in the middle of nowhere. And plus, that would shut down any chance of him getting a girlfriend. Instead, he thoughtwearily, I know.

He decided to head towards the training centre, otherwise known as the "We-Kill-Dummies Centre". Even if Jason wasn't there, he could use the chance to brush up his skills. As Leo started to go towards the place, a voice made him stop cold.

"Leo!" Annabeth's voice reached closer to him, panting slightly.

He turned around, facing the grey-eyed girl, resisting the urge to heave a groan. "Wassup dude?" Not that Annabeth was another threat of evil that needed a dose of Leo's hammer. It's just that she was so…obsessive over everything. Annoying even. She had been practically breathing through the Hephaestus's kids necks every single time, and criticizing every single little flaw, worrying over the smallest details, and even making Nyssa rant about her one night, on the day when Annabeth had yelled at her for forgetting to chop down some oak wood. Sure, the Athena kids were good at these stuff. Sure, she was just concerned about her boyfriend Percy. But still, she made Leo cringe inwardly each time she passed by his way, worried that she'd make another comment about something.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Where are Jason and Piper?"

"Somewhere?" Leo said meekly, cringing again under her grey eyes. This girl could freak the freak out of him if she could.

"'Somewhere?'" Annabeth mocked Leo, making air quotes. "'Somewhere?'" She repeated, practically stretching the words out in the air.

"How should I know?" Leo shrugged his shoulders, trying to keep his cool.

She looked at him as if he had suggested that he was her father. "You guys are always together!"

Always? Now that wanted to make Leo laugh bitterly. "Um dude, not always. Maybe about forty percent of the time, but not always," he pointed out.

"Whatever," Annabeth said, tapping her foot impatiently. "Could you please get them now? I need to know if they know what they're doing."

Great. Now he was a pack mule. "Fine," Leo replied smoothly. He began to walk away towards the training centre when Annabeth stopped him once more.

"Leo?" She said, hesitating slightly. "I guess I have to say something this time."

"What?"

"I'm sorry for acting like a bitch."

Incredulously, he turned around. When he meant to say thanks or something polite, what came out of his mouth was, "Only now?" Leo mentally facepalmed himself at the sound of those words.

"Yeah. I guess I was just…worried. About Percy and Gaia," Annabeth said slowly. "And I just got caught up on everything, and…" She finished lamely, the words flying in the air.

"Hey, it's no prob," Leo said casually. "Sure, you sent us on the edge, drove about half of our cabin insane, reduced several into a mental breakdown, destroyed an entire toolbox when you tried to throw it Harvey, and dented Apollo's face in the edge when we carved it into the ship. Yup, everything's going to be alright."

The corner of her mouth twitched up slightly. "Wow. I really did that?"

"Yeah, you're a real charmer," Leo answered sarcastically.

Annabeth grinned. "Well then," she continued, confidence regaining her voice, "will you please call Jason and Piper now? I really need to talk some stuff out with three of you, unless you don't want to-"

"I said I'd do it," Leo cut in. "So I will."

"Thanks Valdez," Annabeth said quietly. From that angle, she looked like she was going to fall apart any moment. Her blonde hair hung limp from her ponytail, and her eyes drooped and there were some slight tinges of red in them. Had she been crying all this time?

"No problem." Leo flashed a quick smile, and then started to walk towards the arena. He thought about Annabeth's expression back then. He had a slight suspicion that it was mostly about Percy. I mean, what was the point of crying over the Earth? As he got closer to the arena, Leo decided he was done with life. Finto, nada, nothing. It was pretty useless in his opinion. Sure, it made you happy for a second or so. But then what you do when it was gone?

I'm pretty becoming like my dad, Leo thought cynically. Both of us hate Aphrodite: love. It uses us, and then makes us feel like we're worthless when the chick dumps us for another dude. You know what they say: like father, like son. Wait, why am I being so low lately? I'm supposed to be the happy, calm and weird dude. But thanks to love, I'm nothing.

Nothing, the trees seemed to echo, as the leaves swayed in the wind. Nothing at all.

Leo felt enraged. Filled with the jealousy and resentment he'd felt over the past few months, he grabbed a smooth stone from the ground, and with all his strength, flung it at the tree. "Shut up!" He yelled, cracking slightly. "I said shut up!"

And like that they did-but not in the way Leo expected.

Suddenly, a crack echoed from the ground. Quickly, Leo looked down at the ground. A huge line had pierced the soil…and it was growing.

"No way…" Leo mouthed.

"Earthquake!" That single word seemed to break the spell, uttered by a terrified looking Hypnos kid. "Gaia!"

It happened all so fast.

Annabeth shouting, "Run Leo! Get Jason, I'll get Piper, we need to leave now! Lead them to the ship!"

Him somehow frozen there. How the earth seemed to paralyze him, and how Leo wanted to stay there forever…until something roughly jabbed his back.

"Leo!" Clarisse yelled in his ear, her voice making him flinch. "Get Jason NOW!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Leo snapped. "I was getting to that!" And that's when he took a full grasp of the situation.

The campers were running around and screaming, heading towards random directions. Others were somehow like Leo's situation earlier, staring at the ground with blank eyes, as if there was something interesting there. Obviously they didn't have an earthquake here at Camp Half Blood. Clarisse had already moved on to the next person in the trance, using the same method that she used to awaken Leo. He knew this was bad. With all the speed he could muster, he ran towards the training centre.

As he passed by each person, chaos was evident everywhere. There were some campers, shooting at the ground, and one even tried to stick his sword through the ground. A giant crack was formed, and all thanks to gravity, the camper was pulled into the blackness.

Horrified, Leo didn't noticed until a few seconds later that Jason was right in front of him. He blinked, and noticed that Jason was trying to speak with him.

"…we need to go, right?" Jason seemed to say, his voice drowning down in the screams of the campers.

That made him snap out of his head. "Of course amigo," Leo said quickly. "There's a freaking giant earthquake, and you're asking that?"

"Yeah, I apparently have a weird view on emergencies," Jason replied, eyeing the giant cracks edgily. "We better run fast."

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