Chapter 12

Leo's POV:

When Anneira collapsed, I kinda freaked out. Then, when she started screaming, I thought I was going to explode. Now, we were trapped in this basement thing, with Khione. After Dylan ran off, I stepped closer to Anneira, angling myself protectively around her. Khione smiled sweetly at me, "Hello Leo, how are you?" "Fine." I muttered, "Just fine."

Thats when the man walked into the room. He was tall and pale. His hair was blonde and short, and he had pure black eyes. "Hello," his voice sounded raspy, like a snakes, "I am Joe, son of Chaos, titan of fear." I laughed, "Joe. An evil titan named Joe." He glared at me, "Anyway, I am here on behalf of Chaos. Your unwilling deaths will feed my father and he will be strong again!"

My hand curled into a fist. "Oh Leo, so brave. But you forget, I know everything you fear." Images flashed in my mind: my mother, burning in a fire; my friends, dying; Anneira, being kissed by Andy. I shook with rage.

"And Anneira, why don't we show Leo here what you fear." Images formed out of smoke in the middle of the room: A lovely women, dying on a bed; Autumn, exploding into light; and me, lying dead on the floor. Tears trickled down her face. I put my arm around her waist, and she turned toward me. She buried her face in my chest.

Part of me screamed at myself for showing how much I cared for her, but I figured these people already new. So no harm done. Joe smiled, "Even now, your friends are failing in their quest." The images in the smoke changed to show Autumn, Sasha, and Dylan desperately trying to push get into a cage. Autumn turned and said something to Sasha, but she shook her head.

Autumn's face was set in a hard mask. "Oh no, no Autumn!" Anneira gasped. Autumn raised her hands and lights danced around her. The cage shuddered. She started floating up, her red hair flowing around her shoulders. The bars broke, and Autumn looked up and screamed, exploding into light. Sasha screamed and tried to run forward, but Dylan held her back. She sobbed as Dylan held her, tears running down his own face. The three men in the cage rose. The smoke disappeared.

Anneira was shaking in my arms, her chest heaved as she sobbed into my arms. Khione smiled coldly, "The Big Three have been saved, and that little girl sacrificed. So sad." Anneira rose shakily and stumbled forward. She reached Khione, and stared the goddess in the eyes. Then, everything turned cold Ice spiderwebbed around her feet, freezing the floor. Everything turned to ice. Khione looked shocked. The temperatures dropped, and icy snow started to swirl around Anneira.

Khione swirled out of existence, but Joe just stood there in shock. His nose turned blue. Ice storm swirled around him and when it faded, he was incased in a block of ice. Anneira gasped, and the ice speed towards the only warm thing left in the room: me.

Anneira's POV:

The ice swirled towards Leo. He looked towards me in shock, "Anneira, stop it!" he yelled as the ice continued to swirl around him. Panic welled up inside me, I couldn't control it, "I can't stop it Leo!" I screamed. He was shivering, fires flickering around him froze as quickly as they formed. He stared at me in fear, "Anneira, I can't…" He was cut off my the ice spiderwebbing over his face. the ice expanded, forming a block of ice around him.

Suddenly, everything fell silent. The room glistened beautifully, but I just stared at Leo, frozen solid in a block of ice. I stumbled towards him, my heart racing. "Oh Leo, I'm so sorry." I whispered. I placed my hand on the ice. I sobbed in desperation. I had to melt the ice. Wait a second…I could do that! I imagined the ice melting. The place where my hand was turned to water. I concentrated harder, and melted more of the ice, until I reached his hand. His hand was cold and still, but I pushed on.

Eventually, I melted the upper half of the block. He was breathing shallowly and his heartbeat was irregular. In a sudden burst of strength, I melted the rest of the ice, and he collapsed into my arms. I lay him on the ground and brushed his wet hair away from his face. "Leo, please. You have to be okay." I whispered. His skin seamed a little warmer, but he was still too cold. I didn't know how else to heat him up, so I kissed him.

His eyes flew open and he gasped. I laughed, because I was so relieved he was alive. I pulled him into a hug, and this time I didn't let go for a while. Finally, I pulled back to see his shocked expression and laughed. Then, I noticed something rather bad, the kiss hadn't just heated up Leo, it had also heated me up and I had melted all the ice in the room. Leo noticed it to, "Oops." He said. I helped him up and we spun around the room, looking for Joe. Suddenly an invisible force slammed us apart.

I hit the wall and collapsed. Joe appeared in front of me, "That was a very clever trick." He cackled, "But it wasn't quite enough." His hand shot out and he pulled me up, pressing me against him. Leo struggled up in the corner, and Joe flicked his hand knocking Leo down. "You're a very pretty little girl," he purred, his hand stroking my face, "and I've seen from Leo's memories how it feels to kiss you." Leo struggled up again, "No." he grunted before collapsing again. I searched his mind for something to help me. I found it.

Then, I did what was either the best or worst thing possible, I kicked a titan in the balls. He grunted and doubled over, loosening his grip on me enough for me to pull free. I ran over to Leo, who had finally managed to get up. I grasped his hand and said, "We have to destroy the floor, there's a pit underneath that leads to tarturus." Leo nodded. He pressed his other hand to the floor and sent a wave of heat through it, while I froze it. The stone floor cracked just when Joe recovered.

"No!" he screamed as the floor broke and he fell into Tarturus, "You cannot defeat us, I am only the first of many!" His voice faded away into the abyss. The floor continued to crumble. As we turned and ran to the door, I felt the ground go out from under me and I slid into the pit