Hello again everybody XD

New chapter, and this time, FROM LEO'S POV!

Please tell me (in a review) if I mess up. I don't want anyone to don't like Leo or so because of that I screwed up.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6 – Sleep, at last

LEO

Leo was on fire.

He was standing at the helm and trying to kill the flames that danced on his cheeks. Luckily, no one was there to see this embarrassing incident.

He had tried very hard to avoid Hazel since he spoke with Frank in Camp Fish-Blood, but something always made Leo to go and see her. It was like he couldn't control his own actions when he was with her.

And Hazel was not Leo's only problem (if you could call a cute, awesome girl a problem). That nightmare he dreamed a while ago about his mom just wouldn't let him sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, that horrible image of his mother (as a ghost) staring at him with terrified eyes popped up.

We will meet soon.

The words kept appear in Leo's thoughts, like a mini Coach Hedge inside his head poking him with a baseball bat and screaming: "WE WILL MEET SOON! WE WILL MEET SOON!". He just couldn't stop thinking about the dream. Leo thought he hadn't missed his mother so much since the first months after her dead.

Festus woke him up from his thoughts.

"No sign of a monster." Leo translated Festus' creaks.

Sure, it was a relief, but Leo wanted to do something that needed all of his concentration, like fighting a monster. He needed to get his thoughts off his mom and Hazel.

Just thinking of Hazel's name made him feel warm inside, like someone had wrapped a warm blanket around his heart. Wow, that girl really was cute. Her golden eyes, her cinnamon hair, her warm smile. Leo couldn't believe that she was related to Mr. Creepy Death Kid.

He looked at the horizon. What had Hazel said? You are not a machine, Leo, you are a human. Humans forget. And forgive.

Leo cursed himself for telling Hazel that no one cared about him. Sure, he felt that way sometimes (okay, pretty often), but why did he have to say that to Hazel?! Now she thought he was some freak who just wanted attention.

Wow, I am so great at chatting with girls! I tend to be a freak or run away when they kiss me! Leo thought sarcastically.

Leo didn't know what to think about that kiss. It was a light, small kiss on the cheek, it didn't need to be anything more than friendly. Still, the thought of it made Leo smile and blush.

"Festus, where are we? What's our location?" He asked to get his mind off Hazel.

Creak. Creak. Squeak. Creak.

"Oh, good. Soon there." Leo mumbled.

He gazed at the sea that surrounded the Argo II. It surely was a beautiful view, but Leo's demigod-ish powers shouted: WARNING! WARNING! MONSTERS!

He wondered who this other enemy his mom mentioned could be. Leo was sure it was someone from the Underworld, but the names Hazel had said didn't feel right. He didn't know much about the death and their world, but he was pretty sure that when he researched about demigods with fire-powers at Camp Half-Blood, he found some old myth about an evil goddess who lived in the Underworld…

Leo felt like he had forgotten something, something really important. Almost like that feeling when he forgot the sonar. That thought made him check if it was on.

He really was exhausted. The only thing he really wanted to do right now was to sleep in a bed, but he knew it was impossible. Leo didn't want to see his mom's scared face again.

Gods, he missed her.

If they made it to the Doors of Death, maybe Leo would meet her there. He maybe even could smuggle her out to the real world, giving her life again. He tried to imagine that, feeling her arms around him or hearing her nice voice again.

Leo took a shaky breath and forced back the tears. No, she couldn't be saved. Esperanza Valdez was dead, and thinking that she could make it back would just drive Leo crazy.

A feeling of being watched made Leo turn. Frank was standing a few meters from him with a grim expression.

"Hi." Leo said. "What are you doing up?"

Frank shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep. And you?"

"Me neither. I'm just steering. Just a few days until we reach Greece, a week maybe." Leo said.

"Oh. Good." Frank looked uneasy. "And, uh, I am sorry for what I said before."

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"About the ship not being fast enough." Frank mumbled.

"When did you say that?" Leo frowned. He didn't remember Frank mentioning something like that.

Frank blinked.

"At breakfast yesterday. Y-You didn't hear me?"

Leo laughed bitterly. At breakfast the day before he had been thinking of his dream and how to make a hat that deleted memories, so he finally would be able to sleep.

"I guess I was lost in thoughts."

"Well, I'm sorry. It's an awesome ship, really. I can't believe you built it yourself."

Leo was surprised. This wasn't what he expected Frank to say to him.

"S'okay. And I didn't build it all by myself, my siblings helped me a lot. But thanks." He said.

Frank shifted on his feet.

They just stood there, feeling awkward, until Leo said:

"You should go to sleep. It is really early."

"I'm not so sleepy. You need any help?"

Build me a memory-deleting hat and steer while I'll go and take a nap, then you're really helpful, Leo wanted to say.

"No, it's okay."

"You know, you don't look okay. Your eyes are half-closed." Frank pointed out.

"What?" Leo felt his eyes closing. "No, no, I'm okay. Really."

Frank smiled a little.

"Just because I am clumsy it does not mean I can't call for you if the ship starts to fall. Set Festus on autopilot, and please don't forget the sonar. Then it will be fine."

Leo wanted to protest, but it was hopeless. His eyes were already closing, and he felt like he started to fall.

"O-Okay then." He decided. "The sonar is on. Promise to call for me if something goes wrong. Festus, you are responsible for Mr. Shape Shifter so he won't destroy my master ship."

Festus creaked. Leo sat him on autopilot, and started to walk to his cabin.

"Call for me if something goes wrong, okay?"

"You can trust me, Valdez." Frank said.

"I wish." Leo snorted.

He almost fell down dead on the way to the cabin, but finally he was there. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

"Morning, Flaming Valdez." Piper's voice said.

"What?"

Leo sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"10 AM, sleepyhead." Piper smirked. "Or are you too tired to get up, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Ah, shut up, Beauty Queen." Leo said and yawned.

Piper was standing in front of him. Her hair was braided with red feathers today, and she wore tattered jeans and a green t-shirt with the words LIVE EVERY DAY AS IF IT IS YOUR LAST. As always, she looked pretty, but Leo didn't care about that. She was just a friend.

He was surprised that he hadn't dreamed of his mother, and the fact that he really had fallen asleep this time.

"Now when you're awake, come with me. Everybody's up, they are eating breakfast."

Leo froze.

"Is the ship okay? Is Festus alright? No monsters?"

Piper laughed, and Leo felt like they were back at Wilderness School again. Just the two of them, joking around and having fun. It was the first school where Leo hadn't considered to run away from.

"Everything is alright, Valdez. Come on, you look terrible. You need to eat."

Leo didn't protest. He followed Piper to the mess hall. Jason smiled when he saw Leo.

"Here he comes, our one and only Supreme Commander: Sleeping Beauty!"

Leo bowed and grinned.

"Thank you! Thank you very much, dear fans. You'll get autographs later!"

He sat down and ordered his plate to give him eggs and bacon. Everybody continued to eat while discussing random things ("No, I'm not allergic to pumpkin, I just don't like the taste of it!" and "You really like that t-shirt?! Seriously?!").

Leo felt someone's eyes on him, and when he looked up he saw that Hazel, who sat on the opposite end of the table, was regarding him with a little smile. When she saw that he was looking she blushed and looked away. Leo felt himself blush a little too.

"So, now then?" Coach Hedge said. "Valdez, any news?"

"Well, according to Festus we are in Greece in about a week." Almost everybody started to protest. Leo sighed. "I know it is late, but we can't do anything about it."

"But it's soon August 1th!" Jason protested. "That's when Gaea will awake!"

"It is August 1th in exactly one week." Hazel said. "We will be there by then."

"Hazel's right." Piper said. "We will defeat Gaea, close the Doors and save Percy and Annabeth."

The silence after that was eerie. Leo had the feeling that everybody was thinking the same thing as he did: Are we gonna make it?

And Leo knew that if the Doors had to be locked from both sides, someone had to stay trapped in Tartarus. He looked at everyone at the table. No one of them deserved to get trapped in a huge pit of evil.

"Any news about Percy and Annabeth?" Jason asked Hazel and Nico.

"Well, they aren't dead yet." Nico answered.

"Yet." Leo repeated.

"Nico tried to speak with Pluto-I mean Hades-but he was too torn between his Roman and Greek aspects so he could not get him to try to help Percy and Annabeth." Hazel said. She sounded sad and angry, and Leo wished he hadn't said anything.

"It's okay. They will make it through." Leo promised.

"How can you be so sure?" Nico asked him and frowned.

Leo took a deep breath. He didn't know really, he had just blurted that out 'cause he wanted Hazel to be happy again. But if he really thought about it, he was pretty sure Percy and Annabeth would make it.

"You said it yourself, that they are really strong demigods." Leo reminded Death Kid. "And Mr. Poseidon-ish Powers together with Ms. Scary Smart Blond-Girl are smart, strong and experienced. They are unstoppable."

It was quiet for a moment. Leo wondered if his words would mean anything for the others. He just told them what he thought.

"You know what, Repair Boy is right." Piper said suddenly. She said it with such a force that everybody started to nod and agree. She probably didn't know that she used charmspeak. "Percy and Annabeth adventured together before, and they are a really good team. They will make it through."

Leo searched for a sign in Hazel's face that she believed in it, but she was looking down at her plate. Unforunately, Frank noticed that Leo was looking and put an arm around her protectively.

Without even realizing, Leo had eaten all of his food. He felt stronger than ever after a few hours sleep and a plate of eggs and bacon.

"I didn't contact Nyssa the day before yesterday, so I am going to Iris Message her. You can just hang out and do whatever you wanna do." He said to the others.

Coach Hedge looked happy, but the other looked a little miffed.

"So there is nothing we can do? Are we just going to 'hang out' and try to avoid thinking of Percy and Annabeth?!" Piper said.

"Whoa, take it easy, Beauty Queen." Leo grinned. "If you want to, you can clean up a little. But at the moment, that's all you can do."

"Plus, it will certainly pop up some monster." Hazel added. "We are in the Mare Nostrum, after all."

Piper still looked baffled, but Coach Hedge grinned and said:

"Well, cupcakes, you're gonna have to clean up by yourselves, 'cause this satyr needs to watch TV and take a nap." He left the table, with a clop clop clop from his hooves.

"Fine then. I'll start to clean up." Piper sighed. "Jason, you're coming?"

"Sure." Jason shrugged. "But 'hanging out' sounded kinda' nice too…"

"Come on, Lightning Boy, I don't wanna do this alone." Piper dragged Jason with her.

Nico frowned at Leo.

"Don't all these TV's and stuff attract monsters?"

Leo grinned.

"Of course! But we got the sonar, and a fire-breathing dragon head. Don't worry."

Nico raised an eyebrow. Then he rose from his seat and left the table.

Now it was only Frank, Hazel and Leo left. The silence was kinda' awkward, so Leo decided to leave.

"I'll see you guys later." He shot Hazel a look, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. Maybe she was embarrassed about that kiss.

Anyway, Leo walked up on deck and dug out a drachma from his pockets.

"A rainbow…" He muttered. "Festus, you know how to make a rainbow?"

It was a sunny day, typical summer-weather. The sunlight would easily make a rainbow. All Leo needed was water.

He found an old bottle of water someone probably forgot some days ago and poured it down at the floor. Soon it was enough water for the sunlight to reflect in the water as a rainbow.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Nyssa, Cabin 9 or the forges, Camp Half-Blood." Leo said. It sounded pretty weird, but when he threw the drachma in the water it vanished and a dim image of Nyssa standing in the forges showed.

"Hey, sis'." Leo said. Nyssa turned and looked surprised.

"Leo! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. We're on our way to Greece to save Percy and Annabeth and all that other stuff." Leo said and grinned. "How's everybody?"

Nyssa shrugged.

"As always, I suppose."

"You've been exploring more of Bunker 9?"

"Not yet." Nyssa looked uneasy. "Chiron doesn't like us working down there. But we will soon. Thanks for the hand, by the way."

Leo had built a robot hand of Celestial Bronze that could summon fire, so the other Hephaestus kids could go in too Bunker 9 without Leo being there. It wasn't that great, but he still felt happy that his siblings liked it.

"It worked?" He asked.

"Yeah, surprisingly good. The rock should have felt that it wasn't a real hand that touched it…"

"It is a rock, Nyssa."

"…But it worked. So, yeah, thanks."

They were silent for a moment, until Leo said:

"And, well, I found something pretty cool a while ago when we were in Rome."

Nyssa didn't look surprised.

"What you think is 'pretty cool' is either super dangerous or hopeless, little brother."

"Hey!" Leo protested.

She sighed.

"Go on."

"Yeah… You remember Archimedes? Well, I kinda'... found his book."

Nyssa's expression turned from confusion to disbelief to astonishment in the matter of seconds.

"What?! The real book?! Archimedes' book?!"

"Yep. I've copied the scrolls and sent them. They will be there by tomorrow. You will need them, his work maybe can help you defend camp from the Romans."

"Wow, Leo… This is amazing! Do you know how much we can use this?! I-"

"I get it." Leo laughed. "Well, good luck then. Start to work on the spheres first, they are totally awesome."

He swung his foot through the Iris Message so it dissolved. Leo almost laughed out loud; Nyssa's face had been priceless.

Then, like a sword cutting through a monster, a voice cut through his thoughts:

"LEO!"

Okay, I know. I am really bad at writing about Leo. Please review and tell me what I can do better!

Bye!