I'm SO sorry for not writing lately! I've been busy – but the important thing is that I'm back now with a brand new chapter!

Chapter 27 – Hurricanes

LEO

Love? How can you explain it?

Well, Leo just needed one word. Hazel.

He was really happy that they were kind of dating now. Sure, no one knew about it, but maybe that made it even more exciting.

Still, the worries about his mom, Khione, Tartarus and all the other stuff weren't gone. The pain of his mother's dead hadn't eased. Leo stilled dreamed about her every night, always the same dream; his mom as a ghost who screamed that he had to leave or he would get hurt and Melinoe's raspy laughing behind him. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder, and when he turned Khione was standing there with her other hand raised, ready to use her freeze-powers. Leo tried to summon fire, but it didn't work. Khione smiled coldly and aimed her hand at the ghost of Leo's mother, who froze to a statue. Leo screamed and suddenly he could summon the fire, but he lost control. The flames surrounded them, Melinoe's and Khione's laughing echoed in his mind, he couldn't see but refused to stop looking for his mom, he couldn't lose her again…

Leo woke up, drenched in sweat and breathing hard.

It didn't matter how many times he dreamed it, it always scared him out of his mind. Slowly Leo started to breath normally again. He got up and sat down by the desktop in the room and started to work with the things he left there the night before.

Leo wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was frightened. He had started to dread sleep. He was too tired to do anything on the days, and he couldn't sleep at night. Hazel had pointed out how tired he looked and asked if he had nightmares, but he had changed subject. Even the other started to get suspicious, mostly because he blacked out and fell off his chair once in the mess hall.

He didn't remember anything from the time he spent insane. Hazel had told him about all the rambling and stuff, but when he asked what he had been talking about she would just clear her throat and pretend to not hear him. The other demigods wouldn't answer that question either.

It was just two days until August 1th, and Leo was pretty sure they would reach Greece in any day now. They had figured out Khione and Melinoe's plan, Nico knew where the House of Hades was, and after so many days of doing nothing everybody was prepared for a good fight.

Leo sat and fiddled with his machine parts until the morning came. He hauled himself to the mess hall, where Piper and Hazel was sitting and chatting. Hazel's face lit up when she saw Leo, but it quickly turned to a worried expression.

"Leo, what's wrong? You look awful."

"Well, so nice of you." Leo said and rolled his eyes.

"No, Leo, Hazel is right." Piper said and put down her cup with hot chocolate with a frown. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

Leo sat down and ordered a coffee. Not because he liked coffee, it was disgusting, but it kept him awake for a few hours.

"I'm fine, and I'm not tired."

"Yeah, that's why you are spilling all your coffee on your plate." Hazel said and smiled ironically.

Too late, Leo realized she was right. He put down the coffee and cursed.

"What's up. cupcakes?" A new voice said suddenly. Coach Hedge stepped into the mess hall with is baseball bat slung over his shoulder. "Are we in Greece yet?"

"No, not yet, coach." Hazel said, still frowning at Leo. He refused to meet her gaze.

"Why is it coffee on Valdez plate?"

Leo sighed and started to clean up what he spilled.

"Can everybody just lay off my coffee? It just told me that it feels very humiliated." He said.

Piper raised one eyebrow, but no one said anything.

That was when it happened.

It was like an explosion. The whole ship tumbled sideways, a loud bang made the girls scream. Leo rose to his feet and ran to Hazel's side. She was hugging he stomach and looked green, but she managed a small:

"I'm fine. We have to see what's going on!"

Piper and Coach Hedge had already started to run for the deck. Hazel and Leo followed them.

When Leo came there, he looked around him hysterically, looking for the cause of the tumult. Jason, Nico and Frank were already there, but when Leo saw what was wrong he forgot everything about the others.

"What the hell are you doing on my ship?!" He yelled at the goddess.

Khione was casually leaning toward the helm, which had started to freeze by her mere touch.

"I needed to speak with you." She said.

The sound of her voice sent a chill down Leo's spine, and the memories of the nightmare washed over him.

"You're not permitted on my ship, ice princess." He said with disgust.

"Is it like this you treat guests?" Khione asked with a cold smile and spread her hands.

"Guest?! You've only made our lives miserable. So leave immediately or we'll fight you." Jason said and gripped his sword.

"Oh yeah, cupcake! I'll kill you, and then we will bury your body in-"

Piper nudged Coach Hedge so he would stop.

Khione looked bored.

"First, son of Jupiter, I was under the influence of Gaea. And you, satyr, can't kill me. I'm immortal. Let me finish now."

Leo glared at her, rage rushing through his body. It was when Hazel gasped he finally realized that his hair was on fire.

"I'm here to give you my apologies. I'm sorry for trying to kill you."

Piper snorted. Khione looked at her, and Leo saw her eyes burning with anger. A moment later it was gone, hidden behind her cold mask.

"I know you know about Melinoe and my plan. But you have to understand that she was forcing me to do it. I'm not on her side anymore, I'm here to help you."

Leo had never heard something that sounded less fake. He started to laugh, ignoring the looks the other gave me.

"Is this an offer? Because I want that even less than I want to join your ice-doll collection back in your daddy's palace. So get gone."

He locked eyes with Khione. He could see how angry she really was, he felt how the temperature dropped.

Leo summoned fire on his finger.

"You wanna taste this again? You ran last time. I'm glad to take up that fight again."

"And we're going to help him." Hazel said grimly. "You have three seconds to leave before we fight you." She draw her sword, her face still a little green. But Leo never thought of her that beautiful.

The others nodded grimly and draw their weapons. Leo grinned to Khione.

"I said get gone, ice witch."

For a second, Khione looked startled. Then she straightened and smiled coldly.

"Well, if you want to settle it that way…"

The temperature dropped ten degrees in a second. A snow-hurricane started to swirl around Khione, and lifted her up in the air. Leo's grin widened and he made his hands catch flames.

"You know what, demigods?!" Khione screamed over the sound of the growing hurricane. "You don't deserve my apologies. You will be the first victims who were stupid enough to stand up to me and Melinoe. Enjoy your last moments of life!"

"So you do work with her!" Piper yelled. "We know your silly plan! You're not gonna win!"

Khione smirked.

"Let's see about that, daughter of the love goddess."

She shot a blast of ice toward Piper, who didn't have time to duck. She froze to an ice statue.

"No! You're gonna pay for that!" Coach Hedge yelled and ran toward Khione with his baseball bat raised, but before he reached her he froze too.

"You haven't a chance." She laughed coldly.

Jason shut his eyes and concentrated. A hurricane started to swirl around him, and it didn't stop grow before he was floating in midair. It looked really cool. He lunged toward Khione with his gladius raised, and before she could do anything he had cut her shoulder.

"What did you just do?!" She growled and aimed her blast of fire at him, but he dodged it.

At the same time, Leo ran to Piper and melted the ice with a blast of fire.

"Thanks." She gasped.

Frank shot a bunch of arrows at Khione, but before they touched her they froze to ice and fell down. Death kid (a.k.a. Nico) made three skeletons rise from the floor, but they didn't even have time to turn toward the snow goddess before they were transformed to snow.

Hazel gripped Leo's arm.

"Show that ice witch, Leo." She said with shining eyes. "You are the only one of us she fears! You can do the same thing to her as she did to Festus."

Without even thinking, Leo kissed her. He didn't stick around to see her reaction; he ran toward the snow-hurricane and felt how his whole body caught fire on the way.

Next chapter comes later!