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Chapter 32 – The arrive

HAZEL

Hazel didn't keep track of time.

She had sat on the edge of Leo's bed, looking at his adorable sleeping face for maybe an hour. She twisted his black curls, ran her fingers through his hair and just listened to his heavy breathing. Hazel was happy that he got to sleep without nightmares for once, but she felt like she really needed to talk to him too. This thing about his mother's death… It kept haunting him. Sure, Hazel had sometimes thought that she was the cause of her mother's death, but Leo really blamed himself for everything that happened. He couldn't stop thinking of it, he couldn't stop waiting for her ghost to come and blame him. Hazel was supposed to be his girlfriend (well, secret girlfriend), she was supposed to make him feel good and be happy. But she felt that she was losing her grip around Leo, slowly letting him drown in the darkness of his guilt and pain.

"You should come now, we will be in Greece in half an hour."

Piper was standing in the doorway. She didn't ask why Hazel was in Leo's cabin, which Hazel was really grateful for. She had a feeling that Piper had knew about them all the time.

"We'll be there in a minute."

Piper nodded. She shot a look at Leo and then said:

"You're a cute couple."

A smile flashed over Hazel's face. Piper smiled back and then left.

Hazel shook Leo's shoulders. He groaned and moved, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Leo, come on. We're half an hour away from Greece. You need to wake up."

After a few minutes, Leo opened his eyes. He grinned when he saw Hazel.

"Good morning, Ms. Metal Detector."

Hazel rolled her eyes and rose from the bed. Leo sat up and rubbed his eyes, and then looked at Hazel again.

"Let's go and kick some giants' asses, right?"

She gave him a weak smile.

"That wasn't what you wanted to do a few hours ago."

Leo looked troubled.

"I'm sorry for weeping like that. It isn't something I do often, believe me. I-" But before he could finish, Hazel cut him off with a kiss.

"Come on." She said. "Let's go and fight some giants."

The others were standing on deck, ready. Piper had Katopris in her hand, Jason was standing next to her with his gladius, Frank had his bow raised, Nico was holding his black sword and Coach Hedge had his baseball bat slung over his right shoulder. The satyr was the only one who looked happy.

As soon as Leo and Hazel came there, Frank shot them a look. But before Hazel could make out if he was angry or anything, he turned away.

"Are you guys ready?" Jason asked.

"Do we have a plan?" Hazel asked uncertainly and drew her spartha.

"We don't split up. Nico leads us to the House of Hades, we save Percy and Annabeth and then close the Doors of Death." Frank said.

"And then we fight." Jason had a grim expression, but his knuckles were white and his face was pale. "Hopefully, we will be stronger with Percy and Annabeth on our side."

"Hopefully." Nico repeated. "There's a huge risk that they are too weak to fight. You saw how weak I was after being in Tartarus. And, we don't even know if they have survived."

A thick silence followed Nico's dark words. Hazel wished he hadn't said anything.

Coach Hedge snorted.

"Don't be so boring, cupcakes. We fight, we find Percy and Annabeth, we close the Doors, we fight more. As simple as that."

Piper nodded.

"Coach Hedge is right. Let's just concentrate on what we're gonna do right now. In ten minutes, we'll have to land. Leo?"

"On it." Leo rushed to the helm and started to steer.

"Nico, you have to show us the way to the House of Hades. You know the way, right?"

Nico nodded grimly. Hazel realized that even he was scared; his face was paler than usual and his grip of his sword was very tight. She walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder, though she didn't really know if he would appreciate it.

He actually gave Hazel a grateful look. She smiled a little and then turned her gaze to the city under the flying ship. It wasn't pretty.

Giants and all kinds of monsters were destroying the city. You could hear the growling and screaming. Mortals were running in terror, screaming and staring at the ugly creatures that were stomping around. Hazel didn't know how much the mortals saw through the mist, but they definitely knew something was wrong.

She realized she was shaking. Small pieces of metal that was lying here and there on the ship, pieces of some of Leo's inventions that had gone wrong, started to move toward Hazel. And she wasn't the only one who was scared; Piper became paler for every second and Frank looked like he was going to faint. Nico's knuckles were white, and he had to take a new grip around the black swordpretty often because of his sweaty palms. Small bolts of lightning flashed around Jason. Leo was furiously tapping the buttons and pulling the levers on the helm.

"C'mon, cupcakes, don't look so scared! This is gonna be awesome!" Coach Hedge grinned like a crazy goat. He wasn't looking scared or frightened at all.

Hazel swallowed.

"Yeah, coach. Of course." Jason muttered.

"Brace yourselves, we're landing!" Leo warned.

The ship tipped a little, and Hazel could feel how it slowed down. The city was coming closer and closer. Festus breathed fire.

"Is this Athens?" Hazel asked Nico.

"Yeah." Nico's eyes were dark. "Let's see how long it will last."

Hazel felt her throat closing up.

Then, the ship hit the ground. They landed in a forest, and some of the trees got crushed under the ship. It was pretty close to the city, Hazel suspected, since she could still hear the screaming and other sounds of fight very clear.

"What are we gonna do with Athena Parthenos?" Leo suddenly asked when they walked out from the ship. "Maybe it could help us fight, but it's impossible to carry it with us."

Hazel hadn't thought of that, and judging by the expressions of the others, she was pretty sure no one had.

"Can't we just leave it here, in the Argo II?" Jason asked. "Festus will guard the ship while we fight. If we'll need the statue, we can just try and lead the enemies here or something."

Leo shrugged.

"We don't have a better plan, do we?"

Coach Hedge looked incredibly happy.

"Fresh grass, a lot of fighting… This place is amazing!"

He trotted toward the sound of the growling monsters and screaming people, and the demigods had no choice but follow him.

I know it was a really short chapter, but next one will be better and longer :) Please review!