I'm ba-aack!

I've been noticing that lots of people in the reviews are asking me when Leo and Piper get to CHB. Well, to all those people, they will. Soon. Actually, sooner than you think.

Wait. Why did I tell you that...?

Disclaimer: I don't own HoO. Deals with it.

PS: Has anyone seen the House of Hades cover yet? It's wicked crazy!

Leo

Leo stayed in bed until one in the afternoon, hiding behind his bed curtains. Finally, the hunger for food became too great and he slipped out of bed and walked down to the cafeteria. Piper wasn't there. Leo didn't blame her. He wouldn't have stayed anyway; lunchtime on weekends was the worst since all the kids in the school were trying to get food, not just a quarter or a third or whatever.

Leo grabbed himself an apple and ate it near the trashcans. When he finally reached the core, he quickly threw it out and began to make his way back to the dormitories. Halfway there, the bullies stood talking amongst themselves quietly, glaring at everyone who got too close to them. Leo began to freeze in tracks to turn around, but realized that that would make him look extremely suspicious. So like everyone else at the school, he made his way around to avoid them, but keeping the same pace.

Please don't recognize me, please don't recognize me, please don't recognize me, please don't—

"Hey, you!"

Leo swore and turned around to face whoever spoke to him.

"Yes?" he asked politely.

"You don't know by any chance who Leo Valdez is, do you?" the first bully asked. Leo had to refrain from laughing out loud.

These guys are serious idiots.

"Nope," he said. "Not at all. Never heard of him. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Leo Valdez just happened to not go to this school."

"Are you sure you don't know him?" the first one pestered.

"Well, uh, I think he may be in his dormitories, but I saw him leave earlier," Leo lied, twirling his thumbs and index fingers around each other. He felt one of his ADHD adrenaline rushes coming on, which was good in case he needed to run. His brain was already conducting a loud and attention-worthy distraction if need be. "Don't you have some other kids to beat up? I'm sure they're busy waiting for you guys."

"Well, there is that guy Sam…" the second guy started, thinking.

"Well, then, Sam better start to run because you are coming to get him." Leo pushed a finger into his chest. "Now, I have shoe laces to tie, so you're welcome, stay fresh, study hard, and don't get caught by teachers."

Leo started to walk away, but the first one held him back. "Wait…" he said. He looked inspected Leo closely as if trying to match faces, and he felt it coming.

"It's him," he muttered.

"No freaking duh," Leo muttered.

The bully was surprised. "You're not scared?" he asked. He was probably unaccustomed to having anyone referring to him except to yell "Please, no, God, no!"

"Nah," said Leo. "I've got something to protect myself with."

The bullies looked among themselves, wondering what it could be stupidly.

Leo gave them his secret. "I'm a firebender," he told them, and ran.

He managed to get two steps before one of the bullies grabbed him to pulled him back. He instinctively went to his built-in last-resort plan, and realized what was happening before the bully did.

The bully wailed, letting go. "That freak burned me!"

Leo had no time to apologize or to smack himself. He leapt past the guy and ran.

Gotta love those ADHD adrenaline rushes.

Leo ran all the way past the dormitories. He knew he couldn't outrun these guys forever, so instead he faked going inside and ran around the side and toward the back of the school.

He was running so fast that he crashed into another student and propelled whoever it was five feet to the ground.

"Sorry!" he called back.

"Watch it, Leo," said Piper, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Can't talk!" yelled Leo, quickly rushing Piper to her feet. "Think I'm gonna have to go to my Pokemon distraction if I don't lose 'em!"

"Poke…what?" Piper asked, oblivious.

"Quick summary—I tried it at my second foster home. It works like a charm. But, then again, I was in grade five at the time. I don't wanna have to rely on it now."

"Wait…the bullies?" she asked, her eyes widening. She began to run alongside Leo. He started to tell her to stop, but before he could she told him, "Don't even think about saying it." And so Leo decided he wouldn't. They skidded into the school and raced down the hallways. They ran up the stairs and all the way into a random empty classroom to stop and catch their breath. "That was close," Piper panted.

"Did we lose them?" Leo asked.

"I don't know!" Piper yelled. "I wasn't keeping track!"

Leo swore. The bully and his second partner in crime were standing in the doorway, blocking their only exit, unless you counted the second-story window. "Now, I don't know what you did to our friend back there, but you're going to pay for whatever it was!" he said.

"Was it burn?" asked the other.

"I think he said that he was burned."

"Hmm."

"Hmm."

"I don't like fire."

"Me neither. It's too orange."

Leo started to say something in return, but Piper held him back. "I've got this one," she told him. Then, to the two bullies, she yelled, "You aren't going to hurt us!"

"We aren't?" they asked in perfect unison.

"You just said it yourself—your friend needs help," explained Piper.

"Oh, yeah," the first one said.

"He does," repeated the second one.

"And the time you spend here with us is time wasted that you could be using to help your friend," Piper continued.

"Hmm…" thought the first one. "I guess…"

"She has a point…"

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Well, hurry up!" asked Piper. "Burns are very prone to...uh, infection! I think!"

"Okay."

"Alright."

The two bullies trotted off without much of a backwards glance. Leo looked at Piper, impressed.

"How did you do that?" he asked. "That was even better than the Pokemon idea!"

Piper shrugged. "Like I said. Influence over car dealers."

Leo was about to tell her how much that rocked when slow and sarcastic clapping interrupted him before he could even start. In the hallway, watching everything unfold before his eyes, stood Dylan and two of his friends.

"Well, now I'm impressed, McLean," he said.

"What do you jerks want?" demanded Piper. Leo was sort of hoping she would order them to jump out of the second-story window, but knew her better than that.

"Nothing," admitted Dylan leisurely. "Just strolling by, happened to come across you two. Here. In this classroom."

Leo saw red flush Piper's cheeks. "Leave us alone," she demanded in the same tone she used on the bullies.

Dylan's two friends fidgeted uncomfortably as if they were unsure of what they should do, but Dylan just laughed, slowly and deliberately. Piper's words had no effect on him. "Why should I?" he taunted.

"Because I'm telling you to!" Piper nearly shouted. "Now go!"

"Alright, alright," said Dylan as if he had all the time in the world, raising his hands above his head in mock defeat. His two friends snickered. He began to leave, but Dylan turned back to Piper and winked. Then they were gone.

"Ugh," Piper said, hugging herself. "That guy is a creep."

"Almost like the kind of guy that would turn into a demon and terrorize innocent mortals for entertainment," Leo commented.

They started laughing at this ridiculous thought. But the funny thing was that they could imagine Dylan being a monster. A lot more than they should have been able to.

Alright, so I've been reading the reviews and this one caught my eye, written by elliefs. I'm not about to write out the whole thing, but basically it was telling me that in the summary it said what would happen if Hera never switched Percy and Jason, and if I was just going to write about Piper and Leo, or them and everyone else.

*puts on expression of thought* Hmm... Good question...

This is a Leo and Piper story. I repeat; LEO AND PIPER. Near the end there will be a few different POVs, but those will be brief and short and prompt and other synonyms for not-lasting-long.

This is a what if story. Meaning, what if Hera hadn't switched the two demigods? Meaning, Piper and Leo go to the Wilderness School, go to Camp Half-Blood, and... WHAT ABOUT THE PROPHECY? No story would be complete without a prophecy—right? So the story unravels even further, and then there's this huge conspiracy that I can't talk about, and there's lots of blood and gore and everyone gets abducted by aliens.

Hope that clears things up a bit! And if not...then you just must read on to find out what happens.

Review!