Hey, everybody :) Happy Friday!

I keep meaning to mention this again, and so far it's continued to slip my mind. But just a reminder that all the events in House of Hades did NOT happen in this story. They interfere with my timeline and all that.

That being said, welcome narrator 3 of 4 - the only repeat character from the first in this series! Thanks everybody who reviewed last chapter!

A little note, I did say this was gonna be darker than Blood and Sand. Here's a more serious taste of what I meant.

VII
LEO

Liar.

The word swam laps back and forth across Leo's brain, slamming against the inside of his skull like a metal hammer. He was quickly learning that every secret and every lie was like a thousand-pound weight, tied to his arms or his legs or his neck and weighing him down so heavily that he felt like he was trying to run through a river of molasses. When had that happened? When had he become this person who hid things from his friends only to be strangled by guilt and hurt when he was left alone?

Oh, yeah. He'd always been that way.

Leo was barely ten yards into the woods when he slowed to a halt and leaned his back against the trunk of a tree. He'd told Piper he was going to Bunker 9 to make sure Festus was ready for a cross-country journey. But he had no intention of actually doing that. He knew the dragon was in top form. Another lie to add to the list.

Because of the density of the trees, they'd decided not to waste electricity lighting the forest and instead left it dark and shadowy, the biggest reminder inside the camp's borders of the endless night going on outside. Leo didn't know why he'd stopped there. Nowadays, he hated the forest because he hated the dark. It had a nasty habit of bringing back flashing visions of the nightmares he'd been having, the ones that had kept him from a good night's sleep for weeks.

Well, nightmare. It was always the same one—the same dream he'd had the night before the lunar eclipse. The dream about Nyx and her deadly black fire.

Every time darkness settled in, it was all he could see. Distinguishing between the world covered in shadows and the world burning in dark flame was becoming more and more difficult, and Leo was starting to worry that soon it would drive him insane. No one knew about it; he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud, part of him struck with the reluctant feeling that talking about it would make it more real. Demigod dreams were powerful, important things—hardly ever put there by chance. Sometimes they were visions, sometimes warnings, and sometimes symbols meant to teach something. And the fact that he was continually plagued by the same nightmare could not have been a good sign.

The only one he'd ever told was Reyna, the night of the very first dream. But seeing as the two of them had hardly spoken at all since then, she didn't know that the nightmare hadn't gone away. More than once he thought of telling her, but the desire always fell short when her name crossed his mind, suddenly buried by the second-most-stressful secret he was stuck with.

He'd told Piper that there was nothing off between him and Reyna. But that couldn't have been farther from the truth. During the journey they'd been on last month, he felt like he'd started to understand her—want to be friends with her, even. And when they'd kissed the night before the eclipse, he thought he'd felt something, some spark of interest that hadn't been there before. But now, he wasn't so sure. Things had changed after that, but not in the way you'd expect.

Reyna didn't act as though it hadn't happened. In a way, it might have been easier if she did—at least then, he'd take the hint that the whole thing was a mistake. Instead, she became more distant that before, like she was trying specifically not to see, talk to, or even think about him. And Leo didn't get why. It wasn't like he was chasing after her, following her around like some lovesick puppy. He'd tried talking to her once, two days after the eclipse. But she'd been adamant about not answering, so he'd given up and hadn't approached her since. But still, every time they made eye contact he just couldn't figure out what she was thinking. Sometimes her eyes looked angry or frustrated, like she couldn't believe he had the nerve to be anywhere near her. But other times, he could swear she looked sad—confused, even. The constant headache pounding inside his skull from futile attempts to understand was starting to make him want to just forget the whole thing. There was no way it was worth so much pain and confusion.

Frustrated, Leo squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the heels of his hands against them, groaning at the dull throb in his head. A second later, a flash of biting, black fire swarmed across his eyelids. His eyes burned behind them and he bit his tongue to keep from screaming, suddenly afraid his eyeballs would be melted from their sockets. He tore his eyes open and the images faded, leaving his vision dim and his throat dry. Turning around, he pressed his forehead hard against the trunk of the tree, allowing the twinge of physical pain to clear his head. He lifted his hand and stared at his palm, trying not to imagine it cloaked in deadly, black flames. Taking a deep breath, he willed a small tongue of his own crimson and orange fire to flicker to life in his hand, but the sight of it dancing and twisting drove a horrible feeling of nausea into his gut. Feeling bile rise in his throat, he quickly clenched his hand into a fist, extinguishing the flame, and drove it into the tree trunk with a raspy, frustrated yell.

Get it together! he scolded himself angrily. What good are you if you're too freakin' chicken to use fire? The quest he'd just volunteered for was extremely crucial, which meant that there was no room for screw-ups. They never would have let him sign on if they'd known his nightmares had started to render him useless in a fight. But that was why he'd wanted to go. Roaming the camp, keeping himself busy with task after task, was driving him mad—he had to get out and do something. It was the only way he could think of to stamp out what was bothering him once and for all.

The only problem with that plan was Reyna. He'd wanted to take the quest to get away and clear his head, focus on an important task in the hopes that it would block out everything else. But how was that possible if Reyna was right beside him every step of the way?

Which brought up another question—she'd been avoiding him for so long, so why had she volunteered in the first place? With just her, Leo, and Nico on this trip, conversation and collaboration would be unavoidable. Had she finally decided they needed to spend some time together, or was she really only thinking about the mission?

Well, there was only one way to find out. He had to find her and ask her—before they set off.

Taking a deep breath to calm his still-agitated nerves, Leo pushed away from the tree and shook a few pieces of loose bark from his hair. He started off at a slow pace back toward the edge of the forest, using the time to loosen his tired limbs and expression and regain his usual laid-back attitude. He pushed all thoughts of the dream into the back corner of his mind and threw a mental wall in front of them, blocking them from his focus. He knew that as soon as he was back around other people, it would be easier not to think about all the stress he was under. But either way, he couldn't be too careful.

As he headed toward the cabins, Leo ran into Hazel and Frank, who looked to be on their way to the mess hall for a late breakfast. Or an early lunch.

"Yo, guys," he greeted them with a grin and a wave, jogging up and falling into step beside Hazel. "You seen Reyna anywhere?" A tiny blush suddenly crept up Hazel's face and Leo fought the urge to kick himself. The only ones who knew that something was going on between him and the Roman praetor were Annabeth and Hazel, and so far he'd done a good job of avoiding the subject around both of them. He could have asked anyone for information on Reyna's whereabouts. And here he was, talking to one of the only two people who knew what was really going on.

Thankfully, though, Hazel followed his lead and didn't say anything, the flush on her skin fading almost as quickly as it had appeared. Some of the tension in Leo's muscles thinned when he realized he'd managed to dodge that bullet.

"I think she was heading toward the armory after the meeting," Frank said with a thoughtful frown, as if remembering used a major chunk of his brain power. "Why?"

"Just need to go over some stuff for the mission," Leo responded with a half-shrug.

At this, Hazel and Frank exchanged an uneasy glance. When they stopped walking and Hazel lightly gripped Leo's arm, there was worry in her eyes. "About that," she said a bit haltingly. "Can I… ask you a favor?"

A little alarmed at her sudden seriousness, Leo said carefully, "What favor?"

Hazel bit her bottom lip, her eyes shifting back and forth as though she were trying to make a decision. Leo swallowed hard, hoping this wouldn't have anything to do with Reyna. Finally, Hazel looked up at Leo and said shortly, "Look after my brother. Please."

"Nico?" Leo raised his eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure that guy's more than capable of taking care of himself."

"I know, I just mean that…" She seemed to be searching for the right words, unable to convey what it was she wanted. "He's reckless. He doesn't think things through. You think things through. …Do that for him? Please? I thought I lost him last month. I can't do it again. I don't want to."

Struck by the obvious sincerity in her face and voice, Leo smiled. "Stop worrying, okay?" he said, putting as much confidence as he could into the words. "Everything's gonna be fine. I'll make sure of it. I promise."

A tentative smile on her face, Hazel responded, "Thanks, Leo. Really." She reached forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. As he returned the embrace, she added firmly, "You be careful, too, okay?"

"You got it." When they separated, Leo noticed that Frank had stiffened just noticeably. But when Hazel stepped back and took his hand, he seemed to relax and gave Leo a smile and a nod to share his girlfriend's sentiment.

"If we don't see you later," Frank said, "good luck. I've got a feeling you're gonna need it."

"A little luck sure wouldn't hurt," Leo agreed. Walking backward away from them, he added, "Thanks for the help, guys. I'm gonna go find Reyna." Exchanging a final wave, he spun around and set off for the armory.

Part of him hoped Reyna had gone somewhere else—talking to her while surrounded by weapons she could potentially use to behead him wasn't exactly high on his safety list. But sure enough, he found her in one of the weapon storehouses. She was alone, which he couldn't decide whether or not was a good thing. On the one hand, no chance of eavesdroppers meant that she was more likely to talk to him. On the other, there would be no witnesses.

"Hey," he greeted her airily, stepping inside the storehouse and leaning against the wall beside the doorway.

Reyna tensed, freezing in her action of replacing a sword in its spot on the wall. Her back was to him, and she turned her head to the side and said shortly, "Hi." She'd foregone her purple cloak and her armor, and was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, her long, black hair braided over her shoulder. She looked so vulnerable, but at the same time just as strong as she always did. It struck Leo as odd, for some reason. Maybe it was her stance, the way she stood tall and proud like an immovable mountain.

"Look, I'm just gonna come right out and ask." It was weird, talking to her after barely exchanging any words during weeks of living at the same camp. Flashes of the night he'd told her about his dream passed through his mind, but he pushed them back and went on, "Why'd you volunteer? For the quest."

She twisted to the side and turned to face the wall, revealing a single candle behind her that she must've brought to provide light. Leo's eyes darted toward the flame and a cold chill danced down his spine, but he bit his tongue and told himself to calm down. He was not afraid of fire. No way.

"I told you at the meeting," Reyna finally replied, her voice stiff and all business. "This mission is important to all of us. I think it would be a detriment not to have a Roman along."

"But it could've been any Roman," Leo persisted levelly.

Reyna cleared her throat, eyes scanning a row of Celestial bronze hunting knives. "I would never ask a member of the Legion to take on a task I wasn't fully prepared to complete myself."

Feeling his eyes narrow unconsciously, he shot a glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was approaching the storehouse before taking a few steps farther into the room. "Is that the… only reason?" he asked carefully.

Her fingers twitched as they came to rest on one of the daggers. She picked it up and gripped it in her hand, eyes scanning the blade. "Look, I'll be honest," she said after a long minute of silence, and Leo felt his throat tighten in anticipation. That is, until she finished with, "I don't like you."

"Ouch," he said, wincing. Oddly, the statement had relaxed him a bit, giving him the jolt of courage he needed to say dryly, "You know, I kind of got a different vibe when you made out with me last month."

Suddenly, Reyna whipped around, taking a step that placed her right in front of Leo, her body maybe two inches from his. Whether on purpose or accidentally, the blade of the knife in her hand pushed against his leg—not enough to cut through the fabric of his jeans, but enough that he felt the pressure of the weapon. But he barely registered it at all, distracted as he was by her dark eyes staring intently into his own. There was anger on her face, but somehow it didn't seem to reflect in her eyes. In them was something else, some other emotion he couldn't figure out. If she was a machine, then all he'd need to do would be to take her apart, piece by piece, and learn everything he needed to know. But she wasn't a machine. She was a living person. And those baffled him beyond the slightest understanding.

For a long minute, they simply stared at each other as though a powerful static electricity had bound their eyes together. Then without warning, Reyna blinked once, then twice, as though trying to clear a dream from her head. She lowered her gaze, breaking the strange contact, and turned to the side, once again facing the wall.

"That was a mistake," she said, though her low voice broke just barely on the last word like she had a hard time getting it out. Leo didn't respond, his eyes still fixed on the place where hers had been just seconds before. So she cleared her throat and continued. "Neither of us can afford to be distracted right now. This mission is too important. We have to agree to keep everything professional."

Rather than wait for him to actually agree to this agreement, she abruptly set the knife back down on its shelf and turned, sweeping past him at a quickened pace. He felt her arm brush against his as she passed and a jolt of electricity ran through him, dragging him out of whatever stupor he'd fallen into. On a whim, he spun around and grabbed her wrist, pulling back. Yanking her arm from his grip, she turned and stumbled, eyes widening, and braced both hands against his chest as she leaned into him to keep from falling. Again they both froze, eyes locked onto one another as if they'd been glued in place.

And there it was again—that odd, hidden emotion in Reyna's eyes that wasn't hate or anger or confusion. But this time, Leo felt a painful twisting sensation in his chest as he recognized it, knowing without a doubt what it was.

It was longing.

As though she sensed him come to this realization, she quickly lowered her head and shoved him away from her. He staggered backward against a table piled with bronze shields, his legs feeling like rapidly-melting rubber. Avoiding his eyes, she turned and stalked out of the storehouse, disappearing into the shadowy darkness as though she'd been nothing but a ghost all along.

"Yeah," Leo said to the empty air after Reyna was long gone, stunned disbelief numbing his skin like ice. "Professional."

Yikes, drama! Haha. So for all of you who've been asking about Leo and Reyna, sorry - I'm not gonna make it that easy. Heh heh.

Anyway, so yes, our favorite son of Hephaestus is gonna have it kind of rough during this story. Everything will come together later on, I promise. But for now, how 'bout leaving me a review? Pretty please?

Have a nice weekend, gang! Later days!

-oMM