OKAY SO THIS STORY IS THE FIFTH MOST REVIEWED LEO/REYNA STORY ON THIS SITE (including a fan version of BoO by Blondie B. Happy which [no offense meant to her] I kinda doubt counts because I'm sure it actually includes Caleo, seeing as that's canon) AIHGDOSFJDSPOFISP DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EXCITED I AM AHHHHH YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING.

And I can't believe this story has over 300 reviews! You guys rock! Thank you so much! Congratulations to ikeea, the 300th reviewer! :)

Also, sorry this update was so slow, but this chapter was really hard for me to write for some reason. (And not just because the story's almost over... *sobs*) And it's long, my gosh. Plus I got distracted and spent forever making this story's cover instead of writing—which was super fun, but kind of a waste of time because it looks so much cooler when it's full screen. Oh well, please go click on it because I would hate for all that effort to be for nothing. :P

Shout-out to the guest Cookies: I loved getting your reviews for AFBA! I know it's a different story, but they were so sweet I had to say something here. :) I wish you had a fanfiction account so I could PM you and be more personal, but just . . . thanks. :D

Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HoO.

Part XX

Percy was in the middle of fighting Polybotes when the hallucinations started up again. It had been five days since his last one, so he'd almost begun to believe that they'd stopped—but of course he wasn't that lucky.

At first, he could ignore them; he was getting better at that. He reasoned with himself that the grass wasn't really trapping his legs like it had in Tartarus, and Annabeth wasn't really there suffocating, because he knew Annabeth was firing missiles on the Argo II. Besides, if his legs were really stuck, he wouldn't be able to charge up to the giant and stab him in the back of the leg before ducking away.

No, the real problem didn't start until the monsters started attacking him from behind. There were demigods everywhere, but a few beasts still managed to slip through the cracks and were coming at Percy with a vengeance. Percy sliced through the first few without a problem, dividing his attention between the monsters and Polybotes . . . but then he slashed out at a monster, stumbled, and almost lost his balance. Because his sword whipped right through the monster like it wasn't even there. Percy cursed under his breath and sliced through a particularly large Cyclops—sliced through quite literally, because the Cyclops didn't disintegrate on impact, it just vanished. Meanwhile, another monster rushed in from the other side and clawed his leg before Percy dispatched it—Styx, he'd actually thought that one wasn't real, and look where it had gotten him.

Polybotes laughed. "Is something wrong, godspawn?" His eyes glinted maliciously. "You seem to be facing some serious . . . problems."

Percy growled and tightened his grip on his sword. If his stupid Tartarus PTSD was acting up again, he'd just ignore all the monsters behind him and screw whatever injuries he got. "My only problem," he said, "is that you're still alive. But that can be solved easily."

Polybotes just chuckled some more. "Really? Without a god?"

"Let's find out." Percy hefted his sword and charged the thirty-foot-tall giant.

For the first two minutes, the monsters at his back didn't matter. Any injuries didn't bother him enough to be worth his attention, and as Percy kept attacking ferociously, Polybotes started to look a little nervous. The last time they'd fought, Percy had sprinted all the way to New Rome's boundaries and killed the giant by smashing a marble head into his nose, but he wasn't running away today. He dodged jabs from Polybotes's trident and leaped upward, sinking Riptide into the giant's thigh—and not removing it. While Polybotes howled in pain, Percy used his sword to swing up onto the giant. When he was hanging from Polybotes's belt (gross), he pulled out Riptide and used it to stab through the holes in Polybotes's armor. (Honestly, Percy was shocked the giant hadn't learned anything since last time—he'd stabbed through his armor then too—but he wasn't complaining.) Percy yanked out his sword, and as Polybotes cried out and clutched his stomach, Percy actually thought he was winning for a second. Then Polybotes started shaking his head, and Percy realized he had forgotten one thing—the giant's nasty green hair was still filled with snakes and basilisks. One fell toward him, spitting venom, and when Percy tried to swing away, he lost his grip and tumbled fifteen feet to the ground, smacking his head hard against the grass. As he stared up at the sky, his vision fuzzy, the first thought racing through his head was, Nastiest. Head. Lice. Ever.

Then Percy regained his senses and rolled to the side before the basilisk could land on top of him. He staggered to his feet, still miraculously clutching Riptide, but his head ached and he could barely see. Polybotes laughed, intensifying Percy's migraine. "Not a bad effort, son of Poseidon," he said, "but no godling can best a giant."

"Haven't. Lost. Yet," Percy ground out, but he knew he wasn't in good shape. His leg was bleeding in at least three places, he couldn't focus, a giant was standing less than five feet in front of him, and to make matters worse, Percy could vaguely see an army of basilisks, snakes, and other monsters closing in behind him—and he couldn't even tell if they were all real or not. He swallowed hard, trying to drown out the ringing in his ears . . . and then Polybotes exploded.

Well, not really. But something set him on fire, effectively distracting him and giving Percy a second to force himself to concentrate. He whirled around, eyeing the monster army suspiciously—and Annabeth dropped down from a pegasus to land next to Percy, already unsheathing her knife. "Annabeth," Percy protested, "what the Hades are you doing here? I thought—"

"You thought I was going to man the Argo II and stay out of danger?" she scoffed, handing him a square of ambrosia. "Not a chance, Seaweed Brain. Especially after I saw what you'd gotten yourself into."

"You're impossible," Percy complained, but he flashed her a grin so she'd know he was grateful. Then he hesitated. "Uh, so are there really a bunch of monsters running at us right now?"

He hated being the cause of the confusion, followed by worried understanding, that flitted across Annabeth's face. "Yeah, there are monsters," she said, running forward to take one out. "About twenty, I'd guess."

Percy cursed. "I . . . I see at least forty, Wise Girl."

Annabeth didn't skip a beat. Gods, did Percy love her for it. "So you take Polybotes, and I'll handle these overgrown lizards," she said reasonably. "I dropped one of the exploding teddy bears on Polybotes, but that won't last forever." She glanced at him. "You don't see more than one giant, do you?"

Only because my vision's so fuzzy I'm seeing double, Percy thought, but he didn't tell her that. "Nah, I'm good," he said instead. "Trying not to laugh because you said 'exploding teddy bears' without cracking a smile, but that's it."

At that, Annabeth did grin. "Just stay safe, Seaweed Brain."

"Back at you, Wise Girl." They split off.

Reyna whirled around, slamming one of Leo's screwdrivers into a wild centaur's flank. Then she brought her other arm around and stabbed another screwdriver into its chest. As the centaur crumbled into dust, she ducked under a dracaena's net and kicked out at the wooden handle of its trident, snapping the weapon in half. Before the dracaena could do more than hiss angrily, Reyna stuck the screwdrivers down her boot and used her now-free hands to scoop up the pronged end of the trident and spear the monster with it. After that, she yanked the trident back out, threw it like a discus at an approaching hellhound, and pulled the screwdrivers back out of her shoe so she could keep attacking.

While she fought, Reyna watched as hundreds of demigods squared off against hundreds of monsters. She knew she needed to take charge of her legion, but it was proving a lot harder to fight her way over there than she'd thought. She was at least a quarter-mile away, and there were a lot of monsters blocking that distance. Also, she kept having to stop to help legionnaires—or any demigod, really; Reyna couldn't even imagine distributing aid based on shirt color—fight off monsters. Everywhere she turned, Reyna saw a friend, acquaintance, or total stranger in trouble, and as praetor, she felt personally obligated to keep them safe. Never mind that she was using common workshop tools as weapons.

Reyna vaulted over a bull, stabbing one of the common workshop tools into its neck as she flew past. "Thanks, Praetor Reyna," a boy—about nine years old, Reyna would guess—in an orange shirt said. Then he stiffened. "I mean, I could have fought it off on my own, obviously, but your help is still appreciated."

Reyna's throat tightened. She could see the fear he was trying to hide with bravado. "Oh, I'm sure you would have been fine on your own," she said lightly, sidestepping him to chuck a screwdriver at a rearing snake. "Just thought I'd help another fighter out so you can kill some more monsters. I mean, the gods are counting on you." She ran forward and pulled the tool out of the pile of monster dust.

"On me?" the boy said dubiously, forgetting his tough-guy act for a moment. "But I'm not even claimed yet."

"Doesn't mean you aren't dangerous," Reyna replied, killing another monster. "But I should still help you get back to your cabinmates. Demigods fight best in groups."

"Then why aren't you in a group?" he retorted.

"I'm on my way to my friends right now," Reyna promised. "But I'll take you to your head counselors first. Travis and Connor Stoll, right?"

"How did you know—?"

"Unclaimed Greek demigods stay in the Hermes cabin, right?" Reyna checked. He nodded. "And Travis and Connor are in charge of the Hermes cabin. So I figured they'd be in charge of you."

"Wow," he said, impressed. "You got used to us fast—to how we run things, I mean." Reyna noticed the way the boy puffed up his chest as he spoke, trying to appear more mature and responsible. Her throat tightened some more. "You learn names fast, too."

"I'm in charge of a bunch of people," Reyna answered, whirling around to knock a harpy out of the sky. "It's my job. Speaking of names, what's yours?"

"Andrew, Praetor Reyna," he proclaimed, fending off some karpoi as he spoke. "Andrew the Totally Awesome."

Reyna wasn't sure whether to laugh at his epithet or worry about his false confidence. "Well, I can see Travis nearby, Andrew the Totally Awesome," she said, running through a gap in the monsters and dragging Andrew behind her. "Can you see him?" He nodded. "Great! Go run over to him. I should probably get back to the legion now." Reyna sent out a quick prayer to Andrew's undeclared parent. If you want your little boy to know you as anything more than a deadbeat mom or dad who can't even be bothered to tell him who his siblings are, you'd better keep him safe today. Then she focused back on Andrew. "Stay safe," she ordered, hiding her anxiety at leaving such a young demigod, even if it was with Travis, a fighter who was probably as experienced as Reyna herself. "And one last thing. You don't have to call me 'Praetor'. Reyna works just as well."

Cool," he said with a wide grin, taking a step or two towards where Travis was fighting right alongside his brother. "You still have to call me Andrew the Totally Awesome, though."

"Of course."

"And Reyna?"

"Yeah?"

Andrew's ears turned red. He dug the front of his left shoe into the dirt. "Uh, thanks. For helping me . . . and for saving camp."

"No problem," Reyna said with an encouraging smile. Then she turned away and started running back to her legionnaires, taking down one, two, three monsters—when she heard Andrew call out for her. Immediately, Reyna spun back around and saw him surrounded by a trio of basilisks, all striking out at him and hissing venom. Andrew managed to kill one, but while he slashed, the second hit him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Reyna had already moved too far away to see if he was seriously hurt, or just stunned. With her heart pounding with worry, Reyna threw one of Leo's screwdrivers at the basilisk closest to Andrew and then changed directions, so she could send the second screwdriver spiraling toward the other monster. As soon as the tool left her hand, Reyna raced forward and crouched at the demigod's side. "Are you all right?"

Andrew sat up, winced, and jutted out his chin. "Of course I'm all right," he said dismissively. "Like three puny basilisks could hurt me."

Reyna raised her eyebrows at him.

He flushed. "I'm fine," he muttered, "really. Just bruised. You . . . you didn't give them time to poison me." He looked up at her. "I guess I need to thank you again, huh?"

"Don't worry about it," Reyna said, helping him to his feet. "You could have defeated them on your own, right? I just happened to be there."

He smiled gratefully. "Right."

"Now go find Travis."

At that, Andrew gave her another smile and ran off—and Reyna was so caught up in worrying about him that she was still weaponless and distracted when a gryphon attacked.

Polybotes lunged downward with his trident, which gave Percy time to dodge and slice his forearm. Polybotes growled but managed to hold onto his weapon. Percy had to roll out of the way to avoid getting trapped in his net. "You don't know how to use that trident at all," Percy taunted, secretly wishing for more ambrosia as his head continued to pound. "Did you only choose it because Poseidon's your enemy? You do realize you actually have to be able to use a weapon for it to be dangerous, right?" He grinned viciously up at the giant, rushed forward, and slashed his calf. The wounds closed, but the flash of pain across Polybotes's face was almost worth the danger. Percy just wished Athens had a god in statue form that he could throw javelin-style into Polybotes's face—

"My son's right! You really are lousy with that weapon."

Percy whirled around, just in time to see Poseidon fly by in a chariot pulled by two pegasi, holding his trident much more confidently than Polybotes did. As Poseidon started to attack the giant, Percy forgot about joining in and just gaped. A second later, Annabeth ran up to him.

"Uh, Wise Girl?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm hallucinating again. I thought I just saw my dad . . ."

To his surprise, Annabeth grinned. "Not a hallucination, Seaweed Brain. I think that stupid metal statue did have a use after all. All of the gods just showed up."

"You should watch your tongue, daughter," Athena said, appearing out of nowhere. (Percy supposed gods could do things like that whenever they wanted, but it was still pretty unsettling.) "By the way, I'm very proud of you. You did well in Rome."

Instead of accepting Athena's praise, Annabeth turned furiously on her mother. "No thanks to you, Mom. You have a lot of apologizing to do"—surprise flitted across Athena's face at her daughter's harsh words, which Percy got some satisfaction from seeing—"but it'll have to wait. Percy and I have a giant to kill." She grabbed his arm and pulled him away. "Come on, Percy, let's go help your dad."

As she dragged him off to Polybotes, Percy was seriously impressed. He thought only he was that disrespectful to the gods. "You know, she's going to be furious that you're fighting with Poseidon, of all the gods."

Annabeth just smirked. "That's kind of the point, Seaweed Brain. Now, are we going to charge, or what?"

They charged. Annabeth swung towards Polybotes's left leg, while Percy aimed for his right. Between their hacking and Poseidon's trident, the giant didn't stand a chance. It wasn't long before Poseidon stabbed his trident into Polybotes's chest with the force of a tsunami (pun intended, Percy thought with a grin), and the giant dissolved into seaweed, poison, and other muck.

Now that the immediate danger was over, Percy slowly realized that he was about to talk to his dad for the first time in nine months. How the heck was he supposed to start a conversation like that? Then Poseidon rode his chariot to the ground and disembarked. Percy forgot all about making conversation when his dad hugged him.

"Tartarus," Poseidon exhaled, shaking his head. "You stupid kid. I thought you were going to get yourself killed down there."

Percy had never imagined that his dad could sound so relieved—in fact, if he had thought about it, Percy would've figured that the gods considered relief a weak emotion and did their best to conceal it with confidence (or as Percy liked to call it, dumbass arrogance). So hearing the pride mixed with gratitude in the Sea God's voice . . . Well, it was pretty weird. Percy did his best to stop it immediately. "Hey, have a little faith," he complained. "There's no way I could've died in Tartarus. Annabeth was with me."

"Only because she's the reason you ended up there in the first place," Poseidon muttered. But then he ruffled Percy's hair and grinned. "Still, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm actually glad your Annabeth succeeded in getting Athena's ridiculous golden statue. I hated turning into Neptune all the time. That guy's no fun. All he does is mope about how nobody worships him."

Percy frowned. "Dad, you do realize you're talking about yourself, right?"

He sighed. "I know. Rome really brought me down. 'We have a much larger empire,' they said. 'You'll have even more worshipers,' they said." He shook his head. "Bull. And I'm not just saying that because I see one over there."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You know, there's this huge fight going on right now, and everyone could really use our help. But if you want to gripe about something that happened thousands of years ago, by all means, go ahead."

"Well, thank you," Poseidon said. "The Romans also lied about the—"

"Dad!"

He winked. "It's good to see you too, Percy." Then he jumped back onto his chariot and flew off towards another giant.

Annabeth hurried up to Percy. She'd been standing back a bit to give them some space, but now Percy reached for her and pulled her close. "Nice fighting, Wise Girl," he said with a smile.

"Back at you, Seaweed Brain," she replied. "But now we should go help Jason."

"You're right," he said, releasing her (somewhat reluctantly)."Porphyrion's a heck of a lot bigger than Polybotes, and a heck of a lot stronger too. He didn't even die the first time Jason fought him, and he's twice as powerful now. We have to—"

Suddenly, someone screamed, and Annabeth froze. "That's Malcolm," she said. "I know that voice. That's Malcolm! I have to go find him—I have to help him . . ."

"Calm down, Wise Girl," Percy soothed. He hated seeing the worried look on Annabeth's face. "Of course we'll go; he's your brother. I'm sure Lightning Boy can handle himself for a few minutes while we—" There was a streak of lightning and a yell of anger, and Percy and Annabeth watched in horror as Jason was knocked out of the sky. He managed to stand back up after he fell and to raise his sword, but he was obviously hurt.

Annabeth's eyes clouded miserably. "I know what you're going to say," she murmured. "Jason's our friend too, plus he's one of the seven, and he's fighting a giant. We have to pick up where he left off—to make sure Porphyrion doesn't hurt anyone else."

Percy hesitated. "We should split up," he admitted. "You help Malcolm, I go fight Porphyrion. You're a daughter of Athena; you know that's most logical."

But Annabeth was already shaking her head and turning towards Jason, her eyes steely. "And you know that's not going to happen. What if you start hallucinating again? I'm not going to leave you to get hurt, so we'll just go to Jason and—"

Malcolm screamed in defiance again, and the noise was so loud and shocking that they both whirled around. Annabeth's mouth dropped open. "What is he thinking?" she demanded. "He knows he's not supposed to be fighting the giants—that's our job! And he doesn't even have a god with him!"

Percy's mouth set in a hard line. "Forget Jason," he said firmly. "Like you said, he's one of the seven, and anyway he was on his feet. He'll make it through. But we can't let Malcolm fight that giant alone. He's only twelve, and he's more of a nerd than a fighter."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Annabeth said, but Percy saw her eyes glowing with fierce protectiveness. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. Let's go kill another giant."

"Leo! What the Hades are you doing at the helm?"

"Annabeth had to go help Percy," Leo explained, keeping his eyes on the battle. "I took over so she could fight."

"And she let you?" Piper's tone was furious. "I thought she had better judgment than that!"

"She gave me nectar first!" Leo said defensively.

"Oh, and that makes it all better," Piper snorted. "You get down right now so Will can help you. I can shoot at monsters for a while."

"But you don't—"

Just then, someone's hands—probably Will's—grabbed one of Leo's dislocated arms (the unbroken one) and yanked it back into its socket. It had been dislocated for so long that Leo had almost forgotten it was injured at all—but holy Hephaestus, fixing it reminded him in the most painful way possible. By the time his vision cleared, Leo was leaning against the side of the ship, and Will had miraculously popped his other dislocated arm into place without him noticing.

"That was pretty cheap," Leo protested, but he couldn't quite be angry. He knew he was in bad shape.

"From the first day you showed up at camp, I always thought you were insane," Will said in reply, "but now I'm sure. Why the heck were you steering with all these injuries? Gods, how did you even steer? You have a broken arm!"

"I wasn't using my broken arm," Leo said dismissively. "I was fine."

"Like hell you were," Piper retorted, glancing over at him from the helm.

Will snorted, but other than that he ignored both their comments. "I have to set your arm, Leo. It's going to hurt like Styx."

"Go ahead," he mumbled. "I'm used to that by now."

Leo saw Piper stiffen at his words—Styx, he shouldn't have said that out loud—but then Will straightened out Leo's arm, and he forgot all about hiding his pain from the others. He cursed—some in English, some in Spanish, and some in Demigod—and passed out briefly. When he came to, Will was wrapping his arm in a splint, and Piper was watching him with her mouth pressed in a thin line.

"Gods, Beauty Queen, what the Hades do you think you're doing?" Leo scolded, mostly because he couldn't stand the worried look on her face. "If you won't let me shoot exploding teddy bears at giants, you have to at least shoot them for me!"

Piper rolled her eyes, but Leo saw relief flash across her expression as she turned back to the controls.

Will finished the splint and studied Leo with narrow eyes. "What other injuries do you have?" he asked. "I mean, I can see the blood seeping through the bandages on your head, and obviously your torso is hurt somehow, but what exactly happened to you, and how old is each injury?"

Leo tensed. "Um, I've had the head injury for weeks," he said, "but it's been, uh, reopened a couple times." Will looked concerned. "But I still know my name and age and everything," Leo added hastily, "so I'm probably fine, right? No brain damage."

"It's not that simple," Will said, shaking his head, "but we won't worry about that right now. What about your torso?"

Leo didn't find that reassuring, but he continued. "Oh, I have some cuts on my back," he said casually—not mentioning that they were deep and probably infected and had recently been probed with an empousa's knife. "And, uh, possibly a broken rib or two."

Will frowned. "You're going to need more nectar," he said flatly. "And a week in the infirmary."

"I thought nectar was a magical godly drink!" Leo complained. "What's the point if it doesn't fix injuries right away?"

Will rolled his eyes. "If it weren't for the nectar, you'd be spending a month in the hospital, Leo." On that positive note, he handed Leo a canteen of nectar. While Leo took a few gulps, Will rummaged through his first aid kit.

"I should really change those bandages on your back," he began. "They're probably crusted with blood and dirt by now."

Leo froze—because he knew they were crusted with blood and dirt, so it would hurt like Hades when Will pulled them off—but before he could think of a convincing argument, Piper cursed. Immediately, all thoughts of old bandages flew out of Leo's mind. "What's wrong, Beauty Queen?"

She hunched her shoulders but admitted, "I just saw Reyna get blindsided by a gryphon. She . . . she went down, Leo."

"What?" Leo shot to his feet, ignored Will's protests, pushed Piper to the side, and scanned the crowds for his rei—for the praetor. For a few tense seconds, he thought he wasn't going to find her, and his throat closed off. But then he saw her dark braid whip around as she struggled with the monster barehanded—where the Styx were the screwdrivers he'd given her? he wondered absently—and punched a couple buttons on the helm before yanking a control stick forward. Instantly, seven spheres, built to explode on impact, deployed from the Argo II. Leo didn't aim directly for the gryphon, since that would just kill Reyna too, but when the spheres incinerated the surrounding monsters, the blast knocked the panther-lion-bird out of the air. That gave Reyna time to scoop something—one of the missing screwdrivers, Leo guessed—off the ground and use it to destroy the gryphon.

The spheres also gave Reyna some breathing room, which she used to look for their source. Her head quickly turned to the Argo II, and Leo grinned at her, even though he knew she couldn't see. . . . And even though his ribs ached and he kind of felt like passing out, his hands stayed poised over the controls until she returned to fighting. Just in case.

"Leo, you idiot!" Piper yelled, scrambling to her feet from where he'd knocked her aside. "I could have helped her just as easily as you did! Sit back down and let Will—"

In the edge of his vision, Leo saw Porphyrion knock Jason out of the sky, and he wasn't about to let his best friend get himself killed. So ignoring Piper's protests (once again), Leo spun the ship around and started shooting spheres at the king of the giants. Jason looked startled at first, but then he turned and recognized the Argo II. Even from this distance, Leo was pretty sure he saw Jason's confidence return as he struggled to his feet. Still, the king of the giants was way too big for one demigod to handle, and Zeus/Jupiter—like the deadbeat dad he exemplified—was nowhere in sight. The spheres Leo had shot only seemed to make Porphyrion angrier. He wasn't sure he could do anything that would really help Jason out . . .

And then Leo remembered the mirrored death ray he'd studied in Archimedes's notes all those weeks ago. He turned to examine the various weapons sitting on the deck—and holy Hephaestus, Annabeth actually built it.

"If you're going to insist on hurting yourself by driving this stupid warship, can you at least watch where you're going so we don't hit a dragon or building or something?" Piper complained.

"Sorry," Leo grinned. "I'll be more careful now." Then he turned back to the helm and abruptly started to lower the warship to the ground.

Piper stumbled at the sudden drop. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Bringing an epic mirrored death ray down there so we can trap Porphyrion," he said. "Or would you rather watch your boyfriend die?"

Piper sighed. "My gods, Leo. I'm not going to be able to stop you from doing stupidly dangerous things, am I?" He nodded cheekily. "Then . . . damn it, just go ahead."

He grinned and maneuvered the Argo II onto the ground—conveniently crushing several monsters as it landed. "Okay, now we need to take all these mirrors and bring them over to Jason," he smirked. "Porphyrion won't know what hit him."

He reached for a stack of mirrors, but Piper stopped him. "Hades, no," she said firmly. "If you're going to be a stubborn idiot and go back into this fight despite being beat up as Styx, I'm at least not going to let you carry heavy mirrors with a broken arm. I've got these."

Leo thought about arguing, but the way Piper's eyes glinted told him to pick his battles. And right now, he'd much prefer to battle that stupid giant king. "Fine, fine," he grumbled. "Will, are you going to help us out?"

The son of Apollo pressed his lips together. "I would," he said, "but there are other injured demigods to take care of, so I should probably . . ."

"Go," Leo agreed. "We've got this." Will nodded, grabbed his sword and first-aid kit, and climbed to the ground.

"Now what?" Piper demanded. "I could carry like five of these mirrors on my own, but the rest . . ."

"Hey, don't sweat it. I'll get us some help." Leo ran over to a machine he'd built weeks ago and loaded a particular missile inside. Then he shot it—but not at the monsters. Instead, he used it to gather the bronze mirrors together.

"Okay, so you bagged them," Piper said. "Now what?"

"Do you see Frank anywhere?"

Piper snorted. "Gods. When he realized he'd be turning into animals, I bet he never guessed he'd be using his talent to be a freight carrier more than a fighter."

"He'll be happy to be of service," Leo countered. "Now . . . Gods, is that Frank and Hazel fighting over there?"

Piper whipped her head around, just in time to see a dragon sink its teeth into a giant's shoulder while a huge pile of gems piled up to his waist, keeping him from moving. "Oh, that's definitely Frank and Hazel."

In a few moments—Leo kept himself occupied by shooting the heck out of some lesser monsters that were crowding the ship—he saw the giant dissolve out of the corner of his eye. It looked like they had finally gotten some godly aid. After that, the jewel tower crumbled, sending an avalanche of precious stones crashing into the surrounding monster army. Leo whooped as he saw the dragon pull a certain curly-haired, dark-skinned demigod out of the gems and fly over to the Argo II. "What's going on?" Hazel called out as they got closer. "More damage? Engine trouble? Reyna told us—LEO, IS THAT YOU?!"

Before Leo could respond, Hazel wriggled out of Frank-the-dragon's grip and dropped to the deck, throwing her arms around him. "My gods," she exhaled. Leo exhaled too—as she squeezed the breath out of him. "My gods, Leo, you scared us so badly! I'm so sorry! I should never have let you—I should have tried harder to stop you—I should have . . ." She shook her head. "Never mind. I told Percy weeks ago that we couldn't blame ourselves for what happened, but I just . . . Gods, Leo. I'm just glad you're all right."

"Hazel?" Piper intervened. "I think you're choking him."

"Oh! Sorry, Leo." She released him. Leo leaned over as he caught his breath. Then he looked up and grinned at Hazel. "To answer your earlier questions, Miss Levesque—No, there are no problems with the ship. You really think I'd let that happen?"

"I guess not," Hazel said, her eyes shining happily. "But then why did you land? And why—LEO VALDEZ, IS THAT ALL BLOOD? IS YOUR ARM BROKEN? WHY AREN'T YOU LYING DOWN AND—?"

"No time for that," Leo said hastily. "We've got a giant to trap and kill, Hazel."

Hazel looked like she wanted to argue, but Piper grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. Leo strongly suspected she said something like, He's a stubborn idiot and he won't listen to you. Humor him, all right? Or he'll just run off on his own.

At that point, Frank landed on the deck in human form. "Leo!" he said, smiling broadly as he approached them. "You made it out of there alive!" He reached out and then hesitated. "Uh, are we on hugging terms?"

Leo couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, why the hell not?" Frank chuckled and hugged him. Leo thanked all the gods he could think of when Frank didn't man-slap him on the back. With all the cuts there . . . Styx, it would have hurt. "All right," he announced finally, "that's my hug-limit for the day."

Frank snorted and stepped back. "It's good to see you, Leo."

"Back at you, Frank-the-dragon Zhang. Now can we move past the emotional reunion—not that I mind being the center of attention, of course—and onto the king of the giants that Jason's still fighting all by himself?"

Frank frowned quizzically. "You have a plan to take down Porphyrion?"

"Of course I do!" he beamed, throwing his good arm out to the side. "I'm Leo Valdez!"

The son of Mars rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we know. What embarrassing animal are you going to make me turn into this time?"

Leo snickered. "Actually, I was going to ask you to turn back into a dragon so you can fly these bronze mirrors over to where Jason and Porphyrion are fighting, but if you'd prefer me to come up with something embarrassing, I can—"

"No," Frank interrupted. "No, that's fine. Dragon it is."

With that, he transformed, picked up the net with his claws, and started to fly away. "Well, I guess that's our cue," Leo announced. "Time to go." He glanced sideways at Piper. "You should probably stay here. Get the Argo II back into the air; it's still a freaking awesome weapon, you know?"

Piper hesitated, but Hazel slung her arm around her shoulders. "It'll be fine," she promised. "I'll clear a path for this idiot from Arion."

"I love how you both show your affection for me with insults," Leo muttered.

They both ignored him. "Then I'll clear a path for you guys from the air," Piper said reluctantly.

"And I'll bash in the skulls of any monster left behind," Leo said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Now can we please get going?"

Piper shook her head in exasperation, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek. It was almost uncharacteristically nice of her, and then she yelled in his ear. "YOU'D BETTER BE CAREFUL AS HADES, VALDEZ."

"Always am," he said cheerfully, already whirling towards the rope ladder.

"Now that's a pile of Styx," she said, rolling her eyes. "Get out of here, you annoying repair boy."

Hazel whistled for Arion, who arrived by the time she reached the end of the rope ladder. With Piper covering from the Argo II and Arion's hooves kicking out at any monster stupid enough to get in their way, they reached Frank and the mirrors in no time. "I'll set these up," he ordered. "You guys watch my back so I—"

Hazel cursed beside him, which was surprising because Hazel never cursed. Side effect of the 1940s, Leo figured. "Nico, damn it! How'd you let yourself get boxed in like that—" And without even finishing her sentence, she whirled Arion around and plunged into the fray.

Leo was taken aback—he hadn't seen Nico the whole battle, let alone in danger—but Frank just looked anxious. "Gods, I shouldn't be so nervous about letting her fight by herself," he muttered. "She'll be fine. She's got Arion, anyway." Then he turned to Leo. "Don't worry about it, man. I'll watch your back." And to punctuate his promise, Frank transformed into a lion and pounced on a hellhound.

Leo shook his head—gods, he never got over the weirdness of seeing Frank change shapes—and picked up the first mirror. He ran forward a few feet to make sure he positioned it perfectly and glanced up to make sure Jason was still doing all right on his own . . . but rather than seeing an ugly giant and an unfairly handsome demigod, Leo found himself looking at the sneer of an empousa.

The moment seemed to freeze, and Leo froze right along with it. He forgot all about the bronze mirror in his hands. Instead, his mind flashed back to the empousa who had slid her knife down his back repeatedly, and the empousae who had guarded him and Reyna, and the empousa who had come to get him in Nyx's mansion. . . . And Leo started hyperventilating in the middle of the biggest battle he'd ever seen, which was dangerous as hell because any monster could reach out and take Leo's head off right now, and he probably wouldn't even notice. And then, in that still-frozen moment, Leo caught a glimpse of Reyna fighting with blood dripping from her injured shoulder. His throat tightened even further because gods, he hadn't kept her safe after all, until Leo didn't think he was breathing correctly because panic attacks were not good for broken ribs. His vision started going dark, and godsdammit he was going to pass out and die right after escaping that stupid Tartarus hellhole, and his knees buckled—

And all of a sudden someone was propping him up. The still-frozen moment broke, and Leo realized that the sneering empousa was long gone—probably just glittering dust by now—and he remembered how breathing worked, and he exhaled slowly. Only then did he twist around and realize that Nyssa was the one propping him up, and Jake and Harley and all his other siblings were there too.

"Holy Styx," he swore. He would have fallen over from surprise if Nyssa wasn't still supporting him. "Where did you guys come from? What are you doing here?"

Nyssa's eyes were glistening . . . which was weird because Nyssa's kill-you-with-one-look eyes never glistened. She was too hardcore for that. "What are we doing here?" she repeated, staring at him. "Saving your ass, that's what!" She shook her head. "Gods, don't you ever scare me like that again, kid."

Then she hugged him, and Leo thought he must be going crazy again and imagining things. Because Nyssa Steel was not the hugging type—but when she did, apparently she squeezed even tighter than Piper McLean. Leo almost thought he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen after all.

"Death ray—Porphyrion—Jason," he choked out.

Immediately, Nyssa let go. "Oh, right. We came to set that up too."

He looked at her suspiciously. "How will you even know what to do? Annabeth built it while I was gone."

Nyssa raised her eyebrows. "Really, unbeliever? You think she built it? She couldn't even read your awful handwriting for half the measurements." She snorted. "'Annabeth built it.' Yeah, right. Maybe she helped, but who do you think did most of the work, kid?"

"All right, I shouldn't have doubted you. . . . But gods, Nys, don't call me kid," Leo complained. "That's Head Counselor Leo to you."

Then he dropped the act and grinned at her. "Now let's go assemble this sucker and annoy the Hades out of the king of the giants."

Bet you don't even remember the mirrored death ray Annabeth mentioned in Part II, and the net launcher from Part IV, haha... Well, they were there. And now they're back. :)

Hope you liked the chapter! Tell me what you thought!