I'm back! Shoutout to Writer-at-Heart0 and awesomeninja09 for being... awesome. Enjoy my longest chapter so far!

Percy

Percy hated tasks that involved waking something, or someone, up. For example: When Morpheus had made all the New York City mortals fall asleep, and Gaea waking up. Yeah. Those weren't fun. And he also hated when he was forced to fight for entertainment. Examples in mind: that time with Luke/Kronos in the Labyrinth, and when Nike had unleashed her Nikettes during the Giant War. So basically, Percy hated Lyssa, who was making Percy do both.

"How the hell are we going to wake Leo up?" he grumbled. Just then, Frank ambled in to the sick bay, catching only Percy's question, with a confused expression.

"Isn't that dangerous? To wake him up, I mean?" Frank asked. Hazel quickly explained what had happened under her breath to Frank, who pulled up another chair to sit beside Hazel.

"Yeah, it is pretty dangerous. But we don't really have a choice here!" Annabeth was frustrated, and Percy put an arm around her. She relaxed slightly, but Percy could tell that she was trying to come up with a plan.

"Exactly how dangerous will it be for Leo?" Percy asked Annabeth, hoping for her to be distracted by answering the question.

"Well, it's very dangerous for mortals. But for a demigod… it might be completely harmless, or it might be fatal. Leo might spontaneously combust—no, that wouldn't be a danger to him—I don't know many more details." Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair. "But if he does combust, anyone near him could be injured, and though the explosion won't bother him, the after-effects definitely will. And they're very nasty." Percy did not want to know what those after-effects were.

"What if…" Jason was in deep thought. "Pipes woke up Festus with her charmspeak. Couldn't you wake Leo up? You know, standing at a safe distance?" he addressed the question to Piper. She frowned.

"I don't know… maybe… but it's worth a try. We can't wait forever!" Percy nodded slowly. If Piper could charmspeak Gaea into falling asleep, she could definitely wake up an ADHD demigod in a coma. Annabeth didn't seem too convinced, though, probably because she actually knew what those nasty after-effects were.

"I guess we could try… but let's make sure the ambrosia and nectar are close by. And maybe an oxygen mask, too, just in case." Percy and Jason grabbed the bag full of ambrosia squares, Hazel and Frank got a sealed flask of nectar, Nico got an oxygen mask, and Annabeth placed them on the table next to the bed. Piper was left preparing herself to wake Leo up. Percy saw how she stood a few feet away from the bed, just in case, and her eyes were fierce and determined.

"Well, here goes nothing!" Piper smiled shakily. Percy admired her bravery. So many things could go wrong, yet she was still willing to try.

"WAKE UP!" Percy jumped up from his chair, every nerve, cell, and muscle inside him tingling. He felt like he could climb Mount Everest. No, run a marathon! No, wait! A triathlon, even better! He saw tiny details he'd never seen before, and would never see again after the charmspeak wore off. The streak of gray in Annabeth's hair had a single strand of blond in the center, for example. And his hearing… he heard the distant crash of waves miles away, his own uneven breathing, and the hum of a machine in Leo's cabin. Percy felt like he would never sleep again.

"Did it work?" Jason whispered impatiently, out of character for the son of Jupiter. Nico shushed him, and said:

"I feel a stronger life force coming from him now." Percy opened his mouth to say something, but a groan from the bed stopped him.

"Dang, Beauty Queen, who needs coffee when they've got your charmspeak?" Leo sat up suddenly and grinned. Jason tackled Leo with a very manly hug, who then fell off the bed into Hazel, Frank, and Nico's laps. Nico shoved Leo off, Frank stood up, and Hazel squealed and pushed her chair away, making Leo fall to the ground.

"Sorry, Leo!" she flushed.

"No problem, 'cause I wake up from a coma and then fall out of the bed because of overenthusiastic Sparky every day!" Leo joked and stood up, holding his head.

"You need ambrosia!" Percy force-fed a protesting Leo, relieving some of his guilt.

"Annabeth said you probably fell into the coma in the first place due to exhaustion!" accused Jason. Leo looked sheepish, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Well?"

"Weeeeeell, I was up all night repairing Festus the nights before Calypso and I flew ino camp," Leo started.

"I don't like that, but at least it makes sense," Piper glared at Leo, "But what about yesterday? You didn't have anything to do, did you?" Leo stared at his feet, his grin dissolving.

"Insomnia. And I was kinda busy killing my engine room… sorry I yelled at you when you check on me, Hazel. But mostly insomnia." He mumbled. Percy felt the guilt rising up inside him again. It was because of Percy that Leo couldn't sleep. They were supposed to be a team! And Percy failed. He was about to apologize again, but Leo changed the subject abruptly.

"So what's this about me saving all of your butts?" he smiled brightly. The smile was very artificial…

"You heard us?" Piper asked disbelievingly.

"Yep, because I'm the Super-sized McShizzle Repair Boy, baby!" Leo flexed nonexistent muscles. Now Percy saw what Annabeth meant when she said Leo and Percy had similar senses of humor. (Percy didn't think that was a compliment.)

Sure enough, Annabeth rolled her eyes. "When in comas, sometimes people can still hear everything that happened, or some parts." She turned to Leo. "How much did you hear?"

"Bits and pieces," Leo admitted. "Some guy told you guys that I need to build a—" Piper clapped her hand over his mouth.

"What if Lyssa's listening?" she hissed. Percy hadn't thought of that. But Nico and Hazel both shook their heads confidently.

"There's a weird shadow force-field around us right now, trapping the sound of us talking in. Lyssa can't hear." Hazel stated.

"I made it," Nico smiled at everyone's shocked expressions. "I can only hold it for a couple more minutes, though. So hurry up and talk." Gods, if Nico isn't careful, he'll melt into a puddle of darkness. Or he'll be the next one in a coma! Thought Percy. He could tell from the others' faces that they were thinking pretty much the same thing. But at the same time, Percy couldn't help but be impressed by the Underworld talents Nico and Hazel had.

"So, anyway, someone said I need to make an anti-listening device. Against Lyssa so we can plot stuff, I guess. And there was something about code forty-two, and a quartz gear." Leo seemed proud of himself for remembering that much.

"That was your dad, Leo." Hazel said softly.

"My—my dad? Hephaestus?" Leo was shell-shocked. "Why? How?"

"We all prayed to our godly parents to help us, but they were all busy," Percy explained. A tiny prick of jealousy entered him. Why did Poseidon have to be sleeping? Why did Leo get the Olympian parent that actually keeps track of their kids? "And then we tried to Iris-message camp, but Hephaestus intercepted. I'm guessing we can't reach camp anyway." Leo's mouth hung open. After a pause, he closed it.

"Thanks, dad." He said softly. He grabbed a plate, and a taco appeared. Leo lit up a fingertip with a small flame, and burned the taco as an offering, Percy realized. "Thanks." Leo repeated, and suddenly Percy wasn't jealous anymore. "So," Leo suddenly smiled, "How am I gonna save you all?"

The demigods took turns explaining, and Leo nodded thoughtfully. "I'll need a lot of Celestial Bronze, but I've got that… some Imperial Gold—I can melt down some of the weapons we have onboard—a bit of pure quartz… hmm, don't know about that… and the Archimedes sphere, of course."

"How long will it take?" Frank asked.

"Normally, four or five days, I would say. But with the sphere? Three days? Most of that time would be spent purifying the quartz to Celestial bronze and Imperial gold standards, though. If I had, like, a giant chunk of quartz, then it'll be much easier—only a day or two." Leo pulled out the sphere from his toolbelt.

"Quartz? Like the mineral?" Hazel asked. Leo nodded, excitement crossing his elvish features. Hazel concentrated, and a second later, a huge chunk—a foot in diameter—of quartz appeared. "I sensed a large bit underwater, and I brought it up." She explained.

"You're awesome!" Leo grinned, his smile seeming too big for his face. "I'll finish the device by—hmm—tomorrow afternoon?"

Just then, Lyssa's voice boomed out, ruining the celebratory atmosphere.

"Sorry, the force field burst," Nico whispered.

"Enough of your idle chitchat! Time for Piper McLean and Annabeth Chase's duel!" The eight demigods barely had enough time to exchanged panicked glances before they were all transported to the training room.

"Ah, Duel Number Four. After this one, all of you will get to have at least one other duel! Isn't that lovely?" Lyssa chirped cheerfully. Percy rolled his eyes.

"You said there would be ten duels, in seven days!" called out Annabeth, trying to stall for time. "What are you going to do with us afterwards? And why are we having three duels in one day?"

"Hmm, good questions. I am going to use you as ransoms to get a throne on Olympus, after you entertain me. But I only need one for each god—" Percy's stomach lurched nervously, and he glanced at Hazel and Nico—"So perhaps I can get rid of either di Angelo or Levesque, doesn't really matter which one, to show I mean business. Anyway, once I get my throne, I'll just do whatever I want with the rest of you. You know, I hear that medieval methods of torture are coming back in popularity! As for the duels, well, I'm bored today. And it's day two, with six more duels needed. So I'll have a duel a day for the rest of the week, except for the day after tomorrow. It's the anniversary of the day Ouranos got chopped up! So in honor of that, I'll have two duels that day. Perfect!" Percy instinctively gagged and took a step back, and Lyssa laughed evilly. "On with the show!" Annabeth and Piper were suddenly surround by Furores, and everyone else was—once again—held against the wall, unable to speak or move. Percy tried desperately to break free—Annabeth was out there—but it was too late. The third duel of the day had begun.

"Ha!" jeered Piper. "You call yourself a daughter of Athena? A spider outsmarted you and dragged you into Tartarus! You deserved it for your stupidity!" Percy tensed at the mention of Tartarus.

"Well, that coming from a child of Aphrodite is just pathetic!" shot back Annabeth. "All you can do in a fight is look pretty and check your reflection in that useless dagger!" Her eyes glittering with malice, Piper unsheathed her dagger, Katoptris.

"Useless? You call Katoptris useless?" she spat. Annabeth grabbed a dagger of her own from a corner of the room and the two girls began sparring. Stab, parry, jab, thrust. Repeat. Percy gasped silently when Piper disarmed Annabeth with a well-placed jab. But Annabeth quickly retaliated with a swift kick, sending Katoptris skidding into a pile of swords. Piper grabbed the nearest weapon—a sharp ax—and pointed it at Annabeth's heart. In an amazingly agile twist, Annabeth managed to get Piper into a choke hold. Percy almost stopped breathing. The position the two demigods were in was precarious—one move and they could both be dead. But Lyssa spoke, and the two fighters stopped moving.

"No killing each other before I can kill you!" she ordered. The Furores left the two demigods. "Now, enjoy the rest of your second day in Lyssaland!"

Percy fell off the wall. "I hate Lyssaland." He grouched.

Hope you enjoyed that! The next chapter will be Annabeth's first POV. Review make a happy author!