The House of Hades

Leo

Leo

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IT HAD BEEN A HARD MONTH, EVEN WITHOUT BEING HIT WITH A WRECKING BALL. Leo and the other seven of the prophecy, along with Nico and Coach Hedge, were all on the Argo II trying to forget about Percy and Annabeth. It wasn't working. Even taking apart and rebuilding the spheres to connect with the ship wasn't distracting enough. Leo should've been excited. But he wasn't. All he could think about was letting down his guard. Watching the depressed look on his comrades faces when they came back empty handed. Why couldn't he have saved them?

Ow! He burned his finger while he was drifting off in his guilty thoughts. Come on Leo.

He thought to himself.

No point in worrying till you're close to getting them back. Focus. Focus.

Just then Hazel came in and scared the heck out of Leo.

"Morning! You're up early." She might as well have screamed it in his ears.

"Woah! Oh, uh... Hi Hazel. Yeah, I just wanted to get an early start on the day." He must've had a sad look on his face because Hazel decided to try to cheer him up. In other words, an adorable train wreck waiting to happen.

"So, have you heard the joke about the blonde girl and her earphones?" Hazel asked.

"Ya. I have actually. I'm kinda the one who told you it..." Hazel started blushing furiously.

"Oh. Sorry. Well there's a meeting in the cafeteria (sorry I don't know what they call the lunch room on a ship)." she said haltingly "don't be late. Coach said it was important."

Okay. Let me just finish this, give Festus a tune-up, and I'll be there."

As Hazel was walking out the door, he said, "and Hazel, thanks." She gave a nod and headed towards the cafeteria.

This was going to be a long day.

After finally coming to a stopping point, and tuning Festus, I went down to the cafeteria. Everyone was waiting. Piper and Jason looks like they wanted to hold hands, but Coach glared at them every time they tried. So they snuck one by him under the table. Nico was staring at his plate. Who knows what he was thinking. The guy kinda creeped him out. Frank and Hazel were talking in hushed tones. He couldn't tell what they were saying, but it sounded like they were arguing about something. They stopped as soon as they saw him come in. "Hey Leo." Piper said. "Grab a magic plate. It's time for breakfast and storytelling." Piper's remark made Jason smile. It was good to see the happy couple, but it also hurt to know that he was alone. 'You'll always be the odd one out'. Great. You can shut up now me. He was yelling at himself...

"So. What's the story?" He asked after he filled his plate with bacon strips and scrambled eggs, simply by saying them.

"It ain't no story Valdez! McLean just don't know which myths are real and which are fake."

"I'm telling you Coach, the one about dancing baseball bats isn't real! It was probably just a dream of yours." Piper said.

"I'm backing up Pipes on this one." Jason remarked.

"It's real I'm telling you! But that's not the one were talking about. We're talking about the myth of the buried blade. It's three feet of pure awesomeness. Wicked sharp silver and celestial bronze blade with a black leather handle and a hilt made of imperial gold. It's one of the best blades ever forged by Poseidon's personal forger, the great Henrick Mostipal! I know this is real in particular because i've met him myself. He signed by bat. Only one who I'd ever let cone this close without being whacked... But anyways, the blade is said to be buried in Carson City, Nevada! And since its not far from our pit stop last night, and as I am your guardian, I say we go look for it. You in?"

"Yeah. I'm in!" Leo said almost immediately. He really needed to get his mind of the whole Percy/Annabeth in Tartarus thing, so he thought a little side trip couldn't hurt too bad.  

Everyone was staring at him. He was defiantly blushing badly now. Luckily, Hazel came to his rescue. "Me too." She was probably only doing it for him. But he was still glad to have some support.

"If Hazel's in, I'm in too." Frank said. He stared at him. Leo didn't expect a big teddy bear like guy to step up for someone he just had an argument with. Frank surprised Leo. "There is no way I'm leaving those two on board with only DiAngelo." So we're all going. It's settled."

Jason and Piper began to protest, but Coach cut them off. "no buts. Leo take us to Carson City! " Nico was still staring at his plate. Leo felt bad for the guy, no matter how creepy he may be. "Right away sir!" He said in mock salute. He saw Hazel smiling in the corner of his eye, and she was obviously glad to see him joking around again. Then he went to set course for Nevada.

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"There'a nothing here, Coach!" Leo yelled. They were in Carson City. In a construction zone to be exact. The dirt everywhere was being picked up by the wind, and carried to their faces. Construction equipment was everywhere, along with a newly demolished building. Several acres of dirt, sand, and equipment. It must've been abandoned, because when he went over to a bulldozer, it was covered in rust and dust. Lots and lots of dust. It was so depressing. Suddenly, like a smack to the forehead, something told him to get out of there. Something bad was about to happen. "Guys! We gotta get out of here! We-!" Leo was cut of by Piper's scream, "Leo, behind you!"

There was an agonizing pain on the back of his head, and everything went black.