Haunted || Leo Valdez

104 - Rebecca Gets Rekt

Rebecca's spirits lifted when she saw the Argo II come out of nowhere.

Sure, it was burning as it slowly descended towards the ground, but a dragon (presumably Frank) flew away from the burning ship, carrying Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel to the ground. Seconds later, Jason came down from the ship with Piper.

Where was Leo?

The two-headed men advanced and Rebecca was forced to focus only on them until Jason and Piper landed. A few feet away, Reyna sat astride a new pegasus, her sword drawn. She shouted orders at the legion, and the Romans obeyed without question, as if she'd never been away.

"About time!" Reyna called. "Glad you could join us!"

Piper grinned. "We had some giants to kill!"

"Excellent!" Reyna returned the smile.

"Hey, Piper," Rebecca said, waving as if they were meeting up at a coffee shop and not in the middle of battle. "Help yourself to some barbarians."

"Why, thank you!"

The three girls launched into battle side by side.

Nico nodded to Jason as if they'd just seen each other five minutes ago, then went back to turning two-headed men into no-headed corpses. "Good timing. Where's the ship?"

Jason pointed. The Argo II streaked across the sky in a ball of fire, shedding burning chunks of mast, hull and armament. Rebecca didn't see how even fireproof Leo could survive in that inferno, but she had to hope.

"Gods," Nico said. "Is everyone okay?"

"Leo ..." Jason's voice broke. "He said he had a plan."

Rebecca refused to believe Leo was dead. She needed to see him again before she died. The comet disappeared behind the western hills. Rebecca waited with dread for the sound of an explosion, but she heard nothing over the roar of battle.

Nico met her eyes. "He'll be fine."

"Sure."

"But just in case ... For Leo."

"For Leo," Jason agreed. Rebecca could only nod.

They charged into the fight.

Rebecca's anger gave her renewed strength. The Greeks and Romans slowly pushed back the enemies. Wild centaurs toppled. Wolf-headed men howled as they were cut to ashes. More monsters kept appearing — karpoi grain spirits swirling out of the grass, griffins diving from the sky, spartoi like the ones they'd seen in Pompeii.

"They're ghosts with earthen shells!" Nico warned Jason. "Don't let them hit you!"

"Obviously Gaea has kept some surprises in reserve," Jason muttered.

At one point, Will ran up to Nico and said something in his ear. Over the yelling and clashing of blades, Rebecca couldn't hear the words.

"Becca, I have to go!" Nico said.

Rebecca wanted to ask if he was leaving to finally make out with Will, but judging from the grim expression on the son of Apollo's face, it was probably not a good time.

"Go, then!" she encouraged him, and Will and Nico dashed off into the fray. A moment later, a squad of Hermes campers gathered around Jason and Rebecca for no apparent reason.

Connor Stoll grinned. "What's up, Grace?"

"I'm good," Jason said. "You?"

Connor dodged an ogre club and stabbed a grain spirit, which exploded in a cloud of wheat. "Yeah, can't complain. Nice day for it."