YOU ARE IN LOVE ↬ leo valdez x reader, book 2

12. the light reflects

"Am I ever gonna see her again?" Y/N asked, sniffling. I lifted her chin with my hand and I tried my hardest to look brave.
"We're coming back for Calypso, Y/N" I said to the night wind. "I swear it on the River Styx."
"I swear it on the River Styx, too. I'm not losing a friend that easily." She smiled. My heart thumped when she had that twinkle in her eye. At that moment, I was tempted to read out that stupid love confession that I had planned so long ago now. But I had stuffed up any chance of that anyway, so I couldn't let myself fall in love with my best friend. For the second time.

We docked at the harbor, Leo cheering and screeching with excitement. He was happy that we were on land, sure, but I was ecstatic that we were in Greece. I was going to start thinking about the likeliness of my name being on one of those stupid keyrings to add to my medkit, except I was feeling in the mood for a hot chocolate. Leo was definitely feeling the same way. We walked up the dock, taking anything of importance or value off the silly raft before leaving. The crew of the Argo II were either; already here (unlikely, since we'd probably see the warship somewhere) or they were going to rock up anytime soon. I was more inclined to believe the latter.

They found us on top of the city fortifications. Leo had found an openair café, overlooking the sea. He ordered me a hot chocolate which I sipped as he casually looked around, drinking a cup of coffee.
Piper nearly knocked me out of my chair with a hug. "Y/N! Gods, where have you been?"
"An island that doesn't exist." I chuckled.
"L/N? Valdez!" Coach Hedge grinned. Then he seemed to remember he had a reputation to protect and he forced a scowl. "You ever disappear like that again, you little punks, I'll knock you into next month!"

I hugged Frank and Jason, who were both very startled by it. Hazel and I embraced a lot longer and Nico gave me a meek wave. Frank patted Leo on the back so hard it made him wince.
Hazel kissed Leo on the cheek. "We thought you guys were dead!"
Leo mustered a faint smile. "Hey, guys. Nah, nah, we're good." Leo wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. I think everyone could tell we weren't acting as regularly as we normally would've, our energy replaced by a kind of wistful sadness.
Jason leaned in and squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Hey, man," he said, "what happened?"
"We got marooned," Leo said. "Long story. How about you guys? What happened with Khione?"

Coach Hedge snorted. "What happened? Piper happened! I'm telling you, this girl has skills!"
"Coach..." Piper protested. Hedge began retelling the story, but in his version Piper was a kung fu assassin and there were a lot more Boreads. Coach Hedge was just describing how Piper had defeated Khione with a roundhouse kick when Piper interrupted.
"Coach!" she said. "It didn't happen like that at all. I couldn't have done anything without Festus."
Leo raised his eyebrows. "But Festus was deactivated."
"Um, about that," Piper said. "I sort of woke him up."

Piper explained her version of events—how she'd rebooted the metal dragon with charmspeak.
"Shouldn't be possible," Leo murmured. "Unless the upgrades let him respond to voice commands. But if he's permanently activated, that means the navigation system and the crystal..."
"Crystal?" Jason asked.
Leo flinched. "Um, nothing. Anyway, what happened after the wind bomb went off?"
Hazel took up the story. A waitress came over and offered us menus. In no time we were chowing down on sandwiches and sodas, enjoying the sunny day almost like a group of regular teenagers. Frank grabbed my tourist brochure and began to read it. Piper patted Leo's arm, like she couldn't believe he was really here, not before complimenting me. Nico stood at the edge of the group, eyeing the passing pedestrians as if they might be enemies. Coach Hedge munched on the salt and pepper shakers. Despite the happy reunion, everybody seemed more subdued than usual— like they were picking up on Leo's mood. Leo's sense of humor and my optimism went unnoticed until it was absent. Like that one quote, taking things for granted, blah labahlav.

Even when things were super serious, we could always depend on Leo to lighten things up. Now, it felt like the whole team had dropped anchor.
"So then Jason harnessed the venti," Hazel finished. "And here we are."
Leo whistled. "Hot-air horses? Dang, Jason. So basically, you held a bunch of gas together all the way to Malta, and then you let it loose."
"What the hell." I laughed.
Jason frowned. "You know, it doesn't sound so heroic when you put it that way." "Yeah, well. I'm an expert on hot air. I'm still wondering, why Malta? I just kind of ended up here on the raft, but was that a random thing, or—"
"Maybe because of this." Frank tapped his brochure. "Says here Malta was where Calypso lived."

A pint of blood drained from Leo's face. His eyes staggered to meet mine. "W-what now?"
Frank shrugged. "According to this, her original home was an island called Gozo just north of here. Calypso's a Greek myth thingie, right?"
"Ah, a Greek myth thingie!" Coach Hedge rubbed his hands together. "Maybe we get to fight her! Do we get to fight her? 'Cause I'm ready."
"No," Leo murmured. "No, we don't have to fight her, Coach."
Piper frowned. "Leo, what's wrong? You look—"
"Nothing's wrong!" Leo shot to his feet. "Hey, we should get going. We've got work to do!"
"But...where did you guys go?" Hazel asked. "Y/N? Where did you get those clothes? How—" "Jeez, ladies!" Leo said. "I appreciate the concern, but Y/N and I don't need two extra moms!"
Piper smiled uncertainly. "Okay, but—"

Ships to fix!" Leo said. "Festus to check! Earth goddesses to punch in the face! What are we waiting for? Leo's back!" He spread his arms and grinned. Jason got up and clapped him on the shoulder. "Leo's right. We should get going."
Everybody took the cue. We started wrapping up their food and finishing their drinks.
Suddenly, Hazel gasped. "Guys..." She pointed to the northeast horizon.
"I don't see anything," Coach Hedge grumbled.
"Yeah, I can't see anything." I added.
"Me neither," Piper said.
"That can't be..." Nico muttered. "Greece is still hundreds of miles away."
Jason shivered. "You think it's Epirus?"
Nico nodded. "The House of Hades is open for business."

A few seconds later, a rumbling sound washed over us like distant artillery. "It's begun," Hazel said.
"What has?" Leo asked.
"Gaea's final push," she said. "The Doors of Death are working overtime. Her forces are entering the mortal world en masse."
"We'll never make it," Nico said. "By the time we arrive, there'll be too many monsters to fight."
Jason set his jaw. "We'll defeat them. And we'll make it there fast. Y/N's here to patch us up and we've got Leo back. He'll give us the speed we need." He turned to Leo. "Or is that just hot air?"

Leo managed a crooked grin. "Time to fly, boys and girls," he said. "Uncle Leo's still got a few tricks up his sleeves!"
"Never say that again."
"You know you love it."

➻ AUTHOR's NOTE
this one is a short one because this book is ending soon!!
cant believe that especially since the other book as 29 chapters as opposed to like 18-20 here but ily all and i hope you all will make it to the third book of the series, which i am calling "labyrinth" (greek mythology reference iykyk). love u all