Inferno (Leo Valdez x OC) (2)

Near death by Jason

After everyone had cleaned up, Coach Hedge took the helm and everyone gathered below for dinner. It was the first time they'd all sat down together – just the eight of them.

Maybe their presence should have reassured her but all it did was remind me of the seriousness of the situation at hand – and I didn't like serious things.

No more easy days at Camp Half-Blood sitting with Leo while he built the ship or hanging out with Katie in the forest or fields, pretending the future was still a long way off.

They were under way, with a bunch of angry Romans behind them and the Ancient lands ahead. The giants would be waiting. Gaia was rising. Unless we succeeded in this quest, the whole world would be destroyed.

But even after that, would I be safe? The prophecy said that I could die and my fate was in the hands of whoever could 'answer my call', whatever that meant. I don't even have a phone, Chiron took it.

The others must have felt it too. The tension in the mess hall was like an electrical storm brewing, which was totally possible, considering Percy's and Jason's powers. In an awkward moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table. Sparks literally flew from Jason's hands. They had a brief standoff, like they were both thinking, Seriously, dude?

"Get a room!" I called to the two boys. They glared at me. "Seriously, the tension in here is way too high for me, I'd like to ask you all to take a few deep breaths, maybe meditate a bit." Leo snickered beside me.

Jason and Percy glanced at each other in annoyance. "Hey!" I snapped my fingers. "Deep breaths, people."

Jason stared at me incredulously, while Percy attempted to take a deep breath and ended up wheezing and falling to the floor laughing.

I nodded. "See, Percy's got it. Deep breaths Jason."

Jason raised an eyebrow, taking a deep breath in, then letting it out in a short puff which sent a blast of wind my way, knocking my chair backwards.

I groaned and rolled off the chair. "Okay, that's not cool." Jason shrugged. "I will call the bugs on you, my guy." I said.

Jason paled, likely remembering the time I did this at Camp because he knocked over one of my cacti. I don't care if it was an 'accident', to me it was an assassination attempt. He sat down in the chair beside the head of the table.

Percy stood up, gasping for breath. "What do you mean, 'call the bugs on you'?"

I grinned. "Would you like a demonstration?"

Percy frowned. "Well, I'm curious but at the same time... no?"

"I could use Jason as a demonstration?"

Jason gaped at me. "Or, controversial opinion, we could not call bugs on Jason." Jason smiled nervously.

Annabeth dragged Percy to the chair opposite Jason and sat down at the head of the table. "Anwen, stop scaring people with bugs." She sighed.

"But he knocked over my chair!"

"She was making fun of me!"

"He's just fun to make fun of!"

Another blast of air sent me back to the floor. "See! I feel like this counts as bullying."

"She made of fun of me again!"

I stood up, trying to straighten my parting and blowing away a strand of hair that had got in my mouth. "Right." I huffed. "You mess up my hair, I get a friend to mess up yours." I muttered.

"What do you mean, 'you get a friend'?" Jason stood cautiously, beginning to back away.

"I'd run." Leo snickered.