The Mark of Athena [Discontinued]

Chapter 9

"Wait, if you're here then whose steering the ship?" She asked frantically.

"Auto-pilot!" Leo smiled back, "Comes in handy at imes like these I guess!" If it hadn't been pouring rain and thundering like Zeus was having a temper tantrum, then Hazel would've almost mistaken Leo for Sammy that day she last saw him. Leo turned and shot a wall of fire towards the storm spirits that were surrounding Jason and Frank.

"Thanks!" Jason shouted back, but Frank looked frozen in fear. Hazel could just see the word her mouthed as the flames died out: Fire. Then Hazel remembered that fire was a big problem if Frank was involved. If anything happened and Franks' piece of wood caught fire then-no. Hazel shook her head and cleared her thoughts. Her first priority was to fend off these Venti then worry about that later. Frank must have had the same idea because he unfroze and shot and arrow into another storm spirit. Hazel took her spatus and rammed one, too, powdering herself with golden dust. She glanced over and saw Leo attempting to keep the the Venti away from the boat. He didn't have a weapon on him, but the fire was really proving to be affective. Suddenly, there was a crack of loud thunder and the thin barrier that surrounded th ship was gone. More and more angry storm spirits flooded onto the Argo II and everyone soon found themselves back to back in a giant circle in the middle of the ship.

"What do we do now?" Piper shouted.

"Simple," Jason replied, "We fight." Hazel knew they were badly outnumbered, but something inside her felt like they were going to win.

"Jason's right," she began, "We can do this. Venti usually start to imitate your battle strategy after a while, so don't stick with one for too long." Everyone nodded and Hazel felt good that she hadn't sounded stupid. The storm spirits charged and so did everyone else. There was clashing of metal and yells of agony as Venti exploded into dust. The rain poured and lightning cracked over head. One by one, the spirits dissolved and soon only a few were left. Hazel used her spatus to take out one more before finally taking in a breath of exhaustion and for a moment, it seemed like she felt happy knowing they were going to win. Then something happened, a scream of pain pierced through the pouring rain, and it wasn't a storm spirit's.  Hazel turned on her heels and franically searched the deck to find out where the sound came from. Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Frank, and Jason whirled their heads around to see a storm spirit, his cold fearsome eyes staring straight at them, leaning over Leo, who was motionless one the ground with an arrow lodged in his right arm.

Hazel's mind went blank and all she heard herself scream was, "Sammy!" As soon as the word left her lips, she slapped her hand over her mouth. There was a moment where she felt numb and didn't recognize what happening until Bam! She felt something slam into her.

"Get down!" Frank yelled. Hazel obeyed and tried to lay as flat as she could. She was able to turn a little and see everyon doing the same thing. Percy had covered Annabeth and Piper and Jason ducked behind a stack of crates. Hazel craned her head slightly to the left and still saw Leo laying there, so helpless and vulnerable. The sky darkened and it could've been nighttime if a giant ring of fire hadn't formed over the ship. Was she actually seeing this, or was she just hallucinating? The storm spirits dissolved on contact and the fire seemed almost...alive. It gracefully swerved through the air and took out anything that got near it. Soon all the storm spirits were gone and the fire had disappeared. Hazel slowly got to her feet and so did everyone else. The sky was now a calming gray and the rain fell lightly. Frank had to hold Hazel because her legs were shaking so hard. She saw Piper and Jason sprint over to the opposite side of the deck, where Leo was. Hazel slowly broke free of Frank's grip and made her way over as well, her slow pace advancing into a run. When she got there, she kneeled down and looked at Leo's arm. The arrow had gone pretty deep and Hazel prayed that the nectar would heel it back to normal. She wondered if anyone had heard her call him Sammy.