In Ruins |Leo Valdez|

Chapter 5

Leo shook his annoyingly attractive head. "Nothing happened. I swear, you two should be on Gossip Girl or something." He said, his voice low and warm. I might have turned into a goofy school girl if it hadn't been for the Aphrodite girl next to him.

"I am not!" Nico and Anna exclaimed in sync. Then, both did a snap to the side with their hip jutting out.

My brown eyes rolled at their oddness. Finally, I couldn't take the tension anymore. "So, you know, since we cleared it up that Leo and I aren't sleeping together, who are you?" I asked, only a hint of accusation in my voice.

The girl blinked slowly at me in a way that almost seemed unintelligent: like a cow, or Leo. Whoops. Sorry not sorry. She pushed back her choppy hair from her face and stood at her full height, sizing me up.

"Piper. Piper McClean. I'm head of the Aphrodite cabin." I nodded, my lips still pursed.

If Leo were over Calypso, this would definitely be his new girl. She seemed headstrong, and I always saw her messing with his hair throughout the week. Not that I noticed.

Because I didn't.

My thoughts were still running amuck, until she threw them into a brick wall. "I'm dating Jason Grace. Son of Zeus. Maybe you've heard of him?" I tried my best to hide the relief that washed over me at her non romantic involvement with my- I mean, with Leo.

"Sorry. No." She blinked furiously, which was a drastic change from a few moments prior. Afraid it was just a new person thing, I quickly added, "I know Annabeth, the Stolls, and Percy Jackson!" My smile was shot down by a glare. With a rather loud huff, she said goodbye to Leo and stalked away. "What did I say?"

Leo laughed and ruffled my hair, making me feel significantly younger. "You mentioned Percy before Jason. That's a bit of a sore spot for Pipes." I nodded and tried to keep from drooling and acting stupid while his hand rested on my shoulder. Seeming to remember something, he added, "Oh! And don't ever say you ship Brason. That's immediate death in the next capture the flag."

"Duly noted."

"Speaking of, Percy and Annabeth are walking up. Let's head to the vans." Anna said.

My eyes widened. "The quest! I totally forgot! I need to pack, and change, and-"

Nico rolled his eyes and handed me his second backpack. "I already packed for you. So don't worry." For reasons like that, I love my brother. "Now all we need is Rachel's prophecy." He added.

Right on cue, the redhead walked up. Her eyes were glazed and something greenish was coming from her mouth. Unlike last time, I prepared myself for the creepy voice inside of my head.

*"Travel east,

To the land well known.

And be chained by a goddess,

So you're never alone.

The child you seek,

Is a master of change,

You will succeed with him,

Or die trying, in vain."*

And with the last words spoken, Rachel heaved in a breath and blinked around at us. "Ok. Carry on!" She said in a chipper voice, as if we hadn't been told that we would die if we couldn't find this super awesome demigod person.

No biggie.

I watched her hair bounce away around the corner of the Big House before I looked at the others. "Well, as always, that was rather up lifting." Percy said, sarcasm dripping off of each word. "Let's go."