I sing and other less important things happen
LEO: Sometimes amidst the confusion and the drama, it's refreshing to take some time to relax, forget about your troubles, and dance.
That's what my hope was for tonight. Piper and I would have a heck of a time. She was the best person I could have asked at this school. Not only was she fun to be around, but she was the one consistent thing I'd always had at Hogwarts. Even when we fought and she was buddy-buddy with Draco Malfoy, I knew that if I really needed her she'd be there.
I walked into the Slytherin common room all fancied up—I'd even put on deodorant! I was ready to escort Piper into the great hall and have the night of my life. I was especially excited for the special punch the Weasley twins had snuck in. Piper and I had always managed to snag a taste of fire whiskey from Hogsmede every year, and every year this resulted in us running for our lives and the bar tender chasing us out with a stool. It was the best thing you could ever taste.
Apart from that, I was just excited for a night with Piper and I. We had hardly had any Leo Piper friendship time ever since all of the craziness began. It's hard to have a good time when all you can think about it when the next vision will come or how to control yourself when you keep subconsciously bursting into flames. Piper and I deserved this night together.
So yeah, I was a bit passive-aggressive when I saw wolf boy.
Jason and Piper were standing beside each other in the common room as I came down. I expected to be greeted with a smile, and a laugh as I made some pun about Piper. I'd even rehearsed it: Piper McClean, you look like a McQueen--and she did. She was wearing a magnificent black and gold dress that made her eyes glisten. Piper didn't do heals, she wore sparkly gold sandals to match.
Jason wore a simple tuxedo, not much different than mine. What else can you say about a tuxedo? I had always envied dresses in a way. They had a way to accent everything. They could show off your curves, your eyes, whatever else. Tuxes were boring.
"Hey, Pipes. Uh, Jason! Buddy, what are you doing here?" I greeted. Piper looked annoyed at herself.
"Yeah, uh...Jason is my date. I asked him last night."
"You—wait, what? Ouch. I asked you last night." I tried not to look to hurt, but Piper said I always got a wounded puppy look when I was upset. I'd tried to repress it, but I never could.
"I'm sorry, Leo. It was last minute. But Jason said he's fine if the three of us go as a group." Piper said.
I glared at Jason.
"I didn't even know you two were friends. Suddenly you're each other's dates?"
Piper sighed.
"I use the term date very, very loosely in this situation."
Piper extended her arm towards me.
"Please escort me. I've dreamed of the two of us badly dancing to some cliche music at a basic school dance for years now. This is the only opportunity you're going to get to see me do something basic. You don't want to miss your chance, do you?" I asked.
I couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, you can both be my dates! As long as you too cheer for me when I go on stage and rip out some sick vocals. I heard there's going to be a karaoke machine."
They both rolled their eyes.
And we were off to the dance!
***
Basic school dance? No, not at Hogwarts. Nothing is basic here, especially when Annabeth Chase designs it. The decorations were awesome. But of course, you already knew that. Curse you, Will Solace, for stealing my description thunder a few chapters ago. Jokes on you, I bet he didn't use cool, description words such as awesome, wicked, and fan-freaking-tastic.
"Bloody hell," I exclaimed. "This is cool."
"Leo Valdez, a man of great description skills." Piper said. She snorted at her own joke.
"Chase did amazingly," Jason added. "I could never put together something like this."
"You're darn right, Wolfy."
He elbowed me.
"What did I tell you about calling me that?"
I hung my head.
"That I shouldn't."
"Exactly," he agreed.
"Are we going to keep staring at the decorations like doofuses, or are we going to dance?" Piper dragged us onto the dance floor.
Will and Frank were singing a duet. Frank's voice was rather terrifying, but Will sounded pretty damn good. I already knew tonight was going to be a great night.
PSA: if you think that you're going to have a good night, never even point it out. When you point it out, you give the world a chance to prove you wrong by messing something up. If you're convinced the night you're having is good, wait until approximately 11:59 pm or later to point it out. It's just safer that way.
But before we get to that sour note, let's discuss a sweeter one: the notes I was about to sing.
"I told you all to cheer me on," I said. Jason and Piper stared at me. "It's my turn to have the spotlight."
Once Will sang a few more songs, I stepped up to take his place. I waltzed right up to Frank and requested the song that had spoke to me.
"Really?" Frank asked before handing me the microphone. "Leo, do you even speak Spanish."
"Si."
Apparently that was enough convincing for Frank. He handed me the microphone. After a moment of searching for the song, the music began.
"Como la flor!" I sang. Those who knew the song echoed me in the crowd.
"Con tanto amor," I continued. "Me diste tú."
Piper and Jason were clapping along to the music. I spotted Will on the floor in front of the strange. He mouthed the lyrics as I did. Was there a song he didn't know?
"Se marchitó. Me marcho hoy Yo sé perder."
It was a great night. Everything about this week seemed to matter less when I was on stage. The only thing that seemed to matter right now was singing every lyric right to make Selena proud of me.
Not-so-shocking shocker: my pitch wasn't the greatest. I'm me, after all. Still, I will admit that I nailed every word.
"Ay ay ay, cómo me duele."
That roughly translates to, oh, oh, oh, how it hurts. A majority of the people in the crowd didn't know that. They were probably thinking: wow! Listen to those funny words the short boy is singing. But really, it was a beautiful song.
It's funny how a song can sound upbeat, but when you listen to the lyrics it's actually quite sad. It's the same way with people. You don't know what they're feeling until you really, really listen.
This school saw me as another student, along with the others. They had no clue they were under some sort of mind trick that made them believe we'd gone here our whole lives. They had no clue I could control fire, same as how they didn't know Percy could control water and Jason could summon lighting. They looked at us and thought: wow, look at the pretty people! Just as how they do with the song's sound, they don't truly listen to the lyrics.
I know what you're thinking: this is Leo's point of view! Why are we hearing all of these sad compassions and thoughtful analogies? Is this actually Annabeth, Will, or Nico in disguise?
I'll humor you. When I was singing, I did trip over the microphone cord a few times. Feel better? Great.
It was time to hand the microphone to somebody else now. Natalie Pierce offered to take it off of my hands. I didn't know the girl well, but I could only imagine she had a better voice than me.
"Okay, everybody. We're going to slow things down a bit. This next song, I dedicate to my date: Frank Zhang."
Frank smiled at up her as he chose the song she'd requested.
Piper grabbed my hand.
"Want to dance?" She asked. Before I could answer, she pulled me away and put her hands in my shoulders. We slow danced better than half of the people around us, who were stumbling about. I noticed a majority of them had punch in their hand. Ah, that explained it. I needed to give Fred and George a high-five next time I saw them.
I noticed Jason standing off on the side. He was smirking at something. I followed his gaze to Percy and Annabeth right on time. They were about to have their first kiss.
"YOU GO, JACKSON!" I shouted across the room. "How can those two even hold their breath that long? That's record setting!"
Percy glared at me.
"Leave them alone, Leo." Jason smirked.
I turned back to Piper.
"So."
"What?" Piper asked. She was blushing.
"See? You already know what I was going to ask you! When did you and Jason happen?"
"Last night—and I only asked him to the ball, it's not like I got down on one knee." She rolled her eyes.
"Why did you and Jason happen?" I asked. "Also, I was with you all last night! You, Nico, and I slept in the common room beside the fire. When did you find time to ask him?"
"After I woke up from my nap and when I went to the kitchens to get up snacks," she admitted.
"But why? I didn't even think you two were friends." I noted the time at which she had asked him, after her nap. "Let me guess: you had a vision. He was your knight in shining armor."
She stamped hard on my foot.
"I am not some damsel in distress. You know very well that I am my own knight in shining armor, I can save myself. What makes you such an expert?"
My heart hurt for a moment as I thought about my vision girl.
"Calypso," I said. "I've been dreaming about her for weeks. It's just a feeling when you see them in a vision. Even if you hardly know them, you just know how you feel about them. I'd imagine that's how you feel about Jason?" I asked.
She nodded, reluctantly.
"I can't place it. There's just something about him that frustrates me. It frustrates me that when he gets close, I want to kiss him when I hardly even like him. I just know that in our real lives him and I have something special. But here, it's different. You know I don't like being told things, Leo. I don't want this other life telling me what to do...but it's what feels right."
"Piper, I'm going to offer you my best advice," I said. I was rarely serious with Piper. Right now was one of those moments. "You know me, I've always gone by my instinct. I'm not telling you what to do by any means, but I can tell you feel stuck. I advise that you just go by your best instinct. You feel like you should kiss him, you should kiss him. Do what feels right. Piper, the best person you can listen to is yourself. Forget all of that real life fake life nonsense. Listen to Piper. Current, perfect Piper."
She laughed.
"I'm far from perfect...but thank you," she glanced at Jason with a longing expression.
"Piper, now I will offer you my more Leo-like advice. Piper McClean! Woman up and ask that boy to dance! What's the matter with you? Do it, now!"
I pushed her in his direction. They stared at each other.
"Uh...hi." Jason blushed.
"Dance with me?" Piper asked. Perhaps it was the fear that she would force him to do it anyway, or maybe Jason really wanted to. Either way, he grabbed her hand.
"Okay," he said. "Sure."
I smiled at the two of them awkwardly made their way to the dance floor.
I would have been alone if Percy hadn't approached me. He looked a bit on edge.
"You and Annabeth okay?" I asked. "Where is she?"
"Nico said he needed to talk with her. I'm hanging with you guys till their talk is done."
"You don't seem too pleased?"
He laughed.
"I guess I'm annoyed that Nico took her away the second her and I finally kissed—that was great, by the way—but yeah, we're fine. I'm fine. I'm ecstatic! We really kissed." He smiled to himself.
Percy and I danced beside each other while Jason and Piper danced together in the distance. I explained the situation to Percy, and we both thought it best to leave them be. Piper and Jason would probably be having their first kiss soon as well.
Percy and I danced to a few more songs before we needed a break.
"You know, I heard that Hazel has a fantastic dress. Funny thing is I haven't seen her all night!" Percy said.
"Funny, I haven't seen her either."
Percy looked around.
"Where could Annabeth and Nico be..." he looked around. "There's Will! He seems to be looking for Nico. He's scanning the crowd just like us."
"That's weird. Where could the three of them be?"
We asked around. Everybody we asked had the same answer: they hadn't seen Annabeth, Nico, or Hazel.
"Let's go search for them together." Percy said. We joined Will, who had been searching for Nico by the way, and the three of us searched the room.
"It's three people. How could they have just vanished?" Will was the most panicked out of all of us. Annabeth and Hazel were two of his closest friends, and Nico was his--well--I didn't know what Nico's official title towards Will was. We'll call him Will's romantic interest.
"Let's check outside," Will advised. He looked more nervous each second. Suspiciously nervous.
"Will, is there something you aren't telling us?" I blurted out as we stepped onto the school grounds. Will sighed.
"Susan Bones told me that I had to watch out. She said somebody in my house was...in summary, she said I needed to watch out who I let my friends hang around."
"You couldn't have let us know that earlier?" Percy complained.
"Oh, well excuse me Percy. I didn't realize that it was so easy to approach you all in the middle of the dance to let you know that we were in danger. I figured you were all well-informed of that."
Percy glared at Will.
"Oh, well excuse me Will. I didn't realize that when given crucial information we were supposed to sit back and keep it to ourselves."
Will scoffed.
"I would hardly consider what Susan told me crucial news."
"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" I shouted, needing to add some drama to the situation. "You're being so annoying, and that's coming from me!"
They both crossed their arms.
"Tell us, Leo. What are we supposed to do?" Percy asked.
Please note at this moment, I wasn't a Ravenclaw. I consider myself a pretty smart guy. Have you seen me build? I'm a natural. But when it came to common sense in this situation, it seemed we were all lacking. Telling a responsible adult would have been the best situation. Instead, I decided to do what wasn't very helpful.
"Let's keep looking around outside," I suggested. "We'll be sure to find something."
Percy, Will, and I split up. I kept an eye on Percy in the distance just so I'd know where he was. We scanned the area in case we could find any of their belongings or a sign that anyone had recently been there.
After a few minutes without Percy and Will's bickering, I began to feel uneasy. Something was wrong. Why was everything suddenly so quiet?
I glanced up at Percy. He glanced at me simultaneously. We seemed to be thinking the same thing: where's Will?
"Looking for something?" A voice spoke behind us. Except, it wasn't Will's. Will couldn't speak. Natalie Pierce's hand was over his mouth.
In the few minutes we had been searching for clues about Hazel, Annabeth, and Nico's whereabouts, Natalie had managed to bind Will's hands behind his back, no doubt with a spell. She had her wand pinned firmly against his head.
"Drop your wands," she said. "Or your friend gets it."
Percy dropped his wand to the ground. Hesitantly, I did as well. Percy glanced at the black lake. It was too far away to be of use to him. He looked at me, I got the message.
I lit a fire in my hands.
"Let him go. I'd hate to end my night barbecuing a pretty girl." I let the flames glow brighter and hotter to threaten her.
"Put them out," Natalie commanded in a bored tone.
Just like when Piper used her form of voice control, I couldn't help but obey.
"You're one of us." I realized.
She laughed.
"You bloody Americans, so prideful. Yes, I'm one of you. I'm a demigod. But no, I'm not a part of your story. I have a mission of my own: to keep you all here."
"B-But why?" I pleaded. "Why are you doing this?"
"Sleep," she spoke. She glanced at Percy. His eyes rolled back into his head. Percy fell to the ground.
"Oh, god," I mumbled.
"Gods," she corrected. "Now, your turn. Sleep."
"You mother f—-" I collapsed before I could finish the word.