The Hidden Follower

35.

    A couple of months after visiting Camp Jupiter, Delta was in bunker nine again, helping Leo and some other Hephaestus kids work on the Argo II. Today they were working on planning out where to place the rooms and if things went quickly and smoothly they were to start building the rooms for the seven demigods, plus coach Hedge. Delta, who wasn't as knowledgeable with building things from scratch as the other kids, helped with moving things around and doing little things where she could.

    "Hey, Delta," Leo called her over, when she got to Leo, an arm quickly went over her shoulders and guided her over to the blueprints nearby. "I was thinking," Leo said.

    "Oh dear Minerva, you've been thinking, we're all going to die."

   "Shut up. Anyway, I've been thinking, what if we built your room right next to mine, that way when we start to sail it will be easier for the two of us to talk and hang out without bothering anyone else. What'd you think?" He said taking his arm off the Delta's shoulder to gesture at the blueprints.

    "Well, " Delta sighed, "I think no one told you that I'm not going to go on the Argo with you guys."

    "What!" Leo exclaimed, "why not, I thought you were, you know what, if you're not going then I'm not going."

    Delta placed her hand on Leo's shoulder. "You have to go, Leo, you're a part of the seven, I am not."

    "Still, I don't want to leave without you, I want you to come with us, please. At least for when we go to Camp Jupiter."

     Delta looked Leo in the eyes, trying to not give in to his puppy eyes, "No, I strongly believe I'm not supposed to go on that ship for your quest or on it to go to Camp Jupiter."

"Well I very strongly believe that you are supposed to get on the Argo with us and come on the quest."

"Well I really, very much, strongly disagree with you."

Annabeth, who had been helping with the designs for the ship walked to the two. "How do you guys get anything done?" She asked. "I mean, you two have been fighting like siblings every time you interact the entire time I've been in here."

"Well, Ms. Chase," Leo said, "I declared myself Delta's twin brother when she gave me the tour of the camp."

"I thought Will was supposed to give you that tour?" Annabeth asked, eyebrow raised.

"Nico was in the infirmary and I still wasn't allowed in from when I told all the sick kids hospital and death jokes and playing 'Another one bites the dust.'"

"That seems about right. Anyway, so now that we have you two as twin siblings, me and Percy as older siblings, all we need the youngest sibling."

"Annie, please, we don't have to go full blown with this family dynamic thing." Delta pleaded.

"But we're so close to a full family, like you and Leo can be the middle children, Percy is the older brother, I'm the brother's girlfriend, Sally and Paul are the parents even if you don't know them well and Leo doesn't know them at all, now all we need is a youngest."

"What about the family dog?" Leo asked.

"Don't encourage her Leo, I'm serious, you'll have to listen to her talk about it until we find a youngest."

"Mrs. O'Leary is the family dog, she's a hellhound." Annabeth said excitedly. "Now that we went over that, what were you two fighting about?"

"Delta said she wasn't going on the Argo at all, not even to get to Camp Jupiter."

"Delta!" Annabeth gasped. "You have to go, that's your home, and besides, Percy will be there by the time we are, I'm sure of it, he'll want to see you and make sure your okay, he's going to worry. Please, you have to go, if not for Percy, for me, and Leo, and your friends at Camp Jupiter, and um, that's where your boyfriend is, right? Go for him."

Leo and Annabeth both gave Delta puppy eyes, which is kinda hard to resist because Annabeth learned from Percy and Leo's still looked like the puppy eyes he made when he was little. Delta tried to look away, she really did but, she couldn't and finally gave in. "Fine! I'll go, only to Camp Jupiter, then I'll stay there while you two and the rest of the seven go on your quest. Deal?"

Leo and Annabeth looked at each other, "Deal." They said together and high fived.

"Both of you are menaces you society, especially because your both smart."

"Oh well, now please get back to working wherever you were, me and Leo will get your room designed and he get the stuff we need to start building it." Annabeth said pushing Delta away.

"It's 'Leo and I' not 'Leo and me', you ass." Delta yelled walking to where she was working before Leo called her, flipping the two off.

"No one asked, Delta!" Leo yelled back.

"Screw you."

Once Delta was out of ear shot Annabeth spoke again, "You too really do fight like siblings."

Leo smiled, "I know," he quickly wrote 'Delta's room' on the Argo blueprint then grabbed a piece of blueprint paper and a pencil before starting to sketch Delta's room. "That's because we are," he muttered

"What'd you say, Leo?" Annabeth asked, his words not loud enough for her to hear.

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh," she said, confused, "It really sounded like you said something."

"It must've been someone else that sounds like me, the voice probably just echoed, because of how much space there is in here, it's a common occurrence."

"I know how echos are made idiot."

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Written: August 22, 2021
Published: August 25, 2021
Edited: _____ __, ____

Annabeth seems so out if character for some reason, but I promise she won't be like that every time I write here she's just excited to see Percy.