Chapter Five: Percy

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Percy watched as Leo flew out of the sky on a pegasus, accompanied by Annabeth and Piper. He waved, giddily watching as his supposedly dead friend landed right in front of his face.

“I win,” Leo said, jumping off the pegasus.

Annabeth and Piper happily landed next to him.

“You’re alive, man!” Percy declared.

“No, dude, I am most definitely dead. WHAT’S IT LOOK LIKE?!”

Percy didn’t laugh, but he gave Leo a small wave. Annabeth gave him a look, like, you two need to talk. She pulled Piper away towards the dining pavilion.

Percy sat down on the dock, and Leo started to walk away.

“Dude, we should talk,” he said.

Leo sighed, looking longingly towards the Hephaestus cabin. His clothes were tattered and he smelled like smoke. His hair was messed up and it looked like it was covered with lice. Percy gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Fine,” Leo said.

Percy reached out his hand, and column of water shot upward, carrying a canoe on top of it. The Roman in the canoe started laughing, and Percy dropped him with a splash. Leo’s nose lit on fire. He swatted it out.

Percy coughed. “To storm or fire the world must fall,” he said.

Leo looked down. “I know it. It’s all my fault. The world fell to fire. My whole world fell apart, meaning that you guys thought I was dead--”

Percy shrugged and said, “You don’t look dead to me.”

“Not the point, Sea Dude!”

“Don’t call me that.”
“Listen, I’m sorry that I stole your girl, but--”

“I only care right now that Calypso’s here. Annabeth is my girlfriend, sure, but that means Calypso is my personal friend.”

Percy was beginning to get annoyed by Leo.

“I know that, Percy, but-- you do realize that that is your personal weakness?”

“What is?”
“Your faith in your friends. If something happened to any of your friends, you would, like, have a heart attack.”

“I know it,” Percy said, “I lost Annabeth once. Several winters ago. To Luke.”

He said Luke in a choked-up voice. Percy sighed, wishing he hadn’t said anything at all. He felt awkward around Leo. But he mustered up his courage and said, “There’s something I want to show you.”

Percy led Leo through the woods. Leo clutched his tool belt, and Percy kept a tight fist around his ballpoint pen.

“Dude, what are you showing me? I saw the whole camp, like, a year ago.”

Percy didn’t respond. He just charged through the woods, every once in a while uncapping his pen and slicing through the occasional hellhound. By the time they arrived at the humungous mound of dirt, Percy was breathless. So was Leo.

“So what?” Leo asked. “It’s a big mound of dirt.”

Percy glared at him. “Beckendorf was here. It’s a place where the guardian dragon made a stand for Hephaestus. Pretty… rare. The place blew up, and the ants rebuilt it. Legendary. Trillions of dollars worth of gold, jewelry, tools, weapons, and armor are in there.”

“They like weapons?” Leo guessed.

Percy nodded. Then he trudged inside.

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