Caliginosity [ Leo Valdez ]

The Blood of Olympus

It was difficult to watch Leo walk away to the engine room. Jason knew he was hiding something, and it had to do with what Asclepius was worried about. Unfortunately, Jason couldn't figure out what it was with the limited information they had.

Piper put a hand on his shoulder. "We should let him be. He's probably serious about that engine or whatever." She exhaled sharply and retracted her hand. "We just have to trust him on this."

Livana looked appalled. "You guys are just going to let him get away without an explanation? Are you not worried?"

"We are," Jason said. "We just have to trust our friend. He needs some rest. If he doesn't want to tell us stuff then he doesn't have to."

"But Asclepius was worried for his health. That's pretty important," Livana argued.

Jason sighed. He knew Livana was right, but he could tell Leo wanted to be alone. He was planning something, and the group couldn't interfere. "I'm sorry Livana. But we can't do anything about it. Let's focus on tomorrow."

Livana grunted in anger and stormed off to the top decks.

Piper frowned. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have tried to get her so sacred."

"Like you said, you didn't know what came over you," Jason said. "It was probably one of Gaea's minions or Gaea's influence."

She sighed. "I hope so. I feel like I ruined everything between us."

"She gets like that. She gets upset but I think in time she will forgive you." Jason put his arm around Piper reassuringly, but it didn't cheer her up.

"But this is different. It's not a little dispute, that's literally her life that I messed up. I brought back so many bad things that she was trying to keep away." Jason saw tears form in Piper's eyes. "I'm just so scared for her. I don't know if she'll be okay for tomorrow."

Jason got a bad feeling in his gut. Piper was right. Livana wasn't in the best state the past few days. Even now, she was still having those weird visions. Leo had filled them in on what was happening when they were alone, but he kept her privacy and didn't say what he saw. Thankfully, Leo wasn't bitter toward Piper, but he still had a hard look whenever he talked about it. Jason guessed it couldn't be helped.

"Maybe we should go up to her and spend some of the night up there," Jason said. "She's alone, and we don't have much time left to be just a group of friends."

Piper nodded and took a shaky breath. "Yeah, okay. You meet her up there. I wanna practice an apology again."

Jason chuckled and kissed her cheek. "You do that, Beauty Queen. I'll see you in a minute."

He made his way to the top decks where he found Livana. To nobody's surprise, she was training against her shadows. Her moves were steady and powerful. Her attacks came easy, but Jason wondered if she was really working. She had created her shadows, so she probably moved them to her advantage. Did she ever have a real sparring partner?

Jason figured he'd have to be the first.

"Yo!" he called.

Livana stopped moving and her shadows fell down. She turned toward him and tilted her head. "Yes?"

"How do your shadows work?" Jason asked, stepping toward her. "Won't you know how they're moving? You can foresee their attacks. Not very realistic."

Livana huffed. "That's where you're wrong. I found a way to separate my concious from theirs, so my shadows have free will."

Jason nodded, impressed. "That's pretty cool. You mind throwing some at me?"

Livana shook her head. "To attack others, they have to come from my thoughts. Make sense?"