DEJA VU || Leo Valdez

five

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On the chariot, Brooke stands next to Annabeth who she's catching up with.

"So this is where you've been the whole time?" Annabeth asks somewhat judgmentally.

"Yeah, I-"

"You couldn't send an iris message or even a letter?" Annabeth cuts her off.

"I sent a letter!" Brooke corrects.

"Yeah one with no address on it so we couldn't come find you." Annabeth says rolling her eyes.

"Yes because I wanted you guys to know I was okay but I didn't want Percy coming in all big brother mode trying to save his baby sister. Especially when I didn't need saving."

All that Piper and Leo, mostly Leo, could think of right now is how Brooke had a secret life that they didn't know about. A godly one too apparently. To be fair they knew she had a brother, they just didn't know his name or the fact that they both had godly parents.

"Well you still had us worried sick, especially Percy and Sally. I mean one letter 13 months ago doesn't do much to let us know that you're alive. You know how dangerous it is for demigods in the real world, especially ones like you, Ms. legacy." Annabeth quips.

It was Brooke's turn to roll her eyes. You'd think being able to take care of herself for the last year would prove something but nope. "I know I'm a horrible sister and daughter. But I promise I was going to come back."

"Honestly I was. Right after the semester was over." Brooke defends seeing the really? look Annabeth gave her. "I wish I would've came back sooner now."

"I thought maybe he had went off to find you and was hoping maybe he'd be here."

"So you have no other leads?" She asks hopefully.

"No. I was just told to come here and find him." Annabeth glowers at Jason slightly. Brooke sighs disappointed.

"But, we're going to find him. And he'll get to see how much his baby sister has grown." Annabeth finishes off with the best smile she could muster, making Brooke slightly smile back.

She's right. We will find him. And until we do he can handle himself, Brooke thinks, this is Percy we're talking about, he's made it this far.

After a few minutes of silence, it's disrupted by Leo's loud "This is so cool!" He spits a pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"

"A safe place," Annabeth said. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-Blood?" Piper was immediately on guard. She hated that word. She'd been called a half-blood too many times—half Cherokee, half white —and it was never a compliment. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"

"It's not like that Pipe." Brooke clarifies.

"She means we're demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."

Annabeth looked back. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."

Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"

"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.

"No, no," Leo said. "Rainbows. Very macho."

"Butch is our best equestrian," Annabeth said. "He gets along great with the pegasi."

"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.

"I'm gonna toss you off this chariot," Butch warned.

"She probably hasn't told you," Annabeth says directing the conversation back on track. "But Brooke is a daughter of Amphitrite."

"Surprise." Brooke says with a squeamish smile seeing the looks of shock on her friends' faces.

"Demigods," Piper said. "You mean you think you're ... you think we're—"

Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, "Left wheel's on fire!"

If any of them looked back, sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot. The wind roared. Piper glanced behind them and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot—except these looked more like horses than angels.

She started to say, "Why are they—"

"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on. This is going to get rough."

Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. Once she got her bearings and looked around, Brooke realized they were in a different place, Camp Half-Blood. Brooke felt a sense of nostalgia and serenity being back at a place she once considered home. A place she felt safe and accepted, a place she fought for.

A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below them was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. They were a cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. But before she could really admire the familiar setting, their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.

Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of six people was just too much.

"The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"

It's been a while since she's been in a body of water like the camp lake. But once she got over her initial shock she realized how comfortable she was and did consider staying in there for a little longer before she saw Piper still sinking and decided to help her. She swam to the girl and hoisted her up above water then walked her to shore.

Nearby, Butch still stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. Jason, Leo, and Annabeth were already on shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions. Somebody else took Piper by the arms and helped her stand. While Piper needed her clothes to be dried when Brooke looked down there wasn't a drop of water on her (perks of being a child of Amphitrite). There were at least twenty campers milling around—the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen—and all of them had camp T-shirts.

She was back.

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