𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚊 (𝙇𝙚𝙤 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙯 𝙓 𝙊𝙘)

είκοσι (13+)

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Once Elena was certain Piper and Jason were relatively uninjured, she went back to the deck. Behind her, the stairs creaked. Percy and Annabeth had followed her up, their faces grim. Elena walked towards Leo who's brow was creased in anxiety. She felt so guilty for thinking even for a second that he was at fault for the attack on the Romans. Elena wished she was as trusting and honest with him as he had been with her. She really wished she could give him her full attention, she wished she could–

"Is Jason–?"

"He's asleep," She smiles, "Out like a baby. Piper's keeping an eye on him so it should- no, will- be fine."

"I see." He says, shoulders relaxing.

Percy gave him a hard look. "Annabeth says you did fire the ballista?"

"Man, I—I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry—"

"Sorry?" Percy growled. Instinctively Elena stood in front of Leo, shielding as much of him as she could from Percy.

"Percy," she said, matching his tone, "He didn't do it on purpose." Elena sees Percy's jaw clench and she glowers at him.
Annabeth put a hand on her boyfriend's chest. "We'll figure it out later. Right now, we have to regroup and make a plan. What's the situation with the ship?"

Leo told Annabeth about the damage and the supplies they needed. At least he felt better talking about something fixable. He seemed deep in thought when Festus began to whir and squeak.

"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief.

"What's perfect?" Annabeth said. "I could use some perfect about now."

Leo managed a smile. "Everything we need in one place. Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."

Once they got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. The others strapped themselves in below—except for Elena who had insisted she keep him company and Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail, yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!" Leo stood astern, alone at the helm, and aimed as best he could. Leo stood astern, at the helm and aimed as best as he could.

Festus creaked and whirred warning signals, which were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck.

"I know, I know," Leo said, gritting his teeth. "HANG ON ELLE, COACH THIS IS GONNA HURT!"

Beside her, Gleeson whooped and cheered, "I was born for hurt!"

WHOOM! A swell of salt water washed over the bow, dousing Coach Hedge and Elena. The Argo II listed dangerously to starboard, then righted itself and rocked on the surface of the lake. Elena felt the cold water run down her face and something she suspected was a pondweed draped over her hair. She sneezed.

"Good job, Festus," Leo said, bringing her a towel. "Take us toward the south shore."

"WOOHOO!" Elena yelled feeling invigorated and refreshed after the sleepless nights she'd had."ACHOO!!"

"Yeah!" Coach Hedge pumped his fists in the air. He was drenched from his horns to hooves, but grinning like a crazy goat. "Do it again!"

"Uh...maybe later," Leo said. "Just stay above deck, okay? You can keep watch, in case—you know, the lake decides to attack us or something." Leo smiled at her before wrapping a towel over her drenched figure peeling off the slimy pond weed off her hair. He wrinkled his nose "Mi princesa you should go shower, you're starting to smell like lake."

"Why? Don't want a girlfriend who looks like a drowned rat and smells like pond weed?" She joked making him grin, his lips spreading into an impish grin.