You'll Learn to Love Me (Leo Valdez x OC)

Chapter 37: Leo Realizes He Fucked Up

They gathered on the quarterdeck so Leo could hear the conversation as he navigated. Laylana stood at his side, watching the route they were taking, and keeping an eye on the sonar just in case. Percy and Frank took turns relating what had happened at the Georgia Aquarium, with Gleeson interjecting from time to time: "That was awesome!" or "Then I kicked her in the head!" When Percy explained about the captive sea creatures in the aquarium, Laylana understood why Percy was so upset. 

"That's terrible," Annabeth said. "We need to help them."

"We will, in time. But I have to figure out how. I wish..." Percy shook his head. "Never mind. First we have to deal with this bounty on our heads."

Gleeson had lost interest in the conversation—probably because it was no longer about him—and wandered toward the bow of the ship, practicing his roundhouse kicks and complimenting himself on his technique. Annabeth gripped the hilt of her dagger. "A bounty on our heads...as if we didn't attract enough monsters already."

"Do we get WANTED posters?" Leo asked. "And do they have our bounties, like, broken down on a price list?"

Hazel wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about?"

"Just curious how much I'm going for these days," Leo said. "I mean, I can understand not being as pricey as Percy or Jason. I'm definitely not as pricey as Lana would be, she's worth at least ten of me... but am I worth, like, two Franks, or three Franks?"

"Hey!" Frank complained.

"Knock it off," Laylana sent a small glare between Leo and Frank. Of course Leo knew when to shut up around her, and it seemed like after her whole outburst with the shadows earlier that morning, Frank was getting the hint too. "At least we know our next step is to go to Charleston, to find this map."

Piper leaned against the control panel. She'd done her braid with white feathers today, which looked good with her dark brown hair. Laylana reminded herself to ask Piper to braid her hair again, maybe a little bit more girl time is what she needed. To complain about their boyfriends being stupid.

"A map," Piper said. "But a map to what?"

"The Mark of Athena." Percy looked cautiously at Annabeth. "Whatever that is, we know it leads to something important in Rome, something that might heal the rift between the Romans and Greeks."

"The giants' bane," Hazel added.

Percy nodded. "And in my dream, the twin giants said something about a statue."

"Um..." Frank rolled his not-exactly-Chinese handcuffs between his fingers. "According to Phorcys, we'd have to be insane to try to find it. But what is it?"

Everyone looked at Annabeth. Laylana grasped her friend's arm as she tried to make sense of Annabeth's expressions. She also noticed Jason studying her closely like she was. 

"I—I'm close to an answer," Annabeth said. "I'll know more if we find this map. Jason, the way you reacted to the name Charleston...have you been there before?"

Jason glanced uneasily at Piper. 

"Yeah," he admitted. "Reyna and I did a quest there about a year ago. We were salvaging Imperial gold weapons from the C.S.S. Hunley."

"The what?" Piper asked.

"Whoa!" Leo said. "That's the first successful military submarine. From the Civil War. I always wanted to see that."

"It was designed by Roman demigods," Jason said. "It held a secret stash of Imperial gold torpedoes—until we rescued them and brought them back to Camp Jupiter."