You'll Learn to Love Me

Chapter 41: No Longer Dying

When they broke the surface, Laylana felt Leo snake an arm around her waist to help keep her afloat. Although her wound was doing much better than it had been originally, it still hurt to tred water. The two of them heard a cry in relief as Piper dove into the water from the boat. She swam over to the two of them and kissed Laylana on the cheek first, then Leo.

"Miss us?" Leo laughed.

"See, I knew she loved me more. She kissed me first." Laylana planted a kiss on Piper's cheek in return. 

Piper was suddenly furious. "Where were you? How are you guys alive?"

"Long story," Leo said. A picnic basket bobbed to the surface next to him. "Want a brownie?"

With the help of the rest of the crew, they made it back onto the boat. Laylana changed into a pair of sweatpants with a loose t-shirt (courtesy of her boyfriend, who she kept stealing the occasional article of clothing). Once they changed into dry clothes (Frank thanked Laylana for having put a large variety of different sized clothes in his room so he now had a pair of pants that fit him) the crew all gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast—except for Gleeson, who grumbled that the atmosphere was getting too cuddly for his tastes and went below to hammer out some dents in the hull.

While Leo fussed over his helm controls with Laylana at his side, Hazel and Frank related the story of the fish-centaurs and their training camp.

"Incredible," Jason said. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.

He looked surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"I know," Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That," Hazel said, "is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man," Jason said.

Laylana, Hazel and Piper exchanged a look of total exasperation. Laylana rolled her eyes every time one of them made a comment about how good it was.

Percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. He kept coming back to one point: "They didn't want to meet me?"

"It's not like that, Perc," Laylana said. "Just undersea politics. The merpeople are territorial. They keep themselves separate from children of Poseidon. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

Percy nodded absently. "But they didn't want to meet me?"

"Seriously?" Laylana deadpanned.

Annabeth swatted his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."

"She's right," Hazel said. "After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest somehow."

She looked around defensively, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did. They risked being stabbed by Laylana if they tried anyway. Laylana herself was picturing Nico in the jar, not knowing if anyone was coming to save him. She wished she had that sibling telepathy with him like she did with Percy. Maybe she could try and communicate with him to try and reassure him that they were coming.

"Nico must have information about the Doors of Death," Laylana said. "We'll save him, Hazel. I promised you that we would. We can make it in time. Right, Leo?"

"What?" Leo tore his eyes away from the controls. "Oh, yeah. We should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then...."