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Required Repairs I

Leo's POV

Leo wished he could invent a time machine. He'd go back two hours and undo what had happened. Either that, or he could invent a Slap-Leo-in-the-Face machine to punish himself, or though he doubted it would hurt as badly as the punch Zoe threw at him or even the look Annabeth was giving him.

Annabeth: One more time. What exactly happened?

Leo slumped against the mast. His head still throbbed from the combo of Zoe's right hook across his jaw and hitting the deck. All around him, his beautiful new ship was in shambles. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling. The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the onboard Internet and TV was blown to bits, which had really made Coach Hedge mad. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball, and Leo could tell from the groaning sounds on the port side that some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment or broken off completely, which explained why the ship was listing and shuddering as it flew, the engine wheezing like an asthmatic steam train.

He choked back a sob.

Leo: I don't know. It's fuzzy.

Too many people were looking at him: Annabeth (Leo hated to make her angry; that girl scared him), Coach Hedge with his furry goat legs, his orange polo shirt, and his baseball bat (did he have to carry that everywhere?), Theo (the glare he's giving Leo made him brace for an onslaught of insults), Zoe (her punch was as powerful as a semi-truck), Maryam (Leo was genuinely thinking she'd give him the Count Dooku treatment), Diego (He might have Leo as a midflight snack) and the newcomer, Frank.

Leo wasn't sure what to make of Frank. He looked like a baby sumo wrestler, though Leo wasn't stupid enough to say that aloud. Leo's memory was hazy, but while he'd been half conscious, he was pretty sure he'd seen a dragon land on the ship—a dragon that had turned into Frank.

Zoe: You mean you don't remember?

Leo: I...I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it.

Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. In his gym clothes, with his cap pulled over his horns, he looked just like he used to at the Wilderness School, where he'd spent a year undercover as Jason, Piper, and Leo's P.E. teacher. The way the old satyr was glowering, Leo almost wondered if the coach was going to order him to do pushups.

Coach Hedge: Look, kid, you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match.

Theo: Gleeson, go make sure all the fires are out.

Coach Hedge: But I already did that.

Theo: Well, do it again.

The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Even Hedge wasn't crazy enough to defy Theo.

Zoe knelt next to Leo. Her brown eyes were as steely as ball bearings. Her dark-brown hair fell loose around her shoulders, but Leo didn't find that attractive. Ever since he'd met Zoe at the Grand Canyon last winter, when she'd marched toward him with that Give me Percy Jackson or I'll kill you expression, Leo figured that being related to Artemis includes the power of killing people with a look.

Zoe: Did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he blackmail you, or threaten you, or...?

Leo: No. The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did.

Leo could have lied and blamed that stupid Roman, but he didn't want to make a bad situation worse.

Frank: (scowls) On purpose?