𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚊 (𝙇𝙚𝙤 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙯 𝙓 𝙊𝙘)

είκοσι πέντε

*******
"Where's Leo?" Percy gasped as he burst into Annabeth's room, "Take off! Take off!"
Both Hazel and Annabeth shot to their feet.
"Where's Frank? ," Hazel demanded, "And Elena?"
"On deck," Percy wheezed out, "we're being followed! Take off!"
Hazel pushed past and ran to the deck where they found Frank laying on deck Elena's body beside him, eyes closed as if in deep sleep.
"I'm never doing that again!" Frank wheezed out as he grabbed Hazel's hand.
Both he and Percy had been covered with nicks and scratches. Even Elena's body had been covered with tiny gashes and marks.
Elena stood and examined her body as the chaos around her ensued. Under sunlight, Elena realised she was completely invisible, even she couldn't see herself.
Leo, Piper, and Jason, who'd been eating in the mess hall, came rushing up the stairs.
"What? What?" Leo cried, holding Ere in one arm and a half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich in the other. "Can't a guy even take a lunch break? What's wrong?" His eyes widened as he dropped his chess sandwich, frantically he pushed Ere into Jason's arms and ran towards Elena.
"What's wrong?" Why is she like this? Why is she so cold?" He asked, holding her tightly to his chest. Elena blushed, her boyfriend was so endearing at times.
"We're being followed." Percy said again.
"Followed by what?" Jason asked.
"I don't know!" Frank panted out, "Whale? Sea monsters? Maybe Kate and Porky?"
"What's wrong with Ellie?!" Leo asked, looking afraid, "why is she like this? Why isn't her heart beating?" The whole crew looked at her body, Piper gave a horrified gasp.
Percy gave him a look of exasperation, "She's fine! We think. Just get us out of here then we'll talk about Elle."
Leo looked as if he wanted to protest but said nothing as he ran towards the helm. Soon the Argo II was rising into the sky. When Atlanta was a hazy smudge in the distance, the crew finally relaxed.
"Set a course for Charleston." Percy said hobbling around the deck before laying down beside Elena's body, he looked exhausted.
"Elle?" He said into the wind, "You there? You didn't get left behind did you?"
"I'm here," she said as the crew walked towards Percy.
"Listen man," Leo said, "I did as you asked, now can you please tell me why Ellie is lying down looking very much dead?"
"I'm not dead Leo." Elena said, making him turn.
"I'm hearing voices," Leo said, shaking his head. Piper and Jason nodded in agreement.
"Us too." Jason said, setting Ere down next to her body.
Ere gurgled delightedly as he pinched Elena's nose, "maaa." He babbled.
"You're not hearing voices." Frank said, sitting up from his place on the floor. "Elena isn't dead. Well she is but she isn't."
"What?" Leo asked, sounding irritated, "That doesn't make sense? Is she okay or not?"
"I'm here Leo." Elena said, "Don't get upset, I'm alright."
The team gathered by Elena's body and looked at it.
"So she's dead but she isn't?" Piper asked. The crew pondered over that statement, all except Hazel who made direct eye contact with her spirit.
"She's definitely here in spirit just that her spirit is not in her body." Hazel explained pointing at her.
Elena stepped closer, "You can see me?" Hazel nodded, the crew looked over in the direction that Hazel nodded to.
"Ohh. Right daughter of Pluto, god of the dead, of course you can see me."
Percy lifted his head in her direction. "Is that where you were?" He asked groggily, "I thought you were on the right side."
Elena frowned, "Percy this is your right side."
"Oh, my bad," he said lying flatly, "Left, right doesn't really matter. You think you can get back inside your body?"
"I'm not sure." Elena admitted looking at her body, "I've been trying. I'm exhausted."
"Well try harder," Hazel says looking panicked, "Human souls can only last so long without their bodies, get back in quickly."
"It's not like I'm not trying." Elena shrugged, "I've been trying since we got on the ship."
"Why isn't it working-" Annabeth said, sounding alarmed.
"Uh guys-" Piper began.
"I don't know?" Elena responded, "Do you think you could do something Hazel?"
"I'm too sure," Hazel replied, "I have more dominion over the ground and minerals, The dead have always been Nico's thing."
"Is Ellie gonna die?" Leo asked looking stricken, "Ellie are you gonna die?"
"I'm not gonna die-"
"You're not gonna die because you'll stop existing at all, you clearly used too much power down there and it's eating at your soul," Hazel says adding to the panic. Percy sits up at this.
"She's gonna do what?"
"She'll stop existing," Hazel says, "she's already invisible to you isn't she? That's the first step, next thing is everyone won't be able to hear her and then she'll fade away, even I won't be able to see her. Then she'll disappear permanently."
"She'll WHAT?!" Leo yelled.
"Did you know about this Elle?" Jason asks in a disapproving tone which may have made Elena feel guilty had it not been for the fact that he was looking at a barrel and not at her.
"I didn't know it would happen so soon okay?! I was desperate, either drown and die or save my friends then die, the decision was pretty clear." Elena defended.
"We could have found a way-" Frank said.
"And how long would that have taken? We'd still be down there in a fish tank waiting to—"
"GUYS!" Piper yelled, everyone turned to where she was sitting, "I don't want to panic anyone but I feel like you should know that the baby is glowing."
"The baby is what?" Leo asks blankly before looking down at Ere who was holding Elena's sleeve tightly.
"Ohh the baby is glowing." Frank said laughing as if it was an inside joke he wasn't aware of, "that totally makes so much sense. The baby is glowing- The baby is glowing!"
"THE BABY IS GLOWING!!" Leo yelled in a panic making his head burst into flames. Elena ran through the chaos as she approached her body where Ere was now glowing brighter than her panicked boyfriend.
"Elle," Leo said looking at her, who had kneeled closer to her brother. He was looking at her. HE WAS LOOKING AT HER!! Not her body but her actual soul.
"You can see me?" Was all she could say before she felt her soul get pulled forwards into the darkness.
*******
Leo was quite sure in all the panic attacks he'd had, this one beat them all. One minute he was sitting eating a grilled cheese sandwich, next he was watching his dead girlfriend's soul POOF into the air like it was nothing. In short he was having a full blown panic attack.
Leo could hear his erratic breathing as he tried to stop himself setting the ship on fire. Why did the fates seem to like taking away everyone he loved so much? First his mother, then his girlfriend and then again his girlfriend. Piper patted his back as he tried to stabilise his breathing. Percy sat up looking just as panicked. Annabeth stared in horror at the spot where her best friend was, Hazel and Frank just looked away muttering their goodbyes. Jason picked up the now not glowing baby.
"Ellie is-" Leo whispered, "She just- I didn't even- why?" He clenched his shirt, the pain in his heart overwhelmed him, why was he always losing her?
There was a minute of stunned silence before someone started coughing- no wheezing seemed like a better word for it. The sound made Leo look up to see who it was coming from. To his astonishment, it was Elena inhaling air like her life depended because it might have.
"Ellie!" Leo said, scrambling towards her, "You're okay." He patted her back as she inhaled and exhaled. When she stopped coughing, he pulled her into a hug. He was shaking as he squeezed her tighter, too afraid to let go in case she disappeared again.
"You always do this mi princesa," Leo said into her salt crusted hair, "You need to stop dying on us, last time on the mountain and this time as well, are you that desperate to get away from me?"
Elena gave out a hoarse chuckle, "How could I ever leave you? What would you and Ere do without me?"
Leo held her closer, choking back painful sobs, breathing in the smell of aquarium and fish just happy she was alive.
"Maamaa!" Ere whined squirming in Jason's arms no longer glowing, he looked down at Elena and gave an unhappy gurgle.
"Ere!" Elena gasped in delight, "my clever baby, did you help me get back into my body?"
"What do you mean?" Hazel asked.
"Oh right. I never announced this properly, right? Meet Erebus Jackson son of Sophia Jackson and Phanes the god of procreation and life, my little brother."
"That's his godly parent?!" Percy exclaimed looking at the child, "You two are total opposites, no wonder!"
"Right?" Elena exclaimed, "he must have been the reason I was pushed back into my body so easily."
Leo kissed Ere's head. "Thank Gods for him, side note, never do that again mi princesa." He tried to make it sound stern but it really had no heat, mostly he was just relieved she was alive.
"What's going on up here?" Coach Hedge said, eyes narrowing suspiciously at Leo and Elena who were being surrounded by the group of demigods, "who's driving this thing?"
"It's on autopilot Coach." Annabeth explained, "we're on the way to Charleston."
"Speaking of Charleston, now that Elle is not dead, could we talk about what happened in Atlanta?"
Shaken from his shock, Frank unzipped his backpack and started bringing out souvenirs. "Some peach preserves. A couple of T-shirts. A snow globe. And, um, these not-really-Chinese handcuffs."
"How about you start from the top—of the story, not the backpack." Annabeth asked, looking as if she was internally reciting a mantra.
Leo held Elena's hand tightly the whole time they recounted the story. He gasped when Percy recounted how he had seen  Elena's body just floating around and nearly cried in relief when Percy told them that Elena had actually been behind him. Elena kept squeezing his hand as if reminding him that she was actually there and not dead. Percy explained about the captive sea creatures in the aquarium and Leo saw how reassuringly Annabeth intertwined their hands.
"That's terrible," she said. "We need to help them."
"We will," Percy promised. "In time. But I have to figure out how. I wish..." He shook his head. "Never mind. First we have to deal with this bounty on our heads."
Coach Hedge had lost interest in the conversation—probably because it was not about him—and wandered toward the bow of the ship, practising 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, attempting to cheer everyone up. "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, maybe...but am I worth, like, two Franks, or three Franks?" He heard Elena snort quietly before she covered up her mouth as if trying to hide the fact it was her laughing. She gave him a small nudge and reproachful look in warning.
"Don't tease." she whispered chidingly.
"Hey!" Frank complained.
"Knock it off," Annabeth ordered. "At least we know our next step is to go to Charleston, to find this map."
"A map?" Piper asked, "But a map to what?"
"The mark of Athena." Percy answered, looking cautiously at his girlfriend.
Leo could sense that there was some tension about whatever this thing was as they continued talking.
"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?"
"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, though Leo wasn't sure why.
"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."
Hazel crossed her arms. "So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say...not cool?"
Jason put his hands in front of him, palms up. "I, personally was not alive then. And it wasn't all Greeks on one side and all Romans on the other. But, yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad choices." He looked sheepishly at Hazel. "Like sometimes we're too suspicious. And we speak without thinking."
Hazel stared at him. Slowly it seemed to dawn on her that he was apologising.
Jason elbowed Leo.
"Ow!" Leo yelped. "I mean, yeah...bad choices. Like not trusting people's brothers who, you know, might need saving. Hypothetically speaking." He looked at Elena hoping for some response. She just nodded appreciatively before leaning back on Leo's shoulders. She looked exhausted.
Hazel pursed her lips. "Fine. Back to Charleston. Are you saying we should check that submarine again?"
Jason shrugged. "Well...I can think of two places in Charleston we might search. The museum where they keep the Hunley—that's one of them. It has a lot of relics from the Civil War. A map could be hidden in one. I know the layout. I could lead a team inside."
"I'll go," Leo said. "That sounds cool."
Jason nodded. He turned to Frank, who was trying to pull his fingers out of the Chinese handcuffs. "You should come too, Frank. We might need you."
Frank looked surprised. "Why? Not like I was much good at that aquarium."
"You did fine," Percy assured him. "It took all three of us to break that glass." Elena nodded again, her eyes flitted quickly as if she was struggling to stay awake.
"Okay." Frank relented. "Sure." He frowned at his fingers, trying to pull them out of the trap. "Uh, how do you—?"
Leo chuckled. "Man, you've never seen those before? There's a simple trick to getting out."
Frank tugged again with no luck. Even Hazel was trying not to laugh.
Frank grimaced with concentration. Suddenly, he disappeared. On the deck where he'd been standing, a green iguana crouched next to an empty set of Chinese handcuffs.
"Well done, Frank Zhang," Leo said dryly, doing his impression of Chiron the centaur. "That is exactly how people beat Chinese handcuffs. They turn into iguanas."
Everybody busted out laughing. Frank turned back to human, picked up the handcuffs, and shoved them in his backpack. He managed an embarrassed smile.
"Anyway," Frank said, clearly anxious to change the subject. "The museum is one place to search. But, uh, Jason, you said there were two?"
Jason's smile faded.

___________________
Extra chapter as an apology for being lazy :)

Also? Every Jpop song I've heard is either romantic suicide or tear down the patriarchy?? Is that smth they enjoy?