A Quest of Eight; A Heroes of Olympus Fanfiction

Departure from Africa

Y/n's POV

It had been about a week, give or take, since the whole incident with Khione. The wind bomb had sent us all the way to the northern coast of Africa, where we were greeted by the God of the Southern Winds. The thing was, our ship needed repair in many places, some of which we could fix, but not all. Not without Leo. And the storm spirits down here, along with the God himself, were slow and lazy. After the first week, they'd stopped helping us with repairs, and to make matters worse, the God had requested to see Jason and I everyday. Because of that, we didn't have all hands on deck on the Argo II.

Jason and I were standing out on a balcony at the king's palace, waiting to be summoned. The air outside was hot, and I while I usually didn't mind sweating, it was quite annoying. I was wearing a pair of denim shorts, a black and white striped tee, and my sneakers, but my outfit hardly helped with the heat. Thankfully, the warm weather had kept my powers under control. Well, for the most part. There was an incident two days ago in the mess hall, but besides that, I was doing all right. I did, however, still try to distance myself from the crew as much as possible, which wasn't too often considering we had a lot of work to do.

"Any word from the king yet?" Nico implored and appeared out of the shadows from the back wall near the door. 

"No," Jason replied. "But he calls for us later and later everyday. It's slowing us down." 

"Well, we need to leave soon," Nico insisted. "Percy and Annabeth are close to the Doors. I can sense them. They'll need us if they're going to make it through alive." 

"You're forgetting that we can't repair half the ship," I remind him. "And no one really knows how to operate it."

"If anyone can figure it out, it's you," Nico spoke. "You've spent the most time with Leo, and you know how his minds works. Otherwise, you've got to convince the king of the South Wind to help." 

"Easier said than done," I grumble and cross my arms over my chest. "All I want is to get Leo back, finish this stupid quest, and go home to Camp Half Blood."

Lord Auster will see you now.

"Speaking of him, the two of us have to go. We'll see you back on the ship," Jason said to Nico. The past two days we dealt with Notus, the god's Greek form. Today we were dealing with his Roman form, Auster. And while Notus was angered easily, at least he was quick. Auster was everything but.

"So," Auster started. "The son of Jupiter and daughter of Neptune return." By this point, I had been called a daughter of Neptune many times, so I didn't even bother to correct Auster. All I wanted was to get back to the ship, but these meetings always seemed to take forever.

"My lord, have you received any news of our friend, Leo Valdez? The one who was taken by the winds," Jason put forth. 

"Yes. Or rather, no," Auster answered. "We have had no word. He was not taken by my winds. No doubt this was the work of Boreas or his spawn." 

"Right. We know that. But to oppose Boreas, we really need to get our ship out of the harbor," I explain. 

"Why are you still in my harbor?" Auster quizzed. 

"We don't have your permission to leave, my lord," Jason responded. "Our ship is also damaged. We need our mechanic, Leo Valdez, to repair the engine, unless you know of another way." 

"You remind me of my own children, Jason Grace. You have blown from place to place. You are undecided. You change day to day. You say you need a navigator and that you need my permission. I say you need neither. It is time to choose a direction. A wind that blows aimlessly is of no use to anyone," Auster rambled.