Better As A Team (Heroes of Olympus/Lorien Legacies Crossover Fanfic)

Chapter 9

Max's POV:

I dress into a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and faded blue jeans, which I'm not really used to, but, tough.

I meet everyone else in the mess hall and sit next to Leo. The only ones I'm not really comfortable with yet is Frank. Hazel's cool. She's really cool. 

Leo smiles at me and pushes a plate of eggs towards me. Wait, no, those are blue eggs. Why are they blue?

Then I notice the blue eggs on Percy's plate and give him a confused look. He grins at me. "It's a Jackson thing," he tells me cheerfully. A Jackson thing. Am I a Jackson now?

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," I say to Leo, pushing away the plate of blue eggs.

"Come on, you have to eat," Leo protests, pushing the plate back to me. I sigh and pick up my fork, which makes Leo smile again, but I don't eat my food. I just play around with it as I think of the dream I had last night.

If that guy is really a Garde, I just got a huge step to finding the others. Setrákus Ra said that his name was 'John Smith'. Very original.

Where were we though? I've been all around the U.S, there isn't one state I haven't been to yet. It was dark and cloudy with tons of farms and cornfields around us, a couple worn-down and faded-red barns here and there and barn animals milling around. That looked like....Ohio.

I almost jump from my seat which startles Percy and Leo, who are both sitting next to me, Percy on my right and Leo on my left.

"Sorry. I got to go," I mutter then, walk away before Percy- I know it's Percy since his hand isn't nearly as warm as Leo's- grabs my wrist.

"Wait, where are you going? You didn't even eat," Percy complains and I feel everyone's eyes bore into me.

"I'm not hungry. I'm just going to our room," I answer both questions quickly before yanking my arm from his grip and walking out of the mess hall, possibly leaving everyone with questions bubbling inside their heads.

I stop as I close the door behind me, wanting to hear what the others have to say.

"Percy, is your sister alright?" I hear a male voice ask.

"I don't know, I'm going to go check on her." I hear Percy get up before Annabeth stops him.

"No, let Frank check on her," Annabeth suggests.

Frank? Why Frank?

"What? Why me?" Frank asks.

"You're the one who knows her least, you better go get used to her while you can. Now go," Annabeth orders. Smart plan, daughter of Athena.

I quickly rush to the room and pretend I didn't hear anything as Frank walks into Percy's room. I'm sitting on Percy's bed, fiddling with the necklace Leo gave me. I look up at Frank's dark brown eyes that are staring into mine. He reluctantly walks over and awkwardly sits down next to me. He must not be very good with conversations. Neither am I.

"Hi. Uh, they told me to come check up on you." Frank informs me on something I already know.

"Oh. Just tell them I'm fine," I reply bluntly. I'm getting better at hiding my emotions when I speak.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Frank purse his lips and look down at the floor, and I start to feel a little guilty.

Well, there's no time for guilt now. I have a world to save.

"What were you thinking about? When you jumped from your seat earlier?" Frank asks me after a few awkward moments of silence.

"My quest." I hesitate, but I'm able to get it through.

"What about your quest?" He asks. I was hoping he wouldn't ask anything like that, but, no such luck.

Today sucks.

"I know where I have to go."

Frank glances a me with a confused expression.

"Ohio," I add. "It's impossible to get there now."

"Oh," Frank replies. Then he notices the necklace I'm fiddling with. "Nice necklace. Who gave it to you?" He asks, obviously trying to change the subject. There isn't a hint of interest in his voice.

"Leo," I answer bluntly, still no emotion heard in my voice.

I can see him trying to hide a smile. Really? First Piper, now you? I'm going to throw myself overboard.

"I'll call him for you if you want," Frank tells me, but before I can answer, he's already heading towards the mess hall. Wow, he's fast.

A few minutes later, Leo slowly walks into the room. I look up and smile when I see him and he smiles back. Without warning he sits down next to me, slings his arm around my shoulders, and pulls me in closer to him, immediately filling me with warmth, like when we shared our pasts to each other.

"Frank told me you need to head to Ohio?" Leo asks.

"Mm-hm," I answer. "For my quest. But I made a deal with Percy. I would help you guys first."

Leo chuckles. "You don't have to, Max. Hazel or Percy can just summon one of their horses to come get you and you'll be in Ohio before you know it," he explains. Percy told me about the horses that helped them on their quests so far; his horse, a pegasus named Blackjack, Jason has a storm spirit horse named Tempest, and Hazel has a very fast horse who feeds off of gold named Arion. I asked how they were able to feed Arion, and Hazel showed me the curse that was placed on her when she was a baby. She can make gems and diamonds appear just like that at her command, including gold. But she warned me that if anyone uses any of the gems, something really bad will happen to them.

"No. I want to help you guys. And I want to be with you," I confess. Leo just squeezes me tighter. I wrap one of my arms around his back.

"You should know that I kind of like you, Valdez. Kind of." This is my first time confessing that I have a crush on someone, since Leo's one of my first crushes, and it's actually really easy. I feel relieved to finally get it off my chest after holding it in.

"Yeah, I like you, too, um, whatever-your-last-name is," Leo also confesses. So he does like me back. That's an even bigger relief.

I chuckle. "Jackson. Max Jackson," I finish. Max Jackson.

That's my name now, and I'm not changing it, no matter what.

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