The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus Book Five)

FOUR | LEO VALDEZ

[Boo Playlist Song #4: Garden of Exile by Toby Martin. Oh, and this was one of the songs in the Beastly soundtrack! If you know the movie starring Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens :)]

"In the garden of exile,
You can never leave.
Apparently there's a back gate,
But I just don't believe it."


[Warning: Heart Attack might occur because of too much Caleo fluff."]

[ U N E D I T E D. Sorry if there are any faults in this chapter. ]

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FOUR | LEO VALDEZ



"I kind of expected more from Epitadeus; and I remember his babies being the babies of Enceladus." Leo recalled as he fiddled with a screw. "Huh, a couple. I wonder who's the mother between them."

Everybody, except Piper, laughed out loud. "Haha," The daughter of Aphrodite said monotonously, sarcastic.

Leo could tell that the joke worked on her, because he could see that she was trying hard not to laugh like the others. The son of Hephaestus liked knowing that his joke was hilarious, and Piper would just deny his awesomeness.

They were in the lounge, except for Percy, who was sleeping in his cabin, healing. Annabeth would go check on him every thirty seconds. Jason assured her that Percy would be okay, but the daughter of Athena looked like she had a squirrel in her pants, seemingly agitated.

At the millionth time she did it, Piper almost lost it. "Annabeth!" She scolded sassily. "Just relax, okay? Percy is perfectly fine." She gripped on her wrist as the daughter of Athena stood up to check on him.

"But, P-Percy..." She croaked.

"--is alright." Hazel finished. "Besides, we can't discuss about...this and make a contingency plan if you're not here."

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "We can't figure out who's the mother between Enceladus and Epitadeus without your brilliant brain!"

Annabeth looked at all of them hesitantly. Leo recognized the look Frank was giving her as he sat next to Hazel quietly; Please Annabeth, for the sake of this simple-minded clown over here. She managed a smile at the son of Mars, hesitantly sitting down next to Piper.

Jason exhaled. "So, any ideas on what's waiting for us in Athens?"

"What did Rachel say on your dream?" Leo heard Piper say to him.

The son of Jupiter rested his back on the couch, probably recalling. His face were calm for a moment, but after a few seconds, it quickly changed into a panicking expression.

"The camps!"

Everybody tensed up.

"What about the camps?" Frank asked him.

"She...We should stop her before the Feast of Spes!"

"Woah, calm down, Ninja Turtle. You mean, Gaea?" Leo mocked. There's no other explanation for it anyway.

"Shh!" Annabeth silenced. "Names have powers, Leo, you know that." She turned her attention back to Jason. "Go on."

"Rachel told Reyna that once you-know-who wakes up, she will attack the two camps first. And if she wakes up, that means that--"

"--she already shed the blood of the two male and female demigods." Leo finished. He looked at his friends impassively, who looked at him and Jason with tension.

"Yeah, and that will happen only if she wakes up." Hazel encouraged them. "We can stop her, right?"

Leo felt like praising her in that moment. She was the youngest in the group, but she has the brains and the determination. Sometimes, he wishes that he could have the same amount of courage like she has.

The daughter of Pluto looked at them expectantly, then lastly at Frank. Leo could sense a silent communication between them, like he would always have with Jason and Piper.

Frank cleared his throat. "Yeah, we can stop her."

*****


Leo had been steering the wheel for over an hour now. He ate dinner earlier than the others, so they were currently guzzling down the pizza in the lounge. The Great Percy Jackson woke up fifteen minutes ago and he heard Annabeth scream in delight that he accidentally steered the wheel too far to the left, causing the ship to tilt a bit.

"Gods, Percy!" The daughter of Athena jumped at him and hug him tightly, causing him to wince in pain.

"Watch the shoulder," He reminded her humorously, smiling crookedly at her.