Heroes of Olympus: The Aftermath of War

LEO

*Rick Riordan owns all of the characters*

LEO STARED IN disbelief as Annabeth jumped off her window, arms wide open, as Percy struggled to catch her in the air like they decided that practicing some crazy trust exercise in a 45-storey building surrounded with old broken cars, rusty junk and other possibly unimportant thingamajigs was really fine and not dangerous at all.

This, Leo agreed, was probably the most illogical, awesome, unexplainable and dumbest thing that the daughter of Athena had managed to pull off, all while in a weird "I'M DONE. BOOM." t-shirt and loose, worn-out jeans which she had changed in by several seconds. She positioned herself behind Percy, which turned out as obvious, at least to him, the all-knowing, self-proclaimed, 'hot stuff' Valdez.

"Talk about really 'disappointing and unnecessary' plans," Percy smirked, earning him one playful smack on the head and a punch on his shoulder by his one and only 'Wise Girl'.

"Oh, get over it." Annabeth said, apparently smiling proudly at her previous attempt. "One 'ridiculous' stunt can't be so bad."

"I never said it was, you know." Percy chimed in. "Just don't do that again. It's...worrying."

"Unless needed." she replied, nodding. "But okay, Seaweed Brain, I promise not to do something as foolish in my right mind, if not logical and useful in a situation...especially quests..."

Percy raised his eyebrows at the word, like he feared and despised it now. Leo couldn't blame him. He'd do fine without one for an entire millennia. Festus whirred and adjusted his screws in agreement.

"Just kidding," she reassured, "And I swear all of these conditions to the River Styx. And to my over protective boyfriend, by the way."

"I'm not over-protective," he protested. "I just care."

Annabeth held on tight to Percy, wrapping her arms around him as the metal dragon zoomed in for the horizon and out of the building. That seemed to comfort the son of Poseidon enough, Leo thought, because he was going to have to drop them if they didn't stop arguing.

"Well," he said, trying to break the silence, "Don't you have, like, classes in the morning or something?"

"Leo, it's already noon," Annabeth corrected. "Besides, we're on a break today. Our next class is for tomorrow."

"Which Piper has generously arranged to be a half-day session, since we are meeting them at Central Park tomorrow as well," Percy added. Annabeth glared at him somewhere between the words 'Piper' and 'generously arranged'. "What? I thought he ought to know about the charmspeak---"

"So!" Annabeth began, trying to change the topic, "Leo. How did you know we were here in NYC?"

"I didn't." he explained calmly. "I stopped by at Camp Jupiter. Needed to repair Festus overnight. Anyway, Reyna told me about the others and their journey to the gourgeously attractive Big Apple. Hey! I thought, Uncle Leo might as well follow those demigods, eh?"

"And the part where you see us?" Percy inquired, scratching his head.

"I saw you by that large window over there," Leo pointed at the corridor part of the building they had left behind. "Man, those windows are really easy to spot!"

"If not for my big, conscious eyes. You, on the other hand, were singing a tune from High School Musical." Calypso inserted, laughing as he turned pink with embarrassment.

Percy and Annabeth joined in the laughter too, and he couldn't help but think how a long way these people had gone from being awkward acquaintances to entirely normal friends sharing a joke. Everybody was finally getting on just fine.

Leo grinned.

"Why, of course, sunshine. And yet," he looked around, observing the busy streets and highways. "What are we exactly going to do now that all of you are highly trained Power Ranger buddies from who-knows-where?"

"Take us to a coffee shop or something," Annabeth suggested, her expression suddenly serious. "It's about the goddess Artemis. I need to tell you about the dream she sent me."

"Not again!" Percy moaned, shaking his head several times. "Not another risky, horrifying, totally unagreeable---"

"Mission." Leo wanted to finish, but he focused on the towers in front of him.

Festus dropped them by a fast food/café which consisted of about two or three floors. The entire structure was made entirely of bricks and other fashionable accessories, but he didn't really care, not when he wasn't in the mood to hear another impossible task from Artemis, who he actually liked until now. Annabeth and Percy looked equally exhausted.

The waiter had assigned them four seats to the right of a serving counter, which handled all sorts of orders, french fries, macchiatos or not. It was really noisy inside, from children complaining about toys to men arguing about an important topic. Leo wished he could shout, scream, or stomp and make noise as well, but it seemed useless at this point. He got a menu of the café and asked for some frappes, coffee, and doughnuts.

Percy played with a utensil while Annabeth decided on how to begin the terrible story without having them leave at her heels. They received their orders after ten minutes, and Leo decided to give in to the sweet smell of delicious food, Calypso by his side, munching a chocolate flavored doughnut with sprinkles.

Finally, after heaving a great sigh, the daughter of Athena told her promising tale.