Signs of a Storm

Chapter Ten

Chapter 10: Concussions And Catastrophes

"Leo! Watch it!" Nico yelled off to the side. Leo mumbled an apology and went back to his work. He was now giving off waves of smoke, but had the same determined look on his face. Annabeth and I shared a look, as if we were thinking; what is wrong with that boy? But of course both of us didn't know. Nobody did.

"Yea, I agree with Nico for once, try not to blow us all into the sky, please." Annabeth said to him. He looked over, quickly nodded, and then went back to making little fireballs and fixing whatever he was doing.

"What are you doing, anyways?" I asked, hoping he would do more than just give me a nod. Percy had gotten bored and left, so it was only a possibility of four of us getting blown to pieces by Leo. That made me extremely nervous.

"I'm trying to make something incredible." He said, because that totally explained everything. I rolled my eyes at him and went over to see myself.

I peered over his shoulder, trying to figure out what he was doing. Leo was by the weird dragon thingy's left leg, blowtorching something like a wire. Whatever it was, I didn't feel safe being around it. Something could totally backfire and blow us into Zeus' realm.

"It's not exactly the safest thing in the world, but it's worth a try to finish." Leo seemed to have read my mind. I pursed my lips and backed up slowly, away from the psychotic dragon-building child. A voice in the back of my head told me to run and hide. But my gut told me to stay. Plus nobody else seemed to be as paranoid as I was.

"Tara, I think you can chill your little self out." Nico passed by me, and I hadn't even remembered he was here. Nico di Angelo was a hard nut to crack, and he just seemed to blend in with the dark spaces and shadows whenever he didn't talk. But I tried to do what he said. To me, it was impossible. I could just tell something bad was going to happen.

My senses picked up a burning electric smell, over by Leo. It was about to explode, I knew it was. "Leo! Back away from there!" I yelled in a panic. Annabeth and Nico scrambled to get farther away from it. Leo turned to look at me with a skeptical look.

"Tara, I think I would know about this stuff-" Before he finished his sentence, a giant puff of gas and fire exploded by where he was. It wasn't a giant, kill-everyone-within-a-12mile-radius explosion, but it was enough to blow him back to where I stood, thirty feet away.

"Leo! Oh my gods! Are you okay?!" I rushed by his side, worried about him greatly. Annabeth walked over and started to asses him, seeing if anything was broken and/or hurt badly. Nico stood around and watched. "Tara, he's not dying, just passed out." His eyes were focused on a spot in the distance, not bothering to even look at him. I would question his logic but he is the son of Hades, I think he would know.

"Nothing is broken, he just has a minor concussion, nothing new to him." She shrugged. None of them seemed to take this seriously. What if he doesn't wake up? What are the symptoms of a concussion? Will he forget me? All these stupid pathetic questions ran through my mind. Of course he'd wake up, and of course he's going to remember me. Concussions aren't that serious, at least from what I've heard.

"Get him to the infirmary! Do something!" I felt a few tears surfacing, but I wouldn't cry in front of them. Especially if he wasn't in serious trouble. For the first time, Nico looked down at me and his eyes gave off a hint of sympathy. But then it glazed right over and they went back to same death glare he always gives off. "Chill out, he's fine." Nico turned his head back around like he couldn't stand looking at me. Annabeth nodded in agreement.

I cradled his head in my arms, how long would he stay like this? Suddenly, like magic, Leo fluttered his eyes open, "Miss me much?"

I pushed him away and got up. "You son-of-a... You gave me a heart attack Leo Valdez!" I was scolding him, but smiled at the same time.
"Funny, you don't seem very mad for being mad." He rubbed the back of his head and got up. "Esh, what in Hades happened? I remember I was working with the wires, and then... poof. I guess." He shrugged it off, not knowing.