letters | pjo leo.v

6 | triple threat

The oracle. He had asked the oracle for more clues and Rachel told him he has no time to lose. A fiend or foe, it's up to Leo to decide, a dove and fire, and they shouldn't try to hide. It boggles his mind how he doesn't understand anything from the two poems Judas and Rachel has given him, yet he's gaining momentum in getting his grades up in his new "Understanding Poem" classes. So much for grades. That being said, he has heard enough poem to know fire is him, and a dove is a child of Aphrodite.

Piper, he thought, his heart racing in his chest as he tiptoed past cabins to reach Aphrodite's. He knows he has to be stealthy. Not only will he get eaten by nymphs that lurk around in patrol, but if he is to wake children of Aphrodite, oh gosh, their screams will be the death of him.

He goes around the cabin, hiding from the sight of a nearby nymph before climbing to the window. He steadies himself and jumps. His landing isn't the quietest, but what makes him tense up is the metal parts in his bulging pockets that tinkles to make a tiny melody. He holds his breath as he slowly gets up, patting the dust off him as silently as he could as he scans the room. It's dark with the moonlight shining on the small Aphrodite shrine. She looks beautiful, yet a small atmosphere around it seems to make it seem she's scrutinising him, watching his every movement - ready to attack if anything calls for it.

He takes in a deep breath, trying to calm his heart.
He swirls around, hoping to find Piper's bed as soon as possible, but he meets with a figure that's sitting up straight on her bed.

She moves swiftly, daringly, and covers Leo's mouth before he can scream. "Why are you here?" Her brown eyes glimmer with suspicion, but the gentle grip she has on him tells Leo she's not aggressive. "Who are you?"

He takes her hand off his mouth and gives a weak smile, "Okay there, enough with the hands around me, I know I'm hot stuff but privacy, please."

The girl smiles and drops her hand to her side. "Lina," she says simply. Not even offering a hand to shake.

"Leo. I need to find Piper."

Lina looks over to a bed at a corner and Leo sees his old friend fast asleep. It's rare to see demi-gods so sound in slumber, and Leo almost feels guilty for wanting to wake her up. Almost. Calypso is much more important at this point in time.

"Why are you awake?" he asks, eyes not leaving Piper as he tries to take a step towards her. Lina stops him, however, by stepping in front of her.
"I was waiting for you."

Leo doesn't register what she said, just impatient and annoyed he can't get to his friend to leave before dawn. "Look, you're... um cool and all but I need to speak to Piper and-"

She rolls her eyes, her smile falling just a little. "No, listen to me. I was waiting for you." Her voice is a soft whisper and Leo can feel the Aphrodite shrine's "glare" growing hot.

"Waiting? For me?"

Lina nods. Leo gulps. "How'd you know I would come?"

"Judas."

"Oh..."

It's the path Leo chose, he thinks. It clicks. A dove. "I need you, for a mission."

"To find Calypso?"

He pauses, a little taken aback. "Yes... Her."

The shrine's imaginable "glare" is still burning through Leo. "If you will join me, we need to find someone else. Going as a 2 person group won't be enough, we need one more to complete."

Lina thinks for a while. Leo sees her eyes move from him to the shrine behind him and something in her eyes glistens. It's like she's caught in a mini trance as her brown eyes become hues of purple. It changes back to brown and she grins. "I know who."