Daughter of Neptune

Festus' pink claws

Leo had followed Tom down a long, dark hallway. They came to a stop outside a set of large, black obsidian doors. Leo looked down the hallway, nothing memorable, just black walls, floors and roof.

Then Tom knocked three sharp taps on the doors and they opened. Light filtered through the opening doors to reveal a large room with a tall, teenage boy standing in the middle of the room. He was fiddling with something small in his hands but he quickly shoved them in his pocket.

Tom gestured for Leo to walk in first and took up the rear, ensuring that Leo couldn’t escape. The teenage boy was wearing a white shirt and a black jacket over the top, accompanied by a black pair of pants. His black hair was cut at his ears and he had a smirk of satisfaction on his face.

“Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus,” The teenager spoke in a deep voice, much like a mans. “So glad you could join us.”

Leo took a step forward and looked at the teenager, “Next time an invitation will be fine.” He smirked.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I had Sophie bring you here.” He gestured to the girl in the corner, whom Leo hadn’t noticed.

“Actually,” Leo stated, in a matter of fact tone, “I was wondering who you might be.”

The teenager glared at the demigod then smiled a fake smile. “How rude of me. I am Lord Kronos, Lord of time, evil and harvest.” Kronos stated. “I need you to help me with something.”

“I’m afraid I can’t stay.” Leo replied, “I have places to be, things to do. Festus wanted his claws sharpened and painted pink.”

Kronos took a step toward Leo. “That will have to be rescheduled.” His eyes narrowing like he found his prey. “You will want to hear what I have to say, before you make a definite decision.”

“Well your evilshipness, start explaining why you had her Leo-nap me.” Leo said pointing to Sophie, who stood in the corner, watching with her black eyes.

Tom spoke up this time, “She was merely following orders.” Their eyes locked for a second and Leo saw a glimpse of a silent conversation between the two.

~~~~~~~~

I sat on the floor, in my cell, wondering what was taking so long. It had been about fifteen minutes since Tom took Leo to Kronos.

Why did Kronos want Leo? Were my friends looking for me? If so, where were they now?

~~~~~~~~

Hannah was sitting on a bed in the hotel room, patting the hellhound. Jason and Ben were sitting on a bunk bed across the room. Esme was on the bunk above Hannah muttering words like ‘sneaky’ and ‘evil’

Everyone was in a bad mood after Leo had been kidnapped and Hannah couldn’t help but feel responsible. Suddenly the hellhound jumped from Hannah’s bed and ran over to the middle of the hotel room. Bruce then sat down and started barking loudly.

“Would you stop the dog doing that?” questioned Jason, looking over to the girls. Hannah hopped off her bed and walked over to Bruce, trying to calm him down.

“How do I do that?” she asked.

“I’ll show you.” Esme answered jumping off the top bunk and walking towards Hannah and Bruce. She started patting him and scratching behind his ears. Ben walked over after a few minutes and tried talking to the loud hellhound, but he admitted defeat and stood next to Hannah.

“Jason, you try something.” Ben called across the room.

Jason reluctantly stood and walked across the room. When he stood beside Hannah and Esme, Bruce stopped as quickly as he started.

“What was that about?” Jason asked.

“No idea. Let’s hope he doesn’t do it again.” Esme said, walking back to her bed. When she was walking Bruce erupted into a fit of barking again.

Hannah then realised something, “Esme, come back over here.” She yelled, an idea forming in her head. Esme did as Hannah said and Bruce stopped barking, looking at Esme.

“So he’ll stop barking when we are all standing here?” Jason asks, catching on to Hannah’s idea. “If we stay here, he should stay quiet, and not wake up the whole block.”

“Seems that way.” Ben chipped in. “Except that I left my mirror on my bed. Think he’ll bark again if I quickly run and grab it?”

“Yep.” Esme grumbles. Jason is deep in thought and doesn’t notice that Ben tries to creep back to his bed, and grab his mirror. Except that Bruce sees and starts barking again. Ben quickly walks back and raises his hands in defeat.

“All right boy, you got me,” Ben pats Bruce’s head. “I’m just going to take a seat.” Something clicks and Jason understands what Bruce wanted them to do.