Chapter Text
I sat right behind Leo as he drove Festus, my head resting on his shoulder blades, missing the bright blush on his face. I stared down at the water in my hands as I made shapes with it, stealing from the clouds when I needed more. I couldn't help but think of my old life.
Who was I? What did I do? How did I know Jason, because it's obvious that I did.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by Leo speaking. "Are you ok? You aren't normally this brooding."
I let out a small laugh before leaning back slightly. "Just thinking about my memories. I mean, there is something seriously shady going on here. The cyclops mentioned a person with a purple shirt speaking latin-"
"And Jason wears a purple shirt and you both speak latin," he finished for me.
"Yeah," I sighed. "And it's really stupid but I have this urge to protect him all the time, which is really scary when I don't remember him. And I know we know each other, and every fiber of my being is begging me to trust him but I honestly don't know him right now! It's just all so weird."
"Hey, it's alright," Leo said softly and took my hand. "We will figure this out together."
"Promise?" I mentally cursed myself for the vulnerability in my voice.
"Pinky swear," he responded causing me to laugh.
"Cyclops!" Jason exclaimed, causing both of us to jump.
"Whoa, sleepyhead," Piper said from behind him.
"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn‘t we crash-land? I thought—"
"Chill out Jason," I said to the boy behind me. "Everything is fine. You need to relax a bit. And don't move your head too fast, it'll make you feel worse."
"It‘s okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"
"How did you—the Cyclops—"
"Leo ripped them apart," Piper said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"
"It was nothing," Leo replied, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, it was definitely something." I bumped his shoulder. "Our resident repair boy is a huge badass."
"Shut up, Valdez," Piper laughed. "I‘m going to tell him. Get over it."
And she did tell him. I interjected when necessary to say how awesome he was, forcing myself to not use the word hot.
"I‘m not alone, then," Jason said after she was done. "There are others like me and Dia."
"Jason," Piper said, "you were never alone. You‘ve got us."
"It's different," I said to her, understanding what he was feeling.
"I—I know … but something Hera said. I was having a dream…"
Jason then recounted what she had said. He told us how Hera was in a cage, and she mentioned something about a dangerous exchange.
"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"
Jason shrugged dejectedly. "But Hera‘s gamble is me-us." He gestured to me. "Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"
"Wherever we came from," I began. "Do you think that it has something to do with all of this. If they come looking for us it could end terribly."
"Or save us," Piper interjected. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."
"About that … she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge," Leo said with a wince.
"Did you say … Porta-Potty?" Jason asked.
"Yeah," I replied. "It was absolutely disgusting."
"I don‘t know if she‘s completely unkillable," Leo said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, 'Pfft, right, I‘m gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge.' "
"She‘s trying to divide us," Piper said and I nodded in agreement.
"What‘s wrong?" Jason asked, looking at Piper with concern.
"I just … Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?"
I instantly tensed up. Who the hell is Enceladus?
"Enceladus?" Jason asked in confusion.
"I mean …" Piper‘s voice quavered. "That‘s one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember."
She's lying.
"Well, I dunno about Enchiladas—" Leo begun.
"Enceladus," Piper corrected.
"Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?"
"Porphyrion?" Piper asked. "He was the giant king, I think."
"The counterpart to Ju-Zeus," I said in realization.
"I‘m going to take wild guess," Jason said. ―In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot in the war between the giants and the gods."
"I think so," Piper agreed. "But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It‘s almost like nobody wanted that story to survive. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill."
"Heroes and gods had to work together," Jason said. "That‘s what Hera told me."
"Kind of hard to do," Leo grumbled, "if the gods won‘t even talk to us."
"The gods are prideful-" I rolled my eyes "-they will not admit they need help from mortals even if it costs their dying breath."
The silence that filled was tense and I found myself frustrated at the gods. Why us? Why couldn't there be some other demigods that can do this? Why do I have to get my childhood taken away?
"Chicago," Jason said as we entered a large city.
"One problem down," Leo said. "We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?"
"How about we follow that one," Jason suggested, pointing to a blur that had just passed, "and see where it goes?"
We found ourselves watching as a large group of spirits gathered watching a sleeping women on screen. A very particular, very annoying, sleeping woman.
"Leo.." Jason said hesitantly.
"I see her," Leo said. "I don‘t like her, but I see her."
"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper asked. "How are we supposed to follow them?"
"I can feel the water," I said, holding out a hand. Maybe if I try hard enough I can use that to find an entrance we can use?"
"Maybe we shouldn‘t," Leo said. "That fountain thing is giving me seriously bad vibes. And aren‘t we supposed to, like, beware the earth?"
"Put us down in that park," Jason suggested. "We‘ll check it out on foot."
We landed and Leo jumped down, catching me by the waist when I followed suit. I felt a heavy blush fill my cheeks and Leo smiled brightly at it's presence.
"Is that normal?" Jason asked, noticing one of Festus's eyes was blinking in and out.
"Yes," Leo said, wacking it with a rubber mallet as it went on again. "Festus can‘t hang around here, though, in the middle of the park. They‘ll arrest him for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle …"
He searched his belt and came up empty.
"Too specialized?" he guessed. "Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops."
Leo then pulled out a large, orange plastic whistle. "Coach Hedge would be jealous! Okay, Festus, listen." Leo blew the whistle. "You hear that, come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just try not to barbecue any pedestrians."
Festus snorted in agreement but before he could go I placed a hand on his snout and rubbed it gently. "And be careful, don't exert yourself too much."
Piper let out a wince in pain and Jason spoke in worry. "Your ankle? That nectar we gave you might be wearing off."
"It's fine," she replied with a shiver as we walked to the fountain.
"Let‘s get out of the wind," Jason suggested.
"Down a drain?" Piper shuddered. "Sounds cozy."
Jason and Piper set out ahead of us and Leo and I followed. It was absolutely freezing and I found myself grateful for Leo's warm presence once again.
"You know ola," Leo said with a playful roll of his eyes, "sometimes I think you are only friends with me because of my fire powers. All you ever do is steal my warmth."
Instead of recognizing his very valid point I decided to laugh and question, "ola?"
"It means wave," Leo said with a bright smile. "Is it not the one?"
"Keep searching," I said with a wink, walking away and he followed like a baby duckling.
We all went down the drain and into the sewer, surprised at the cleanliness of it.
"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper questioned, just confused as the rest of us.
"No," Leo said. "Trust me."
"How do you know—" Jason was cut off.
"Hey, man, I ran away six times. I‘ve slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?"
I put a hand on Leo's arm in comfort, knowing it was a sore subject. He gave me a grateful smile for the support then the both of us looked forward, ready to move on.
"That way," Jason pointed.
"How can you be sure?" Piper questioned.
"There‘s a draft blowing south," Jason said. "Maybe the venti went with the flow."
When we began walking Piper stumbled into Jason, cursing. "Let‘s rest," Jason said while holding her up. "We could all use it. We‘ve been going nonstop for over a day. Leo, can you pull any food from that tool belt besides breath mints?"
"Thought you‘d never ask. Chef Leo is on it!"
"And Dia," Jason turned to me, "Could you work on healing her again?"
I walked over and picked up some of the water off the floor, it being shockingly clean. I placed it on her ankle and shook my head.
"I've used my abilities a lot today. I should be able to fully heal her in our next session but I'm gonna need to eat first."
When he acknowledged my words I went over to Leo to help however I could.
"How could you instantly heal Jason, but Piper has taken a bunch of sessions?" Leo asked curiously as he pulled out ingredients and started a fire.
I began to dice some bell peppers as instructed as Leo prepped the tofu. "Well, I don't know how close we were but I can feel that I had to heal Jason a lot. My abilities recognize his body and kind of already knows how it works. Therefore I am able to heal him a lot easier, faster, and better than I am able to Piper. and plus, he only had a concussion."
I through the peppers into the pan with the tofu and let Leo season it up. I started crafting the salsa as he instructed when he suddenly let out a whimper. I looked over to him inspecting his hand and pulled it to me. I took some water and healed the minor burn, Leo watching me in amazement.
"Healing little things like this helps me get to know your body," I said then suddenly blushed. "Not like that. Like in a healing way. You know what I mean."
"Yeah," he said as we made eye contact, "I do."
For a moment we stayed there but then the oil in the pan suddenly popped and we broke apart. Leo skillfully assembled the tacos and we gave them out to the others.
"And bingo," he shouted.
"Leo," Piper said in amazement. "How did you—?"
"Chef Leo‘s Taco Garage is fixing you up!" he said proudly. "And by the way, it‘s tofu, not beef, beauty queen, so don‘t freak. Just dig in!"
We began to eat and I found myself in awe with the taste. This really wasn't helping my crush. A man that is funny and can cook? I had no chance.
Piper curled up on Jason's lap and fell asleep, Leo trying not to laugh. I smiled at the scene, feeling an odd sense of pride. I don't know where it came from.
"Alright," I said cutting through the awkward silence. "I am going to follow Piper's footsteps and pass out. Try to get some form of shut eye you two, ok?"
When they agreed I pulled off my hoodie, placing it under my head for cushioning, and layed down next to Leo, instantly falling asleep.