Warriors || Leo Valdez [2]

10

By the time Alex woke up, Leo was by her side feeding her ambrosia while Piper described the duel between Jason and her. The memories since meeting Bacchus were still fuzzy but Alex remembered some of it. 

Beside her, Jason winced. 

"Knocked out twice in two days," he muttered. "Some demigod."

"Grace, you forget I got knocked out twice too" Alex held up her fist and Jason chuckled before bumping their fists together.

"Sorry Jackson, didn't mean to blast you"

"I'm sorry too, didn't mean to fight you.. or you Perce" Alex managed a weak laugh, Percy shook his head. 

"As long as you're okay"

"No really, I could've killed you" Jason said. 

"Or I could have killed you," Alex shrugged.

Jason shrugged. "If there'd been an ocean in Kansas, maybe."

"You know I don't need an ocean-"

"Alex, Jason," Annabeth interrupted, "I'm sure you both would've been wonderful at killing each other. But right now, you need some rest."

"Food first," Alex said. "Please? And we really need to talk. Bacchus said some things that don't-"

"Bacchus?" Annabeth raised her hand. "Okay, fine. We need to talk. Mess hall. Ten minutes. I'll tell the others. And please, Alex change your clothes. You smell like you've been run over by an electric horse."

Leo gave the helm to Coach Hedge again, after making the satyr promise he would not steer them to the nearest military base "for fun."

They gathered around the dining table, and Piper explained what had happened at TOPEKA 32-their conversation with Bacchus, the trap sprung by Gaea, the eidolons that had possessed the two.

"Of course!" Hazel slapped the table, which startled Frank so much, he dropped his burrito. "That's what happened to Leo too."

"Like I said, Leo would never do that on purpose" Alex said.

"So it wasn't my fault." Leo exhaled. "I didn't start World War Three. I just got possessed by an evil spirit. That's a relief!"

"But the Romans don't know that," Annabeth said. "And why would they take our word for it?"

"We could contact Reyna," Jason suggested. "She would believe us."

He turned to Piper. "You could convince her, Pipes. I know you could."

Annabeth and Hazel looked at her sympathetically while Alex smacked him from behind. "dumbass" she muttered.

"I could try," Piper said halfheartedly, waving away the girls' concerns. "But Octavian is the one we have to worry about. In my dagger blade, I saw him taking control of the Roman crowd. I'm not sure Reyna can stop him."

Jason's expression darkened. 

"She's right," Frank said. "This afternoon when we were scouting, we saw eagles again. They were a long way off, but closing fast. Octavian is on the warpath."

Hazel grimaced. "This is exactly the sort of opportunity Octavian has always wanted. He'll try to seize power. If Reyna objects, he'll say she's soft on the Greeks. As for those eagles... It's like they could smell us."

"They can," Jason said. "Roman eagles can hunt demigods by their magical scent even better than monsters can. This ship might conceal us somewhat, but not completely-not from them."

Leo drummed his fingers. "Great. I should have installed a smoke screen that makes the ship smell like a giant chicken nugget. Remind me to invent that, next time."