The other Grace/HoO fanfiction

(16) And That's Why You Don't Let Leo Cross Bridges Without Supervision

When Leo and the three siblings left the cave, Piper was already awake and well thanks to Ciara's treatment. The two girls were siting inside the silver tent, drinking hot chocolate.

"Oh, no way." Leo said. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? I want hot chocolate too! Somebody give me hypothermia."

Layla smirked. "There's a river with cold water over there. Come on, let's take a dive."

"Changed my mind." Leo gulped.

"Boys." Ciara blurted out as glaring sideways at Jason and Leo. She spoke the word in a way, as if it was the worst insult she could think of.

"It's all right, Ciara. They're friends." Thalia reassures her fellow hunter. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate."

Ciara signed but got them winter clothes anyway. The hunter coats were warm enough and incredibly light at the same time. She also gave them a mug of hot chocolate each.

"This stuff's good." Leo said. "I would join the Hunt just to drink hot chocolate when I feel cold."

Ciara glared. "We don't want boys in the hunt."

The son of Hephaestus was visibly disappointed. "No? I want hot chocolate, though. Can I at least get some for the way?"

"No time. We have to get going." Thalia said. "Piper, you up for moving?"

"Thanks to Ciara, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival stuff. I feel like I could run ten miles."

"She's tough for a child of Afrodite. I like this one." Thalia said winking at Jason.

"Hey, I could run ten miles, too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."

Thalia ignored him as expected.

Ciara only needed 6 seconds to turn the tent into a pack in the size of a match box. After she did, she and Thalia started running uphill leaving them behind.

"You seem a lot better." Layla tald Piper who was running next to her.

"I am a lot better." Piper said. "I don't know what Ciara did but it helped so much. How about you?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not." Piper disagreed. Curse kids of Afrodite and how good they are at reading people.

"Well, I guess it's a lot to prosses." Layla replied. When she saw the confused look in Piper face she realized that the daughter of Afrodite had missed their previous interaction in the cave. She explained to the girl what had happened as simply as she could. She also told her their suspicions about the existence of another safe place for demigods apart from camp half blood.

"It's possible." Piper agreed. "I mean, the hunters can't have explored the whole country, right? There's must be a place they missed."

They were so focused on their conversation that they didn't notice that the hunters in front of them had stopped. Fortunately, Layla managed to slow down just in time to avoid hitting Ciara.

Leo wasn't so lucky. Not being able to stop on time he slammed into Layla's back and fell backwards to the snow. She just rolled her eyes and gave him a hand to stand up.

They had nearly reached the summit of Pikes Peak.

The view in front of them was breathtaking, not only because it was amazing but also because the air was so thin they could hardly breath. It was still dark but in the dim moonlight they could distiguish the summits of the other mountains below them. They looked like islands in a sea made of clouds.