Hurricane ~ L. Valdez

2.15 - I'm Too Tired For This

       The new civil war was beginning, and chaos was erupting from every corner. Leo had thankfully escaped his fall unharmed, and the uneasy feeling in my chest had somewhat calmed once I saw him ducking from portico to portico, blasting fire at the giant eagles swooping down on him. Roman demigods tried to chase him, tripping over piles of cannonballs and dodging tourists, who screamed and ran in circles. Tour guides kept yelling, "It's just a reenactment!" Though they didn't sound sure. The Mist may have been good, but I wasn't sure it was that good.

       In the middle of the courtyard, a full-grown elephant—scratch that... Frank?—rampaged around the flagpoles, scattering Roman warriors. I was helping Jason sword-fight a stocky centurion whose lips were stained cherry red, like blood. I vaguely remembered seeing the boy at the Roman feast, Leo and I comparing him to a vampire under our breaths. The two of us worked well against the boy, trying to catch him off-guard with our combined Greek and Roman style, but the boy was still skilled and the two of us struggled to keep him distracted without maiming him.

       Jason locked eyes with me, motioning for me to distract the boy. I aimed a low blow, causing the boy to duck down and defend it. "Sorry about this, Dakota!" Jason said, causing the boy to look at him in confusion as Jason vaulted straight over the centurion's head like an acrobat and slammed the hilt of his gladius into the back of the Roman's head. Dakota crumpled.

       "Jason! Ellie!" I heard Annabeth's voice from a little bit away, and Jason and I scanned the battlefield until we saw where Annabeth was standing about 50 feet away from us.

       Annabeth pointed to where the Argo II was docked. "You two get the others aboard! Retreat!" I looked at Annabeth with wide eyes, and Jason and I seemed to have the same thought.

       "What about you?" he called.

       "Don't wait for me!" Annabeth bolted off before I could get the chance to protest. Percy was not going to like that.

       We gathered the others quickly and efficiently, not wanting to risk anything. Percy was reluctant to leave Annabeth, but finally we couldn't hold back the Romans any longer, and we were forced to begin getting the Argo II ready to leave the docks. Thankfully, Piper yelled out a quick, "It's Annabeth!" and pulled Annabeth onboard.

       The gangplank fell into the sea, and the two girls tumbled onto the deck. "Go!" Annabeth screamed. "Go, go, go!" The engines rumbled beneath us as Leo got the oars churning. Jason and I were able to change the course of the wind, and Percy called up a massive wave, which lifted the ship higher than the fort's walls and pushed it out to sea. By the time the Argo II reached top speed, Fort Sumter was only a blot in the distance, and we were racing across the waves toward the ancient lands. Yay for us.

~~~

      I was exhausted. So. Dam. Exhausted. But, unfortunately, I had no time to worry about that. It was up to me, Percy, and Jason to summon the World's Best Hurricane to get away from the blasted Romans. I tried not to think about how much energy seemed to be getting sucked out of me and how exhausted I felt, but the whole storm summoning thing seemed to take forever.

      Finally, we were able to stop. I passed out on the deck, almost hitting the floor if not for Piper catching me. The brunette seemed to tense up, propping me up next to Percy and Jason against the mast. I closed my eyes, and I could vaguely hear Hedge and Leo exchanging words, before the boy made his way towards me. I opened my eyes slowly, wincing as the world seemed to be a blur and closing them again.

       "You scared me with that fall." I mumbled softly, feeling my boyfriend kneeling next to me.

       "Aww, were you worried about me, tormentoso?" I could tell Leo was trying to joke around, but the boy still sounded worried as he grabbed my hand and gave me a bottle of water. I winced. I didn't feel like moving at all, even to get a drink of water. In all honesty, I just wanted a nap. "You overworked yourself a lot, El," he mumbled to me softly, "at least take a sip of water."