Would that I ──── Leo Valdez [2]

𝟗: 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲?

─────"𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬." Piper stared at Leo. "What happened to you?"

They had just reached the ship again and all three of them were breathing hard from running away. But Leo, undoubtably, looked the most eye catching of them all.

His hair was greased back. He had welding goggles on his forehead, a lipstick mark on his cheek, tattoos all over his arms, and a T-shirt that read HOT STUFF, BAD BOY, and TEAM LEO.

"Long story," he said. "Others back?"

"Not yet," Piper said.

Vincent hadn't paid much attention to anything else, but now he noticed Jason was sitting up. He didn't look that bad anymore. A knot in his chest seemed to unravel. He wasn't sure what he would have done if his friend didn't make it, though Vincent couldn't help but snicker at that sort of death. 

R.I.P. Here lies Jason Grace, killed by a brick.

Leo's face brightened up when he saw Jason too "Hey, man! Glad you're better. I'll be in the engine room."

He ran off with the sheet of bronze, leaving Hazel and Vincent in the doorway.

Piper raised an eyebrow at them. "Team Leo?"

"We met Narcissus," Hazel said, which didn't really explain much. "Also Nemesis, the revenge goddess."

Jason sighed. "I miss all the fun."

"Do you think I overdid it with the whole slam me against a wall and suck thing?" Vincent asked Hazel who's eyes widened so fast it almost looked like her eyeballs were going to fall out.

"What?" Piper's mouth fell open. 

"Long story."

"No way, you're telling us right now," Jason insisted. "You want Leo to slam you against a wall?"

That idea was so bizarre and farfetched, Vincent laughed again. If anything, he wanted to be the one to slam Leo against a wall. But instead, he said, "No, we had to do this whole Leo fanclub thing. And he told me to act like a fanboy. And I gave my best performance."

Performance. Yes. Because that's what that was.

On the deck above, something went THUMP, as if a heavy creature had landed. Annabeth and Percy came running down the hall. Percy was toting a steaming five-gallon plastic bucket that smelled horrible. Annabeth had a patch of black sticky stuff in her hair. Percy's shirt was covered in it.

"Roofing tar?" Vincent guessed.

Frank stumbled up behind them, which made the hallway pretty jam-packed with demigods. He had a big smear of the black sludge down his face.

"Ran into some tar monsters," Annabeth said. "Hey, Jason, glad you're awake. Vince, where's Leo?"

He pointed down. "Engine room."

Suddenly the entire ship listed to port. The demigods stumbled, Vincent ended up having to be caught in a dip by Annabeth. Percy almost spilled his bucket of tar.

"Uh, what was that?" he demanded.

"Oh..." Vincent tried to hide the heat rising to his face as he righted himself and took a step back from Annabeth. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake. Like...all of them."

"Great." Percy handed the bucket of tar to Frank and Annabeth. "You guys help Leo. I'll hold off the water spirits as long as I can."

"On it!" Frank promised.