Chapter 4: The Duel

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When I walked into the infirmary, no one was there. I found Leo laying on one of the beds, and he didn't look that good. His head was all bandaged up, and new blood was still leaking through. I wondered why the Apollo kids didn't just give him ambrosia, until I felt his forehead. It was searing hot, and I didn't think that they could give him ambrosia without him burning up to ashes. I don't think his fire resistance would help with that.

I looked at him sadly and I kept asking myself the same thing over and over again. Why would Leo turn his back on me? Why would anyone turn their back on me? I tried to stay calm but anger flared up inside of me, and I turned to go until I heard a weak croak say my name. I turned back around, and Leo was awake.

I was so relieved, but I didn't want to blow my cover by saying something like "thank the gods you're alive!" so I just said, "How are you?"

"Um, I don't know, why don't you ask an Apollo kid, because I don't think I know how I am. But I feel like a squished taco." I laughed. But then my face turned serious as I remembered the question I wanted to ask him.

"Leo, do you know anything about Percy Jackson? I've heard of him around camp, but I want to know more about him." I asked.

"Well, Percy was an awesome guy. Suddenly, I remember everyone turned their backs on him, and they wanted me to too. But I didn't understand. I didn't hate him, he was my friend. And then one day, I felt a presence take over me, and I said something really rude to him. But before I could apologize, he ran away. I should've treated him better. I think what I said was the last straw," Leo explained.

Leo was most certainly not the reason I ran away. It made me feel guilty that he thought it was his fault. "Well I'm sure he forgives you, wherever he is," I said. I just wanted to ask him one more question before leaving.

"Leo, do you know anything about what happened to you last night?" He opened his mouth to answer, and then let out a scream of pain. He was clutching his head, and gasping for breath. I could tell he was losing consciousness, and then there was an unconscious Leo laying in front of me.

An Apollo kid rushed in, and shooed me out of the room. I left the infirmary, and started to walk back to my cabin slowly. When I got there, I looked at the time. It was already 12:00. I had nothing to really do, because I obviously wasn't going to train with the kids at camp. I decided to take a walk by the lake.

While I was walking, I heard quiet sobbing. I kept my slow pace, not really caring who it was. But when I rounded a tree, I saw familiar blond curls. I walked over curiously and knelt down next to Annabeth. I didn't speak because I didn't need to. Annabeth knew I was here. Finally after awhile of her not talking to me, I grew fidgety.

"So," I said awkwardly, "The seas don't look as good as they were when I was last on Earth." I didn't ask her why she was crying because I know when I'm crying, I don't like to talk about it.

"Yeah, well Poseidon isn't very dandy right now," she snapped. I guess she wasn't very happy that someone caught her crying. "Wait, you used to live on Earth?" She asked.

"Yeah," I answered, "All of my soldiers have. But we have all died already, so we haven't been on Earth for around 1,000 years." She sighed unhappily, and buried her head in her knees again. After a minute I decided to spark up the conversation again.

"So why hasn't Poseidon been very happy?" I asked. I knew the reason why, but I needed to seem clueless.

"His son," she sighed, "Percy Jackson. He used to be my boyfriend and his friends and I treated him like crap. Now he left, and- and I wish he was back so I could apologize to him. Everybody wishes that, but there's no way to bring him back. Hades says he's not dead, but the gods and demigods have searched the world and can't find him."

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