orenda [leo valdez]

xx. Octavian Burns Teddy Bears

Today was the day. The day that Kira, and the rest of the demigods flew into Rome in a war ship and hoped that they didn't strike them down.

She woke up in a cold sweat, another nightmare of the giant Porphyrion whispering to an unseen figure about how the demigods would fail.

It was a great reminder to fall asleep to every night.

Sometimes, she would sneak into the Hephaestus cabin and sleep with Leo, where the nightmares couldn't get to her, but someone usually caught them, and rumors would fly for a few days.

Today she had to sleep in the Ares' cabin, because everyone had been watching her the last few days, like she would spontaneously combust. Honestly, she was thinking about it. It was a good option.

She stretched in her bed, yawning silently. She didn't want to wake her siblings, since it was so early. It was way too early to start a fight.

She turned, facing the pictures on her wall. Her collection had expanded, and now she had half a dozen. The first two were the originals, but now she had had a two pictures with Piper, Jason, and Leo, one with Connor, one with Annabeth.

She smiled sadly at them. She took them off the wall gently, placing them in her bag.

The bag was emptier then last time. She still had the essentials, ambrosia and nectar, but no change of clothes or water or food. Argo II already had loads of that stuff.

She had made her cabin on Argo II, filling her drawers with some clothes, even though most of it was still empty. She had a few spare weapons in her room, and she had the sword her father had given her, her original sword, and her Ares' knife.

She felt prepared.

But at the same time, she felt like she was seconds from falling apart. She didn't want to mess this mission up. With her new controlled strength and skill, she was physically prepared, but was she mentally?

Too late to find out. She snuck out of the cabin with her bag, meeting Leo in the pale morning sun and dew covered grass.

She developed him in a hug, both of them extremely tense.

Annabeth had told them that it was best to leave the everyone was sleeping, and Kira was too scared to disobey her.

Leo and Kira made their way to the warship hand-in-hand, ready to take on any challenges that came their way.

Once they were up in the air, Kira tried to distract herself from herders by watching the towns and forest pass below them, but she found that it didn't help much but make her feel seasick.

She was wearing a one of Leo's band tees, with some lightwashed jeans.

On the stern quarterdeck, Leo rushed around like a madman, checking his gauges and wrestling levers. Most helmsmen would've been satisfied with a pilot's wheel or a tiller. Leo had also installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a Learjet, a dubstep soundboard, and motion-control sensors from a Nintendo Wii.

Piper paced back and forth between the mainmast and the ballistae, practicing her lines.

Jason stood at the bow on the raised crossbow platform, where the Romans could easily spot him. His knuckles were white on the hilt of his golden sword.

Annabeth overwatched them all.

In the valley below, horns sounded. The Romans had spotted them.

Ringed by the Oakland Hills, the valley was at least twice the size of Camp Half-Blood. A small river snaked around one side and curled toward the center like a capital letter G, emptying into a sparkling blue lake.