orenda [leo valdez]

xxiii. Coach Almost Takes Kira's Head (twice)

Leo, Hazel, and Kira stumbled back onto the ship, Kira carrying the large bronze metal.

They stumbled to a stop in the doorway of Piper and Jason's cabin.

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

His hair was still greased back. He had hiswelding 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.

Kira smiled innocently.

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

"Not yet," Piper said.

Leo cursed. Then he noticed Jason sitting up, and his face brightened. "Hey, man! Glad you're better. I'll be in the engine room."

Kira also shot him a wave. "Good to see you alive, Grace,"

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

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

"We met Narcissus," Hazel said. "Also Nemesis, the revenge goddess."

Jason sighed. "I miss all the fun."

"You can join us next time," Kira promised him.

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?" Piper guessed.

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

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

She pointed down. "Engine room."

Suddenly the entire ship listed to port. The demigods stumbled. Percy almost spilled his bucket of tar.

"Uh, what was that?" he demanded.

"Oh..." Hazel looked embarrassed. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake."

"Like...all of them." Kira added, a guilty smile on her face.

"Great." Percy handed the bucket of tar to Frank and Annabeth. "You guys help Leo. Me and Kira will hold off the water spirits as long as we can."

Percy got there first. Kira ran in behind in, but the battle had began.

Nymphs were crawling onto the ship. Percy was kicking them off, slicing some of them. He was used his water powers to create big waves to knock them over.

Kira branded her sword, but tried to hurt, not kill.

She rammed the hilt into the closest nymph, and then kicked her stomach, making her fall overboard.

Coach Hedge joined them, whacking random nymphs with his bat. He almost took off Kira's head twice.

Festus sprung to life, deep frying some nymphs as well.

Kira continued to fight effortlessly as the amount of nymphs on board dimmed.

After what seemed like hours, the engine began to hum. The oars creaked and groaned, and Piper felt the ship lift into the air.

Kira roundhouse-kicked the last nymph off, who was still screaming Narcissus's name as a battle cry.

The rocking and shaking stopped. The ship became quiet except for the drone of machinery.