orenda [leo valdez]

xlviii. Leo's Head Gets Stuck in a Toilet

❝he set fire to the world around him

but never let a flame touch her❞

△△△

Annabeth was the one to find Leo and Kira sleeping this time. They had slumped on each other, Leo was laying out with his head resting on her stomach, and Kira was wrapped around his upper body.

She shook them awake after taking a picture.

"We made it to Sparta, lovebirds," She told Leo, who groggily rubbed his eyes. He didn't want to wake up Kira, he knew how hard it was for her to fall asleep without nightmares, and she was sleeping peacefully at the moment.

Silently, he untangled himself from her, planning on letting her sleep by herself until he needed to wake her up.

But as soon as he crept away, she began to whimper, as if all the sudden she was having a bad dream.

He made his way back to her, shaking her awake gently.

"Hey, Ki," He whispered. Her eyes peeled open, her lips cracking a grin when she saw Leo.

"Hey, Le,"

"We made it to Sparta. C'mon, apparently Piper had a bad dream." Leo helped her up, and she followed Leo, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

She made her way to Piper, who was talking to Percy about her dream. When she finished, the toilets exploded.

Leo ran down the hall waving a wrench. "Man, did you have to destroy the plumbing?"

Percy ignored him. Water ran down the gangway. The hull rumbled as more pipes burst and sinks overflowed.

Kira rubbed her eyes again. She wasn't used to getting a good night's sleep, but she was ready to leap into action.

"We'll be all right," Annabeth told him. "Piper foresaw the three of us going down there, so that's what needs to happen."

Percy glared at Piper like it was all her fault. "And this Mimas dude? I'm guessing he's a giant?"

"Probably," she said. "Porphyrion called him our brother."

"And a bronze statue surrounded by fire," Percy said. "And those...other things you mentioned. Mackies?"

"Makhai," Piper said. "I think the word means battles in Greek, but I don't know how that applies, exactly."

"That's my point!" Percy said. "We don't know what's down there. I'm going with you."

"No." Annabeth put her hand on his arm. "If the giants want our blood, the last thing we need is a boy and a girl going down there together. Remember? They want one of each for their big sacrifice."

"Then I'll get Jason and Frank," Percy said. "And the three of us –"

"Seaweed Brain, are you implying that three boys can handle this better than three girls?"