orenda [leo valdez]

xlix. Frank gets an Apple

❝you have me.

until every last star in the galaxy dies,

you have me.❞

△△△

Kira didn't go to sleep that night. She didn't trust her mind to fall asleep without Leo, who was manning the console.

So, she took it upon herself to take watch throughout the entire night.

She stood at the bow, overlooking the dark sea and darker sky.

Leo glanced at his girlfriend from the console. He smiled absentmidly at her beauty. Her hair was blowing in the wind, rich and dark under the moonlight. He couldn't see her eyes, because she was glancing out to the ocean, but he could picture them every time he closed his eyes. Bright, hazel eyes. With honey rings, and emerald green surrounding it.

Morning came before either knew it.

Along with light came a dangerous storm.

It had come virtually out of nowhere, but within seconds, the ship was shaking violently with supernatural sized waves.

A wave the size of a skyscraper crashed over the forward deck, washing the front crossbows and half the port railing out to sea. The sails were ripped to shreds. Lightning flashed all around, hitting the sea like spotlights.

Cutting through the roar of the wind, the goddess Nike screamed from the stables: 'YOU CAN DO BETTER, STORM! GIVE ME A HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT!'

The crew made it to the deck quickly, but there was nothing to fight.

Leo had lashed himself to the console with a bungee cord harness. That might have seemed like a good idea when he rigged it up, but every time a wave hit he was washed away, then smacked back into his control board like a human paddleball.

Piper, Annabeth, and Kira worked on trying to save the rigging. Ever since Sparta, the three girls had grown super close.

Frank had turned into a gorilla. He was swinging upside down off the starboard rail, using his massive strength and his flexible feet to hang on while he untangled some broken oars.

Even Festus the figurehead was trying to help. He spewed fire at the rain, though that didn't seem to discourage the storm.

Jason and Hazel made their way to the deck.

Kira frowned at the boy being up and moving, but didn't say anything that would hurt his delicate ego.

Only Percy was having any luck. He stood by the centre mast, his hands extended like he was on a tightrope. Every time the ship tilted, he pushed in the opposite direction and the hull stabilized. He summoned giant fists of water from the ocean to slam into the larger waves before they could reach the deck, so it looked like the ocean was hitting itself repeatedly in the face.