Where You Go ― Jason Grace

xvi. welcome to greece

THEY FOUND LEO at the top of the city fortifications. He was sitting at an open-air cafe, overlooking the sea, drinking a cup of coffee and dressed in... whoa. Leo's outfit was identical to the one he'd worn the day they first arrived at Camp Half-Blood—jeans, a white shirt, and an old army jacket. Except that jacket had burned up months ago.

Piper nearly knocked him out of his chair with a hug. "Leo! Gods, where have you been?"

"Valdez!" Coach Hedge grinned. Then he seemed to remember he had a reputation to protect and he forced a scowl. "You ever disappear like that again, you little punk, I'll knock you into next month."

Ophelia hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you're okay," she whispered.

Frank patted Leo on the back so hard it made him wince. Even Nico shook his hand.

Hazel kissed Leo on the cheek. "We thought you were dead!"

Leo mustered a faint smile. "Hey, guys. Nah, nah, I'm good."

Ophelia could tell he wasn't good. Leo wouldn't meet their eyes. His hands were perfectly still on the table. Leo's hands were never still. All the nervous energy had drained right out of him, replaced by a kind of wistful sadness.

The others grabbed chairs from the nearby tables and settled in.

"I got marooned," Leo said. "Long story. How about you guys? What happened with Khione?"

Coach Hedge snorted. "What happened? Piper happened! I'm telling you, this girl has skills!"

"Coach..." Piper protested.

Hedge began retelling the story, but in his version Piper was a kung fu assassin, there were a lot more Boreads, and Ophelia was dangling over the side of the ship like a classic damsel in distress.

Coach Hedge was just describing how Piper had defeated Khione with a roundhouse kick when Piper interrupted.

"Coach!" she said. "It didn't happen like that at all. I couldn't have done anything without Festus."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "But Festus was deactivated."

"Um, about that," Piper said. "I sort of woke him up."

Piper explained her version of events—how she'd rebooted the metal dragon with charmspeak.

Leo tapped his fingers on the table, like some of his old energy was coming back. "Shouldn't be possible," he murmured. "Unless the upgrades let him respond to voice commands. But if he's permanently reactivated, that means the navigation system and the crystal..."

"Crystal?" Jason asked.

Leo flinched. "Um, nothing. Anyway, what happened after the wind bomb went off?"

Hazel took up the story. A waitress came over and offered them menus. In no time they were chowing down on sandwiches and sodas, enjoying a sunny day almost like a group of regular teenagers.

But, y'know... with deadly weapons and the fate of the world on their shoulders.

Frank grabbed a tourist brochure stuck under the napkin dispenser. He began to read it. Piper patted Leo's arm, like she couldn't believe he was really here. Nico stood at the edge of the group, eyeing the passing pedestrians as if they might be enemies. Coach Hedge munched on the salt and pepper shakers.

Despite the happy reunion, everybody seemed more subdued than usual—like they were picking up on Leo's mood. Ophelia had never really appreciated how important Leo's sense of humor was to the group. Even when things were super serious, they could always depend on Leo to lighten things up.