ALL RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTERS (except Celeste, she's mine.) BELONG TO THE AMAZING RICK RIORDAN. I DO NOT OWN THE PJO/HoO SERIES!!!

Chapter 25 - Leo

Once the raft was finished, the seven of them set sail.

It was a small raft, definitely not enough to get them to Athens.

Leo kept thinking back to when Celeste first arrived, warning him not to go to Athens.

Now, Celeste still seemed to think Athens was a bad idea.

However, their deadline, the Feast of Spes, was getting closer every second.

"Where do you think they are?" Annabeth asked, her face practically in the water as she searched around desperately. All of them were holding their breath, hoping to see either Percy or Celeste's head appear above the waves.

No one answered Annabeth because they knew if they gave her too much hope and they failed...

Leo sighed, steering the raft with an oar.

He thought about Celeste, the way her smile made him melt in his shoes. Her sea green eyes lighting up with the sunlight, the way she smelled like the sea air, and her waves of beautiful black hair.

Leo had liked a lot of other girls, but Celeste was something else, something different, something special.

Leo couldn't put his finger on it, he didn't understand why he liked Celeste so much.

He even liked her more than...her.

Calypso.

Gods, he hadn't thought about her for awhile.

"Leo?" Hazel was shaking his shoulder.

Leo turned to her and blinked. "Yeah?"

"We think we saw something, stop paddling." She said.

Leo nodded and stopped the raft, letting the raft float on the water.

Annabeth was scanning the water with her hands, her eyes closed, as if she could feel Percy's presence.

She finally sighed and sat back, running her hands through her hair.

The sea water made her hair paste to her forehead. Looking out on the horizon, she pointed.

"There. I could've sworn I saw something there." She said.

"Are you sure Annabeth?" Jason asked.

Annabeth shot him a glare and no one questioned her after that.

They all knew Annabeth and Percy were an inseparable pair. Take one away from the other, suffer their wrath.

Leo was glad they were his friends and not his enemies.

Annabeth nodded towards Leo and he started to paddle again.

It was something he had made without machine parts, so that was a first, but he enjoyed working with new materials.

They paddled along in silence for awhile when a loud roar startled all of them.

Nico was the first to speak.

"What was that?" He asked.

The raft suddenly shook and everyone had to grab the center in order to not fall over.

Leo was starting to think sending Percy and Celeste, their sea experts, away at the same time hadn't been the smartest idea.

Looking down, Leo saw a large shape underneath the water.

He got the attention of the others and showed them.

Everyone drew a weapon, ready to fight.

Then the form of the giant, Polybotes, broke from under the water.

He was grinning an evil grin and was holding Percy and Celeste in one fist.

Percy was struggling, not noticing the others down on the raft. Celeste, however, was wounded badly, blood dripping from her forehead as she lay motionless beside Percy.

For one sickening moment, Leo thought she was dead.

Then, the giant moved and noticed the raft, making Celeste twitch ever so slightly.

Leo sighed with relief, but then immediately realized that the giant saw them.

And they didn't have superhero-goddess-like Celeste at the moment.

Percy finally stopped struggling and noticed the others on the raft. He gestured frantically and after that, all Leo saw was a blur of blond hair.

Annabeth leaped off the raft and onto the giant's arm, her sword raised.

She struck the giant hard, making him stumble and fall back into the water.

His grip loosened on Percy and Celeste, and Percy took the chance to break out.

He grabbed Celeste's arm and dove into the water.

He came back up to the surface with Celeste in his arms.

Annabeth was in the water as well, helping.

They got onto the raft, but there was no time for celebrating.

Polybotes rose from the water, an evil snarl on his face. His eyes were furious and narrowed to stick-thin slits as he pulled a large, spiked club from his dreadlocks and swung it at the raft.

"Dive!" Percy screamed.

No one argued.

Percy grabbed Celeste first and then they all dove into the water.

The raft exploded into a confetti party of wood.

The giant continued to swing his club and everyone had to frantically swim to get away. Leo didn't feel like turning into mince-meat today.

Swimming wildly, the club barely missed him by a few inches. He jumped and paddled faster.

Beside Percy, Celeste began to stir, her voice mumbling words Leo couldn't make out.

Percy was desperately trying to wake her up as everyone else swam for their lives.

"Go under!" Percy yelled.

Everyone hesitated, but as the giant's club came down at the last second, everyone dove deep.

The saltwater stinging his lungs, Leo could make out the spiked of the club inches from his face as he sank downwards.

He wanted to breath oxygen again, but he couldn't.

The giant was blocking anyway for them to come up for air.

Next to him, his friends were turning purple.

Percy looked up quickly and screamed, "Breathe!"

He got several strange looks, but no one could take it any longer.

Leo felt as if his lungs would pop like balloons until he opened his mouth to breathe.

He thought he would drown, but then he remembered what children of Poseidon could do.

Looking around at the others, most of them were shocked to find themselves breathing.

However, Percy was still concerned with Celeste. Even though the water was healing her wounds, she wasn't waking up.

Annabeth swam beside him and gestured downwards. They needed to get lower underwater, otherwise Polybotes would start to get annoyed and come under with his club ready.

They all swam away, knowing they couldn't kill Polybotes without Celeste conscious.

Leo felt terrible, unable to do anything.

Time passed like syrup, slowly drizzling. Leo kept glancing back at Celeste who still laid motionless in Percy's arms.

Her breathing was light, bubbles blowing out of her nose every few seconds.

Percy never took his eyes off his sister. He wore a nervous expression as if he felt it was his fault.

Annabeth was beside him, her arm over his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Everyone else remained silent.

If Celeste had died...no, they couldn't think like that.

After awhile, they were able to go up to the surface. Polybotes was no longer in sight, but there was also no land in view.

They sat there, paddling to keep afloat, everyone staring at Celeste.

A thunderstorm brewed above them and rain began to fall.

No one seemed to care.

Celeste still hadn't moved.

Earlier, when Celeste was waking up, he could've sworn she would be okay. But now, her life force seemed to drain out of her.

It was Annabeth who finally broke the silence.

"What happened?" She asked. Her voice was barely a whisper, but everyone heard it.

Percy shook his head. "She tried to...you know, use her true form. When she did it, I could see her paling. I tried to stop her but..." Percy paused, closing his eyes tight. "Polybotes got a hold of her and crushed the life out of her. She...she stopped moving after that. I-I thought she was dead."

No one spoke.

The rain continued to pour down, darkening the mood.

"We should find land." Annabeth said, patting Percy gently on the shoulder.

Everyone nodded and they swam off into the night.

Leo could practically hear Gaea laughing in his ear.

Celeste was a threat to the Earth goddess, she probably wanted her dead just as much as she wanted the others dead.

Hours ticked by when they finally found land. Celeste still hadn't moved.

Silence.

Leo started to believe that Celeste was really gone. They had lost her.