Persephone groaned, her head spinning. Her eyes felt heavy, unwilling to open, and she felt like someone had taken a chisel to her forehead. She clenched her eyes shut, rubbing her forehead.

"Hey, little ghost." A voice greeted. Persephone raised an eyebrow, a single eye opening. The infamous ocean eyes of Percy Jackson stared at her, a little crease in his forehead. He had a soft smile on his face, yet his eyes swam with concern. No pun intended.

"Where..." She pushed herself up, realising she'd been laying on her front, and massaged her temples. 

"Sickbay." He told her. "Found you on the ground when we got on board. Luckily, we don't think the gash across your back will leave a scar- the nectar helped with that. You might feel dizzy, though, for a few hours. You were hit pretty hard in the head."

She cursed. "Is Leo okay? What happened?"

"Is he- Persephone he landed you in the sickbay." Percy's eyes darkened. "He fired on the Roman camp. Annabeth's up there with him now, waiting for him to wake up." 

"Wake up? Percy, what did you do?"

"I stopped him." He said calmly. "He hit his head on the deck, he'll be fine. Now, what happened?"

"I don't know." She whispered. "Percy, Leo wouldn't do this. I don't know what happened, he just- I've been feeling something, like a pinch in my gut, since we arrived at camp. I thought it was just me, but Annabeth seemed tense, too. We got to the boat and the feeling got worse; it hurt. Then, one minute Leo was fine, the next minute, he had this crazy look in his eyes."

"Did Octavian do anything?" 

"He couldn't have." She explained. "I mean, the guy is a jerk, but he didn't do anything to frame us."

"So it was Leo." Percy growled. 

"No, Percy-"

"Annabeth!" Percy shouted. Persephone winced. "We need you."

Annabeth, moments later, rushed into the sickbay. She met Persephone's half-opened eyes and sighed in relief. She strolled over, wrapping the girl into a tight hug, mindful of the bandage covering her back.

"How do you feel?" the daughter of Athena asked.

"I'm okay, Annabeth." she reasoned. "Is he awake yet?"

Annabeth hesitated, but nodded, slowly.

"Persephone told me it was Leo that fired on New Rome." Percy crossed his arms.

"I did not say that-"

"He told me the same thing, Percy." Annabeth sighed. "He said it felt like there was a cold feeling inside him, forcing him to attack the Roman camp-"

"I told you!" Persephone interrupted. "I told you, something felt wrong-"

"He still fired on the camp!" Percy defended. He rubbed a hand over his face. Persephone looked down, her fingers moving to play with her ring, only to find it absent. She looked up at Annabeth in worry.

"Leo has it, don't worry." She reassured. "I told him to look after it for you until you woke up."

"I'm telling the truth, Percy. It wasn't Leo at all, it felt... evil." Persephone turned to the son of Poseidon. "He wouldn't do this." Percy sighed.

"But the Romans don't know that." He explained. "The ship's pretty banged up, we should go check to see if there's anything we can do. Stay here."

Persephone stood up, walking passed Percy, and out of the door of the sickbay. He turned to Annabeth, arms raised in a 'what?' gesture.

"Did I speak Latin?" He said, sarcastically. Annabeth shook her head, laughing slightly at the stubbornness of the girl, before she moved to follow, leaving Percy behind.

Persephone waited at the bottom of the stairs for the two to catch up, after they'd gone to speak to Piper and check up on Jason, suddenly feeling quite anxious. She'd just got thrown around by her crush, and ended up with a mild concussion- though the nectar helped clear that up a bit. Of course, she knew it wasn't Leo, but what if he was still... Possessed? 

Annabeth placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He's worried about you." She told her, ignoring Percy's scoff. Annabeth wasn't an idiot, she was the daughter of Athena, so she could confidently say that she was rather observant, especially when it came down to Persephone, who she'd watched grow up through many quests and hardships. She knew Persephone was rather fond of Leo. And Percy did too, in the short time he'd seen them together, even if he wouldn't admit it.

The older two walked up the stairs, their shoulders growing tense with each step. Persephone breathed out and followed them, fingers circling where her ring should be.

Leo was next to Festus, a grim yet concentrated look on his face. The roman boy, Frank, stood near him, his eyes wide in awe at the mast head. Festus made some whirrs and creaks, alerting Leo of the girl's presence, behind the couple. 

"Sephy-" He stepped forward, eyes wide, brows creased in worry. Percy glared at him, halting him in place. Instead, Leo turned to Annabeth. "Is Jason-"

"He's resting," Annabeth said. "Piper's keeping an eye on him, but he should be fine." Persephone would ask, later, what exactly happened in New Rome, but for now, her focus was on the mechanic before her. 

"Annabeth said you did fire the Ballista?" Percy said, shoulders squared.

"Man, I- I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry-"

"Sorry?" Percy snarled. 

Annabeth placed a hand on her boyfriend's chest. "We'll figure it out later. Right now, we have to regroup and make a plan. What's the situation with the ship?"

Persephone stood back as Leo launched into an explanation of the damages and the supplies needed to fix them. She bit her nails, now that she didn't have her ring, in nervousness. Festus whirred and squeaked next to Leo. 

"Perfect." Leo's shoulders sagged.

"What's perfect?" Annabeth asked. "I could use some perfect about now."

Leo smiled, shakily. Persephone saw his eyes flickering over to her every so often, and his right hand was clenched shut, his thumb rubbing over something. "Everything we need in one place. Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."