CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
SILVIANA DUVALL

Sylvie was pretty sure she was the only person keeping the Argo II crew from mutinying against Leo. And even though she got her friends not to attack him, Annabeth was still giving him a look so terrible he might as well have been pulverized anyway.

"One more time," she demanded. "Exactly what happened?"

"Annabeth," Sylvie whispered, pleadingly.

Leo slumped against the mast. He clearly felt horrible, and it certainly wasn't helping that everyone was mad at him. Sylvie tried doing her best to cheer him up—she held an ice pack to his head from where it had hit the deck. Still, Leo was depressed.

All around, his beautiful new ship was in shambled. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling. The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the onboard Internet and TV was blown to bits, which really made Coach Hedge mad. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball. The ship was listing and shuddering as it flew. The engine wheezed like an asthmatic steam train.

Leo choked back a sob. "I don't know. It's fuzzy."

Sylvie glanced at the people looking at Leo, silently begging them to go easier on him. There was Annabeth (whose anger made her seem a million times more scary), Coach Hedge with his furry goat legs, orange polo shirt, and baseball bat (did he have to carry that everywhere?), and the newcomer, Frank.

Sylvie wasn't sure what to make of Frank. He looked like a baby sumo wrestler, though Sylvie wasn't stupid enough to say that loud. And even so, she thought the fact Frank had turned into a huge dragon was a lot more important.

"You mean you don't remember?" Annabeth crossed her arms.

"I..." Leo swallowed dryly. "I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."

Sylvie set him an empathetic look, hoping the ice pack she held to his head was at least doing something to ease the agony he was in. Meanwhile, Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck, glowering at Leo.

"Look, kid," Hedge said, "you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match."

"Coach," Sylvie said, "why don't you make sure all the fires out?"

"But I already did that."

"Well, do it again."

"Why—"

"Do. It. Again."

The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Sylvie never got scary like that, so he knew better than to defy her.

Sylvie directed her attention back to Leo, still kneeling next to him. She gently set the ice pack down at her side so she could focus on conversing with him.

"Leo," she said calmly, "did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or—?"

"No," Leo interjected. Sylvie was surprised at how easily he told the truth. "The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."

The new kid, Frank, scowled. "On purpose?"

"No!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes..."

"Leo," Sylvie urged under her breath to him. "You're not really helping me defend you, here."

Leo groaned helplessly. "I mean, I didn't want to. But at the same time, I felt like I wanted to. Something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling inside me—"

"A cold feeling." Sylvie was sure she sounded just as terrified as she felt. She now understood what Leo was saying a lot more than she wanted to.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Why?"

From belowdecks, Percy called up, "Sylvie, Annabeth, we need you."

Sylvie suddenly remembered Jason. She hoped that he was okay.

As soon as they'd gotten on board, Finley had taken Jason below. Piper had followed, not trusting that Finley wouldn't try finishing the job if the two of them were left alone. The cut on his head had looked pretty bad.

Sylvie shared nods with Annabeth, and then they both stared back at Leo. He looked so devastatingly worried that even Annabeth's expression softened. Sylvie felt terrible for him—not only was he struggling with... everything else, but now his best friend was badly injured.

"He'll be fine," Sylvie tried to assure him. She squeezed his shoulder kindly before standing back up.

"Frank, we'll be back," Annabeth said. "Just... watch Leo. Please."

Frank nodded. Sylvie grimaced. Annabeth now trusted a Roman demigod she'd known for like, three seconds, more than she trusted Leo. It had Sylvie starting the moment they were heading for the sickbay:

"Okay, hear me out—"

"Sylvie," Annabeth sighed exasperatedly, "he literally said himself that he did it! It's really not looking good for him here, no matter how much you're trying."

"But I really don't think he's guilty in this!" Sylvie defended. Her hand instinctively moved up to fist her shirt over her chest. "That—That cold feeling he mentioned... I felt it, too."

Annabeth hesitated, sending Sylvie an analyzing stare. It was probably hard for her to decipher when to actually take Sylvie's worries seriously. Sometimes, Sylvie panicked so hard that she sent Annabeth into a pointless frenzy, but other times Annabeth refused to entertain her anxiety, and they ended up in more trouble than before (ie. Percy disappearing with Nico di Angelo to literally bathe in the River Styx).

Sylvie met Annabeth's gaze with her doe eyes. Maybe if she looked desperate enough, Annabeth would cave and listen to her.

"We'll talk about it later," Annabeth decided, which wasn't really an answer. "Come on, let's see what Percy wants."

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Sylvie immediately wondered if Percy had called her and Annabeth to prevent some sort of murder from happening.

All of Percy, Finley, Piper, and an unconscious Jason were in the sickbay, and there was tension all around. Finley either wanted to care for or straight up kill Jason, Sylvie couldn't tell. Piper didn't trust Finley not to hurt Jason again, so she seemed to want to hurt Finley first before that could happen. Percy was apparently very protective of Finley, so he was seconds away from throttling Piper. The only unproblematic one was the guy who literally had no choice to, because his head had been bashed in with a brick.

"Guys," Sylvie broke in, and everyone froze, "did you forget about the brain trauma patient right there?"

"I wish," Finley grumbled.

"What is your problem?" Piper asked.

"That's not your business," Percy defended.

"Hey!" Annabeth snapped finally. Her voice was far too scary not to listen. "I don't know if it's occurred to any of you, but we're actually supposed to defeat Gaea together. That's not fucking happening if we can't stay in a room together!"

Sylvie nodded a little awkwardly from beside Annabeth. "And, again. Jason is right there. Needing help."

Percy, Finley, and Piper all stared back. Then blinked. Like idiots.

"Never mind," Sylvie sighed tiredly. "Everyone move."

Before they could actually listen, Annabeth just plowed through the trio. She shoved them apart with her hands. She and Sylvie stepped towards where Jason lay.

Sylvie and Annabeth weren't healers, not by any means. But they both did have the slightest of experiences. Sylvie's little brother had became a healer, despite being a son of Demeter, so some of his knowledge rubbed off on her in his excited rambles. Annabeth was great with first aid, an example here being when she quite literally saved Sylvie from bleeding out via the stab wound her sister gave her.

Long story.

They examined Jason together, treading lightly with the evident wound to his head. His entire body was pale, and there was a gauging cut to the corner of his forehead from where the brick hit him. Sylvie winced just looking at it.

Annabeth suggested that they try force-feeding him ambrosia, so Sylvie helped her do that. They both made sure not to give him too much, in fear that Jason would suddenly combust into flames and disintegrate. That would turn them from the the Nine into the Eight pretty quickly.

After that, Sylvie grabbed some nectar. They made Jason's unconscious figure drink that as well. There was no way to truly know if it was working on him or not, because he wasn't awake, so all they could really do was wait.

"He's definitely going to be fine," Sylvie said. "At least one person should stay with him at all times, though."

Annabeth nodded. "But you and I should go check back in with Frank and Leo. We need to start planning our next point of action."

"I'm coming with," Percy said. He walked towards the girls, but it was Sylvie who he intertwined his fingers with.

Just because, Percy pressed a kiss to the top of Sylvie's head. She forced herself to remember where she was, and not to get distracted. Instead, she used Percy to help herself stand back up. Sylvie pretended not to see the eager grin he was sending her way.

"I want to make sure Leo's okay," Piper said. Then she sent Finley a suspicious glance. "Do you promise not to try killing Jason if I leave?"

"No," Finley said.

"Briggs," Percy glared.

"I am not babysitting his stupid ass!" she complained. "I'd actually rather fight a legion of dead half-bloods and get shot in the neck by my own gun. Again."

"That's how you died?" Annabeth asked.

"You have a gun?" Piper questioned.

Finley gestured incredulously to the holster on her thigh, something that had been there the whole time and none of them noticed. To Sylvie's surprise, there was actually a handgun strapped there. It was the most un-Roman-like weapon she'd ever seen.

Not that she'd seen many, but still.

"Listen, I'm not arguing with someone who has a gun," Sylvie decided.

Finley grinned at her. "Smart decision, darling."

"Stop doing that!" Percy snapped, face turning absolutely red. "No doing that. I swear to the gods, Finnegan. Shut the fuck up."

She shrugged as if she were completely unfazed. "Don't make me stay with Grace, and maybe I'll consider it."

"For that comment? Now I am." Percy's grip on Sylvie's hand squeezed, and he turned, dragging her towards the exit. "Come on. Let's go find the tiny traitor guy."

Sylvie sighed exasperatedly, but didn't resist. "His name is Leo."

"Whatever."

"And he's not a traitor," she insisted. Annabeth and Piper followed after, all four of them ignoring Finley's complaining shouts. Sylvie figured she'd be fine. "He admitted he fired the ballista—"

"What?" Percy cried.

"—but he wasn't acting on his own will!"

"Applejack," he sighed, thumb rubbing her hand, "you know I care about you more than anything. But you're making absolutely no sense right now."

Sylvie sent a glance back at Annabeth and Piper, silently pleading for the girls' help.

"I've known Leo longer than anyone here," Piper spoke, even if she hadn't been there for Leo's interrogation. "He does some crazy things, but he would never do something like this. He's smart."

"But he did do it," Annabeth said.

Sylvie frowned. "That cold feeling he mentioned, though," she said. "I felt it. I swear I did. I thought I was just being paranoid, but it's not a coincidence that Leo does all of that, then says he felt it too."

Percy and Annabeth shared wordless conversation.

"She's got a point," Annabeth said.

"She does," Piper interjected, just as eager as Sylvie to clear Leo's name. "Someone must have done something to him. Whether it be Octavian, or Gaea, or one of her minions... I don't know."

"Like magic?" asked Percy.

Sylvie shrugged, her hand in Percy's swinging as they walked. "At this point, I wouldn't set that idea aside."

Percy really didn't seem to believe that straight up magic was at work here, but he also had never gotten to know Leo before. Not like Sylvie, Annabeth, and Piper had.

"Trust me, Fishstick," she said. "I know Leo. He's my friend. He wouldn't betray us like this."

"I trust you, just not him," Percy grumbled.

The stairs creaks as they climbed. Sylvie, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper had finally made it to the ship's bow with grim faces. The Central California valley was passing below.

Leo whipped around desperately, trying to gauge his friend's condition from their expressions. "Is Jason—?"

"He's resting," Piper said. "That Finley girl's keeping an eye on him... we think. But he should be fine. I think."

Percy gave Leo a hard look. "Sylv says you did fire the ballista?"

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

"Sorry?" Percy growled.

Sylvie let go of his hand to put hers on his chest. "He's telling the truth, Perce. But I get it doesn't make sense. We'll figure it out later."

"Right now, we have to regroup and make a plan," Annabeth agreed. "What's the situation with the ship?"

Leo's legs trembled, and Sylvie felt horrible. Percy's stare on him was probably terrifying. For someone that didn't actually know Percy like Sylvie did, he was entirely too intimidating for his own good.

Still, Leo told Annabeth about the damage and the supplies they needed. He seemed to feel better talking about something fixable.

Leo was bemoaning the shortage of Celestial bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.

"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief.

"What's perfect?" Piper said. "I could use some perfect about now."

Leo managed a smile. "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."

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The Argo II was designed like an ancient trireme, only twice as big.

The first deck had one central corridor with crew cabins on either side. On a normal trireme, most of the space would've been taken up with three rows of benches for a few hundred sweaty guys to do manual labor, but Leo's oars were automated and retractable, so they took up very little room inside the hull. The ship's power came from the engine room on the second and lowest deck, which also housed sickbay, storage, and the stables.

Leo had built the shit with ten cabins—nine for the demigods of the prophecy, and a room for Coach Hedge (Seriously—Chiron considered him a responsible adult chaperone?). At the stern was a large mess hall/lounge, where Sylvie had gone with Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Frank.

Once they got to the Great Salt Lake, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent. That was why Sylvie and the others had to stay down below—except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail.

While they waited for Leo to return with any news, another argument was struck up on whether or not Leo was innocent. Percy didn't seem to want to trust Leo, but Sylvie kept telling him to, and he kind of listened to Sylvie no matter what.

By the time Leo reached the mess hall (with that young Hazel girl following), they'd come to some sort of consensus. Did they all look seriously dejected as they sat around the dining table? Of course they did. But no one was out to get Leo anymore, so that was good enough for Sylvie.

The lounge that Leo had made was seriously awesome. The cupboard was lined with magic cups and plates from Camp Half-Blood, which would fill up with whatever food or drink you wanted on command. There was also a magical ice chest with canned drinks, perfect for picnics ashore. The chairs were cushy recliners with thousand-finger massage, built-in headphones, and sword and drink holders for all your demigod kicking-back needs. There were no windows, but the walls were enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood—the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields. Unfortunately, it made Sylvie feel homesick rather than happy.

She and Percy were staring longingly at the sunset of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree.

"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?"

Frank plucked on his bowstring. "Figure out the prophecy? I mean... that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?"

"The what?" Leo asked.

Frank explained how their harpy friend was freakishly good at memorizing books. At some point in the past, she'd inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome.

"That's why you didn't tell the Romans," Piper guessed. "You didn't want them to get hold of her."

Percy kept staring at the image of Half-Blood Hill. "Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want..." He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there."

Sylvie doubted that any of them would be safe, now that Leo had stirred up a camp of angry Romans on top of the problems they already had with Gaea and the giants; but she didn't want to comment on that.

Annabeth laced her fingers. "Let's give Sylvie some time to think about the prophecy. Right now we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. Leo, what do we need?"

"The easiest thing is tar," Leo said. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."

"We'll have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."

Everyone looked at Leo, because... well, sorry, Leo, but the strike force would only happen because of what he did.

"Guys... I don't know what happened. Honestly, I—"

Sylvie raised her hand. "We've been talking. We agree it couldn't've been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned... I felt it too. It must've been some sort of magic, like Gaea or Octavian or something. But until we understand what happened—"

Frank grunted. "How can we be sure it won't happen again?"

"I'm fine now," Leo insisted, though Sylvie wished he could be sure. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Finley and Coach Hedge on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."

"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea."

"It'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to a smaller amount of demigods, right?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, as if reappraising Hazel's merits. "You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II... outside camp, nine demigods in one place will attract way too much attention."

"Yeah," said Sylvie, "the ship's designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board, but if we go out, we shouldn't travel in large groups. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to."

Percy still didn't look happy about it, but he took Sylvie's hand. "As long as you're my buddy, I'm good."

Hazel smiled. "Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing, turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Sylvie and Percy into town for the tar?"

Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "I... I guess. But what about you?"

"I'll ride Arion with Sa—with Leo, here." Hazel fidgeted with her sword hilt. She almost had as much nervous energy as Sylvie did. "And, uh, another volunteer. Piper? Annabeth?"

Piper raised her hand. "I'll come along. I don't really want to stay here, but... Annabeth, could you? We still don't know if Finley will actually kill Jason or not."

"I doubt she actually would," Annabeth said, although the words were forced. "But, uh, yeah. I'll stay."

Hazel nodded. "Perfect. Me, Leo, and Piper will get the bronze and lime. We can all meet back here by dark."

Frank scowled. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Leo going off with Hazel. For some reason, Sylvie felt responsible for speaking up before another argument broke out.

"Leo," she said, "not to rush you, but if we get the supplies, how long to fix the ship?"

"With luck, just a few hours."

Sylvie realized everyone was staring at her, waiting for a point of action.

"Um, that's good enough," Sylvie decided. "We'll meet your back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck. That doesn't mean we'll get it."

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BAILEY YAPS...

When you're in a "Leo Valdez's #1 defender" competition, but Sylvie Duvall is your opponent

Spoiler alert: you're losing

There's no way these are the 9 heroes of Olympus bro they can't have one civil conversation we're so cooked

No one fw anyone except Sylvie's here. And maybe Hazel.