chapter six!
006. team leo

leo

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    "WHO IS Aunt Rosa?" 

    Leo didn't want to answer Hazel's question. He didn't want to talk about her at all. Nemesis's words were still buzzing in his ears. His tool belt felt heavy▬his feet dragged with it, which was impossible. Its pockets could carry anything without adding extra weight. Even the most fragile things would never break. Still, Leo imagined he could feel it there, pulling him down, waiting to be cracked open. 

    "It's a long story," he muttered in the end. "She abandoned me after my mom died, gave me to foster care."

     Hazel pursed her lips. "I'm sorry."

    "Yeah, well ..." he as desperate to change the subject.  "What about you? What Nemesis said about your brother?"

    Hazel blinked like she had gotten salt in her eyes. She quickly rubbed them. "Nico ... uh ... he found me back in the Underworld. He brought me back to the mortal world and convinced the Romans at Camp Jupiter to accept me. I owe him for my second chance at life. If Nemesis is right and Nico's in danger ... I have to help him."

    "We'll find him," muttered Savreen helpfully, but by the tone of her voice, Leo knew her heart wasn't in it. She had been walking silently▬quiet, as she usually was, but this time, he could hear her silence like it scraped at the back of his mind. Something had upset her; he was sure it had something to do with Nemesis, but she did not speak a word about it. 

    Leo knew better than to push her. He turned back to Hazel. "And what Nemesis said about your brother having six days to live and Rome getting destroyed ... any idea what she meant?"

    She shook her head. "None," admitted Hazel. "But I'm afraid..." 

    Whatever she was thinking, she decided it was best not to share it. They fell back into an uncomfortable silence. Hazel climbed up to the top of one of the largest boulders to get a better view. Savreen followed and when Leo tried to climb up after her, he slipped and lost his balance. She quickly caught his hand and pulled him up. They found themselves atop the rock, holding hands, face to face.

    Leo held his breath, praying to the gods his nose didn't burst into flame. 

     Savreen's eyes▬they were so soft and warm he wondered whether she was made of embers herself. They glimmered and they glittered▬so dark and shimmering, like opals when the light hit them in a specific way. But now, they were heavy but filled with the slight breath of dusk▬the power of her necklace had touched every inch of her. 

     Her hair was long. Gorgeously long. She pulled it off her face and it twisted tight at the nape of her neck until it hung down in waves to the small of her back. Leo understood, he truly did, about the allure of eternal beauty. Harmonia was the daughter of Aphrodite herself, and she didn't just symbolise peace and order▬but also symmetry. Everything about her was so perfect and in proportion; the scales of her beauty and her persona were balanced. Gentle, caring and doe-like, encompassing the innocence of a young child who had not faced any of the horrors of the real world. And yet, at the same time, Savreen had faced more horrors than most. 

     She was easily the most beautiful person Leo has ever seen. Helen of Troy or even Aphrodite could not compare. But the necklace she wore had never given her that beauty. 

     He didn't realise he was staring. Savreen gave him a little, awkward smile and let go of his hand. It jolted Leo out of it and he blurted out: "Oh▬uh▬thanks."

     The moment was over, but they were still standing so close Leo could feel the warmth of her breath▬sweet and calming like tea and honey. 

     He was Paris, ready to fight a war for her, but unlike Helen ... she did not feel the same for him. 

     When Hazel spoke up again, Leo wasn't sure whether he was upset or relieved to be free from the lights of Savreen's eyes. "When we were talking to Nemesis," she said uneasily and Leo turned to her, "your hands ... I saw flames."

    "Yeah," he said. "It's a Hephaestus power. Usually, I can keep it under control."

     "Oh." She put one hand protectively on her denim shirt▬her palm clenched around something Leo couldn't see. But he suddenly got the feeling she wanted to back away from him, but the boulder was too small. 

    Great, he grumbled to himself. Another person who thinks I'm a scary freak. 

    His eyes drifted across the island. The opposite shore was only a few hundred yards away. Between here and there were dunes and clumps of boulders, but nothing that looked like a reflecting pool. 

    You will always be an outsider, Nemesis had told him, the tenth wheel. You will not find a place among your brethren. 

   She may as well have poured acid into his ears. Leo didn't need anyone to tell him he was somehow the odd one out in an even group. He had spent months alone in Bunker 9 at Camp Half-Blood, working on his ship while his friends trained, shared meals and played capture the flag. Even when they tried to keep him company, he knew they didn't enjoy it. They didn't understand what he was doing or what he was talking about▬it was like he was chatting to a blank wall. Piper and Jason tried not to treat him like an outsider, he knew that, but since they started dating, their idea of 'quality time' didn't include anybody else. Even things between him and Savreen were different. Their time alone with each other was growing less and less. Savreen had started to make new friends at camp▬she and Claire grew very close very quickly and Leo felt as if he was only included just to be nice. His only other friend, Festus the dragon, had been reduced to a figurehead when his control disk got destroyed on their last adventure. Leo didn't have the technical skill to repair it. 

    The tenth wheel. Leo had heard of a fifth wheel▬an extra, useless piece of equipment. He figured a tenth wheel was worse because it wasn't useless. Ten was an even number▬there was no extra part and yet still, he was pushed to the side.  

    Nemesis was right▬and he hated that fact. He might be in a group of ten demigods, but he was still isolated. He had fired on the Romans and brought his friends nothing but trouble (and it hadn't even been a day). 

    "Leo?" Savreen murmured gently and he glanced at her. She then shook her head. "Don't ... don't take what Nemesis said to heart, okay? She's wrong."

      He frowned and set his jaw. He kicked some loose dirt as they made their way from the beach and onto grassy fields. Sometimes, Leo wished Savreen couldn't read him so well. "What if it's true?" he muttered. 

      "It's not," Savreen reassured him. "You're my best friend," she said this as though this was the only simple answer▬the only answer he needed. "I need you around, so you're not an outsider to me."

      Best friend, Leo thought to himself bitterly. Just her best friend and nothing more. It wasn't her fault, but she had no idea how much her words which were supposed to make him feel better, now made him feel nothing but an aching hurt in his chest. "Yeah," he mumbled, not looking at her. She frowned, confused.

     Hazel noticed and pursed her lips. "She's right," the daughter of Pluto tried to offer. "She's the goddess of revenge. Maybe she's on our side, maybe not, but she exists to stir up resentment."

     Leo wished he could just dismiss his feelings so easily, but he couldn't. He took a deep breath and surged onwards. "We should keep going. I wonder what Nemesis meant about finishing before dark."

     Hazel glanced at the sun which was just touching the horizon. "And who is the cursed boy she mentioned?"

     Below them, a voice said: "Cursed boy she mentioned."

    Leo jumped. At first, he saw no one. Then his eyes adjusted. He frowned at the sight of a young woman standing only ten feet from them. She was snug in a Greek-style grey tunic that matched the rocks around them. Her wispy hair was somewhere between brown and blonde and grey▬it shifted and blended in with the dry grass. She wasn't invisible, but she was well-camouflaged until she moved. But even then, Leo had trouble focusing on her. Her face was pretty, but not memorable▬each time Leo blinked, he was surprised to see her, because it was like, all of a sudden, he couldn't remember what she looked like▬or where she had been.

     Savreen held her breath for a moment, very confused. Until she spoke up, uncertain: "Uh▬hello? Who are you?"

     "Who are you?" answered the girl. Her voice was quiet and weary, like she was tired of answering that question. 

     Leo, Savreen and Hazel all exchanged looks. In a very short time, Leo has learnt that as a demigod, you're never quite sure who or what you might run into. Nine times out of ten, it wasn't good. It made them very hesitant and careful with the girl in front of them that seemed to just shift in colour each time the wind brushed through the grass. 

     "Are you the cursed kid Nemesis mentioned?" asked Leo, frowning. "But ... you're a girl?"

     "You're a girl," she replied. 

    Leo made a face. "Excuse me?"

    "Excuse me," sighed the girl, sounding miserable. 

    "You're repeating..." Leo let out a sigh of realisation, his eyes going wide. "Oh. Hold it. Sav▬That myth ... there's this myth about a girl who repeated everything▬"

    "Echo," Hazel prompted instead before Savreen got the chance. Sav pursed her lips and stood back, pursing her lips as if a little miffed. 

     "Echo," agreed the girl. She shuffled and her dress changed with the landscape around them. Her eyes were the colour of the salt water▬and yet ... Leo couldn't quite pin focus onto them. 

     "I don't ... I don't remember the myth," he admitted, almost apologetic to Echo standing in front of them. "But ... were you cursed to repeat the last thing you heard?"

    "You heard," said Echo. 

     Hazel's brows lifted with a soft, sombre breath. "I'm sorry," she said to her, even though it held little weight. "If ... If I remember right, a goddess did this?"

    "A goddess did this," confirmed Echo.

    Leo scratched his head. "But wasn't that thousands of years ... oh. You're one of the mortals who came back through the Doors of Death. I really wish we could stop running into dead people."

     Savreen elbowed him quickly. He let out a hiss, not expecting it until he noticed the look Hazel had on her face. She stared at her feet and Leo felt his whole chest▬heart and lungs▬drop into the pit of his stomach and he wanted to kick himself. "Uh ... hey, sorry, I▬" Leo clenched his jaw, wishing his mouth could just zip shut right before he'd say something he would regret. "I didn't mean it that way..."

    "That way," Echo pointed down towards the far shore of the island.

    "You want to show us something?" asked Hazel and she stepped on after Echo, looking almost glad to leave Leo's inconsiderate words behind▬leave him behind. He cursed under his breath again and followed with Savreen in the rear. Even up close, Echo was hard to see. In fact, she seemed to become more invisible the longer he looked at her. 

    "Are you sure you're real?" he said again without even thinking. Leo backtracked and tried to sound a little more considerate. "I▬I mean ... flesh and blood?"

    (It still didn't sound great).

    Echo turned to him as they slowed down. She watched him intently and reached out. His breath hitched, surprised when her fingers touched his cheek▬he flinched; her fingers were warm. "Flesh and blood," she answered softly. 

    He focused very hard on not making his nose catch on fire as she pulled her hand away. "So ... you have to repeat everything?"

    "Everything."

    He couldn't help but smile. "That could be fun."

    "Fun," she scowled at him.

    "Blue elephants."

    Echo sighed. "Blue elephants," she grumbled back.

    "Kiss me, you fool."

    She smacked him. "You fool!"

    Leo hunched up, surprised. "Hey!"

    She punched him again, light like a feather touch. "Hey!"

    "Leo," Savreen tugged him away from Echo by the back of his windbreaker. He stumbled and Echo narrowed her eyes, not happy. "Don't tease her."

     "I wasn't teasing her," Leo replied quickly.

    "Teasing her," Echo propped her hands on her shadowy tunic. She arched a shimmering brow at him. 

     "Okay, okay," he held his hands up and Savreen seemed satisfied enough to let him go. "All right, sorry▬" though he had to resist the urge. It wasn't every day he met somebody with a built-in talkback feature. "So, what were you pointing at? Do you need our help?"

     "Help," she agreed and gestured for them to follow before sprinting down the slope. Leo could only follow her progress by the movement of the grass and the shimmer of her dress as it changed to match the rocks.

    "We'd better hurry," said Hazel, starting to run after her. "Or we'll lose her."

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    THE PROBLEM wasn't that hard to find once they got close. 

    (Well... if you call a mob of good-looking girls a problem).

    Echo led them down to a grassy meadow that sloped down▬they had to skid down it, past rocks and boulders until they caught themselves at the bottom of what looked like a blast crater. There was a small pond in the middle▬beautiful and with water clearer than Leo has ever seen. Gathered at the water's edge were several dozen nymphs. At least, Leo guessed that they were nymphs. They wore the same gossamer dresses as the ones back at Camp Half-Blood did, with bare feet and elfish features. Their skin was the same gentle green▬like they were made up of the grass, and vines, ferns and leaves that their souls were connected to. 

    He had no idea what they were doing, but they were all crowded together in one spot, facing the pond and jostling for a better view. Sevel held up phone cameras (Leo didn't even think nymphs could have phone cameras▬it was quite a peculiar site to see girls dressed up in ancient tunics and yet holding not-so-ancient technology in their hands), trying to get a shot over the heads of the others. He wondered if they were looking at a dead body (look, morbid, but you wouldn't be surprised either if you dealt with the shit he has the past six months). But even so, if they were, why were they bouncing up and down and giggling?

     "What are they looking at?" he blurted out.

     Echo slumped. "Looking at."

    Hazel glanced at them and then shrugged. She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. "Well, guess there's only one way to find out." Then she marched forward and began nudging her way through the crowd. Savreen winced▬she herself could never imagine having the courage (or lack of anxiety) to do so. When Hazel realised they weren't following, she rolled her eyes and grabbed Savreen by her wrist. She squeaked as she was tugged forward and Leo stumbled when she snagged his jacket to make him stumble along with her. Soon, they were waving their way in and out of the nymph-phone-mosh pit. 

    "Hey!" one nymph complained as Hazel squeezed the group of them past her. "We were here first!"

    "Yeah!" sniffed another. "He won't be interested in you."

     Not wanting to know exactly what she meant when she turned her nose up at both Hazel and Savreen, Leo quickly spoke up. "Hey, I'm good-looking!" the nymph merely scoffed. There were large red hearts painted on her cheeks. Over her dress, she wore a shirt that read: OMG I <3 N!!!! "Look, it's demigod business▬" Leo did his very best to sound official. "So▬uh▬make room. Gracias."

     The nymphs grumbled, but they parted to reveal a young man kneeling at the edge of the pond, gazing intently at the water.

     Savreen breathed a soft. "Whoa..."

     The reaction was perfectly valid▬this guy at the pond was more than just some super good-looking dude. It was like looking at a Greek bust: his jaw was chiselled to perfection, and his lips and eyes were crafted at a mix between feminine and masculine▬he was beautiful and he was handsome at the same time. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. His features were perfectly parallel, his nose a perfect size. Dark hair swept over his brow. He could be seventeen or twenty, it was hard to tell; he was youthful and yet mature at the same time with long graceful arms and muscular legs, perfect posture and a regal, calm breath about him. He wore a simple white tee and jeans with a bow and quiver strapped to his back. The weapons hadn't been used in a long time, Leo could tell, because a spider had woven a web in the top of the bow. 

     Leo glanced at Savreen who stared at the guy and he quickly elbowed her to make sure she closed her jaw. She glanced at him, startled. "What?" she whispered. "Just observing."

     As they edged closer, Leo realised the guy's face was unusually golden. In the sunset, the light was bouncing off a large flat sheet of Celestial bronze lying at the bottom of the pond. It washed the stranger's features in a warm glow. And the guy was extremely fascinated by his own reflection from it. 

     "He's gorgeous," murmured Savreen. Leo frowned at her again. 

    Around her, the nymphs squealed and clapped in agreement.

    "I am," the young man murmured, sounding more like he was in a living dream than standing in reality. His gaze did not leave his reflection. "I am so gorgeous."

     One of the nymphs showed them her iPhone screen. "His latest YouTube video got a million hits in▬like▬an hour. I think I was half of those!" the other nymphs giggled.

     "YouTube video?" Leo made a face. "What does he do in the video? Sing?"

    "No, silly!" the nymph chided. "He used to be a prince, and a wonderful hunter and stuff. But that doesn't matter. Now he just ... well, look!" she showed Leo the video and his face turned even more incredulous. It was exactly what they were seeing in real life▬the guy staring at himself in the pond.

     "He is soooo hot!" sighed another nymph. Her shirt said: MRS. NARCISSUS.

     "Narcissus?" Leo arched a brow.

    "Narcissus," agreed Echo sadly. 

     He had forgotten Echo was there. He felt bad, but he wasn't the only one. Apparently, none of the nymphs had noticed her either. 

     "Oh, not you again!" Mrs. Narcissus tried to push Echo away, but she misjudged where she was and ended up shoving several other nymphs. 

     "You had your chance, Echo!" said the nymph with the iPhone. "He dumped you four thousand years ago! You are so not good enough for him."

     "For him," grumbled Echo. She sounded very bitter.

     "Hey," Savreen quickly defended their new friend. "He's not good enough for her if all he cares about is his own reflection!" the nymphs grumbled and rolled their eyes, not giving her the time of day. 

     "Wait," Hazel frowned. "What's going on here? Why did Echo bring us here?"

     One nymph scoffed. She was holding an autograph pen and a crumpled poster of Narcissus. "Echo was a nymph like us, a long time ago, but she was a total chatterbox! Gossiping, blah, blah, blah, all the time."

     "I know!" shrieked another. "Like, who could stand that? Just the other day, I told Cleopeia▬you know she lives in the boulder next to me?▬I said: Stop gossiping or you'll end up like Echo. Cleopeia is such a big mouth! Did you hear what she said about that cloud nymph and the satyr?"

     "Totally!" the nymph with the poster made a face like this was something they had all discussed very thoroughly. Leo scratched his head again, wondering what they thought gossiping was if this was how they were acting right now. "So, anyway, as punishment for blabbing, Hera cursed Echo so she could only repeat things, which was fine with us. But then Echo fell in love with our gorgeous boy, Narcissus▬as if he would ever notice her."

    "As if!" half a dozen others cried in agreement. 

    "Now she's got some weird idea he needs saving," said Mrs. Narcissus. "She should just go away."

    "Go away!" Echo growled back, clenching her hands. 

     "I am so glad Narcissus is alive again," said another nymph in a grey dress. She had the words NARCISSUS + LAIEA written up and down her arms in black marker. "He's like the best! And he's in my territory."

    "Oh, stop it, Laiea!" said her friend. "I'm the pond nymph. You're just the rock nymph."

    "Well, I'm the grass nymph!" another protested.

    "No, he obviously came here because he likes the wildflowers! Those are mine!" cried another.

     The whole group of them started to argue while Narcissus couldn't care less. He didn't even blink, let alone look away from his reflection. 

     "Whoa! Hey!" Leo held his hands up, yelling. "Hey! Hey! Stop! Hold it!" At their frowns, he realised he had said all of this in Spanish. "Oh, for gods sake▬" he quickly switched back to English: "Ladies, stop! I need to ask Narcissus something."

     Slowly the nymphs settled down and went back to taking pictures. Leo sighed at them before kneeling down next to the prince. "So, Narcissus ... What's up?"

     "Could you move?" replied Narcissus instead, very distracted. "You're ruining the view."

    Leo looked in the water. His own reflection rippled next to Narcissus's on the surface of the submerged bronze. Leo had no desire to stare at himself. Really, in comparison to the guy next to him, he looked like a mess. But there was no doubt the metal was a sheet of hammered Celestial bronze, roughly circular, about five feet in diameter. 

    He had no clue what it was doing here▬or how it got here. Celestial bronze fell to earth in odd places. Most, he has heard, were cast off from his dad's various workshops. Hephaestus would lose his temper when projects didn't work out and he'd toss his scraps into the mortal world. This piece looked as though it may have been meant as a shield for a god, but it hadn't turned out right. But if Leo could get it back to the ship, it would be just what he needed.

     "Right, great view," said Leo. "Happy to move, but, if you're not using it, could I just take that sheet of bronze?"

    "No," said Narcissus immediately. "I love him. He's so gorgeous."

    Leo glanced back at the nymphs▬surely this was a joke, right? But no, they were all swooning and sighing happily, taking their pictures. "Uh ... dude, you do realise you're looking at yourself in the water, right?"

     Narcissus sighed dreamily. "I am so great." He stretched out a hand, longing to touch the water, but held back. "No. I can't make ripples. That ruins the image." He sighed again. "Wow ... I am so great."

    Leo met Savreen's gaze and pointed at the guy beside him to tell her, He's insane! She just shrugged and made a face in response, like she had just caught a whiff of something that smelt terrible. 

     He turned back to Narcissus and tried again. "Yeah▬But if I took the bronze you could still see yourself in the water. Or here..." he reached inside his tool belt and pulled out a simple mirror the size of a monocle. "I'll trade you."

     Narcissus took the mirror, reluctantly, and admired himself. "Even you carry a picture of me? I don't blame you. I am gorgeous. Thank you." He set it down beside him and returned his attention back to the pond. "But I already have a much better image. The colour flatters me, don't you think?"

     This sent the nymphs into a frenzy. 

    "Oh, gods, yes! Marry me, Narcissus!"

    "No, me! Would you sign my poster?"

    "No, sign my shirt▬!"

    "▬No, sign my forehead▬!"

     "▬No, sign my▬!"

    "Stop it!" snapped Hazel.

    "Stop it," agreed Echo furiously. 

     Leo had lost sight of Echo again. She was now kneeling on the other side of Narcissus, waving her hand in front of his face as if trying to break his concentration. He seemed to just look right through her. Behind him, the nymph fan club tried to shove Hazel and Savreen out of the way, but the daughter of Harmonia clenched her hands and raised her voice: "Stop!"

      The necklace resting on her collarbone glowed at the group of nymphs did exactly as she ordered. It didn't stop them from grumbling weak insults, though. 

    "He won't sign anything for you▬"

    "▬He won't marry you. And you can't take his bronze mirror! That's what keeps him here!"

     "I don't want to marry▬!" Savreen huffed, growing frustrated. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "Can't you guys see how full of himself he is? How can you possibly like him? You all deserve somebody better▬someone who sees you for you."

     "Sees you for you," Echo sighed sadly, still waving her hand in front of Narcissus's face. 

     The others sighed along with her. 

    "I am so hot," Narcissus shook his head, almost sounding sympathetic. Leo clenched his jaw. This guy was starting to annoy him. 

     "Narcissus, listen." Hazel kept her sword at the ready. "Echo brought us here to help you. Didn't you, Echo?"

     "Echo," she said.

    "Who?" frowned the prince. 

     "The only girl who really cares about what happens to you, apparently. Do you remember dying?"

      This made him frown. For a moment, he did blink▬and something about his stare faltered. "I ... no. That can't be right. I am much too important to die."

     Leo threw his stare up to the sunset, fighting the urge to just grab the bronze and make a run for it. 

     "You died staring at yourself," Savreen suddenly gasped. She snapped her fingers. "I remember the story! Annabeth told me▬Nemesis was the goddess who cursed you, because you broke so many hearts. Your punishment was to fall in love with your own reflection." She looked very proud of herself after saying this. 

     "I love me so, so much," agreed the lost prince. 

     "You finally died," continued Hazel, nodding along as the story came back to her, too. Leo frowned, wondering where in demigod training he had missed all of these stories (probably because he's ditched Greek Monster and Myth Class back at Camp far too many times). "I don't know which version of the story is true. You either drowned yourself or turned into a flower hanging over the water or▬Echo, which is it?"

    "Which is it?" she repeated hopelessly. 

    Leo stood up. "It doesn't matter. The point is you're alive again, man. You have a second chance. That's what Nemesis was telling us. You can get up and get on with your life. Echo is trying to save you. Or you can stay here and stare at yourself until you die again."

     "Stay here!" all the nymphs begged. 

    "Marry me before you die!" another squeaked. 

     Narcissus just shook his head. "You just want my reflection," he said to Leo without glancing up. "I don't blame you, but you can't have it. I belong to me."

     Hazel sighed in exasperation. She glanced at the setting sun which was sinking fast. Then, she gestured with her sword towards the edge of the crater. "Leo, could we talk for a minute? Savreen▬" she gestured for the daughter of Harmonia to follow and she stepped up to them. 

     "Excuse us," Leo told Narcissus. He didn't even acknowledge him. "Echo, want to come with?"

    "Come with," Echo confirmed. 

     The nymphs clustered around Narcissus again and began recording new videos and taking more photos. 

     Hazel didn't speak until she was sure they were out of earshot. Then, she turned to Leo, Savreen and Echo and said: "Nemesis was right. Some demigods can't change their nature. Narcissus is going to stay here until he dies again."

    "No," said Leo and Savreen, but for different reasons. 

    "No," agreed Echo.

     "Everyone deserves a second chance," Savreen added, determined. 

     "Deserves a second chance," chimed Echo. 

     "And we need that bronze," went on Leo. "If we take it away, it might give Narcissus a reason to snap out of it. Echo could have a chance to save him."

     "A chance to save him," breathed the nymph, grateful. 

     Hazel clenched her eyes shut and stabbed her sword into the sand. She pulled off her wild curls away from her face. When she realised they were starting to come out of their braids, she sighed again, frustrated. "It could also make several dozen nymphs very angry with us," she said. "And Narcissus might still know how to shoot his bow."

     She was right. Leo crossed his arms and frowned at the sinking sun. Nemesis had mentioned that Narcissus got agitated after dark, probably because he couldn't see his reflection any more. Leo didn't want to stick around long enough to find out what the goddess meant by agitated. And he didn't want to deal with an angry mob of nymphs either (not again, that is).

    "Hazel," he murmured, a plan starting to come to mind, "your power with precious metal▬Can you just detect it, or can you actually summon it to you?"

    She frowned. "Sometimes I can summon it. I've never tried with a piece of Celestial bronze that big before. I might be able to draw it to me through the earth, but I'd have to be fairly close. It would take a lot of concentration, and it wouldn't be fast."

     "Be fast," warned Echo.

    Leo cursed. He had hoped they could just go back to the ship and Hazel could summon the bronze to them at a safe (and protected) distance. "All right," he muttered. "We'll have to try something risky. Hazel, how about you try to summon the bronze from right here? Make it sink through the sand and tunnel over to you, then grab it and run for the ship."

    "But Narcissus is looking at it all the time," pointed out Savreen.

    "All the time," agreed Echo.

    "That'll be our job," Leo hated his plan already. "You, Echo and I will cause a distraction."

     Savreen frowned. "A distraction?"

    "I'll explain," he promised. "Are you guys willing?"

    "Willing," nodded Echo. 

    Savreen pursed her lips but nodded, too.  

    "Great. Now, let's hope we don't die."

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    THIS PLAN WAS CRAZY, even for Leo. 

    (Like double crazy).

    First, he needed an extreme makeover. He ate too many breath mints for it to be healthy and slapped on a pair of welding goggles (they weren't exactly sunglasses, but they were close enough). He took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He used some machine oil to tame his curls. Then he ruffled them for good measure. He stuck a wrench in his back pocket (he wasn't exactly sure why) and had Savreen draw a tattoo on his biceps with a marker: HOT STUFF with a skull and crossbones. 

     She eyed him once she finished, suspicious. "Do you seriously think this will work?" she passed him back the marker. 

     He managed to flash her a cheeky grin. "Hey, you know me, mi vida. I don't think, it interferes with being nuts."

     "This is dangerous," she told him. "And crazy."

     He shrugged. "When is anything we do not dangerous and crazy?"

     She pursed her lips. Savreen looked like she might say something else, but then hesitated. Instead, she reached up and brushed some of Leo's curls so they hung over his brows. He held his breath, his heart starting to pound as he watched her frown, concentrating as she styled them in a way that must look good. She wiped the grease off her hands. "You don't look that bad, actually," she decided to say. 

     Leo hoped he wasn't blushing. He quickly clenched his hands and smoke trailed out from his palm where his forefinger had suddenly caught aflame. "Yeah?"

     "Yeah," smiled Savreen. 

     "So, I'm hot is what you're saying?"

     She chuckled. A blush seemed to tint at her cheeks, too. Leo's breath hitched at the sight of it. Sav nudged him shyly. "More like a dork," she corrected. "But ... it suits you. Just, stay safe, okay?"

     Leo saluted her, trying to joke▬but his heart was still pounding like crazy. "You too."

     He turned away and saw Echo watching them. "You too," she said to him knowingly.

     Leo gave her a blank stare. "You ready?" he then asked her.

     "Ready," she said.

     Leo took a deep breath. He puffed out his chest and strutted back towards the pond, hoping he looked awesome and not like he was about to break out into a nervous sweat. "Leo is the coolest!" he shouted.

     "Leo is the coolest!" Echo shouted back. 

     "Yeah, baby, check me out!"

     "Make way for the king!"      

     "The king!" he heard Savreen shout as well, hidden behind the bushes.

     "Narcissus is weak!"

      "Weak!"

     The crowd of nymphs scattered in surprise. Leo shooed them away as if they were bothering him. "Please, please▬No autographs, girls. I know you want some Leo time, but I'm way too cool. You better just hang around that ugly dweeb Narcissus. He's lame!"

    "Lame!" cried out Echo with enthusiasm.

    The nymphs muttered angrily. 

    "What are you talking about?!" one demanded furiously.

    "Yeah, you're lame!" said another. 

     Leo adjusted his goggles and gave his best troublemaker grin. He flexed his biceps, though he didn't really have much there to flex and showed off his HOT STUFF tattoo. He definitely had their attention, though it was most definitely because they were stunned, but Narcissus was still fixed on his own reflection. 

     "You know how ugly Narcissus is?" Leo asked the crowd. "He's so ugly that when he was born his mama thought he was a backwards centaur▬with a horse butt for a face!"

     Some of the nymphs gasped with horror. Narcissus frowned, as though he was vaguely aware of a gnat buzzing around his head. 

    "You know why his bow has cobwebs?" continued Leo loudly. "He uses it to hunt for dates, but he can't find one!"

     One of the girls laughed. The others quickly elbowed her into silence. 

     This got Narcissus's attention. He spun around and glared at Leo. "Who are you?"

    "I'm the Super-sized McShizzle, man! I'm Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme. And the ladies love a bad boy."

     "Love a bad boy!" Echo added with a convincing squeal.

     "He's so bad!" Savreen called out from the other end. 

    Leo took out a pen and autographed the arm of one of the nymphs. She was too shocked to move away. "Narcissus is a loser! He's so weak he can't bench-press a Kleenex! He's so lame; when you look up lame on Wikipedia, it's got a picture of Narcissus▬only the picture's so ugly no one ever checks it out!"

     Narcissus changed from bronze to bright, flushed pink. His brows knitted together and for a moment, he totally forgot about the pond. Leo could see the sheet of bronze sink into the sand. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. "I am amazing. Everyone knows this."

      "Amazing at pure suck," Leo pointed at him. "If I was as suck as you, I'd drown myself. Oh wait, you already did that."

     Another nymph giggled. Then another. Narcissus growled and clenched his hands into fists. Meanwhile, Leo grinned and held out his hands, gesturing for applause. "That's right! Team Leo for the win!"

     "Team Leo for the win!" Echo shouted. She had wriggled herself into the mob of nymphs and, because she was so hard to see, the nymphs apparently thought the voice came from one of their own.

    "Go Team Leo!" added Savreen. Her voice came from behind the mob, keeping herself hidden behind a large boulder. 

    "Oh, my gods, I am so awesome!"

    "So awesome!"

    "He is funny..." ventured one nymph, watching him curiously. 

    "And cute," murmured another. "You know, in like a scrawny way."

    "Scrawny?" Leo chuckled. "Chica, I invented scrawny! Scrawny is the new sizzling hot! And I got the scrawny. Narcissus? He's such a loser even the Underworld didn't want him. He couldn't get the ghost girls to date him."

     "Eww!" chorused some nymphs.

     "Gross!" agreed Savreen. 

     "Stop!" Narcissus got to his feet. "This is not right! This person is obviously not awesome, so he must be..." He struggled for the right words. He was probably out of practice talking about someone other than himself. "He▬he must be tricking us!"

     Though, apparently he wasn't as stupid as Leo thought he was. A breath of realisation hit him and he turned back to the pond. He gasped. "No! The bronze mirror is gone! My reflection! Give it back to me!"

    "Team Leo!" one of the nymphs squeaked. But the others had returned their attention back to Narcissus.

    "I'm the beautiful one!" he insisted. "He's stolen my mirror, and I'm going to leave unless we get it back!"

     The girls gasped at this▬they couldn't even bare the thought! One pointed. "Look! There!"

     They had found Hazel at the top of the crater, running away as fast as she could while lugging a large sheet of bronze. Savreen, realising that they had been found out, rushed away from her hiding place. She sprinted up the crater to help Hazel, grabbing one end of the bronze and heaving it up. 

     "Get it back!" cried a nymph.

    "Get it back!" muttered Echo, against her will. 

     "Yes!" Narcissus unslung his bow and grabbed an arrow from his dusty quiver. "The first one who gets that bronze, I will like you almost as much as I like me. I might even kiss you, right after I kiss my reflection!"

     "Oh, my gods!" screamed the nymphs. 

     "And kill those demigods!" added Narcissus, glaring at Leo. "They are not as cool as me!"

     "Ah, shit▬" Leo abandoned his Bad Boy Supreme persona and took off at a sprint up the slope. He would like to say he didn't scream (but he wasn't exactly a bad boy ...). 

     He overtook Hazel and Savreen, which was pretty easy since they were struggling with fifty pounds of Celestial bronze. He grasped one side of the metal plate and glanced back. Narcissus was nocking an arrow, but it was so old and brittle that it broke into splinters. "OW!" he heard him cry out. "My manicure!"

     Thankfully, while nymphs were usually very quick, this group were stumbling and cursing▬shoving and trying to push past each other in an entire stampede mob, desperate to be the one who caught and killed the demigods first. They were barely making it up the slope. Echo didn't make things any easier for them. She darted in between and around, tripping and tackling as many as she could. 

     But still, with a sheet of Celestial bronze slowing Leo and his friends down, the nymphs were starting to gain pretty quickly. 

     "Call Arion!" gasped Leo, struggling with the bronze as they tugged it across the grass and towards the beach. 

    "Already did!"

    They continued to pull, drag and run where they could. At last, the Argo II appeared on the water, but there was no way to get there. It was too far away to swim, even if they hadn't been carrying fifty pounds of bronze. They skidded to a stop at the beach. Leo turned around. The mob was coming over the dunes with Narcissius in the lead, holding his bow like a band major's baton. The nymphs had conjured an assortment of weapons. Rocks, wooden clubs wreathed in flowers ... whatever they could grab. 

     "Oh, man," Leo muttered. He summoned fire in his free hand. "Straight-up fighting isn't my thing."

     Savreen breathed heavily. She was thinking very fast, and very hard. But in the end, shook her head. "I▬They wouldn't hear me this far away. I▬I would have to get in close▬"

    "No," Leo told her immediately. He wasn't going to risk her life like that. 

    "But▬"

    "Hold the Celestial bronze!" Hazel cut her off. She drew her sword and took a courageous breath. "Get behind me!"

     "Get behind me!" Echo shouted. She was racing ahead of the mob, now. She stopped in front of Leo and spun around, throwing out her arms as if she meant to personally shield him against them all just by herself. 

     Leo stared at her, shocked. He didn't know what to say. A lump grew in his throat. There was something about Echo▬that when she repeated his words, he almost felt like he was talking to himself ... talking to someone else who knew exactly what it was like to feel so forgotten and invisible. "E▬Echo..." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "You're one brave nymph."

    "Brave nymph?" she glanced back at him, eyes gentle. 

    "I'm proud to have you on Team Leo," he told her. "If we survive this, you should forget Narcissus."

    "Forget Narcissus?"

    "You're way too good for him."

     The nymphs surrounded them, backing them to the water's edge. 

     "Trickery!" Narcissus pointed his bow at them. "They don't love me, girls! We all love me, don't we?"

    "Yes!" they all screamed, except for the one confused nymph in a yellow dress who squeaked: "Team Leo!"

     "Kill them!"

    The mob charged, but the sand in front of them exploded. Out of nowhere, reared back the mighty figure of Arion. He roared out into the sunset before he started to circle the mob▬so quickly he created a sandstorm, showering the nymphs in white lime. 

     Leo laughed a crazy laugh. "I love this horse!"

     The nymphs collapsed, coughing and gagging. Narcissus stumbled around blindly, swinging his bow in wild arcs and swipes. 

     Hazel climbed onto the saddle, hoisted up the bronze and then pulled Savreen up with her. She then offered Leo her hand. 

    "We can't leave Echo!" he argued.

    But the nymph just echoed sadly: "Leave Echo."

    Leo turned to her, startled. He wondered whether he could pull her up with him, but then she smiled▬and for the first time, Leo could see her face ... as clear as cut glass. She was gorgeous. "B▬but ... Why?" he asked her. "You don't think you can still save Narcissus...?"

     "Save Narcissus," she nodded, confident. And even though it was only an echo, Leo knew she had meant it. She had been given a second chance at life▬she wasn't going to give up on the guy she loved ... even if he was a hopeless moron. 

     Leo shook his head. He went to protest but Echo just leaned forward and gently kissed him on the cheek before pushing him away with a soft touch. 

     He still didn't move, feeling that lump in his throat again. "But ... he doesn't see you," he tried to reason with her. "He doesn't see you for you."

     Echo just placed a hand on her heart. She nodded subtly to Savreen sitting behind Hazel. Leo pursed his lips. "See you for you," she reassured Leo and he felt his heart squeeze.

     "Leo, come on!" called Hazel.

    The other nymphs were starting to recover. They wiped the lime out of their eyes, which were now glowing green with anger. Leo looked for Echo again, but she had disappeared. 

     "Yeah..." he muttered. His throat was dry. "Yeah, okay..."

     He climbed up behind Savreen. Arion took off across the water. Leo heard the nymphs and Narcissus shouting in the growing distance, but they were nothing but a muddled sound in the back of his head. Leo remembered what Nemesis had said: Perhaps they'll teach you a lesson. He had thought she meant Narcissus, but now he wondered whether the real lesson for him was Echo▬invisible to her brethren, cursed to love someone who didn't care for her. Leo watched the back of Savreen's head, feeling bitterness rise up in his chest. The tenth wheel. He tried to shake that thought away, clinging onto the sheet of bronze like a shield. 

     Leo was determined to never forget Echo's face. She deserved at least one person who saw her and knew how good she was ... but when Leo closed his eyes, the memory of her smile was already fading away. 

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    a/n: #justiceforecho. 

    #suehera.

    #teamleo.

    I am still alive!! yes, i'm sorry. I really am. I've been doing other things and had inspo for other books but here we are with the Bad Boy Supreme!

    leo is so iconic omfg. 

    also just pointing out that leo doesn't have any feelings for echo, he just as a sad understanding - he connects with her and the curse she had been given. 

     (limited editing)