All Demigods On Deck

'Chapter 5 of Not To Be Told In Tartarus. ''It starts out with some Leco bromance. :)'''

"Hey, Nico," Leo called from across the deck of the Argo II.

Nico turned away from the rail. "Hi."

Leo walked over.

"What's up?" he asked, leaning on the rail.

"Um... the sky."

Leo laughed. "Man, you're getting better. I can tell."

"Really?" Nico was surprised. "You can tell?"

"Dude, when you first got here, all you did was complain. Now you're making jokes. Isn't that better?" Leo smiled.

"Uh.." Nico felt uncomfortable.

"Hey guys!" Piper walked up to them from behind Nico. "What're you talking about?"

"The sky." Nico turned to face her. "You look tired."

Piper blushed slightly. "Yeah, I had a bad dream last night."

"What about?" Leo asked casually.

"I don't want to talk about it." Piper's face turned suddenly pale as she remembered the dream.

"You were late for breakfast. Did you sleep in?"

"Erm..." Piper blushed again.

"I saw you come up with Jason," Nico commented.

Piper turned away. "So?"

Frank and Hazel glanced over.

"Hey guys, come here," Hazel said, motioning them over. "You might want to see this."

"What if I don't want to come over?" Leo automatically spit the words out.

"Leo." Nico silenced him with a look. "Hazel, see what?"

Hazel walked over, Frank trailing behind. "This note I found in my cabin."

Piper leaned over her shoulder. "Oh my gosh..."

"What?" Jason asked, coming on deck.

"Look." Nico showed him the note.

"Is this... a ransom note?"

The group nodded.

"For Percy and Annabeth?"

They nodded again.

"What do we do?"

"Pay the ransom." Leo looked out over the sea dramatically. "It's the only way to save ourselves and our friends."

Everyone laughed.

"Leo, this is serious," Frank said. "What if we can't pay the ransom?"

"Well..." Leo pondered this. "Too bad, we get what we want no matter what?"

"What's all the commotion?" Coach Hedge strolled up to the group of demigods.

"Read this." Frank showed him the note.

"It says:

  Your friends are mine u nless you pay.

  No joy will come if you procrastinate.

  The time is near to settle the score.

  Listen now; won't say it once more.

  Sacrifice is needed this time,

  So come and pay or else all is mine."

"Sounds like Apollo's work if you ask me," Nico said.

"But it's not." Coach Hedge said. "I'll go ready the cannons."

"Don't. We need to get to the House of Hades." Leo turned to Nico. "Now."

'''Gosh, I love writing. Now I know how Rick Riordan feels when his characters do something dramatic, or there's a crazy plot twist. Like in ''' Not All Dreams Are Happy. '''Of course, I'm much younger than Rick Riordan, and have less experience with writing. However, I enjoy it. I don't even know what I'm saying writing. I just really confused myself.'''