CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:
BAD OMENS

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IT WASN'T OFTEN THAT Kit would find himself awake before Leo, but for once he didn't mind the change in their routine. The next morning, after staying on watch until midnight -- when Jason got up to take over for them -- Leo was still in bed beside him, his back pressed to Kit's front, the blankets pushed down around his waist. He was snoring like a freight train but even then he successfully managed to make Kit's heart seize up.

Typically, back at Camp Half-Blood when they were still working on the Argo II, Leo would've been up with the sun. His projects -- whether that was the ship, the hidden bunker in the woods, or whatever else Leo stumbled across -- were a constant thought lingering in the back of his mind. It was only when Kit was around that, for just a moment, those thoughts were forced into silence. Where his body thrummed to life like an electric wire, the rest of his consciousness was struck dumb.

Leo Valdez had it bad for Kit Dempsey. Whatever they were; boyfriends or just good buddies, Leo had grown to depend on Kit. He wanted whatever pieces of himself Kit could give him, even if they weren't worth much in Kit's eyes. A smile, a laugh, a kiss...

Leo would trade anything, maybe even Festus, if Kit promised him a lifetime of kisses.

"Leo," he mumbled into the other boy's neck, smirking when Leo groaned and buried his face into the pillows. "Hey, we need to get up."

"No."

"Yes."

Kit could hear everyone moving around. He swore he heard Coach Hedge yelling, but when wasn't the satyr complaining about something? Soon enough, their absence would be noticed, and as much as he relished in Leo's proximity, he knew it couldn't last forever.

But when Kit removed his arm from Leo's waist, thinking (stupidly) that would do the trick, the other boy rolled around to face him. Before Kit knew it, his back was pressed to the mattress and there were hands gripping his jaw, lips prying against his for kisses he couldn't resist returning. Leo's legs were on either side of his hips, and Kit could no longer remember why he wanted to get up in the first place.

Throwing caution to the wind, he pushed his hands beneath the hem of Leo's shirt, trailing his fingers up the ridges of his back. Leo hummed into his mouth, quickly discarding the shirt with a sense of urgency that Kit hadn't expected from him. The son of Ares was growing dizzy, his gasps for air were shallow when Leo's lips dared to leave his own, and then--

The door slammed open.

"Valdez, you -- OH, MY GODS!"

Before either boy could so much as blink, Coach Hedge had let out a high-pitched yelp, spun around so he no longer had to look at them, and promptly face-planted into the doorframe. He let out another shout, clutching his forehead from the impact, before braving a furious glare over shoulder.

"Inappropriate!" he barked. "Unacceptable! I don't remember giving you permission to sleep in here, Dempsey. Sleep or..." He couldn't even finish his sentence. His face had gone a bright shade of red that was uncharacteristic for the satyr. "Christ on a cracker, put your shirt on, Valdez!"

"Yes, Coach," Leo was quick to move so he was no longer stradling Kit's waist. "Sorry, Coach."

"I'm not," Kit grinned.

Hedge inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring like he was about to breathe fire. "Oh, I know you're not, Dempsey. Get up!"

Instead, Kit pulled the blankets up to his torso. "I don't think you want me to do that right now, Coach."

Leo went bright red, ducking his chin to hide his smirk from Hedge, who clapped his hands over his ears when Kit's words dawned on him. "I'm out of here!" he declared, nearly tripping on his hooves as he backed out the door. "If you're not up in the Mess Hall in five minutes, I swear..."

But for once, the satyr couldn't seem to think of a threat. Yelping once more, he stomped out of the room and up the stairs quicker than Kit had ever seen him move. He was pretty sure they had scarred him for life.

"Well, then..." Leo spared a nervous glance at where Kit was yet to move. "Should I... leave you to it?"

Kit rolled his eyes and threw back the blankets. Leo flinched and snapped his head away, only looking back when Kit scoffed at him and stood up. "I was only messing with Hedge, Leo. Don't look so flustered."

"Oh..."

Kit raised an eyebrow. "What, you're not disappointed, are you?"

"Of course not."

"You sure? You look disappointed."

"Do not."

"Do too."

This continued on until they'd cleaned themselves up, gotten changed and braved the walk into the Mess Hall where everyone but Percy and Annabeth was waiting. They seemed to have some idea that Hedge had walked in on something, judging from the satyr's scathing remarks he muttered under his breath, but neither boy gave much away as they sat down at the table.

"Where's Boy and Girl Wonder?" Kit asked as Leo helped himself to a bacon and egg roll.

Frank opened his mouth to answer, the tips of his ears turning pink, but the couple in question saved him the trouble of answering when they walked through the door hand-in-hand. Hedge's furious headshaking increased when he noticed them, and it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"Classic, classic," Leo couldn't stop grinning. He offered Percy a fist-bump, which the son of Poseidon looked scared to return. "Welcome to the club, man."

Kit glowered. "There is no club, Valdez."

"There better not be," Hedge hissed, waving his bat and knocking over a plate of apples. Kit blinked at the scene impassively, then reached for one of the pink lady's that had rolled his way. "Never in my life! Against the rules! Irresponsible--"

"Coach, it was an accident," Annabeth dared to interrupt him. Hedge narrowed his eyes and hefted his bat again. "We were just talking and we fell asleep."

"We weren't sleeping," Leo informed the satyr with a wave in Kit's direction.

Hedge sneered. "Obviously."

"Coach, you're starting to sound like Terminus," Percy said. Thankfully, he didn't question Leo's comment; rather, he added onto it, coaxing a surprised laugh out of Kit as he chewed on his apple pieces.

"You're so right," he nodded along with him. "I don't like it."

Hedge crossed his arms and nearly knocked himself out with his bat. "Is that an insult, Jackson? 'Cause I'll -- I'll terminus you, buddy! You too, Dempsey!"

"Hey," Kit frowned.

Percy was busy trying not to laugh. He sat down in the empty seat next to Kit, snatching one of the apples for himself. "It won't happen again, Coach. I promise. Now, don't we have other things to discuss?"

Leo sighed like he was disappointed the show was ending. Meanwhile, the others looked between them with varying expressions. Neither Jason or Piper seemed surprised to hear that Kit and Leo had been caught in a compromising position. Frank, on the other hand, couldn't look his newfound brother in the eyes and Hazel was fanning her face as if she might faint at any second. Kit smothered a smirk. So couples didn't fool around in the 40s. How could he forget?

Hedge hesitated for a second before caving. "Fine! But I'm watching you, Jackson. And you, Annabeth Chase, I thought you had more sense. I expected this debauchery from Valdez and Dempsey, but certainly not you--"

"Okay!" Jason cleared his throat, raising his voice over Hedge's tirade before an indignant Annabeth -- or a bemused Leo and Kit, for that matter -- could retort and send things spiralling again. "Grab some food, everybody. Let's get started."

He waited for a few minutes while everyone got comfortable, then dived straight into the dream he'd had that night, before he relieved Kit and Leo of their watch duties. Something about the two giants, their latest frenemies, planning a reception for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers (typical) and Nico di Angelo trapped in a bronze jar that was slowly suffocating him to death (not so typical.)

Hazel choked back a sob, effectively interrupting whatever else Jason was planning to share. "Nico... Oh, Gods. The seeds."

"You know what they are?" Annabeth asked her curiously.

Hazel managed a nod, her eyes glistening with tears. Oh. It hit Kit a second too late. She was a daughter of Pluto, and Nico was a son of Hades. Like Kit and Frank, they were technically siblings. No wonder she was taking this a little hard... "He showed them to me once. They're from our step-mother's garden."

"Your step -- oh," Percy answered his own question. "You mean Persephone."

Kit's brows furrowed. "Wait... does that mean Aphrodite is my step-mum? That explains a lot."

"Oh," Piper's nose scrunched up. "That means Ares is my step-dad."

Kit smirked at her. "Hey, step-sis."

"Never call me that again."

"Noted. Agreed."

"Anyway," Percy shot them a look that quickly silenced them. Right. Maybe it wasn't the best time to joke around when Hazel looked like she was already in mourning. "You were saying, Hazel?"

"The seeds are a last-resort food," she continued, gnawing on her lower lip between words. She was anxious and it showed. The table trembled as the silverware started to move towards her. "Only children of Hades can eat them. Nico always kept some in case he got stuck somewhere. But if he's really imprisoned..."

"The giants are trying to lure us," Annabeth said grimly. She shared a look with Percy, who was busy messing with the core of his apple. "They're assuming we'll try to rescue him."

Kit winced. That was the wrong thing to say.

Hazel's eyes narrowed. "Well, they're right... won't we?"

"Yes!" Hedge exclaimed before anybody else had the chance. Almost as soon as he said that, he spat out a mouthful of the napkins he'd been chewing on and asked, "It'll involve fighting, right?"

"Yes, Coach," Kit scoffed, because when wouldn't a face-off with giants involve some kind of battle?

Hedge glared at him in displeasure, as if he was wondering where Kit found the nerve to speak to him so soon after the morning's events. Kit raised his hands in surrender and sat back in his seat.

"Hazel, of course we're going to help him," Frank said, as the others were still quiet. "But how long do we have before... uh, I mean... how long can Nico hold out?"

"One seed a day," Hazel whimpered. Her shaky hands reached for Frank's, clinging on for dear life. "That's if he puts himself in a death trance?"

"Oh," Kit grimaced. "Yikes."

"That doesn't sound fun," Annabeth added.

"It keeps him from consuming all his air, like hibernation or a coma," Hazel explained. "One seed can sustain him for one day, barely."

"And he has five seeds left," Percy recalled. "That's five days, including today. The giants must have planned it that way, so we'd have to arrive by July first. And assuming Nico is hidden somewhere in Rome..."

"That's not much time," Piper summed up.

Yippee, Kit scowled.

"We'll find him, Hazel. At least we know what the lines of the prophecy mean now. 'Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death.' Your brother's last name is di Angelo, right? Angelo is Italian for angel."

"Oh, Gods," Hazel leaned into Piper as the other girl put her hand on her shoulder in comfort. "Nico..."

Kit didn't know what he would do if one of his siblings was in Nico's place. He'd lose his mind regardless of who it was; Nettie, Dom, Clarrisse, any of their brothers... Kit hadn't seen them in a long time, and little had changed in the few months he spent back at Camp Half-Blood. He was so swept up in the Argo II and the prophecy to truly make amends with them. They did their training and acknowledged him a bit more than they had been, but civil was a strange word to use for family.

"We'll rescue him," Percy promised Hazel, and Kit agreed. "We have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death."

"Sounds like Nico," Kit nodded.

Piper's foot shot out to kick his shin. He yelped and kicked her back, then quickly sunk into his seat again when Percy glared at them. Piper turned back to the matter at hand. "Hazel, your brother went searching for the Doors of Death in the Underworld, right? He must've found them."

"He can tell us where the doors are," continued Percy. "And how to close them."

In other words, his capture wasn't for nothing.

Hazel nodded slowly. "Yes. That's good."

But the silence amongst the rest of the group was beginning to thicken. Leo was the first to break it, shifting uneasily in his chair as Kit eyed him with obvious confusion.

"Uh, just one thing. The giants are expecting us to do this, right? So we're walking into a trap?"

Kit hadn't thought of it like that. He didn't like traps... but they couldn't be assholes and leave Nico to die. He was a kid, even younger than them, and he had something to contribute to their prophecy. Even if it took some extra work, they had no other option but to help him.

Hazel seemed to be thinking the same thing. She glared at Leo. "We have no choice!"

"Hey, don't get me wrong, Hazel. It's just that your brother, Nico... he knew about both camps, right?"

Kit's brows furrowed. All of a sudden, his heart weighed heavily in his chest.

"Well, yes," Hazel said.

"So he's been going back and forth," Leo pointed out. "And he didn't tell either side."

Jason sat forward then. "You're wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I."

That hurt, probably more than it should've, but Kit couldn't help how he related himself to those words. It seemed Nico was rather like Kit, caught between what was morally right and what he held selfishly in his heart. Yet, to everyone else around him, his choices were wrong. Unforgivable. Even if they came from a place of reason.

Hazel shot to her feet, knocking her chair back with a clatter. "I don't believe this. He's my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don't want to help him?"

Frank reached for her but she batted his hands away, curling in on herself defensively, sadly. "Nobody's saying that," Frank tried again. "Nobody had better be saying that."

Leo blinked at him. "Look, guys, all I mean is--"

"Dude," Kit shook his head. "Shut it."

Leo's frown was directed at him now. In the tension-filled silence, Jason tried and failed to catch Hazel's eye. "Hazel, Leo is raising a fair point. I remember Nico from Camp Jupiter. Now I find out he also visited Camp Half-Blood? That does strike me as... well, a little shady. Do we really know where his loyalties lie? We just have to be careful."

Tears gathered in Hazel's lashes. Jason's confident expression faltered as a silver platter zoomed towards her and splattered scrambled eggs on the wall behind her. "You, the great Jason Grace, the praetor I looked up to. You were supposed to be so fair, such a good leader. And now you..."

Hazel couldn't get her words out anymore. She turned and fled from the room with a sob.

"Hazel," Leo called after her, beginning to regret ever saying anything. "Ah, jeez. I should--"

"You've done enough," Frank snapped at both him and Jason, who looked down at his plate. He got up to follow Hazel but Piper gestured for him to wait.

"Just give her time." She turned to the boys then, frowning. "You guys, that was pretty cold."

"Cold?" Jason echoed in disbelief. "I'm just being cautious."

Kit snorted. "Trust me, I know from experience that your idea of caution is jumping to a conclusion and sticking to it. You've got no idea why Nico's made the choices he has. Yet your caution might be the reason he dies? That's bullshit."

"I..."

"Just saying," Kit muttered, because now it was awkward. Not when his (kind-of!) boyfriend and their friend were debating the life of Hazel's brother right in front of her.

From above came a loud whirring sound. Leo jumped to his feet. "That's Festus. I've got him on autopilot, but we must be nearing Atlanta. I'll have to get up there... uh, assuming we know where to land?"

He'd looked to Percy, prompting the rest of the table to do the same. He frowned back at them.

"What?"

Kit snorted. "'What,' he says. Dear God."

"You're Captain Salt Water," Jason pointed out. "Any ideas from the expert?"

Percy let out a sigh. "I'm not sure," came his reluctant admittance. "Somewhere central, high up so we can get a good view of the city. Maybe a park with some woods? We don't want to land a warship in the middle of downtown. I doubt even the Mist could cover up something that huge."

Leo nodded and saluted him. "On it."

He only hesitated for a second, glancing at Kit as if he was waiting to see if he'd join him. Kit looked down at the table and Leo's face dropped, but he quickly turned away and raced for the stairs before anyone could comment. Their morning antics seemed like so long ago now. But Kit's heart wouldn't stop feeling heavy, and he didn't know how to convey to Leo that what he'd said hurt him too.

"When we land, I'll scout around in Atlanta," Percy said. "Frank, I could use your help."

Frank sighed. "You mean turn into a dragon again? Honestly, Percy, I don't want to spend the whole quest being everyone's flying taxi."

But that wasn't what Percy had meant. "No, I want you with me because you've got the blood of Poseidon." Wait, what? Since when? Kit really needed to start paying more attention to this kind of thing. "Maybe you can help me figure out where to find salt water. Besides, you're good in a fight."

Frank was still frowning, but he shrugged and said, "Sure. I guess."

"Okay, great. We should take one more. Annabeth--"

"Oh, no!" Hedge cut in with a snort. Everyone looked at him, confused and somewhat wary to learn what would come out of his mouth next. "Young lady, you are grounded."

Annabeth stared at him, looking vaguely appalled. Kit didn't blame her. "Excuse me?"

"You and Jackson are not going anywhere together," he insisted stubbornly. "I'll go with Frank and Mr Sneaky Jackson. Dempsey, you can join us too."

"What?" Kit asked, his voice taking on a whiny twinge. He didn't want to go on another quest with Percy. The last one certainly didn't go down well. "Why me?"

"Because I don't trust you and Valdez," Hedge barked like this should've been obvious. "And since Valdez is needed here, I'm stuck with you."

"Great," Kit grunted.

"That's settled then," said Hedge, leaving no more room for arguing. Percy looked like he'd sucked on a sour lemon, his lips pursed into a thin line. Annabeth seemed positively chastised yet still somewhat indignant. Hedge ignored them both. "The rest of you can guard the ship and make sure Annabeth doesn't break any more rules."

"Boys day out," Kit muttered miserably as he, Percy and Frank followed Hedge out the door. He was marching with his bat in a white-knuckled grip, smacking the base of it against his other palm in a silent challenge for them to disobey and see what happened. The three of them exchanged matching looks of horror.

"This," Percy sighed. "Is going to be so much fun."

They didn't waste any time before climbing down off the ship. Kit didn't say goodbye to Leo, who stood by the controls and frowned at the back of his head. His expression reminded Kit of a kicked puppy, and normally Kit would've tried his hardest to wipe the look from Leo's face but this time was different. He'd never had reason to wonder if Leo's trust in him was misplaced. Sometimes, it seemed that Leo had trusted him blindly, never once doubting who he knew Kit to be.

Had Kit just imagined that? Leo, the one person in his life he never had to worry about, not about this...

"Hey," Percy said. It took Kit a second to realise he was looking at him.

"Hey...?"

"Are you good?" he asked, sounding pained. He spared a glance at Frank and Hedge over his shoulder but thankfully neither of them were paying them any attention. "You're not as... you, as you usually are."

"That sounds insulting."

"It was meant to," Percy's mouth ticked up before quickly dropping back into that neutral expression he'd taken to wearing around Kit. "But I'm serious. If you're distracted..."

"I'm not," Kit interrupted. "But -- thanks for checking, I guess."

Percy shrugged. "'S fine."

And that was that. The son of Poseidon was quick to put some distance between them but his words played on Kit's mind for a while as they analysed the descent they'd have to take down the forested hillside Leo had just landed them on. He and Percy were by no means friends, and Kit had a feeling they never would be, but they were beginning to defrost around each other again. They didn't have much of a choice.

"Ah, lovely spot," Hedge commented while loudly sniffing the pleasant morning air through his nose. "Good choice, Valdez."

Kit tensed. Leo had approached the railing behind them. He stared below them at the sprawling city of Atlanta -- a cluster of brown and silver downtown skyscrapers, a twisting series of highways and railroad tracks, green patches of forests and red brick roofing of people's homes. He shrugged, dragging his gaze back to Kit. "I just picked a tall hill. That's a presidential library or something over there. At least, that's what Festus says."

"I don't know about that, but you do realise what happened on this hill?" asked Hedge. He let out a shocked cry when nobody answered. "Dempsey! What happened on this hill?"

"How should I know?" He glanced at the satyr, who stood with his hands on his hips, and scoffed. "What, are you a history teacher now too, Coach Hedge?"

"Shut up," Hedge snapped before rounding on Frank instead. "Frank Zhang, surely you know."

Frank flinched. "I do?"

"Come on! A son of Ares stood here!"

"I'm Roman... so Mars, actually," Frank murmured.

"Whatever," Hedge rolled his eyes. "Dempsey, you've got no excuse."

He shrugged. "Sorry, Coach, my old man pops out a lot of kids. It's hard to keep up sometimes."

"Can we get to the point?" Percy asked with an impatient glance down at his watch.

"General Sherman, Union leader? He stood on this hill watching the city of Atlanta burn. Cut a path of destruction all the way from here to the sea. Burning, looting, pillaging. Now there was a demigod!"

Kit's nose scrunched up in disgust. He knew he had some shockers for siblings out there, but that was just awful. He had no doubt that Ares had loved this son.

"Anyway," Percy said, taking the lead once more. He seemed mostly unphased by what Hedge had shared, though somewhat wary now. Was it a bad omen to land their ship where Greeks and Romans had faced each other in battle before? Maybe, but when weren't they surrounded by cursed tales of their history? "Let's try not to burn down the city this time."

Hedge pouted. "Oh, alright. But where to?"

Percy pointed somewhere downtown. "When in doubt, start in the middle."