All Hallows
Here's a little Halloween story based on a story idea I had. Also, I am really really really sorry for this. Leo is so severely OOC it's not even funny. Well, lights…cameras…Action!
DISCLAIMER: I am neither Rick Riordan nor Hyperion (lol)/Disney and lay no claim to any of their works.
There was a ghost in the woods.
Or at least, that's what everyone was saying at Camp Half Blood. After all, Halloween was coming up and campers were certainly getting in the mood. Now that the war against Gaea was finally over—and even one Leo Valdez was back from the dead (needless to say it was even more dramatic than Percy Jackson's legendary funeral crashing)—there was more than enough room for some holiday spirit. It all started when, a few weeks back, the Hermes cabin had suddenly stopped pranking completely. Cold turkey.
Naturally, this made the campers more afraid than they would ever be on Halloween itself. The sight of midnight excursions from the Hermes to the Hephaestus cabins and the additional quieting of Hermes campers only solidified this fear. When the head of Cabin 9, Leo, was asked about what was going on, he merely gave a slow grin worthy of a horror movie. It did not help that he had been standing in the shadows holding a flashlight under his chin. Naturally, the poor Athena camper wisely (heh) got the Hades out of there before he could say anything.
But after growing anticipation, plenty of excitement and far too much costume "advice" given by the Aphrodite campers, the big day finally arrived.
It was a party in the eating pavilion, and unfortunately Chiron had, in a rare moment of poor thinking, allowed the campers to have candy. What happens when you mix a bunch of ADHD teenage demigods, high amounts of sugar, tensions that have been growing for weeks, relief from winning a war, and a huge inter-camp blowout? Total disaster.
Complete with special effects (it would later be said that the dancing pumpkin-headed skeleton atop a huge black fire-breathing threstral Pegasus was a bit much), the party involved a miniature labyrinth (courtesy of Hecate and Hephaestus cabins) with mini-monsters to fight, candy literally raining from the sky, several inexplicable incidents of demigods being launched into the sky from their rear ends, unmentionable things in the punch (hint: the Harpies would later spend days cleaning up the toilets), and much, much more, everything was spiraling juuust a little bit out of control. Certainly Mr. D's encouraging the madness did nothing to help.
But it finally reached its peak when someone, likely a Hermes camper, grabbed one of Hephaestus cabin's non-spooky megaphones and shouted above the loud music: "LET'S PLAY TRUTH OR DARE!" Everything stopped. The music, the dancing, the general partying—it all came to an audible, grinding halt with a sound like the air being let out of a balloon.
And that was how, approximately one hour later, Leo Valdez found himself sitting in as close to a circle as was possible in the middle of his cabin, not-really-trying to decide between truth or dare. Can you guess what he picked? No? Well, it was Rachel's last (not middle) name. In other words, "DARE! I'M THE SUPER-SIZED MCSHIZZLE, BABY!" His brother Harley, who had asked the question, was trying to decide on a good one. His eyes lit up (not in the way that Leo's would have) and he said "Ooh, ooh, ooh! I know! Uhh, I dare you to go find that ghost lady in the woods! And talk to her!"
Needless to say, Leo had not had very good experiences with ghost ladies. He faltered for a moment in his exultation, smile freezing on his face, until he realized which "ghost lady" Harley had meant. "Oh, yeah, uh". Trying to maintain his demeanor, he recalled the most recent camp legend.
Apparently there had been sightings of a ghost girl in the woods. Descriptions varied, but it was agreed that she was transparent and glowing, wearing a white dress. She was also said to carry a torch with a ghostly blue flame; she wandered about, calling for someone. Theories ranged from her being a camper murdered by a rouge demigod during the Titan War to the far more plausible spirit escaped through the recently closed Doors of Death.
However, nobody had actually been able to confirm anything. With Nico di Angelo out of commission (Leo was sure Will Solace didn't need him that long) and Hazel not having powers over death, the rumors had festered. People stopped going to the woods, even in pairs. Had it been any other time of year, there would probably be demigods all over the place. But it was October, and with the lack of activity from Cabin 11 everyone was suspicious and stayed away. But now, Leo was supposed to go, on his own.
For all his bravado, some things Leo didn't like very much. Strange women, for one. The ghost part reminded him of Medea (not to mention the eidolons), and he was reluctant to have another spiritual encounter. Come on, Leo, his internal voice said, you came back from the dead too. His other internal voice would have argued had he not spoken then. "So…when do I start?" he asked, a bit of a forced grin on his face. He knew he should have installed air conditioning into his Iron Man costume, but he had been short on time after his dragon costume broke down that morning. Which is why he had his headpiece off so everyone could see his expression.
Harley stared up at him. "Right now, of course! And you need to record it too! On that camera in your suit." Leo nodded. Well, there was no time like the present! He walked out the door, everyone else inside shuffling out after him. More people joined the crowd from their own truth-or-dare games (it had been decided to separate into groups rather than the whole camp), curious about the dare that he must have been doing. The mob followed him to the edge of the woods, where they paused, calling out encouragements and other comments.
Leo walked in, not quite sure what to expect.
Going into the woods alone on a dare? Of course he would do it! Chasing ghosts? Ah, not so much…What could he say? The self-proclaimed Super-Sized McShizzle had fought cyclops and giants and Snow White—that is, Mother Earth—herself. He'd even died and come back to life! But that didn't stop Leo from briefly doubting his decision. He vividly remembered the first time he had gone into this forest.
He remembered the uncertainty, the risk, what he had at stake. He remembered a burning pit and the awe of a mechanical dragon—a real, live mechanical dragon! Last time he had entered these trees he had fire to light his way, to scare off the monsters, and emerged in a blaze (not really) of glory, victorious with his dragon.
Would he come out this time? What would he bring with him? This time, on this dare, on this dark night, was different. There was no quest, no deadline. He was still alone but this time bright lights lit up the dark steadily, from his costume which might have been actually usable in battle. He wasn't sure if the lasers worked or not, there hadn't been enough time to tell. And perhaps the self-powering system he installed wouldn't work. Leo's inventions tended to be…temperamental (he winced at the memory of the tofu burger automated ice-sculpture carver. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time…). But he had no more time to think—while he had wandered aimlessly, he hadn't noticed a faint light far ahead.
He caught his breath, and turned off the lights. Going into stealth mode, he creeped towards the other source of light. Sure enough, as he got closer he made out a flame. It wasn't blue, like the rumors said. It was actually a flickering purple, ghostly, unlike the flame Leo was familiar with. As he got closer, he saw that it was indeed a torch, a black marble one. Closer still, and he saw its bearer.
The ghost was a beautiful girl, perhaps a little taller than him. She was not transparent, but pale and sort of wispy. She had a pearlescent shine, which reminded Leo of Mellie, Coach Hedge's wife. Her white Greek-style chiton floated about her legs as she glided rather than walked. Her ageless face was as if carved out of marble, but held a slightly…annoyed expression, which wasn't what you'd imagine a ghost to be. She looked more like a nymph than a ghost. Only a few steps away, Leo noticed the elaborate carvings on her torch: spiraling from the bottom to the top, a procession of torch-bearing women in the same style of dress as the ghost. In the lead was a larger woman draped in black, who held three torches. Leo was almost certain that was the symbol of Hecate. Then was it…?
Of course, it was then that the ghost noticed him. He wasn't sure what alerted her to his presence—he hadn't done anything stupid and cliché like stepping on a branch—but her head whipped around and her expression changed to one of surprise and then relief. "Finally!" she exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for someone, could you tell me where we are?" Leo was taken aback. Not only was she pretty and glad to see him (Calypso, he reprimanded himself) but he hadn't imagined her to react that way.
She frowned. "Could you step out from behind that tree, maybe? I can't see you very well—I'm so glad there's someone here, I'm completely lost, I thought it would be forever until I found the train again. It was the big full country tour, because it's Halloween you see, and Hecate only goes round these parts once every few decades or so…" She droned on. Once again, Leo was surprised. A talkative ghost? That was unusual. Then he remembered himself. "Um, hi" he interrupted, voice higher than he wanted it to be. She stopped talking.
"Uh, I'm Leo" he said, gaining confidence. "The one and only Leo Valdez, Commander Extraordinaire of the Argo II, Super-Sized McShizzle, at your service!" This, he finished with a flourishing bow. The ghost looked a little afraid now. "Um, you…are you human?" Her voice was smaller, timid. Leo was confused, until he remembered his suit. "Oh. Yeah!" he said, and took off his helmet, exposing his cheeky grin and dark curls.
The ghost/nymph looked relieved. "Oh, I see. Right! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Elissa, I'm one of the Lampades." Leo blinked. "Lampade?" "Oh, are you Roman? Then it's nymphae avernales for you". When he still looked confused, she sighed. "Honestly! No one knows about us any more, you hear about the naiads and the Nereids and the aurae and the dryads and even the maenads, for Hecate's sake! But Lampades? Nooo, we'll forget all about you. Honestly, just because we're Chthonian nymphs doesn't mean you can forget about us. We're very important! Hecate's advisers, I say, Hecate's advisers! What would she do without us?" She paused her tirade briefly, and looked embarrassed. "Right, sorry, I was rambling again. Let me reintroduce myself. Elissa, daughter of Phlegethon, or Pyriphlegethon, if you like it that way.
"I'm a Lampade—nympha avernales—whatever—the companions of Hecate, for when she goes reveling in the night. We follow her around and we light up the Underworld with our torches—" here she lifted her torch a bit "—and give her advice and stuff…" Elissa talked. A lot. Leo waited for her to finish, playing with a mini Guitar Hero game he had for some reason installed onto the arm of his costume. He had started out the evening excited, then nervous, then cheerful again, but he was just getting tired now. It was getting late, and he wanted to get back to his cabin. It seemed she'd keep him here all night, though.
"…and then I got lost. But I don't know why, none of the dryads would talk to me! And there was nobody else around...can you tell me where we are?" Leo was by now getting a feeling that this nymph talked even more than Echo gossiped (in the original myth, that is). "Sure, we're in the woods outside Camp Half Blood". Elissa tilted her head, like a bird. "Oh, so you're a Greek demigod. I was wondering, a bit—can you take me to Camp, then?"
"Yup, just let me get this up on my GPS…" In reaction to his words, another part of his costume's arm flipped up to reveal a screen. It depicted their location and where Camp was, as well as the quickest route through the trees. Elissa looked curiously at it, but followed him as they walked along.
She babbled (her father was a river god after all) on about all her friends and what Camp was like last time she had been there (forty years, give or take) and how lately Hecate had been haunting less and less—and why did people feel the need to live in big cities? It was harder to scare someone in an apartment downtown than a solitary farmhouse. Of course teenagers… and so on. Leo could hardly get a word in edgewise. It was like messy handwriting—one thing blended into another. He absentmindedly fiddled with various other features installed into his costume and hoped he could ditch her as soon as he got back.
Finally the trees made way for the familiar clearing bedecked in lights. Elissa oohed and aahed at the sight of all the decorations. "So, the Big House is over there…" Leo said, pushing her in that direction. "Wait, what?" But he was already gone.
"Hey, Leo, what happened? Show us the video!" Leo collapsed onto his bed and groaned, covering his eyes with his arm. Harley was bothering him to know end. Finally he gave up. "It's not what you'd think…" he muttered, and extended his other arm. With a gentle whirring, a slot opened up on his suit and a little square came out. Picking it up with reverent hands, Harley set it down on the little space left on a workbench. It immediately began projecting a full-color video of what had happened, and everybody crowded around it. Well, Leo thought, that wasn't as bad as it could have been, I guess…
I honestly don't even know what that was. My deepest apologies, it took a weird turn towards the middle. There was so much OOC and some weak attempts to redeem it... My excuse here is that he's worked on his dragon costume for like a month and it broke down that morning. And I always thought Leo would be at least a little bit afraid of ghosts. Well, I hope you had a happy Halloween! I was busy all day so I didn't get to post this until now :(