Sadie POV
"Carter! GET UP!" I yelled, flinging the sheets of his bed. He sprang from the bed, the khopesh swinging wildly. I jumped back. He seriously is good at pulling junk from the Duat. "S-Sadie?" he stuttered nervously. "NO, its Set the god of evil here to kill you in your sleep." I rolled my eyes. "Oh," he relaxed and returned his khopesh. "Get dressed. Felix went running in here yelling about the tragedy of frozen penguins."
He stared at me. "is this a joke?" he asked finally. I sighed and walked out of there. how could I be related to that? well he was a bit endearing. A couple of minutes later Carter came downstairs, thankfully dressed for battle. "what's the crisis other than frozen penguins?" he asked Amos. Amos turned towards us. "Carter, take Sadie Walt and Zia, there seems to be an unidentified monster that you need to kill, doesn't seem like much of a threat but you better check it out." he said, with a worried frown.
"YES!" Sadie exclaimed. we exited the building. Walt and Zia following behind. Zia placed a hand on Carters shoulder. "Are you alright?" he looked startled. "oh, yes... just had some disturbing dreams last night." he stammered, blushing slightly. He liked her, it was sooo obvious. I smirked and we continued walking. All of a sudden, Carters face paled. "In here!" he hissed and dove into a book store. Walt immediately rushed in after him and we followed suit.
"Carter, forget your overwhelming desire to read." I said sternly
"No Sadie, look" he pointed out the window hiding behind a bookshelf. I looked out and Zia gasped behind me. I blinked. "holycrapmuffins." I muttered. "shit." cursed Zia. Walt furrowed his brow. "Is that..." he trailed off. Carter had a grim, but not very surprised look on his face.
"Carter, you better start talk-" I was cut off by someone yelling. "CARTER! CARTER! WOOOHOOO! CARTER! WHERE ART THOU LAY?"
I frowned. "Carter? do you know that skinny Latino kid?" Zia asked.
Carter shook his head, his brown curls bouncing. "Never seen him before in my life."
"CARTER! ANSWER ME RIGHT ? COME OUT ...I HAVE COOKIES!"
Carters POV
I stared at the kid, couple of years older than me, brown curly hair, scrawny frame... didn't seem threatening, except for that huge metallic dragon flying above him...he couldn't be much of a problem.
"guys..." I stood up. determined to seem brave. "I better see what he wants." Suddenly I remembered that strange encounter with Percy, this couldn't be related to it, could it? "Alright. we got your back." Walt nodded, determined. "Speak for yourself. I'm going with you." Sadie said in her annoying tone of voice that meant that she wasn't going to be left out of the "fun" so easily.
I glanced at Walt. He understood Immediately. He turned towards her and talked to her in hushed whispers. I looked towards the boy. The metallic dragon stood on a building, wings folded, and was watching the boy with interest. The boy frowned. "CARTER!" I sighed and walked out of the bookstore. Sadie didn't protest.
I summoned my khopesh and walked towards the boy. The regular humans took no notice of my weapon or the dragon. I kept my eyes on the dragon as I approached the boy with caution. He turned towards me. He had dark brown eyes. "carter?" he asked looking at me intently.
"who are you and how do you know my name?" I stammered. So much for appearing brave. I battled serqet! how could I be afraid of this? there was something about the boy that unnerved me though.
"what a nice introduction." he grinned.
"I'm Leo. pleased to meet you. Oh and that's Festus, my buddy." he offered me his hand to shake, when out of nowhere Sadie jumped between us yelling, "A'MAX!" I jumped back as the spell meaning BURN flared up at the boys feet. "Sadie no!" I yelled, too late as usual. My temper flared. I turned towards My sister.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS-"
I stopped when I saw her face, her jaw hung open and her eyes were wide as saucers. I turned to look at what got her so surprised and I felt my eyes widening in shock. Leo was standing in the flames that didn't seem to be bothering him at all, he was unharmed. He quickly snuffed them out.
"well I know I'm hot but-"
"how did you do that? is it some sort of protection spell? who are you? what are you doing here? what is that?" Sadie slammed him against the wall while bombarding him with questions. "I like her!" Leo announced grinning triumphantly. She let go of him as Walt and Zia rushed towards us. Leo frowned. "Which one is Carter? The one with the bling or the one with the crooked sword?"
I opened my mouth to respond. but Leo interrupted " Ya know what? I want some coffee, and the blonde is paying for it because of almost dying and all?" he turned towards the nearest Starbucks behind him and walked towards it. My friends were agape, staring speechless after him.
"Well," said Zia. "We better follow him. and he seems cute too."
Sadie POV
Questions swirled in my head as we sat at the table all of us on edge, Carter gripping his Khopesh tightly. Leo seemed utterly relaxed, and the last thing he needed was some caffeine, that kids hands were everywhere, fingers drumming the table, fingering with his hair, his clothes, strange objest that he extracted from a yellow tool belt as he waited for his order that I had reluctantly paid since he DID have a point about me about to kill him, though he didn't appear to be in any danger at all.
"Um Leo, this is my sister Sadie." he said gesturing towards me. "and Walt and Zia". "Ok great. Leo Valdez, here." he said, waving enthusiastically. "Ummm excuse us a moment honey." I replied, extremely aware of my British accent. I grabbed Carters sleeve firmly and dragged him out for some explanation.
Leo POV
I stared at the tall built boy and the very not-bad looking girl with the short hair and hazel eyes. "she called me honey right?" I attempted some humor to set these guys on ease. I had to make them trust me...Percy, No don't think about that I scolded myself. These must be some powerful demigods, that girl, Sadie tried to burn me by speaking a single word, just imagine what these are capable of. I tried to seem at ease. If I showed them I was worried or scared (which I wasn't) they would be too. "Wally, Zoe, how's it going?"
The girl frowned. She placed a palm on the table and leaned towards me. "listen, I don't know who you are but you better not be leading us into an ambush, or even TRY to gain out trust because ill kill you. you understand?" She narrowed her eyes at me. "got it!" I smiled as she sat back down. Wally looked some what embarrassed. "Its Walt and Zia. sorry." he muttered. "Oh. can I call you Wally? where'd Carter go?" just at that moment they came back. "oh great."
I sat up. "Carter...um, do you think I could speak to you alone?"
"No. whatever you have to say you say it in front of all of us."
"you sure?"
"..."
"okay then you remember that little encounter with this boy... Percy? Tall kid, bout sixteen, black hair, bluish-greenish eyes. No? athletic-"
"yes, yes I do." he responded stiffly as Walt and Zia looked at him surprise.
"well Percy is in trouble and he needs your help." He stood up. "No I'm sorry I cant-" Alarm shot through me. I stood up as well. "you owe him!" I practically yelled. I couldn't let him go, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Nico, they were all counting on me to bring Carter. He was our only hope." he helped you kill that Lizard monster remember? he made a huge toilet thingy and then you told him that when he called you, you would come! but now he's in trouble you see? and not in any position to call you-"
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I'll help." he responded, his eyes downcast. relief flooded through me. "WHAT? Carter, shouldn't we talk about this?" Sadie protested. Zia and Walt also stood up and were looking at Carter worriedly. "Look guys, I made a promise to someone that I intend to keep, and I understand if you're upset. I don't blame you, but ill be back and-"
"No." Zia said firmly.
"W-What? he stammered, surprised.
"I'm going with you." she stepped towards him and met her lips with his. Sadie and Walt stared agape. "C'mon guys, don't gawk. show some respect... its obviously an intimate moment." I smirked. Zia pulled back and stared at him. He was blushing and staring at her as if she was some miracle. I remembered when I looked at a girl that way, like she was the most beautiful most amazing thing that ever happened to me. I pushed down the painful memory. Sadie cleared her throat. They both blushed and stepped away from each other, a smile lingering on their lips.
"Well, if me ridiculous brother is going off to some death quest, then I'm going with him." she declared." and I'm not leaving both of you out of my sight, not even for a second."
"I'M GOING WITH YOU!" Walt blurted, looking at Sadie, then quickly averted his gaze. "I mean.. if that's okay..." "YES!" Sadie yelped. I rolled my eyes. these people were so obvious and I admit, they made the pain resurface. "Lets go."
