When this chick first came in, I had absolutely no idea what I'd done to make her mad. To be honest, I usually had no idea what I'd done to make any girl mad, and they usually were after me for something I'd done to them (because they were never confident enough to confess their undying love for me, I guess) but this chick in specific, I would have sworn on the Styx I'd done nothing to her, because, before that very second, I'd never seen her in my entire life. And no way I could've ever met such a stunning girl like that one and forgotten her. No freaking way. Even so, I had spent the last few weeks almost all by myself, forging, bending, reparing, thinking, designing, creating and whatever else, you name it, for the Argo II. The deadline was still far away but Annabeth wasn't growing any more patient, and I knew I had no time to waste.
So yeah, no idea what was she doing in my cabin. She simply stormed in all furious (and, oh, so fearfully beautiful) and until Piper came in behind her asking her to 'Please, calm down' I didn't realise she was running from someone rather than running towards me. It was kind of embarrassing, cause I ducked out of reflex, and I ended up as a huge mess on the floor, after accidentally hitting some engines I'd been working on. It wasn't until I got up with my best face of 'yeah, I always do this, cool, huh?' that I realised they weren't paying attention to me at all, and the girl's expression was nothing like anger but frustration. Such a frustration, it had her near tears- I'd never been comfortable with crying girls. Rusty people skills. So I made my best attempt.
"Hey, babe, no need to be worried, Leo's here to help" was all I could manage to say. Piper gave me an angry look. Hey, I was just trying to help. The girl's face turned, though, and her eyes lit up. And, Holy Hephaesteus, what eyes. Right up until then, I had just made out her short, slim yet not skinny; pale figure. That and her straight hair that here and there had a couple soft waves, changing back and forth from black to light brown; as some sort of kaleidoscope made out of coal, cinnamon sticks and amber. But her eyes were pure solid raw rubies, no kidding. I mean, no real precious stones were in her eye sockets, but they might have as well been. Her eyes were pinkish red and shone with breathtaking intensity. I could almost feel her angst, and for some reason, the strange hope that invaded her when she noticed me.
"Leo?" She asked, as if wanting to confirm my identity, pronouncing it uncommonly right, as Leh-oh instead of Lee-oh, as people usually did.
"The one and only" I agreed— and then she ran to me.
You know, when I say the ladies are crazy for me and stuff, I usually don't mean it literally. I simply mean they like me very, very much. But in that exact moment, it seemed nobody had notified her of that fact yet. She ran to me, hugged me, kissed me on the cheek, and started talking very fast in what took me some seconds to figure wasn't English nor Greek, but Spanish. She didn't have the Mexican accent my mother and family had, nor the accent I'd usually heard from some people I'd met from Puerto Rico, Costa Rica or Cuba. So when she finished talking, it took me a couple mississipis to take a breath, and stop myself from freaking out. Because, in case Piper there hadn't noticed, a shockingly good-looking girl had just been very relieved of seeing me, and had kissed me. She kissed me, ladies and getlemen. On the cheek, but she did.
"Uh, uhm, ah, ha" was the best I could manage at first, though. Very impressive. I cleared my throat. "Uh, ¿podrías repetir eso que dijiste antes? Y un poco más lento, hace mucho que nadie me habla en español.(1)" She looked like all the worry in her had been wiped away, and calm only made her even more beautiful. My Spanish skills were just a bit rusty, since the only person I could talk in that language lately was myself. Piper looked at me stunned, and I didn't know whether it was because of my language skills or the fact that this girl seemed very familiar with me.
Then the girl introduced herself. She said she was Affie Williams (who gives a pretty girl such a weird name?), she knew very poquito English(2) and had been kidnapped by some weird guy with hairy legs. She had been brought to camp and the pops in the big blue house had told her some Leo in the place could talk Spanish. She didn't know how had she understood that, cause she was pretty sure the pops hadn't been talking Spanish either. And then these girls, a worried blond one (a.k.a. Annabeth) and the one with the compelling voice, which I was sure was Piper, started talking to her pretty fast, and she simply didn't understand a thing. She'd grown more and more desperate until she asked 'Leo?' and Annabeth had brought her here, against Piper's wishes, 'cos she tought it'd be more prudent trying to talk to her first, trying to cool her down, or at least so she thought they were saying. Great job with cooling her down, Pipes, I thought.
"What's she saying?" Piper asked.
"She just says she hates your hairstyle, Pipes." She dedicated me a dreadful look. "Okay, she said her name is Affie Williams, and she speaks no English. She wants you to stop harrassing her and she wants some answers" I explained. "Why don't you let her hang around here for a while so I can answer her questions?" It was no big deal taking care of such a pretty girl. Specially one who seemed to like me so much.
Piper gave me a suspicious look, and then sighed. "Okay, Romeo. I guess it's no use if she can't understand what we're saying— though don't try anything. She hasn't been claimed yet, she could be anyone's sister, even yours." And so, she took her leave.
After Piper words I wasn't so confident anymore. So yeah, Affie seemed comfortable around me and everything, but I guess anyone would be if I were the only one they could talk to. She'd kissed me too, true, but in Latin America that was a normal every-day, any-person thing, so it was no big deal, at least for her. We talked for a while about her arrival and everything. She had been with her mom walking through Central Park when one of our satyrs spotted her and brought her to camp- she was sixteen, so apparently the satyr'd thought he had no time to waste. She was on vacations. I had created several wireless, remote-controled toys when dinner time came and we had to get out. By then, she had already taken in the most important stuff such as being a demigod and having an immortal parent. Also, she'd discovered she was pretty good with Greek, so she no longer needed to ask me for being her translator. I maybe would've ended up hating the job, but I didn't even get a shot as such. On the other hand, I discovered I had wasted my afternoon in toys instead of the Argo II. Annabeth would kill me, if I didn't kill myself first.
The rest of my siblings met me at the dinining pavilion. Affie thanked me and jogged to her brand new place at the Hermes' table. When she left, she wasn't scared nor confused anymore, so I could catch a glimpse of her true personality: independant, cheerful, strong, smart. I felt a little abandoned when she took off so immediately and with such ease, but I guess that was unavoidable. She didn't look like someone who stayed for long, not ever. Dinner went softly, but I couldn't stop myself from staring from time to time at the Hermes' table, where everybody laughed and talked lively with their guest. Affie's hair gleamed almost as bronze would've under the sundown's light. That night, at campfire, it was most likely for her to be claimed by her godly parent. Since I'd been told her mother was very mortal, non-godly human, I couldn't help but hear Piper's voice in my head, and the idea of Affie being my sister somehow tortured me. She couldn't be, could she? Even so, I've to admit I prayed to Hephasteus for her not to be my sister, when I dropped my share of food as my offering into the hearth.
"Hey, Hephasteus, you know, you probably are busy with Gaea stuff and whatever, and the gods have gone silent and all but, uhm, could you make her not my sister? Like, if she is, sort of go back in time and make her not yours? I'd really appreciate that." I'm not very sure why, but having her as my sister would make me very uncomfortable, so the words had come out before I could really think them. I was feeling pretty blue, playing with my food, when Nyssa asked me if there was something wrong.
"Nothing at all, just wondering whether it's possible to make food from celestial bronze, I starve working on the Argo II all day." They all looked at me like I was crazy and then laughed, and I laughed with them as well. Right, being silly and funny was easier than being lost in thought. Had forgotten it for a second there. But just for an instant, I could've sworn catching Affie staring at me from the corner of her eye. Of course, I must've imagined it, because the next time I looked in her direction she was deep in conversation with her temporary cabinmates. Yet, in my imagination, her red eyes had been staring intensely, like they could see right through me, like she could see I wasn't being sincere by laughing and joking with my brethren. That scared me a bit.
Translations:
, could you repeat what you said before? And a bit slower, it's been a while since the last time I got to speak Spanish.
little English.