Leo POV
She really creeps me out. I know it's wrong to say it, especially after the whole Nico thing but she really is scary. Her brother, Nico, well, we don't know what happened to him, but we knowhe...he...er... isn't alive anymore. He's in Elysium, she told us she knew it. We believed her, children of Hades don't get these things wrong. She sits in the corner, hugging her knees. Someone has spoken to her but she just blanked us. Wait, has anyone spoken to her on this quest. In her time at camp? I haven't. She has always scared me too much. She induces fear like her half brother Nico. I really should speak to her. We didn't speak to Nico after the quest. The strength of his fear inducing increased so I was too scared to talk to him, even though we had grown close. Then he ran away without leaving a trace. I walk up to the girl curled up in the corner. I never realised what she really looked like before. I never noticed that she was...Spanish! Just like myself. It was the accent that gave it away. Very fast, direct, no stress timing, meaning none of the words are stretched, they all last as long as each other, much like a machine gun. The rolling of the R, the distinctive H and Y. Definitely Spanish.
"Hey erm..." I stutter, realising I never knew her name.
"It fine if you don't want to talk to me, it's fine." She calmly says in her strong Spanish accent, much stronger than mine. "By the way it's Adoncia. Adoncia De Le Fuente." obviously picking up that I didn't even know her name.
"Hey Adoncia! How yo-" just as I was asking how she was, she interrupted.
"Please call me Addy, Adoncia sounds far too formal." allowing herself to chuckle a little and a small smile dances around her face. I feel my own face stretch into a grin. Then she unleashes the full on smile. I can only see half of it as her face is still resting on her knees. Her thin lips showcase her beautiful, white teeth. It's dazzling. I must have been staring and she starts to look uncomfortable and the smile in gone.
"I-I er.. I'm sorry." I stutter in a panic to maintain that smile.
She looks up at me, "You're the first person to say that to me." I want to tell her that it can't be true surely but I am too mesmerised by her looks. She has tanned skin and straight dark brown hair. Her dark brown eyes have the hint of a mad man, probably off her father. Hades. Her small nose comes to a perfect point. Her eyes though. So much pain, I can see it. So beautiful yet so damaged, I can tell that just from her eyes.
"Where are you from?" She asks me.
"Texas and you?" To which she replies, "Ronda in Spain. The one where is it built right at the edge of a gorge. It's so historic and beautiful." I nod. Half saying that I have heard of Ronda, the other saying that I agree that it is historic and beautiful even though I have never been. We carry on discussing Spain and I find out she lived there for 10 years before getting to camp. She doesn't tell me how she got to camp mind. She's two years younger than me. She is 15 and I am 17. If she lived in Spain for 10 years she must know Spanish. So, I decide to test that hypothesis.
"Eres hermosa.(You are beautiful)" She shakes her head whilst looking down. I come to the assumption that she doesn't know Spanish until I see a small smile dance across her face. "Realmente me gustas. (I really like you)" I continue. She looks up with the biggest smile on her face and I take the chance. I have an opportunity and I take it. I press my lips against hers and she doesn't pull back. In fact, she pulls me closer. Wrapping her arms around my neck. I start to slip my hand up her back to take off her jacket when she grabs my hand. I immediately ask what's wrong. She explains, "I don't want you to have to see it, I- I really like you too and well, I don't want to ruin this already." Gesturing to us both and looking down. I eventually persuade her that it definitely won't ruin it and that she's beautiful no matter what. She slowly takes of her jacket and I realise why she always keeps it on.
"Where... what... how?" I stutter, in shock. She is covered in scars from various things, whips, scratches, what looks like knife marks and stab wounds. She chuckles but I know it's only to break the awkwardness. Also, the top of her left arm, it looks wrong. It looks broken almost. Addy must notice at me staring at her arm and she quickly covers it and states, "The door won!" we both chuckle but I know it's more than that. It looks painful, really painful. I kiss her again.
The door flies open and Addy flings her jacket on. Percy strides in, he meets Adoncia 's gaze but quickly looks away. You can find out so much about a person from their eyes, to simply ignore them is a waste, I know that now. They can scream in pain or laugh with Joy. Another thing I like about Addy is how little she reminds me of my... mother. The spanish accent, it just reminded my of Texas and that conversation about Texas itself just reminded me of my mother, now I can't get her out of my head. Reading me stories and tucking me up in bed, showing me how fuse pieces of metal together, all these memories just playing in my head. I feel the tears running down my face. I explain myself.
"I just... I don't know. I'm just thinking about my mother-" I see Adoncia tense up. "-she was just so kind and funny and I loved her with all my heart. I'm sorry guys but a guy this amazing has to have a little cry every now and again." I say attempting a joke. Percy comes over to give me a bro hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Adoncia curled up in a ball in the corner, eyes shut, stroking her jacket which covers her scar infested arms. "I'm sorry about getting so deep, I just loved my mother and she loved me." I say trying to make her feel less awkward. But apparently she never was feeling awkward because she just stands up and runs out, tears rolling down her face. I go to chase her when Percy grabs me, "Ignore her, she's a creep." and when he says that, I feel myself ignite. Literally. I burn his hands, "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MY GIRLFRIEND! ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO NICO!" Percy's face flushes red. I think he was just expecting me to laugh along. His hand drops from my t-shirt as I run out to chase Adoncia.
"Addy! Addy wait up! What's up! Addy? Adoncia? Adoncia De Le Fuente? Addy! There you are!" I say chasing her down the corridor of the Argo III- that's right, I decided to build another ship, what can I say? It's a hobby! I get to the smallest room on the Argo III- Adoncia's, but she isn't there. I hear a sniffle coming from the cupboard. I open the shiny, light brown oak door and find Adoncia. It's a small cupboard. Probably the smallest cupboard, I open my mouth to ask her why she's here when she looks up and see's me. I am too mesmerised by her face to even start to ask why.
"Leo!" She exclaims snapping me back into reality. my mouth snapping shut so fast I catch the corner of my lip. "She never used to find me in the small cupboards. If she did, she wouldn't open them, she would just find a way to lock it. Usually putting the handle of the broom we kept in the living room through the handles." She allows a chuckle to escape her pale lips but I know better than to believe it. I look into her eyes. Her red puffy eyes. Screaming with sorrow. Screaming to confess everything. "Sorry I ran off back there... my... er... allergies. Yes! My allergies were playing up... you know, to sea creatures, Percy triggered it, hence my eyes watering." I don't buy a word of it but I don't question her, I simply nod and offer her my hand to help her out of the cupboard. She reaches out with her bad arm and places her hand gently in mine. Her tanned Spanish skin blends into mine. I see her wince a little as she puts pressure on her bad arm but she doesn't say anything. Neither of us do. Then her small, soft hand remains in mine even once she is stood up. She leans in to me. I first thought she was going to kiss me but instead she wipes my lip. For a moment I am confused then I realise I must have had a trickle of blood from when I bit my lip. Then she leans in for the kiss.
Really? They had to choose that moment to attack? Really! Well thanks for that- not! Stupid empousai! We hear them land before we see them. A loud thump! as they landed, probably from jumping off their ride. Immediately, we start to run to the deck when Addy disappears from my side. When I turn to see where she is, I can see she is fighting one of the empousai, right outside of Percy's room. Percy must be asleep, that is when empousai usually attack. They drink the blood of men. That's why she didn't alert me. Soon, the monster is a pile of dust and the back on Adoncia's jacket is sliced open and pouring with thick, red blood. Percy rushes out of his room and doesn't even acknowledge Addy. She just saved his life, getting herself injured in the process and he didn't even care. I must remember to shout-no-speak to him about it.
"Addy! Are you okay!" I shout from the end of the hall as I see her cling to the wall for support.
"Just another one to add to the collection! Aha! I've had worse Valdez now get above deck and kick some Empousai but." And with that, she gets up and runs off herself. I follow her like a dog following its owner.
When we reach where the main fight is happening. It is chaos. Reyna and her metal dogs are taking down the monsters almost as quickly as more are joining the fight. Percy is controlling the water around them to hit the empousai off the ship, but they just climb straight back on again. Dam! These girls are tough! Annabeth is slicing and ducking perfectly and is currently unscathed. So is near enough everyone on the ship. So far. Piper and Jason are working together to take down as may empousai as they can, combining their powers into one unstoppable duo. Frank is fighting alone as a Rhino. He used to fight with Hazel but she died a long time ago. It's still and touchy topic. Only one out of four underworld kids are still alive. The odds aren't good.
"We're massively outnumbered!" I hear Jason shout in the distance. I see Adoncia place her hands on the ground and shut her eyes. What the Hades is she doing? Now isn't the time to have a nap! Her skin begins to go paler and paler. I open my hand and blast fire at one of the empousai. It knocks them off the boat. But, when she is trying to get back on, a skeletal hand reaches up and pulls her down again. So that is what Adoncia has been doing! For once, people actually take notice of her. When the battle is over, they all gather in a group, me included, to go and find her and thank her. We find her sat down, lay on a pillar unconscious. It must have took a lot of strength to raise the dead from the sea bed. I think that is when the others realise that she is just like Nico. They actually say that. They all make a pact to make her feel more welcome. When the others agree to that, I don't . I remain silent with a mischievous grin on my face. And that's when I announce that I don't need to promise to make Adoncia feel more welcome as I was dating her.
Adoncia then regains consciousness. She stands up but stumbles, obviously dizzy from blood loss. We can see that from the crimson puddle that had formed behind her. I catch her then pick her up and carry her over to one of the chairs. She claims she's fine but when she gets up and turns, we can all see the deep gash in the bottom of her bag. She goes to run off as she is obviously feeling nervous about having the attention. Afraid of trusting them. I'm not sure why though. However, when she goes to run off, Jason grabs her jacket and it slips off showing the various types of scars down her body and her miss shaped arm. I can hear the little sniffles she is making due to crying as she runs off down the hall and Jason just holds the jacket whilst he and the others look dumb-stuck. I take off after her, Reyna following.