Leo had no choice but to follow. She seemed so authoritative, so regal, that Leo wanted to roll out a carpet before her so she wouldn't get her feet dirty. Of course, Leo would do that for any girl who talked to him. Which wouldn't be much.

"So, uh, where are we going?"

"To my suite. You've got tea all over you. Don't you want to wash up a bit? Well, I guess you could, in your own suite. If it were me, I'd wash up before I'd go see my mother, because my mother is a bloody perfectionist." She stopped talking suddenly, and opened a door. The suite was huge. A piano graced the corner, and in the other corner, a large desk. A matching sofa and chairs set was placed in front of a huge fireplace. As Leo looked through the double doors into the next room, he saw a large table that could easily sit twelve. "Come here, you can use my bathroom." He followed the girls voice into the bathroom. It was huge, marble. A huge jetted tub waited in the corner. "So here. There's a cloth. Are you sure you don't have any burns? That was at boiling temperature. You didn't even flinch."

"Nah, I'm fine. But are you planning my death? I mean, I usually don't follow strangers into their rooms, but, uh, that's not usually something that comes up, you know?" Leo shifted his backpack. He had no bad feeling like he usually got before something happened.

"No, I'm totally planning on killing you, which is exactly why I'm handing you a washcloth and telling you to clean up." There couldn't have been more sarcasm in her voice. She laughed, and then stepped outside the bathroom. "But hurry up, because we're getting lunch, sir!" What? Lunch, with a pretty girl? She was definitely going to kill him off.

Leo finished wiping the sticky tea off of himself and ran his shirt under some water. He took the hair dryer off of the wall, tinkered with a few wires, and was completely dry in no time. He walked out to the living room where the girl was making a phone call.

"Oh, I'm about to grab a bite to eat. Sorry, bub. Do you want to meet me after? Alright, three sounds good... Nah, It's fine, bro." Wait a second. She said bro? She's perfect. She stuck her iPhone in her back pocket of her black high-waisted shorts and spun to see Leo.

"Look, lady-" Leo started but she cut him off.

"My name is Ramona." She stated plainly.

"Something is super weird about this. Where are your parents? Why are you all alone in this huge hotel? What's the deal here?" His voice cracked at 'here', and his cheeks flushed. He shuffled his feet along the ground and tried not to burst into flames. He was seriously heating up. Even if he wasn't getting a bad feeling, he was certainly getting something that was saying 'Something here isn't right.'

"I ran away." The three words punch Leo in the stomach. He'd run away too many times. And now here in Seattle. He tried to convince himself it was a vacation, but taking off unnoticed from camp Half-Blood would undoubtedly be running away. He wanted to tell her off, tell her that she had no reason to run away. By the looks of this hotel room, she wasn't exactly a damsel in distress.

"Why? You're rich. You have a family." Leo said, quietly. So quiet, he almost said it again. She heard him though, and responded, just as quietly.

"I'll tell you over lunch." She said, her voice barely a whisper. "I wouldn't normally take anyone randomly out to lunch...But, I was expecting you."

...

Ramona offered no further explanation to the boy. Instead she turned around, the way she usually did, and he just watched her pony-tail bob back and forth until he realized that he was to follow her.

"Wait, what is your name?" She said, as they walked out of the hotel.

"Leo. Valdez. I guess."

"Well I'm Ramona. Straight. I suppose." The effect was instantaneous on Leo.

"As in the daughter of Arianna Straight?"

"Yuck, but yes. She's crazy, and disgusting. I hate her."

"I see why you ran away." This comment puzzled Ramona. Her mother was young, gorgeous, and most boys would drop dead to meet her. That's why Ramona considered her so repulsive. Because her mother would let them. Her mother would go out with younger boys, then come home like nothing had happened. In Ramona's eyes, she was manipulative, and an egotistical brat. In Arianna's eyes, she was a goddess.

"Why do you say that?" Ramona said, her nose scrunched up.

"Well your mother is famous. I have a friend. Her dad's Tristan McLean."

"Oh, Piper?" Ramona asked. Ramona and Piper had met a few times for famous children photo shoots. They always got along.

"Yeah... She's not all sugar and spice. She's pretty vicious with a dagger." Leo said, nonchalantly.

"Why on earth does Piper have a dagger?" Ramona asked, appalled.

"Er, we went on a camping trip last summer, and had a throwing contest. It's no biggie."

Ramona smiled. Leo's hand went to his phone. Ramona excused herself to a bench while Leo talked. Her nanny had taught her to never listen to other people's conversations. Ramona had listened to everything her nanny had said. Ramona's nanny had been in her life since she was a baby. Ramona called her Emi, and then later in life learned that she was named Artemisia. She didn't know that until her nanny was gone, completely non-existent in her life. Just like her mother's sanity.

Ramona felt crazy, listening to her dreams for once. She never did, but they always came true. Okay. How am I going to say this? 'Uh, hey, Leo, a crazy woman told me that I'd find you where you didn't belong on winter's solstice, and that heat wouldn't hurt you, so, would you mind telling me why I'm here?' Yeah, that totally works. Ramona sighed. Leo finished his phone call and they resumed their walk to the cafe. He seemed irritated.

They both sat down and ordered. Ramona didn't catch what he ordered, she was so focused on explaining her dream. When her bread bowl arrived, she barely picked at it. He seemed to be off in his own world. She knew what that was like. Ramona was super ADHD and could hardly focus on one thing.

Suddenly she felt her spine tingle. She realized that there was no one else in the cafe. She decided that she had to get her words out, as fast as she could.

"Leo." Leo looked up from his food. "Leo, this is going to be crazy, but there's this lady and she told me that I'd find some guy, she called you a hero, and that it was supposed to unite two kings, and anyway she basically described you and said that the person I was looking for would be immune to heat and that he could actually create it, and I don't know how that even works, oh my god I'm nuts." Leo's reaction couldn't have been better.

"So who was the lady that told you all that?" Leo replied, as if that was the craziest thing Ramona had said.

"She was... I don't know. She had owl wings, and grey eyes, and when she spoke to me I felt stupid." Leo smiled after Ramona said this.

"Oh good, I was hoping it wasn't Hera, that woman is cray-zay. But yeah, I understand... But it's hard to explain."

"Like what I said was easy." Ramona stated, firmly but gently.

"Do you know your father?" Leo said.

"Oh, what the heck, Leo? Of all people." Ramona said. Ramona didn't know her father. She didn't care. He took off. That's it. The end. She hadn't ever met him, nor did she wish to.

...

Leo seemed to once again be off in his own world, so Ramona excused herself. As she turned the corner, she smiled at Leo. Her eyes were brown, but when the sun caught them they were yellow. She had sunkissed skin and black hair that looked like it was set on fire when the light caught it. Fire. Something I know well. She finally turned the corner. Leo heard a scream.

Leo took his backpack off his shoulder. Which tool can help in this situation? Leo pulled out his toolbelt (which was magic) and eventually came up with a hunting knife, about as long as his arm. He started to walk around the corner, when someone caught his arm. He jumped, and slashed blindly with his knife.

"Leo. Stop." That one word wouldn't have usually caused him to stop slashing, but it was spoken by Piper McLean, the daughter of Aphrodite.

She walked with Leo around the corner. Leo's heart sank, and it sank so low he almost vomited. There before him stood a southern cyclopes, it's knife dripping with blood. Before Leo or the cyclopes could react, Piper took Leo's knife and chucked it at the cyclopes' head. He dropped to the floor and disentegrated into dust. Leo vomited all over the floor. He had never seen so much blood before. And of course, the source of the blood was Ramona.