CHAPTER 2: LEO VALDEZ
Whoa. Superman was right. This place had everything!
I just walked down a few aisles, and was starting to wonder if this place was a child of Hermes' place. I mean, it makes sense! He could've stolen stuff to stock up his store!
Anyways.
While I was overly engrossed in a small, actual engine for mini cars, I felt a body crash into mine.
I managed to balance myself by holding onto a pillar, but the person who bumped into me wasn't so lucky. She, it was a girl, crumpled to the floor, dropping her purse. Feeling a little guilty, I try to help her up, but she just shoves my hand away and stand on her own. "Hey, sorry. Let me get that for you."
"No, I'll get it. Thanks." She picked up her black purse with a huge diamond on it. Staring at the girl, I scratch the back of my head and hold out my hand. "Name's Leo Valdez." I say playfully. "Bad boy supreme. What's yours?"
She stared at me with her dark, amethyst eyes. "Alumina."
I smile. "So, chica, you don't look like you like these mechanical things. Watchya up to here?"
She wrinkles her nose at me, then back at the small motor. "I don't. It's for my sister. She wants to make some…solar powered skateboard or something. Our mother is always scolding her. Every time."
"Sounds like she knows her stuff," I add. "And it looks like you need help, chica."
Taking the small nuclear powered motor out of her hands, I place a solar supported one on her palm. "Anything else your sister wants?"
Alumina narrowed her eyes at me. "Spray paint, small jet rockets, a mechanical hand…and a skateboard to replace her old one."
Whoa. That's a lot of stuff. I grin. "Alright! Let's go find them!"
In the end, she ended up buying a lot of stuff. Spray paint. Blue, white, silver, andblack. Mini jet rockets. Solar powered with turbo boosters. Mechanical hand. Silver with bronze bolts and A-grade tech. A skateboard. We got the lucky girl one with extra balance and nice streamline. I turn to Alumina. "Is that everything, chica?"
She nods and we walk towards the cashier. She pays for her stuff, which was saying something, cause they cost a lot! "Thanks again," she mutters quietly, before walking out of the store. Wow. That was one weird girl. As if on cue, Nico walks up to me, a dark colored doll, half black, half white in his hands. He looks at Alumina's retreating figure, then at me. "Who was that?"
I whistle playfully. "I don't know for sure. But I sure want to see her again sometime. She was one weird girl."
Death boy frowned. "Huh, strange," he says. "I met a weird girl too. Her name was Cherith or something."
"What a coincidence," I laugh. Death boy and I rarely talk. He wasn't so bad.
He shook his head and smiles a little, placing the doll on the counter. He reminded me, "We should get back. It's getting late. Annabeth is gonna come looking for us if we're late."
~MEANWHILE~
While Leo and Nico were talking in the store, Alumina rushed towards a black car, a chauffeur opening the door for her. She was greeted by a brunette with a cap and hoodie. "You'd better not have gotten the wrong things, sis." The ebony haired girl rolled her eyes and took off her sunhat. "I got help this time," she said, handing Cherith her things, while Cherith tossed her hers. Once the brunette checked her sister's shopping results, she grinned. "Must've been a pro."
When the car stopped due the red light, both sisters looked at each other. "Hey," they said in unison, something they did all too often. "I met an interesting guy in there." Amused, both sisters laugh.
