12 Leo

We passed over Brownsville at about three in the afternoon, so I switched the mic over to loudspeaker and put on my best announcer's voice. "This is your amazing, competent, and handsome captain Leo speaking, we'll be arriving at our destination in about two minutes, so get all of your hands on deck and start singing yo- ho yo- ho. We need to make a good impression on these people."

I thought I heard Piper's laugh as she walked past my door, but it was probably just wishful thinking. Piper was more likely to roll her eyes at one of my jokes. Picking up a couple of Wii controllers, I climbed up to the top level and gathered with everyone else on the edge. The heat was welcome after the lukewarm summers we got on Long Island, there was a lot less humidity here too. It had to be at least 105 degrees out, hot enough that your eyeballs dried as soon as you finished blinking. There wasn't a whole lot to see below us, mainly dirt, but in the middle of all the dirt, I saw a few hopeful trees and a huge white house.

"That's it." Alexix said, and I didn't need to see her to hear the smile in her voice.

Suddenly, I felt Jason tense up beside me. "Looks like we've got company." He said, flipping his coin so it came up as a spear. I knew that was how he shot lightning, so I took several steps back.

Peering down, I saw a dozen dark shadows running around. At least half a dozen of them looked unfriendly. Even from this high up, I could hear screams, and the air smelled suspiciously like smoke. Speaking into a remote, I said, "Festus, ready the armory. Be prepared to shoot bad monsters." That was a voice command that put Festus on the ready.

"No wait, Jason, Leo, don't shoot." Alexix said, shoving Jason away from the edge.

Piper snarled at her, but Annabeth tried the more reasonable approach. "Alexix, even if all of your family's out there, that still leaves seven monsters surrounding your house. Why shouldn't we shoot? We need the advantage of an air attack."

Alexix actually laughed. "Trust me; those little monsters aren't going to hurt you. They're my family."

Annabeth didn't seem to know how to answer that, but Percy said, peering over the side of the ship, "She's right. They're just kids."

Annabeth, the strategist, suggested that Percy go with Jason and Piper to wait for Hazel and Frank at the Wal-Mart. I handed Percy the controls and climbed into a lifeboat that flew my team down to the fields. It was hard to see Festus fly away, but I figured I would see him again soon.

The minute the life boat landed, Alexix leapt out and ran over to the yard. She was immediately mobbed by screaming children. Annabeth and I exchanged looks. "I still think there's something fishy going on. She told me she only had one sister and three brothers. I think the mist might be messing with her mind. You go with her; I'm going to do a perimeter check. I'll meet up with you in a few minutes."

I nodded and she left, pulling out her knife. Meanwhile, the kids were still yelling.

"Lexi! You came back!"

"Alex? Mom said you weren't going to be back until winter time."

A little girl with peaked eyes ran up to me, "Hey X, who is this? Did you bring a friend over for us to play with?"

Alexix smiled. "Guys, this is Leo. Leo, this is Indie, West, Chima, Marshal, Digger, Tex, June, Eloise, Thomas, Spencer and Toby." She spun, pointing to everyone individually even as they ran in circles around her. The kids all seemed to be from different families; I wouldn't have guessed that they were related. It was like that song kids sang in church: red and yellow, black and white.

"Where's Ramon?" she asked the little girl, Indie.

"He's with mom, inside. He's not 'lowed to come out any more on account of he broke his arm."

Alexix started walking inside and a few of the kids ran off. "How'd he break his arm?"

Eloise spoke up; she had an accent like she was up from the Bronx. She sounded a little bit like Percy actually. "He went and fell out of a tree, stupid boy. Because mom made him go climb up the maple."

Alexix frowned. "Why would she make him climb up the tree?"

"On account of he took June's little china doll and threw it up there, so she made him go and get it. Or elses she wouldn't have gived him dessert."

They kept talking, but a little boy tugged on my arm. "Hey m-mister?"

I looked down at a little boy that looked Egyptian. "Yeah?"

"I'm West by the way. B-but listen, you ha-have to get Lexix inside." He said. He was so serious, like it was a matter of life and death.

"Okay, little man. Sure thing. We'll head in soon. She's just saying hi to everyone."

He shook his head insistently. "N-no. You need to g-get her in n-now. It's too ho-hot out."

Another boy came up and tackled him from behind. They wrestled a bit on the ground, but I pulled them apart. "Wait, wait, what do you mean she can't be outside?"

The boy who had tackled him glared up at me like I had interrupted something hugely important. "Aw, he don't mean nothing 'bout that. She just can't take heat very much. First, she gets all headache-y, then she does the whole 'oh, I'm so weak, I can't think'. That's important. Then she starts denying it like," he put on a high pitched voice, "'I'm fine. Don't talk about it. There ain't nothin' wrong with me. You're being ridiculous, I'm just a little tired.' Then," he flopped backwards with a spasm.

"Y-yeah." West said, "s-so you g-gotta watch out for her a-at the b-bad girl camp. K-keep her safe."

I nodded, trying to process everything he was saying. Before I could draw any conclusion, though, he was pushing me toward the house. "G-go!"

So I walked over to the house and pushed open the door to go inside where I saw Alexix speaking with a woman I would have assumed was her mom, except she looked Mexican, like me. I was glad the investigation was so easy. Clearly, Alexix's godly side came from her mom. When her mom, or the lady Alexix must have thought was her mom, spotted me, she pointed a crooked finger with blood a red nail in my direction. "Oh no!" she yelled, "We do not accept his kind in here."

Alexix looked appalled. "Mother! You can't just say stuff like that!"

"First, you insult me. You throw my money in my face, like you don't even care. I worked hard to get you into that camp mija! How could you run away after only two days? And now this? This is too much. Don't you bring him in here." She turned to me, "Get out. You are not welcome. Do not speak to my children."

"Mother, stop it! One, you didn't pay anything to get me into that camp; I got in free because the authorities made me go. Two, you're the one who's always telling me that racism isn't acceptable. And three, you and Ramon are both from Mexico, how can you possibly tell me that this isn't okay?"

"This isn't racism, you thick headed girl, this is something much worse. He," she jabbed her finger at me again, "is something much worse."

"You mean a half-blood." Alexix said; her mother flinched.

"Don't you say that, don't you speak of that here." Her mother was shrieking now, waving her hands in the air. "Don't you let my children hear that term. I refuse to let those things happen. They cannot exist!"

"Mom," Alexix pleaded, "I am one of those people. Don't tell me they don't exist."

"No!" her mom shouted. "He told me I would be safe here. He told me he could protect you."

Suddenly, a little face poked around the corner. I assumed it was Ramon since his arm was in a sling. "Momma, can I…" his eyes lit up when he saw Alexix "Ally!" He ran and leapt towards her. Alexix caught him grinning as though this was a circus act that they practiced all the time. I noticed her gently move around his sling though. She was careful not to bump it.

"Hey, Ramon!" she sounded just as excited to see him, "I heard you finally fell out of the old maple, huh?"

He pouted and punched her with his good arm. "I didn't fall. I jumped, just like we practiced; only momma had already taken you away to the bad girl camp, so you didn't catch me. I called out your name."

Alexix threw a pointed look at her mom. "Sorry, I didn't want to leave."

Her mother cleared her throat. "Fine. We'll have your talk. Ramon, mijo, why don't we set you up with an art project?"

She led him away, and Alexix leaned against the wall. "So, welcome to the crazy."

I shrugged. "I've seen worse."

Annabeth came in then, led by a little girl whose silky brown hair was done up in pigtails. "See? Toldja I could find 'em."

Annabeth grinned at her. "Thanks, your name was June, right?"

June grinned right back, and I noticed she was missing a couple of teeth. "Yup. Like the month. It's got the hottest day of the year in it. Didja know that?"

Alexix rolled her eyes. "Longest day, June, not hottest."

June just shrugged and grabbed Alexix's hand. "Lexi, I want to show you what I builded."

"June, I have guests."

"But Lexi…" June whined.

Annabeth laughed. "Go ahead Alexix, we've got time."

Alexix sighed in defeat. "Fine. You guys can head up to my room. If you walk down that hallway, there's a string hanging down. If you pull it, you can get into my room."

"Lexi…." June said impatiently.

Alexix grabbed her behind the knees and hung her upside down, talking over her screams. "I'll be up in a few minutes. Help yourself to anything from the fridge." Then she turned away, "Alright you little squirt, what do you need to show me?"

Annabeth and I followed her directions and a ladder swung down from the ceiling. When I climbed up it, I was in a new world. Her room was in the attic, so the walls and ceiling were connected to make a triangle, but they were painted black, so they seemed to go on forever. The paint was dotted with tiny white spots that made constellations and ribbons of color waved atop those. As though the image wasn't complete, a soft white rug was thrown across the floor with tiny lights glittering in it. They provided the only light in the room until Annabeth found a light switch; there was no window.

Annabeth spoke in an almost reverent tone. "Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah," I whispered back, "It's the… what are they called? The northern lights."

"What? No, this." I followed her over to a closet set into the back of the room. Its walls were covered with posters advertising fights, and the medals that went with them. There must have been at least fifty. Overlaying the posters were pictures of Alexix. I picked up the one nearest to me.

Alexix was wearing boxing gloves and had a look on her face that said, 'yeah, I can totally kick your butt. What are you gonna do about it?' There was a guy standing next to her with his arm around her shoulders. He had his free hand up like he knew she was nuts, but there was no way he was going to stop her.

"Look at this." Annabeth whispered, holding another picture out to me. Alexix wasn't wearing boxing gloves in this one, but she was throwing a killer kick at a guy's head while he laughed. She had beautiful form, but it was obvious she was just messing around. It was the same guy who had been in the other picture. "This… it has to be her 'illustrious history' Chiron was talking about."

"Oh…" A voice behind us made us whirl around guiltily. Alexix had frozen, halfway into her room, and was staring at us wide eyed. "I guess you found the skeletons in my closet."

"No, we were just…" Annabeth decided it wasn't worth trying to defend herself. "Why didn't you tell us you were a fighter?"

Alexix smiled softly, like she was looking back fondly at an old regret. "I'm not. I mean, I'm not anymore." She clarified when she saw Annabeth's incredulous look.

"But you were." I said.

She winced, but climbed the rest of the way into the room. "I'm retired. I don't do that anymore. It- it's a long story. I don't want to talk about it."

I started noticing different things about her room. A pair of boxing gloves shoved into the corner, pieces of something that could have been a colored belt shoved partway under the bed, evidence of a life she might have tried to hide, but couldn't quite bear to throw away.

Annabeth opened her mouth to ask something, but Alexix was saved by her mom screaming up the stairs. "Alexix Storm, if you make me jump to pull that string, you are going to be in more trouble than you can think of girly. Comprende? Get your butt—" Alexix swung down the ladder.

Her mom climbed up, panting a bit with the effort. "You need to make this fast, mija. I left Marshall in charge, but it won't last long." When she saw Annabeth, her jaw clenched. "There are two of them?"

"Three, mom, I'm one of them too." Alexix gave her mom a look, "But you already knew that, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

Her mother bit her lip, a gesture that reminded me of Alexix. "I didn't want to tell you, mija, but somehow you learned… he said this camp would be good for you. That it would help you become good like him, instead of like your father."

Alexix blinked, confused. "Who's he? You aren't making any sense. Are we talking about… dad?"

Ms. Storm shook her head. "Oh please, mija. You came long before that man."

"What? You mean… I was adopted? Mother, you told me I was your first natural, you lied to me?" I thought that had been obvious, but it was clearly a shock to Alexix.

"No mija, hush. Let me finish my story before you make stupid assumptions." She sighed and settled on the bed, watching Annabeth and me carefully. "You two sit there, no, don't come close, just sit." We sat. "Mija, you have to understand, I love you, and you were my first natural. That's true, but… a lot of the other stuff was a lie. You aren't a Texan, and neither am I. You were born in Wisconsin, mija, like me. I hadn't even met your 'dad' then, but I was a child of snow. I loved winter and everything about it; I think that's what attracted him to me. He came every winter and flirted, he could be quite the charmer, and he wasn't bad looking. He never stayed for the summer though, so when he asked me if I was willing to leave with him, I said no. He got mad, and, he took me away and…"

She stopped to take a shuddering breath. Alexix blinked, confused and horrified, and I felt the same way. This was like watching a soap opera. A very, very bad soap opera, one where all of the characters ended up dead.

"It took me a long time to escape. He had guards you see, but he treated me like a queen. He didn't want me to feel like a prisoner. When I finally did escape, I tried to get back to my normal life. Then I had you, my first natural baby. If I thought I was a child of snow, you were my daughter of ice. You had pearly white skin, crystal hair; even your eyes were such a light blue that the doctors thought you were blind. Mija, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but those aren't things you could have gotten from me. I knew then that he would never leave me alone. It was summertime, and a different man came. He offered me protection from your father. That's when I moved down here to Texas. After a few years, your hair and eyes turned darker, you burned easily, you still do, but your skin became a more normal color. Sometimes you got sick, from staying outside for too long, but it made you normal, so I never stopped letting you outside. I met your dad, and we decided to raise you normally. The other one, the warm one, he still stops by every now and again, to check on you. It was his idea to send you to camp."

She sat back, apparently done with her story, and we all sat in an awkward silence. Alexix had sat down during the story, and her head was resting on her knees. "Who is he?" she asked.

"Who, mija?"

"Either of them!" Alexix looked up with rage filled eyes, and her mom leaned back a bit on the bed. "The warm one, the icy one, who are they? How could you have lied to me for so long?"

Her mother had tears in her eyes, but I was having a difficult time feeling sympathy towards her. "His name was Boreas." She said finally, "Your father's name was Boreas."

Annabeth let out a gasp, and I felt the same shock. I had gone to his castle on my first quest. Of course, I was stopped at the door because of my nasty habit of catching fire, but still. That made Khione her sister. "The wind god?" Annabeth asked.

Ms. Storm nodded. "The winter wind. And the other one, that was his brother. He said he wanted to keep you safe, make you his hero to get back at him. I thought I was doing the right—"

"Mom!" a voice was coming through the floor. "Digger's fighting with Tex and Chima, and I can't make them stop."

Alexix's mom stood with a sigh. She reached down to pat Alexix's head, but Alexix jerked back. "Don't. Touch me." She bit out.

Her mom sighed again, and then climbed down the ladder. Annabeth spoke up, "Alexix, I—"

"Don't worry about it." Alexix said, forcing a smile, "I'm fine. Do we know where Boreas is?"

"Quebec, but—"this time Annabeth was interrupted by a little blonde boy poking his head up through the floor.

"Hey, Alex. There's a car in the driveway that might could be important for you." He giggled.

"Why? Is it dad?" Her questions lacked enthusiasm, but the boy giggled again anyway. "Nope, guess again."

Then an older boy's voice called from behind him. "Spencer, get down from there before you fall and break your neck."

Spencer made a face. "Gotta go, see ya, bye." And disappeared from view.

Alexix stood. "Let's get out of here."

She cast a final look across the walls then followed us down the ladder. The panel clicked shut firmly, as though it was resolved never to open again.

We walked through the house like we would walk through a minefield, dodging Legos, toy cars, and small children. A piano started up somewhere in the house, and the sound of tears awaited us outside. Still, Alexix looked like she fit in. There was loads of chaos, but she never paused in her step; she didn't even have to look down. She navigated the minefield of pointy objects with the grace of a ballerina. It was pretty cool to see the way she lived. Living alone with my mother, we never had these kinds of problems, but as loud and obnoxious as this house was; it was comfortable too, like everyone knew their place.

Alexix took a deep breath before walking outside, and immediately I noticed a difference. Her shoulders curled in, and she seemed to shrink, becoming more worn down looking with every step she took. I fell back a little to talk to Annabeth. "Are you seeing this?"

Her face looked grim. "Oh, I'm seeing it alright. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. It has to be why no monsters have found her yet, but this is bad. This is very bad. You realize that apart from the three minor guardians that watch over his castle, Boreas hasn't had a child in centuries? There has to be a reason that she…"

She trailed off as we saw a man stop Alexix. I recognized him as the boy from the pictures. They spoke for a moment, and then he grabbed her arm. Alexix shoved him away, and started yelling, "Get lost, Nick. I told you I didn't want anything more to do with you."

"You have too much talent to throw it away like this. When I heard you were back from that loser camp, I figured you had seen reason." He yelled back.

"I'm not throwing it away; I'm just not using it to make you money."

"To make yourself money. Alexix, you could be famous!"

"You mean that you could be famous. I already fell for that line once Nick, and it's not happening again."

"Give me one good reason, Alexix. Just one, we were great together, the team of the century. You could have gone down in history, why would you quit?"

"I'm not… just leave me… I can't think right…" Alexix shoved her hands back through her hair in frustration. "Just leave me alone Nick, I have to leave!"

She tried to shove past him, but he grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground. I started forward, but the little boy, West, was in my way. "M-mister, I t-told you to keep her i-inside!"

I pushed past him, "I know kid; I'm trying."

I started back over to the scuffle, but Alexix was back on her feet, fighting Nick. She hit him twice in the face and dodged his punch when he swung. She tried to kick him in the stomach, but he caught her leg and threw her to the ground.

"Hey!" I shouted, pulling a hammer from my tool belt. Not my most original line, but it worked.

Nick looked up at me like he was surprised I could speak. "What's this?" he asked Alexix, who was still on the ground. "Are these the freaks from that camp? Is this the reason you won't come back?"

Alexix shook her head and mumbled something I couldn't hear. Nick turned to me, and I saw blood dripping off his lip. "You trying to steal my girl, freak? Yeah, she's pretty hot stuff so long as it's cool out, but she's not up for the taking. She's mine, you got that? Anyone can see how great we are together; no one else could do what we do. We're a team. And she'll come around, yeah, she'll come around." He spat blood at Alexix who was sitting up with a hand on her head. He started walking away, but halfway across the yard he turned around. "The camp won't last forever." He shouted. Then he shoved a kid out of his way and left.

I knelt down by Alexix. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, fine. Just a little tired. Sorry you had to see that."

I wrinkled my forehead, "You're a little… tired?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. It just threw me off my game a little. I should have pulled my kick back faster."

Suddenly, West was at my arm again, with Tex and another boy. "Hey Toby, Tex, West." Alexix said wearily.

They didn't even smile. "Get yo self back inside before we gots to put ya there." Toby snarled, his six year old voice squeaking a little despite his gangster attempt. I was a little surprised, but then I realized he was talking to Alexix.

West socked me in the arm. "Y-you, sir, f-fail at l-life. I s-said to keep her s-safe!"

Tex looked at Alexix then back at me. "Some blonde chick told me to tell y'all that the boat is ready, but I think y'all better hope it has AC. You need me to carry her?" He flexed his tiny muscles; I could probably do curls with him on a bad day.

Alexix waved us all off. She stood shakily and put her hands on her hips. "You guys are being ridiculous. I'm fine. Come on Leo, we need to meet up with the others. Guys, say bye to everyone else for me, okay? I need to go back to camp." Her words slurred a little near the end of her speech, and the boys gave me identical pointed looks before obediently running off.

We started off to the lifeboat, but we hadn't gone three steps before Alexix's legs gave out. I caught her before she hit the ground, but she couldn't get her feet back under her. "Sorry..." she whispered, "the heat…" Then her head lolled back.

I scooped her up without missing a beat and picked up the pace to the boat. Alexix was freakishly light, even if I didn't have built up biceps from working with metal all day. I could almost believe that Tex could have carried her.

When I got to the boat, Annabeth shivered into existence beside me, her magic cap in hand. "What happened? Are you guys alright? Was it that Nick character? What's wrong with her?"

I set Alexix down carefully in the warm metal bottom of the boat then climbed in and revved up the engine. "I think it's the heat. That kid, West, he was really freaked out."

Annabeth was checking Alexix's pulse carefully and pushing her hair, which had once again come loose, out of her face. "Makes sense." She muttered. "Child of Boreas would hate the heat."

I tossed a glace back at her. "Where are we meeting them exactly?"

"Just go up. We should be able to spot them." I did as she said and spotted a huge dark cloud looming in the distance.

"Um, Annabeth?" She glanced up at me. "I don't mean to disturb you or anything, but I think we may have some trouble at, oh, two o'clock?"

She looked to the South and her eyes widened. "Let's go. Now."

Alexix seemed to agree, she rolled her head back and forth and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Bad bird comes." Or she could have been talking about the Sesame Street character. Either way, I figured it was bad news.

There you go! Her parentage has been revealed. But don't give up on my story just yet. I wouldn't gather the gang for something as simple as that! More action coming up... (And if that doesn't sound like a cheesy commercial, I don't know what does.) Thanks for all your reviews. Keep writing! ~NinjaB.