I apologize again for the mix-up, guys. My stupid computer did something weird.
My conscience: Yeah, sure. You clicked the wrong file and you know it.
Me: (furious blushing) No, I didn't! It's all the computer's fault!
Conscience: Uh huh, sure it is…
Me: Shut it! (tackles conscience) Princess, do the disclaimer for me!
(My dog comes out holding a sign)
Mommy does not own Percy Jackson. I am as certain of this as I am certain that the cat wants to kill me.
(Princess walks off to nap)
Piper's P.O.V
"This is not happening to me."
Piper looked at her friend, concerned. Leo was staring at the image of his younger self, hands balled into fists, flames dancing through his hair. His fingers were smoking, and Piper noticed Frank eyeing his hands nervously. Percy stood up and reached for Leo's shoulder, wincing when his hand made contact: Piper guessed that Leo was radiating heat and touching him would be as painful as touching a hot stovetop. But Percy kept his hand there, staring into his friends angry brown eyes until Leo slowly relaxed, the flames sputtering out and the smoke lazily spiraling out of existence. As the boys slowly sat down, the image flickered to life.
(The memory is in italics, I'll put their point of view in regular)
Little Leo was sitting on a stool, swinging his little legs, spinning a lollipop around in his mouth, bright brown eyes fixed on a woman crouching in front of him holding a stack of cards.
At the sight of the woman, Leo let out a sound that was half sob and half yelp and buried his head in his hands.
"Come on, mijo, I know you can say this! You are so smart for your age." The woman encouraged. She held up one of the cards meaningfully. "Say it after me, mijo. Gato anaranjado, orange cat."
Leo removed his lollipop. "Cat."
"Yes! Very good!" His mother reached over to smooth his curls. "You were very bad to steal the scissors and cut your hair." She murmured under her breath.
Leo gave a devilish smile and made his fingers into scissors, pretending to cut something. "Scissors." His mother sighed.
" Very bad, Leo. Muy mal." With a sigh she sat back and again held up another card. "Say this one, mijo. Blue boat, barco azul." Leo licked his lollipop and examined the card before saying clearly "Boat!"
His mother sighed in relief. "I thought you would grow up mute, Leo, gracias a Dios you won't. Try this one, this is a very hard word." She rummaged for a moment in the pile and pulled out one more. "Hoguera. Campfire."
Leo studied the card, smiled sweetly at his mother, and burst into flames.
His mother screamed and fell backward, staring in openmouthed horror at her son. The flames were extinguished, and Leo, looking worried, climbed down from the stool and toddled over to his mother.
"Mami okay? Bueno?" he asked. His mother just looked at him, then reached out and pulled him into her arms, resting her chin on his head.
"I'm fine, novio." (Sweetheart.)
She stared up at the ceiling.
"Que otras sorpresas va a llevar?" (What other surprises will you bring?)
Piper turned to look at her friend.
"Was that your mother?" she asked, inwardly wincing at the lameness of the question. "She was beautiful." She added quickly, trying to help the situation.
Leo looked up and raised an eyebrow, though Piper could clearly see tear tracks. "Geez, Beauty Queen. I know you're trying to help but that question was lame. And thanks, by the way. Mi Mami was beautiful." He glanced up at the image, which had frozen again, showing his mother holding him close and gazing up at the ceiling. Then he shot a grin around at everyone else.
"After all, where else would I get my dashing good looks?" he asked, grinning and running a hand through his hair, flexing his other arm and making the Blue Steel face. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch Zoolander. Yeah. That face).
The seven were so busy laughing at his ridiculousness that they didn't notice the sadness in his eyes as he looked again at his mother's image.
Review Responses!
Calefe-Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it!
CrazyBlueOwl- Love your name, by the way. I'm defiantly continuing. And Leo is going to interfere with the device, but later. As of right now, he's still in shock and partly in denial.
Elephantlover123- Thanks! And if you want to see the full Max Ride story, I call that one Who Is Dylan, Really?