Leo Valdez
I flew out of my seat as soon as the campfire was over. A lot had happened there. I saw the girl that I met at the gas station. Well I didn't technically meet her, but we had a…encounter. I volunteered, like an idiot, to go on a potentially fatal quest with Jason and Piper. Oh, and Piper turned pretty.
I dashed through the woods, until I was far enough in to where no one would see a sudden fire start.
My job was to provide transportation for the quest, and I had the perfect idea. I thought it was perfect, that is until I actually started working on my 'transportation'.
That was hell.
The bronze dragon, the same browse dragon that made Jake a mummy, and the same bronze dragon that no one at camp could tame, was our transportation. Except it didn't have any wings, and it was crazy.
But since I'm awesome, I fixed the crazy dragon, and it took me deeper in the woods until we stopped at this weird place.
I placed my hand on the door and let my hand catch fire, opening the door. Don't ask me how I figured that out; I don't even know.
This place was ancient, even more ancient than the camp director, Chiron. There were papers dated all the way back to the Civil War. There was an old map of the camp, like a battle map. Then Fetus, the amazing name I gave the dragon, hopped up on this jumbo operating table, and I found some wings and a cool magical toolbelt.
By the time I was done, I was covered in motor oil, I was dirty, and smelled of Tabasco sauce. Not to mention that I was completely drained.
I drug myself through the woods, pain aching through my body.
"Well at least we have transportation," I said to myself.
It was silent, then all of a sudden, there was a body and then next thing I knew, I was on the ground with a sword to my throat. My head began throbbing even more now and I blinked a couple of times. It was that girl again. I willed my hand to catch fire, ready to fight. I looked down and realized she was straddling me and blushed. I just stared at her and smiled, dumbly. Then I saw that her eyes were glowing again, but kinda faintly, and that there was a wispy white essence around her free hand. The snow next to us quickly melted, and the leaves caught fire. Her eyes shot to my hands and back to my face.
"I didn't know you were pyrokinetic," she whispered.
"I didn't know you were telekinetic," I fired back.
She narrowed her eyes at me, which had now turned gray, and said, "Touché." "What were you doing out here?" I made a gagging noise and pointed to her sword. She slowly pulled her sword away and waited for me to explain. "Well, you know, I was…taking a walk. Very nice forest ya'll got here," I said gesturing towards our surroundings.
"Then why are you covered in oil and smell like hot sauce," she inquired.
I couldn't make up a lie. I didn't want to lie to her, but I didn't want to tell her; it was supposed to be a surprise.
She waited for an answer and I simply said, "I tinker when I'm bored."
She searched my eyes and then looked me up and down. She knew that I was hiding something, but she decided not to pursue it. Thank gods. There was an awkward silence. Not to mention the fact that she was straddling me, and I was breathing super hard. I held out my hand and said, "I'm Leo, son of Hephaestus, and you are," although I already knew her name. She gingerly took my hand and said, "Lydia, daughter of Athena." A smile began to tug at her lips, and I laughed. I have no idea why, but I guess it finally felt nice to see her smile at me, rather than stare at me coldly. I stared at her body and worked my way back up to her eyes. Then something started to stir in my pants, even more than it was the last minute. My dick began throbbing and I cursed under my breath. "Ummm, Lydia, this is… I umm," I was stumbling with my words. "Oh," she said, her tone sounding both disappointed and distant. At least it sounded like that. She got up off of me and pulled me up. She sheathed her sword and we began walking.
That awkward silence came back again.
I had a dying feeling that we were thinking the same thing: what happened that day in the gas station? Lydia had been on my mind since that day. I was confused and I seriously needed a solution. I opened my mouth to say something and she looked over at me. I let my breath out and grinned. Lydia just rolled her eyes and kept walking. I lagged behind, cursing myself for being so stupid.
The woods seemed to go on forever.
"Did I really come out this far," I asked.
She nodded.
"Some walk you took there." There was like a loud roaring sound, like something a monster would make. I'd heard that they lurked in the woods, and was glad I didn't see one on my way in. I stopped abruptly and Lydia stopped too. "Did you hear that," I whispered. "That was my stomach, idiot," she said. "Oh, didn't you eat dinner?" "No, I got here late." I reached into my toolbelt and pulled out various ingredients for burgers. She raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, I thought that was just a regular toolbelt." "Nope, it's magical, and it makes burgers!" She gave me an anxious look, and gazed around. I waved the spatula in my hand and she sighed. "Ok, but make this quick."
Soon, the smell of cooked beef filled the air around us. With each flip, Lydia's stomach growled even louder. "Could ya keep that thing down, we don't wanna draw attention," I said, placing the burgers on the warm buns. She smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. So hot. "Just finish making the burgers and he'll stop," she smiled. I looked up and grinned at her. "'He'll'?" She waved her hand absently and leaned back on her hands.
After eating her first burger, she wiped her mouth and looked really serious at me.
"Look, I know you've been thinking what I'm thinking. What happened that day, at QuickTrip, has been eating at my mind for like ever. It's driving me crazy, and it just seems… weird, ya know"?
I sat forward and nodded.
"Same for me, but ya know, maybe we were meant to meet." I wiggled my eyebrows and moved closer. She considered what I just said and licked her lips. Then her eyes grew wide. "Yeah! Of course, that's what she-" She stopped herself and cringed. "I meant, yeah, of course." All I could do was smile like an idiot; I was in love.