Hey everyone! So, summer vacation is coming to an end. Lounging lazily on the couch won't be an option for me anymore, BUT, I tend to write more during the school year. So, my updates may be more frequent during the year. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and REVIEW! You don't understand how giddy I feel every time I get a review. :D
Chapter Four
Aurum barked at Reyna as she continued sifting through her paperwork. Absently, Reyna patted his head and took a large gulp of hot chocolate before continuing her work. Aurum barked again and Reyna replied with a hasty, "Not now Aurum, I'm busy."
The mechanical dog whimpered for a moment before toddling out of the room morosely. After a moment, Reyna threw together some papers and looked down for Aurum, "Okay Aurum, wha—"
Seeing that he was gone, Reyna stood up and went looking for her two mechanical pets. "Aurum! Argentum! Come here boys!" A few moments later, she found the two chasing each other in her living room. When she went in, the two stopped and regarded her for a moment before snootily continuing their game.
Reyna sighed and lay on her purple chaise longue, rubbing her temples. After Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter combined, her life had been a mess. There had been an incredible amount of paperwork, not to mention arguing with Octavian. He insisted that they leave Camp Half Blood to fend for themselves. He said they were enemies. Reyna objected as much as she could, but Octavian kept bringing up instances that proved that this was a bad idea.
Leo almost blowing up camp was one of them.
And now, Leo had attacked a Praetor without reason, Octavian would surely use that as an excuse to get rid of the Greeks.
All Reyna could think was why. Why would Leo do something so incredibly stupid? Didn't he realize the delicate balance Reyna was trying to maintain between the camps? Of course not. Reyna had kept every problem possible under lock, no one other than Percy, Jason and Octavian knew the difficulty of combining the camps.
As if that wasn't enough, her dogs were upset with her!
Reyna closed her eyes for a moment, hoping that a nap would ease her worries, when the doorbell rang.
"Of course!" Reyna said out loud. She stomped over to the front door and swung it open; only to come face to face with the person she was irritated with most. She considered the boy with dark curly hair and the impish grin in front of her, holding something behind his back. She had two choices. She could proceed with whatever notion of forgiveness Leo had to offer, possibly ending the problem right there. Or she could slam the door in his face.
Reyna opted for the latter, slamming the door; Leo threw his foot in before she could close it.
"Mr. Valdez," Reyna gritted her teeth, trying to sound as cordial as possible, "Please remove your foot from the door case."
"Look, Reyna," Leo started with an apologetic voice. Seeing Reyna's horrid temper, he quickly stammered, "Praetor, Your Highness? I… I feel really bad about what I did. I shouldn't have attacked you, that was a pretty butt-headed thing of me to do. And I know you probably won't forgive me, but I thought I could still give you something. You know, to make up for it?"
Reyna narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but after looking at his eager face, she sighed and allowed him to come inside.
As soon as he was in the door, Reyna got up and walked to her kitchen, where she normally took her guests, and took out a mug, and began to make some hot chocolate. She turned over to Leo, who had nervously sat on a stool on the other side of the counter. He seemed to be looking around, taking in every detail of her extremely organized home.
"Mr. Valdez, would you like some hot chocolate?" Reyna asked emotionlessly.
Leo looked at her sink where there seemed to be five mugs already stained with chocolate. "Umm… sure… So you like hot chocolate?" He said, attempting small talk. Reyna gave him a withering look.
"I believe you are smart enough to figure that out on your own, Mr. Valdez." She replied, flipping her long braid over her right shoulder before reaching for some marshmallows on her shelf.
"Did you know that hot chocolate is my favorite hot beverage, right after coffee?" Leo asked [he had a bad habit of talking a lot when he was nervous], "And you don't need to call me Mr. Valdez. That makes me sound older and richer. Although that's not really a bad thing." He stroked his chin in thought, "Possibly taller. Maybe an inch or two. What do you think?"
Reyna barely glanced in his direction and answered, "I sincerely hope that adding an inch or two to your stature won't increase your ability to irritate."
"Yeah, well, you can call me Leo." Leo said, disregarding Reyna's comment. He sat there silently praying to Hephaestus that Reyna would forgive him. He realized forlornly, a moment later, that Hephaestus had to be the worst God to ask for help in the love department. He could barely keep Aphrodite in leash. And nothing he could do would help him get closer to a daughter of Bellona—a Goddess of war. Leo sighed and sat in a gauche silence.
Reyna finished making the hot chocolate and put about twenty marshmallows in her own hot chocolate, giving Leo only two. She put the mug in front of the son of Vulcan. She stood where she was, on the other side of the counter and delicately took a marshmallow from her hot chocolate and ate it. Leo took a sip and peered at Reyna's overflowing marshmallows, almost accusingly, but didn't say anything.
"I hate coffee." Reyna stated, "It's bitter."
Leo resisted the urge to say, "Yeah, that's not the only thing that's bitter." But mentally slapped himself. How could he be so attracted to someone, yet hate her so much at the same time? Instead, he said with all the cheer he could muster, "Well, I guess we are all entitled to our opinions. For example, I think that you should forgive me and take my gift."
"What's the gift?" Reyna asked, unable to keep her ADHD at bay.
"You have to forgive me first." Leo replied cheekily. Reyna glared at him, and Leo stared back, a smirk evident on his face.
After who-knows-how-long, Reyna sighed and averted her eyes. "Fine, I forgive you."
"I could've gone all day without blinking." Leo confided before bringing out the gift that sat on the counter next to him.
Reyna regarded the gift. It was a small metal box with intricate carvings on the outside and writing in Greek. She couldn't read the Greek writing and reminded herself to learn the language as soon as she could. Not so she could read the box, she told herself, but for her duties as Praetor.
"You can open it." Leo piped in. Reyna gingerly picked up the box and turned it around in her palm before opening it. When she did, Reyna's face turned red.
"Valdez! What is this?" Reyna sputtered, looking at the ring in the box.
"Oh, no, don't get the wrong idea." Leo clarified, "I propose only after I have been chasing a girl for a month. I just put the gift in the shape of a ring." Seeing that Reyna was not appeased, he took the ring from her. It was made of celestial bronze, a thin band with a round mount on top. In the middle was a pearl and around it were engravings, not unlike that on the box.
"When you turn the ring clockwise, it turns into a sword. When you turn it counter clockwise, it turns into a torch, like your mom had." Leo showed her. Reyna tested the ring and found that it worked exactly as Leo said, and the fact that he had done his research on Bellona pleased her.
"I owe you an apology, this is a wonderful gift." She stared with wonder at the ring and slipped it onto her finger. Leo smiled as she looked appreciatively at her hand.
"Oh, and there's another thing. If you press the pearl on top, it serves as a dog whistle. So Aurum and Argentum will find you no matter where you are." Leo pressed it and her mechanical dogs came running into the kitchen. Immediately they pulled Leo off of his stool by his shirt, and he fell to the floor with a loud thunk. Reyna's eyes widened and she ran to the other side of the counter to see her dogs engulfing Leo Valdez in oily licks, with him giggling hysterically underneath.
"Huh. That's… handy." Reyna said, looking back at the ring. "Thank you Mr. Valdez."
"No problem Praetor." Leo said between laughs.