Learning to Trust (A Leo Valdez Love Story)

Chapter 30

LEO

    Leo hadn't felt this jumpy since he offered tofu burgers to the werewolves. 

    He had been tasked with showing Kyra around Camp-Halfblood before he was supposed to reveal Bunker 9 to his cabinmates and friends. The combination of stress from the two activities was enough to give him a seizure, so he supposed he was lucky Kyra was by his side. He was sure she'd be able to save him with some moonlight magic. 

    The girl had been quiet since revealing some of her past. Leo supposed it couldn't have been easy to tell a room full of near strangers something as deep and personal as she had. Leo certainly couldn't have done that. This was another reason he admired Kyra, thus contributing to his nerves around the girl. She was brave and strong. More strong than Leo had ever been, that's for sure. 

    She had barely eaten after their meeting with Chiron, and despite Leo's attempts at cracking some jokes, she didn't seem to be all that interested in eating the tacos on her magical plate that looked suspiciously like the ones Leo had made when the group was recuperating from being turned into gold by King Midas. 

    The group had split off after they had eaten some food, Jason and Piper walking off to talk, Will going back to the infirmary, and Annabeth making some plans for finding her missing boyfriend. Before Annabeth had left, she'd asked Leo if he could handle showing Kyra around the camp until she could give her a proper tour. 

    Of course, Leo had agreed. He found that he liked spending time around Kyra and that he wasn't sure he wanted to be a third wheel around Jason and Piper again. Plus, the girl seemed to be comfortable around him. Leo wasn't sure why: he moved around too much and could be a lot to handle, or that's at least what he's been told before. Kyra didn't seem to appreciate sudden movements and seemed to be only just adjusting to being around people again so he couldn't quite pinpoint why she seemed to be calmer around him. 

    "So, I haven't really been here the longest either, but we have some time to kill so just bear with me and I'll try not to get us too lost," he joked to the girl who gave him a soft smile back, looking nervous. "We don't have to go very far, we'll probably just have enough time to walk through some of the training areas and the cabins," he explained, trying to calm her nerves. 

    Kyra nodded, looking slightly less worried. "Okay," she responded, following him out of the Big House.  

    "That's the Big House. The infirmary and Chiron's office are in there, along with some meeting spaces and I think that's where the camp director stays when he's here." 

    Kyra's eyes were wide as she stepped off the porch of the Big House. Leo was told that there were fewer kids here than normal since the camp was most full in the summer, and a lot of the kids were able to spend some time at home if they had one. But a few campers still lingered, looking over to Kyra and Leo as they exited the Big House. 

    Leo watched quietly as Kyra observed the camp. She looked tense as she watched two campers walk past them, wringing her hands nervously. 

    He cleared his throat, "So the strawberry fields are right over there," he started, gesturing vaguely to where some children of Demeter were walking toward. "We're gonna go this way, past the forge so we can see the cabins," he explained, motioning toward the opposite direction. 

    Kyra nodded once more, following beside him slowly. She was quiet. Leo wasn't sure if this was normal quiet for her, or if everything was too much too fast. Should he try and get her to talk? Or would it be better to let her speak when she wanted to? He wasn't quite sure how to interact with the girl. She seemed comfortable enough around him, even holding his hand a few times before when she had been scared (Leo had to try really hard to stay composed when that happened. It certainly wouldn't have helped things if he had accidentally lit himself on fire while he was trying to comfort her). But she also seemed really traumatized. Leo wasn't sure how to make her feel better without triggering her obvious PTSD.