Daughter of Olympus - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

Thanks for Checking In! I'm Still a Piece of Garbage

"Yeah," Ara admits. "But don't dwell on it too much, it's nothing special."

***

"Chiron said you thought I might be something special."

I open my mouth to speak, but Grover shuts me up. I look at him in annoyance, being the guardian of a demigod as powerful as Percy is a great opportunity for a satyr like him! Why doesn't he want Percy to know? 

"Listen, don't think like that," he replies. "If you were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my licence. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"

Percy nudges my leg once Grover leaves. "You were about to say something."

I don't want him to get angry... but also, children of the big three never get happy endings. Percy's destined to fight for his life until he yields. That sucks. I won't be the one to break it to him.

"I had a satyr," I say quietly. "And I'm nothing special. Don't worry."

***

"That old lady..." the boy tenses. "What's she doing here?"

Ara freezes, her voice comes out frightened. "You see her too?"

Leo notices her reaction and gets even more nervous. "She's not supposed to be here... right?"

"Listen... you see something like that, you walk away. Nothing good comes from old ladies," Ara pushes him forward by the shoulder.

Leo pulls out pipe cleaners from the pocket of his army jacket and starts playing with them. "Do you know who that was, though?"

"No," she wraps Nico's jacket tighter around herself, the camp doesn't let winter in, but she's feeling a chill. "Let's go to your cabin."

"Alright," he tries to keep up the lively tone in his voice. "I'm in the mood for a good curse." 

The last time she saw weird things at camp, was during Percy's first arrival. Ara keeps throwing nervous glances at Leo, she can't shake the feeling that he's got something to do with it.

He whistles lowly as cabin nine comes into view. "They got a steampunk theme going on, huh?"

Ara looks at her old cabin wistfully. "Yours is one of my favorites, but you didn't hear it from me."

Leo's eyes brighten a little as he continues to look, then he shakes his head, and his expression hardens for a moment. Ara considers checking on him, but if a person doesn't want to talk about their feelings, she should respect that.

***

The rest of the campers avoid Percy after he gets claimed, I approach him and greet him like always, but he glares at me. "You're still talking to me?"

I stop halfway, and my smile falters. "I'll stop if you want."

Percy stops. "I didn't mean... everyone's acting like a jerk."

"Yes. It's not good..." My eyes widen a little as I reply. "Annabeth thinks her quest has to do with you."

"Yeah, I heard," he sizes me up. "Hey... wanna train with me?"

"Aren't you training with Luke?"

"I could use a five-minute break in between. Only if you want though, I know you don't like swords."