Changing the Future

Chapter 63

Afterward, Chiron allowed for everyone to go back to their dinner, opening the floor for the four of us to be bombarded with questions. Thankfully for me, once I sat down all by my lonesome at Poseidon's table, the majority of the campers left me alone, still remembering my previous outburst.

I debated skipping dinner entirely, but I could feel Kayla glaring daggers at the back of my head, daring me to get up without eating. I was tempted to take that dare, actually, but not wanting to cause any more issues, I begrudgingly ate a slice of pizza. Then I got up and left the dining pavilion before anyone else, allowing for me to slip away mostly undetected.

Of course, I couldn't get away entirely without someone noticing, so it came as no surprise to me when I heard Leo yelling, "Andy, wait up!"

I stopped and sighed, pulling on a curl that had wormed its way out of my ponytail. I waited until Leo was next to me, his movements all carefully calibrated, like he thought I was some kind of vicious animal about to rip his face off.

"I don't bite, you know," I said with a half-hearted chuckle, resuming my path to the Big House. Leo made sure to keep up with me.

"I know," Leo said, fiddling with some wire and pipe cleaners in his hand, his orange tool belt sticking out like a sore thumb against his subdued camouflage clothing. "I've known that for a while, actually, ever since you saved me from getting arrested in that Sears."

"That was, what, seven years ago?"

Leo ticked the years off on his hand. "Yeah, that sounds about right. And that was one of the happiest days of my life, because, for the first time since my mother's death, I felt loved. You have no idea how much that meant to me."

"I know what it's like to feel like that," I said, remembering the time where I didn't have many friends and Salina had gone silent for two years, making me feel totally and utterly alone despite being constantly surrounded by the Olympians. It wasn't until Salina came back that I realized how much I craved being loved by a parental figure again.

"Andy, the point I'm trying to make is that you're the kind of person who gives that feeling of hope and love that many people desperately want," Leo explained, setting down his wires and pipe cleaners back into his tool belt. He grabbed my hands, imploring for me to look at him in the eyes.

"You make people feel loved, and if you truly cared for these friends of yours, they know that you'll do everything short of blow up the planet to get them back. But leaving now, throwing yourself into what I've heard is literally the darkest thing in all of existence won't do any of you any good." Leo's eyes nearly glowed in the otherwise darkness, a ring of fire circling his irises.

Huh, that was new.

I shook my head sadly, pulling my hands back to my side. "I can't let more people get hurt because of me, Leo. It seems that whenever I try to help, I only make things worse for those I care about."

"Hey, I feel you, hermana. It feels like we're jinxed sometimes, huh?"

"You have no idea."

Leo started to laugh. I cracked a slight smile.

"You're fifteen – I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around," I said, fiddling with my jacket's zipper.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not the one whose world is crashing down around them, at the moment. So until we switch places, I'm just the comedic relief."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, Leo. I will gladly suffer if it meant keeping my friends safe, and that includes you."

"No wonder you want in on this suicide quest, then."