Holy Hera! What just happened?
First, I got to flip Leo onto his back and into the dirt, which I’m sure angered Bianca. Second, I got to go to the Armory to get a FREE weapon. Sure, none of them felt right - they were either too heavy or unbalanced or the blade was bent at a weird angle that made it feel awkward. But hey, they were free. The best thing, though had to be when Bianca flipped out at Clarisse. Then, she burst into black flames from her hands. Like, what the Hades?
Once she calmed down a bit, her flames died down. Leo and I ran up to the Big House with Bianca in tow. When we got to Chiron, we were out of breath, causing Leo to tell everything in pieces.
“Bianca … necklace … mad … hand … black fire! So cool!” The poetic stylings of Leo, everyone.
That was all Leo said. I nodded in agreement before laughing at Leo’s ‘so cool’ statement. Chiron looked at Bianca puzzled, but then he said, “Bianca come with me. Mr. Valdez and Miss Martin back to your lessons.” Oh come on. I want to go too.
Leo and I watched from the wraparound porch on the Big House as Chiron walked Bianca towards the Pegasus stables. We were silent for a while; the only sounds to be heard were satyrs played their songs in the strawberry fields and swords clashing in the arena. After what seemed like ten minutes, I turned towards Leo.
“Do you think she could be a daughter of Hephaestus?” I asked him.
The reaction I received was priceless. Leo’s face turned a deep shade of scarlet red, his hands balled into fist and burst into blistering hot flames. He growled, “She better not be!” at the sky. Awe, someone has it bad.
“Chill, dude,” I said with a laugh. “What, do you like, have a crush on her?” I added teasingly, even though I already knew the answer.
“Umm… ahh… nah… wah… uhh… is it that obvious?”He asked after hesitating for a while. Duh!
Leo’s response was the funniest thing since his encounter with the snow princess in Quebec. I was hysterically dying of laughter.
I so ship him and Bianca. Leonca? Maybe. It’s not that bad. Biaeo? Nope! I’ll just come up with their ship name later. And then comes the fanfiction. Then their kid’s names, muy hahahahaha.
“Yes, but lucky for you, Bianca couldn’t be any more oblivious about your feelings for her.” I said reinsuring Leo with a smile.
“You’re – you’re not going to tell her, right?” He asked me cowering shyly. Oh come on. I’m not that mean.
“That depends …” I looked at him. Leo was petrified.
“I’M KIDDING!” I told him with a laugh. Geez, where’s the trust, buddy. “Besides, I’m going to make you tell her. And soon.”
Before he could respond, the conch shell sound for the umpteenth time today, signaling free time. Leo and I headed towards the canoe lake. Instead of sitting down on the dock, we plopped our self under a nearby tree.
The sight of the dock reminded me of the other night, when I bumped into Nico. He was on my mind a lot lately. I couldn’t stop thinking about his smile, how relaxed he seemed when it was just the two of us, the way he held me- NO JO! STOP IT! You can’t let anyone get close to you. You need to stop thinking like this.
Leo snapped me out of my dangerous thoughts when he began spitballing ideas on who Bianca’s godly parent could be.
“Well, she can heal and shoot an arrow as good as any Apollo camper,” Leo stated.
“Plus she’s a really good singer.” I added.
“She is?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but don’t tell her I told you. She would just have another reason to kill me then.”
“Don’t worry if you don’t tell her I like her than I won’t tell her you told me that she can sing,” Leo said, then added, “Okay, so a definite possibility is Apollo.”
“Yeah, he’s a high possibility because she has three traits from him, minus the identical look of blonde, sunkissed hair all his children have.”
Leo choked back a laugh, "Yeah, she looks the complete opposite."
"True, her raven black hair is as far from blonde that you can get."
“Next possibility,” Leo stated with a laugh.
“Athena.” I said. “She was able to strategize a way up the lava wall without getting severely burnt, and it was on her first try.”
He nodded, “Yeah, she was clearly able to avoid death, unlike you.”
“If you keep talking then I'm going to throw you off a building, and I don’t think yelling 'Flame On' will save you.”
“Well, it worked for Human Torch in Fantastic Four… Anyway, anything else for Athena?"
"She loves to read and is extremely smart, but I'm the same way, with the reading at least, and I'm not an Athena camper. So that trait could really belong to anyone."
"Ugh! Any others you can think of?”
“Hephaestus.” I suggested for a second time.. This was the first time I could ever remember being sorry for making someone angry.
Before I opened my fat mouth, Leo had been lying down next to the tree. Now he was sitting up straight, giving me a look of pure hatred for having even suggested this.
Leo’s face became flushed, red blotches were forming every. He looked like he had developed a rash. The veins in his neck were throbbing. His fist were clenched so tight that his knuckles turned a ghostly white.
Hoping to calm him down I added, “Don’t blaze up again, you’ll set the tree on fire. Anyway, it is a possibility. Do any of the other gods have fire powers?”
He huffed and slammed back into the tree, clearly stilled pissed. “Okay, okay. Possibly Hephaestus. Others?”
“Hmm…” I hummed, thinking out loud.
“Hades?” He said with clenched jaw. I get that he can’t get over the fact that I suggested Bianca being a daughter of Hephaestus. I didn’t like it anymore than he did. I’m rooting for Team Leonca. I just wish he would try. Besides, I knew we were both thinking it.
“Hades? Why Hades?” I asked Leo in puzzlement.
He shrugged, calming down a little bit. “I’m only saying Hades because she has his dark hair. Plus the fact that in the shadows of the trees on the way to the cabin, she looks like Nico slightly.”
“Already walking her home from a date?” I teased. Okay, so maybe that was not the smartest idea seeing how I nearly made him an atomic bomb of anger before, but I just wanted to try and lighten the mood.
He sent a glare my way causing me to laugh. “It wasn’t a date! Can we get back to figuring out who her godly parent is?” He tried to hide it, but I was able to see a smile playing on his lips.
“Okay, okay, possibility, Hades because of looks. I guess also because of her black clothing style, too. It makes her look like Nico. And maybe the flames apply here instead of with Hephaestus.”
“How so?” he asked clearly hope for this to be true.
“Well, for one thing, her flames are black. Black is the color of death.”
“Yeah, go on.” He said with a nod of his head.
I laughed a little at how much he was hoping to be right about Hades. “Okay, um. There is her skull and cross bone necklace.”
“Oh yeah. I nearly forgot about that.” I was going to ask, How could you forget something like that? when I remembered how clouded my thoughts got when I’m angry and I’m trying to think.
“But that could just be because of her style, or maybe her mortal parent was goth,” I said.
“Hmm… Any other gods or goddesses you can think of for Bianca?” he asked.
“Aphrodite?” I suggested.
“Maybe. I mean she is-”
“Hot?” I finished for him.
“No. I was going to say beautiful. And she is very sassy,” Leo corrected me.
“Yeah, but so are you,” I reminded him.
Before either of us could say anything else, the conch shell sounded again signaling dinner. He stood up and extended his hand to me. I took it and he helped me up off the ground. Hopefully that means I am forgiven for my suggestion.
I dusted my pants off before we headed up to the dining pavilion. When we got there, we headed off towards our separate tables without saying a word.
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Author's Note:
Hey loyal readers,
So, we are going to try and post a new chapter every week, so keep it here. We also want to let you know that there is going to be about six books in this series. There might also be a small sequel revolving around their kids (hint, hint). If you feel like it is getting boring here in Book 1, just stick around, the others books are a lot, A LOT, more interesting. We know we are dragging out who Bianca's godly parent is but it's the main part of book 1, and its kind of setting up the plot line of the series.
Signed the poetic stylings of Jo!