ONE|Leo Valdez
Leo couldn’t wait to meet this Percy. It was like the only thing that Annabeth talked about—and Annabeth was usually pretty serious. But now, she was shivering as if it were freezing in Argo II. And of course, it wasn’t. There wasn’t any air conditioning, and it was mid-summer.
Annabeth must’ve been pretty frantic, because then she stood up, and started pacing back and forth, talking to herself. “Will he still like me? What if he already has a girlfriend? What if I’m no longer his type? What if—?”
Leo cleared his throat on the intercom. “This is your captain speaking. Umm…we are about to land.”
Piper appeared beside Leo. She had a worried look on her face; it looked a lot like Annabeth’s. Then Leo remembered: Jason also had a girlfriend. He had one at Camp Half-Blood; one at Camp Jupiter—at least that’s what Jason had told him.
“Uhh…captain?” Leo flinched at the way Piper had said ‘captain’, as if it was hard for her to say. Nobody seemed to respect Leo around here, Leo realized. But soon, that would all change.
“What?”
Piper said, “There’s a big crowd down there.”
“So…?” Leo replied. “They must be my adoring fans.”
Piper sighed. “So?” she repeated. “How are we going to land?”
Leo shook his head. “Piper, Piper, Piper. Valdez is always prepared.” Leo made it sound as if he were talking to a little kid.
He pressed a red button near the steering wheel and a long, loud blaring horn went off, like the one used on cars. Instantly, the crowd cleared away. But it was still not enough.
Leo honked the horn again.
This time the crowd made a bigger space. Obviously, nobody liked getting squished by a million-pound warship. The Argo II came crashing down. It wasn’t a good landing, Leo admitted, but it was okay.
Leo bent over and pulled back a lever. A rectangle fell back from the wall, landing on the grass lightly, and the Piper, Jason, Annabeth, and Leo walked out of the warship.
“Uhh…maybe we should’ve landed in the lake over there,” Jason pointed out. That was the time he had spoken in a while. Leo couldn’t blame him. Losing your memory, falling in love with a girl, and finding out that you already had a girlfriend wasn’t exactly a good train of events.
Leo ignored him. He brought out his hands, and said, “Greetings, my fellow Romans!”
They all looked at him like he was a maniac.
Then the crowd divided into two parts like a wave, leaving a trail for two people to walk through. One of them was a girl; the other, a boy. The girl was a few inches taller than the boy. She had dark brown hair and steely brown eyes that seemed to scan for a person’s weaknesses.
The boy had longish black hair that fell over his forehead. He had bright green eyes that really stood out. Unlike the girl, he was smiling. But the smile looked like it was strained. He must’ve been nervous.
In fact, everyone seemed nervous.
Some people were in full Roman armour, ready to fight if necessary. Leo involuntarily retreated back. He hadn’t come a thousand miles just to fight. But these guys didn’t seem to know that.
“Percy?”
Annabeth walked from behind them. She looked sort of sick, and her moves were wobbly.
Percy’s green eyes widened. He slowly walked toward Annabeth, his movements just as sluggish as Annabeth’s.
Leo couldn’t help but smile. So this was Percy. No wonder Annabeth liked him; he seemed like a cool guy.
Then the girl walked forward. Leo almost wet his pants. Was she looking at him? Then Leo noticed that the girl was looking past him. Leo turned, facing Jason. Jason tried to keep a straight face. He kept looking from Piper to the girl. So this must’ve been his girlfriend.
Scratch off the steely eyes and stern looks, and the girl looked actually sort of cute.
Leo got out of their way. He didn’t want to get into any of the drama.
Then the next thing he saw almost made his eyes pop out of their sockets. The girl ran straight toward Jason—or maybe like flew at him—and they got in a tight embrace. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she kept mumbling Jason’s name.
But Leo felt sorry for Piper. She just stood back in an awkward position. Imagine Leo in that position: He would’ve rather drowned in the lake than is Piper right now.
He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. Piper looked like she was about to cry. What would Leo do? What should Leo do? He didn’t really have any experience in these types of situations.
Percy and Annabeth were walking away together, hand-in-hand. “I have to show you around,” Percy said.
Reyna grabbed Jason’s hand. For once, she was smiling. “Jace, I have to show all that happened when you were gone.” They walked off as well.
Now all that was left was Leo and Piper.
Leo scanned across the crowd. He spotted a lot of pretty girls, but one just stood out. When their eyes met, the girl quickly looked down, her black hair falling over her face. Her hair was so dark that it shone like a crystal in the sun. (And that was actually true.)
Beside the girl stood a buff Asian kid with a military buzz cut and a chubby face like a baby’s. He looked down at the girl with concern.
“Am I really that charming?” Leo asked Piper.
She didn’t respond.
Leo looked for the girl again, but she was gone. Yep, Leo has done it again. I’m like the Mexican Cupid.
“Uh-hum,” went a gruffly, old voice.
Leo turned. A centaur stood before him. He had a bushy brown beard and the lower body of a horse—a horse that wore heavy cologne. He may have looked middle-aged, but his eyes showed more. They were intelligent, wise—ancient. Leo had almost forgotten that Chiron had come along with them.
“Hey! It’s a centaur!” someone yelled.
“CENTAUR!?”
“W-where?”
Everyone grabbed hold of their weapons—spears, clubs, maces, swords. Leo didn’t know what was happening. But he knew one thing: they were surrounded.
Leo lifted his hands in surrender; Piper followed suit. “People of Rome, I come in peace.”
“We know that!” said a tall, buff guy. He had curly black hair and his lips were a shade of dark red. In his hand he held a gold cup filled with red liquid—Kool-Aid? “But what about the centaur?”
He took another gulp of Kool-Aid. “Now that’s good stuff.”
Leo gave Chiron an uneasy look. Surprisingly, Chiron looked calm. It was hard for Leo not to be scared when an legion of armed Roman soldiers were surrounding him—even though it was the centaur they were after.
Leo tried to play it cool. “Guys, we all know that centaurs are good. Right?”
“Wrong!”
Leo looked toward the direction of the voice. Out from amongst the crowd walked a tall, slim blonde dude with hazy blue eyes. He looked strict enough and of high honor, but the teddy bear that he was carrying messed up that image.
“Wrong,” the dude said. He spoke in a way that irritated Leo; he reminded Leo of those people who thought they were always right, even when they knew they were wrong. “These graecus come to our camp as spies. I bet that Perseus Jackson fellow must’ve sent them.”
Then the dude turned to face his brethren. He said in a loud booming voice, “We Romans know full well that centaurs are dangerous creatures. They destroy heroes like us.”
Leo walked between him and the crowd. “No. You Romans got it all wrong. Centaurs are the good guys. They train heroes.”
“Lies!” the dude spat. “These Greeks have come here to bring down our power and dominance. Maybe they have even more monsters on board. Maybe—”
“I agree with Octavian!” spoke a calm but timid voice.
The crowd gasped. Leo wasn’t surprised. This Octavian dude seemed like a Know-It-All. Who would agree with him?
Then the boy walked forth. He was short but well-built. Were all the Romans buff? Leo thought. He couldn’t wait to meet a fat Roman for a change. The boy wore a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and a purple knit hat that made his straight blond hair to cover his eyebrows. The boy looked to the ground when he talked and hardly—maybe like never—made any eye contact.
“I-I think that Octavian is right,” the boy muttered again. His voice was sort of high-pitched and he seemed no older than fourteen.
Octavian looked throughout the crowd as more gasps were heard. He smiled a broad smile, and said, “Thank you, Alexander. At least, someone finally acknowledges my intellectuality.”
Stifled laughter spread throughout the audience when somebody said, “What intellectuality?”
Octavian’s face turned from pale white to tomato red. “Who said that?!” he roared.
Everybody started whistling innocently; their eyes darted everywhere except in Octavian’s direction. Then someone finally walked forward. He looked a lot like Alexander, except older, taller, more lean, and confident. Probably they were brothers.
“My brother Zander,” the boy began, “has the right to speak just like anyone of us.” Zander looked up at his older brother shyly. Leo saw something in the boy’s eyes—respect. “And by the way, Octavian, my brother’s name is Zander.”
Octavian rolled his eyes. “Alexander, Zander. Same difference. Quincy, get on to the point.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Quincy said. One side of Zander’s lips tilted upward in a crooked smile. The entire crowd burst out laughing. Octavian’s ears burned red. Leo noticed veins sprouting around his eyes. He knew that Octavian wasn’t someone to be messed with. “Anyway…my point is: Kill the centaur!”
A mighty roar was heard from the entire crowd, like crashing down of a tidal wave. The Romans thrust their weapons into the air, and shouted, “’Kill the centaur! Kill the centaur!’”
Then the sound like the buzzing of insects became very audible. Leo looked up and noticed that the sky was dotted with hundreds of deadly arrows. They sailed down at such accuracy that Leo thought—for just a second—that the arrows were headed for him. Then he remembered Chiron. Sure, many of the arrows might miss their mark, but there were still hundreds of other ones that might hit at something.
Leo prepared himself for a mega fireball. He could just feel the heat rising inside his organs, his cells. His arms went ablaze and the crowd gasped once more. Leo blasted some of the arrows, but more kept coming. It was useless, he realized. Even if he tried Chiron still wouldn’t make it.
Then the weirdest thing happened.
Jason appeared. He swung his arm in an arc and the wind followed suit. It created a protective shield, deflecting all the arrows.
“Huh?” was all Octavian could say as Percy tackled him to the floor. Percy brought up his fist—but Annabeth stopped him.
“Don’t!” she said. “It’s useless.”
Annabeth, grabbing a hold of Percy’s arm, pulled him away slowly. Percy smashed his fists, and pointed at Octavian, as if saying I’ve got my eyes on you.
Octavian, still a little dazed, got up and did an act of dusting himself off. “Well, that was entertaining.”
There was an awkward silence.
Leo almost burst into Human Torch mode, when Chiron placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll take it from here.” He was now in a wheelchair, Leo noticed, and wheeled himself to the front of the crowd.
“Hey, what happened to the centaur?” a purple ghost shouted.
Another purple ghost slugged him on the arm. “The centaur’s still there. He just…shape shifted.”
This new looks made Chiron look twenty years older. His hair, eyes, face—they all were the same—but it was the wheelchair that changed it all.
There were a dozen archers spotted around the hills, Leo realized. They must’ve been the ones who had shot the arrows. Then the crowd split into two again and Reyna walked through. She didn’t look too happy. Actually, she never seemed to look happy.
“Lupa wants to have a word with you,” Reyna said. “Follow me.”
Leo looked toward Chiron, but he nodded. Piper still looked sick, but she followed the rest of them out through the camp. Everybody’s eyes were on them as they walked through the crowd. Leo always wanted to be the center of attention, but never in this way.
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Leo couldn’t wait to meet this Percy. It was like the only thing that Annabeth talked about—and Annabeth was usually pretty serious. But now, she was shivering as if it were freezing in Argo II. And of course, it wasn’t. There wasn’t any air conditioning, and it was mid-summer.
Annabeth must’ve been pretty frantic, because then she stood up, and started pacing back and forth, talking to herself. “Will he still like me? What if he already has a girlfriend? What if I’m no longer his type? What if—?”
Leo cleared his throat on the intercom. “This is your captain speaking. Umm…we are about to land.”
Piper appeared beside Leo. She had a worried look on her face; it looked a lot like Annabeth’s. Then Leo remembered: Jason also had a girlfriend. He had one at Camp Half-Blood; one at Camp Jupiter—at least that’s what Jason had told him.
“Uhh…captain?” Leo flinched at the way Piper had said ‘captain’, as if it was hard for her to say. Nobody seemed to respect Leo around here, Leo realized. But soon, that would all change.
“What?”
Piper said, “There’s a big crowd down there.”
“So…?” Leo replied. “They must be my adoring fans.”
Piper sighed. “So?” she repeated. “How are we going to land?”
Leo shook his head. “Piper, Piper, Piper. Valdez is always prepared.” Leo made it sound as if he were talking to a little kid.
He pressed a red button near the steering wheel and a long, loud blaring horn went off, like the one used on cars. Instantly, the crowd cleared away. But it was still not enough.
Leo honked the horn again.
This time the crowd made a bigger space. Obviously, nobody liked getting squished by a million-pound warship. The Argo II came crashing down. It wasn’t a good landing, Leo admitted, but it was okay.
Leo bent over and pulled back a lever. A rectangle fell back from the wall, landing on the grass lightly, and the Piper, Jason, Annabeth, and Leo walked out of the warship.
“Uhh…maybe we should’ve landed in the lake over there,” Jason pointed out. That was the time he had spoken in a while. Leo couldn’t blame him. Losing your memory, falling in love with a girl, and finding out that you already had a girlfriend wasn’t exactly a good train of events.
Leo ignored him. He brought out his hands, and said, “Greetings, my fellow Romans!”
They all looked at him like he was a maniac.
Then the crowd divided into two parts like a wave, leaving a trail for two people to walk through. One of them was a girl; the other, a boy. The girl was a few inches taller than the boy. She had dark brown hair and steely brown eyes that seemed to scan for a person’s weaknesses.
The boy had longish black hair that fell over his forehead. He had bright green eyes that really stood out. Unlike the girl, he was smiling. But the smile looked like it was strained. He must’ve been nervous.
In fact, everyone seemed nervous.
Some people were in full Roman armour, ready to fight if necessary. Leo involuntarily retreated back. He hadn’t come a thousand miles just to fight. But these guys didn’t seem to know that.
“Percy?”
Annabeth walked from behind them. She looked sort of sick, and her moves were wobbly.
Percy’s green eyes widened. He slowly walked toward Annabeth, his movements just as sluggish as Annabeth’s.
Leo couldn’t help but smile. So this was Percy. No wonder Annabeth liked him; he seemed like a cool guy.
Then the girl walked forward. Leo almost wet his pants. Was she looking at him? Then Leo noticed that the girl was looking past him. Leo turned, facing Jason. Jason tried to keep a straight face. He kept looking from Piper to the girl. So this must’ve been his girlfriend.
Scratch off the steely eyes and stern looks, and the girl looked actually sort of cute.
Leo got out of their way. He didn’t want to get into any of the drama.
Then the next thing he saw almost made his eyes pop out of their sockets. The girl ran straight toward Jason—or maybe like flew at him—and they got in a tight embrace. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she kept mumbling Jason’s name.
But Leo felt sorry for Piper. She just stood back in an awkward position. Imagine Leo in that position: He would’ve rather drowned in the lake than is Piper right now.
He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. Piper looked like she was about to cry. What would Leo do? What should Leo do? He didn’t really have any experience in these types of situations.
Percy and Annabeth were walking away together, hand-in-hand. “I have to show you around,” Percy said.
Reyna grabbed Jason’s hand. For once, she was smiling. “Jace, I have to show all that happened when you were gone.” They walked off as well.
Now all that was left was Leo and Piper.
Leo scanned across the crowd. He spotted a lot of pretty girls, but one just stood out. When their eyes met, the girl quickly looked down, her black hair falling over her face. Her hair was so dark that it shone like a crystal in the sun. (And that was actually true.)
Beside the girl stood a buff Asian kid with a military buzz cut and a chubby face like a baby’s. He looked down at the girl with concern.
“Am I really that charming?” Leo asked Piper.
She didn’t respond.
Leo looked for the girl again, but she was gone. Yep, Leo has done it again. I’m like the Mexican Cupid.
“Uh-hum,” went a gruffly, old voice.
Leo turned. A centaur stood before him. He had a bushy brown beard and the lower body of a horse—a horse that wore heavy cologne. He may have looked middle-aged, but his eyes showed more. They were intelligent, wise—ancient. Leo had almost forgotten that Chiron had come along with them.
“Hey! It’s a centaur!” someone yelled.
“CENTAUR!?”
“W-where?”
Everyone grabbed hold of their weapons—spears, clubs, maces, swords. Leo didn’t know what was happening. But he knew one thing: they were surrounded.
Leo lifted his hands in surrender; Piper followed suit. “People of Rome, I come in peace.”
“We know that!” said a tall, buff guy. He had curly black hair and his lips were a shade of dark red. In his hand he held a gold cup filled with red liquid—Kool-Aid? “But what about the centaur?”
He took another gulp of Kool-Aid. “Now that’s good stuff.”
Leo gave Chiron an uneasy look. Surprisingly, Chiron looked calm. It was hard for Leo not to be scared when an legion of armed Roman soldiers were surrounding him—even though it was the centaur they were after.
Leo tried to play it cool. “Guys, we all know that centaurs are good. Right?”
“Wrong!”
Leo looked toward the direction of the voice. Out from amongst the crowd walked a tall, slim blonde dude with hazy blue eyes. He looked strict enough and of high honor, but the teddy bear that he was carrying messed up that image.
“Wrong,” the dude said. He spoke in a way that irritated Leo; he reminded Leo of those people who thought they were always right, even when they knew they were wrong. “These graecus come to our camp as spies. I bet that Perseus Jackson fellow must’ve sent them.”
Then the dude turned to face his brethren. He said in a loud booming voice, “We Romans know full well that centaurs are dangerous creatures. They destroy heroes like us.”
Leo walked between him and the crowd. “No. You Romans got it all wrong. Centaurs are the good guys. They train heroes.”
“Lies!” the dude spat. “These Greeks have come here to bring down our power and dominance. Maybe they have even more monsters on board. Maybe—”
“I agree with Octavian!” spoke a calm but timid voice.
The crowd gasped. Leo wasn’t surprised. This Octavian dude seemed like a Know-It-All. Who would agree with him?
Then the boy walked forth. He was short but well-built. Were all the Romans buff? Leo thought. He couldn’t wait to meet a fat Roman for a change. The boy wore a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and a purple knit hat that made his straight blond hair to cover his eyebrows. The boy looked to the ground when he talked and hardly—maybe like never—made any eye contact.
“I-I think that Octavian is right,” the boy muttered again. His voice was sort of high-pitched and he seemed no older than fourteen.
Octavian looked throughout the crowd as more gasps were heard. He smiled a broad smile, and said, “Thank you, Alexander. At least, someone finally acknowledges my intellectuality.”
Stifled laughter spread throughout the audience when somebody said, “What intellectuality?”
Octavian’s face turned from pale white to tomato red. “Who said that?!” he roared.
Everybody started whistling innocently; their eyes darted everywhere except in Octavian’s direction. Then someone finally walked forward. He looked a lot like Alexander, except older, taller, more lean, and confident. Probably they were brothers.
“My brother Zander,” the boy began, “has the right to speak just like anyone of us.” Zander looked up at his older brother shyly. Leo saw something in the boy’s eyes—respect. “And by the way, Octavian, my brother’s name is Zander.”
Octavian rolled his eyes. “Alexander, Zander. Same difference. Quincy, get on to the point.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Quincy said. One side of Zander’s lips tilted upward in a crooked smile. The entire crowd burst out laughing. Octavian’s ears burned red. Leo noticed veins sprouting around his eyes. He knew that Octavian wasn’t someone to be messed with. “Anyway…my point is: Kill the centaur!”
A mighty roar was heard from the entire crowd, like crashing down of a tidal wave. The Romans thrust their weapons into the air, and shouted, “’Kill the centaur! Kill the centaur!’”
Then the sound like the buzzing of insects became very audible. Leo looked up and noticed that the sky was dotted with hundreds of deadly arrows. They sailed down at such accuracy that Leo thought—for just a second—that the arrows were headed for him. Then he remembered Chiron. Sure, many of the arrows might miss their mark, but there were still hundreds of other ones that might hit at something.
Leo prepared himself for a mega fireball. He could just feel the heat rising inside his organs, his cells. His arms went ablaze and the crowd gasped once more. Leo blasted some of the arrows, but more kept coming. It was useless, he realized. Even if he tried Chiron still wouldn’t make it.
Then the weirdest thing happened.
Jason appeared. He swung his arm in an arc and the wind followed suit. It created a protective shield, deflecting all the arrows.
“Huh?” was all Octavian could say as Percy tackled him to the floor. Percy brought up his fist—but Annabeth stopped him.
“Don’t!” she said. “It’s useless.”
Annabeth, grabbing a hold of Percy’s arm, pulled him away slowly. Percy smashed his fists, and pointed at Octavian, as if saying I’ve got my eyes on you.
Octavian, still a little dazed, got up and did an act of dusting himself off. “Well, that was entertaining.”
There was an awkward silence.
Leo almost burst into Human Torch mode, when Chiron placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll take it from here.” He was now in a wheelchair, Leo noticed, and wheeled himself to the front of the crowd.
“Hey, what happened to the centaur?” a purple ghost shouted.
Another purple ghost slugged him on the arm. “The centaur’s still there. He just…shape shifted.”
This new looks made Chiron look twenty years older. His hair, eyes, face—they all were the same—but it was the wheelchair that changed it all.
There were a dozen archers spotted around the hills, Leo realized. They must’ve been the ones who had shot the arrows. Then the crowd split into two again and Reyna walked through. She didn’t look too happy. Actually, she never seemed to look happy.
“Lupa wants to have a word with you,” Reyna said. “Follow me.”
Leo looked toward Chiron, but he nodded. Piper still looked sick, but she followed the rest of them out through the camp. Everybody’s eyes were on them as they walked through the crowd. Leo always wanted to be the center of attention, but never in this way.
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last edited over a year ago