Storm Rising

Chapter 16

Percy's POV

The scratching sound is made again. I slowly turn towards the area of rock we came in from. The scratching stops and the only sound is the occasional crackle of the fire. Frank gets up walks to where the cloaked figure is on the gray rock wall.

"Should I open it?" He asks.

I let my curiosity and rashness take over. "Yes."

Frank presses the cloak figure. Suspense is thick in the air as the rock walls slide slowly apart. As I try to peer around Frank's body, I catch a glimpse of yellow fur.

"Leon!" Ricky calls and the lion leaps towards him. The big, golden lion (Think like Aslan from Narnia if you have seen it) rubs up against Ricky with it's gold mane head.

Frank closes the door. "I think we need some answers," Frank says, turning back around.

We all gather around where Nico is laying so Ivory can hear too. The lion, apparently named Leon, curls up next to Ricky. Bianca puts out her closed fist tentatively in front of the lion's nose and looks away. Leon sniffs curiously before licking her hand. Bianca smiles.

"I guess I should start by explaining," Ricky said, scratching Leon's head. "I lived my dad until I was five. We were sitting at home one Sunday afternoon and suddenly I felt this searing pain in my back. My t-shirt was shredding. My dad took one look at my new purple wings and had a heart attack. As a little kid, I didn't know what to do. My dad died that day. I ran away because the police would be suspicious why I had wings. Later I learned to contract them into my back. I went to camp when I was six and stayed there until after the titan war. My mom, Nike, had given me a sword which I named Leon after my pet Lion."

"Why did you leave camp?" Reyna asks.

"No one understood about the wings. They always made fun of me and didn't care," Ricky says sadly.

"What about Leon?" Hazel asks.

"I got him when I was little. My dad thought he was a cat, because when I got him, he was small. I found him as a stray on the street. Only after my dad died did I realize what he really is. And my sword is also called," Ricky pulls a sword out of his jean's pocket.

"How did you do that?" I ask, flabbergasted.

"Magic," Ivory says. Everyone stares at her. "What? I can sense magic."

"Interesting," Bianca mused. "Maybe you are a daughter of Hecate."

Ivory shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe she will claim me."

"Umm guys, we have two problems," Frank said.

"What are they?" Ricky.

"One, these backpacks only have so much nutrition in the food. Two, the water in the bags won't last forever."

I smiled. "Hazel, do you think you could expand the cave a bit?"

"Sure," She says and the cave almost doubles in size.

I get up and walk over to the far wall and press my hand to it. A warm water spring begins to fall from the rock. Hazel, sensing my plan, creates a pit the size of a small room for the water to fall into. I walk over to the opposite wall, still in the back of the cave. Cold water springs through the rock as soon as I touch it. Hazel also makes a pool for the cold water. I walk back over to my friends and sit down. I chuckle at their surprised faces.

"I simply drained a little bit of snow from the tops of the mountains and a bit of water from the creek," I explain. "That one is the hot tub," I say pointing the one of the left. "That one is the cold pool."