Fire and Wisdom [Leo Valdez]

VII - Caroline

"Caroline, do have any idea what you've just done?" Annabeth scolded as everyone got inside Cabin Six. "I don't know! I just... didn't want Leo to go alone!" Caroline defended "Since when do you care about Leo?" Annabeth asked, crossing her arms. "I-I love him," Caroline admitted, looking her new half-sister in the eye as Annabeth frowned. "You've just met him today!" She yelled, and Malcolm was the first to intervene. "Just give Leo a chance, Annabeth. I gave Percy a chance when you two first started dating." The rest of the cabin either shrugged or nodded in agreement. Annabeth huffed, "No! That's different, Malcolm! You know Leo's not on my list of 'the best people in the world'!" Malcolm looked at his half-sister, "I know, Annabeth. I'm not his biggest fan, either. But could you give him a chance with Caroline?" Annabeth began to think for a second. Before she could say anything, Caroline ran outside the cabin, "Caroline!" Annabeth yelled, but Caroline kept running towards the woods, crying. Even though she's just been at Camp Half Blood for only a day, she liked Annabeth—and she was upset that her new sibling didn't except her choices in romance. She reminded Caroline of her father. "Caroline, come back before the Harpies get you!" She heard Annabeth warn, but Caroline ignored her. Harpies? You've gotta be kidding, she thought as she went deep in the woods, where she saw a boy standing in front of some type of door made of rock that was closing from a fireball. She immediately knew it was Leo. "Leo?" She asked, and he turned around, "Caroline!" he grinned and gave her a bear hug. After they pulled away, the two of them heard a voice that reminded Caroline of a female version of Gollum from Lord of the Rings. "Demigods out of bed! Fresh meat for hungry Harpies!" And they looked up at the trees, where three strange creatures with feathered bird-like arms looked down on them. "Run, Caroline!" Leo instructed, opening his palm and creating a ball of fire, surprising Caroline for a second. The creature soared down on Leo, ready to kill him, but it was smacked in the face with a large stick by Caroline. "Kill the demigods!" The other two creatures bellowed, and Caroline was ready to smack a crazy bird-hybrid in the face with her stick. She gripped her makeshift weapon like a baseball bat and stood her ground—and as the creature lunged for them, Caroline whacked it in the face, taking it off guard. Leo threw a fireball at the third one—but it didn't work. It was fireproof, just like him. The first one who was about to attack Leo got up, ready to fight again; but after Caroline tried to whack it again, the stick she was holding broke. Great, she thought, but then remembered her pocket knife she always kept with her in case something were to happen to her, and she took it out and opened it, revealing a gold-colored blade that seemed to be glowing faintly. Before she even knew what she was doing, Caroline threw it at the creature, and it got impaled in the arm as it screamed in pain. Its siblings prepared to attack once more, but Leo created a ring of fire around Caroline and himself. "I don't care if you're fireproof!" He yelled, "You—will not—hurt—my—girlfriend!" The creatures flew away in fear, causing Leo to grin, "Woo!" He yelled, extinguishing the ring he created with a snap of his fingers. Caroline smiled and hugged him as Leo spin her around as the two of them laughed, happy that they survived.

Walking back to their cabins, hand-in-hand, Caroline asked, "Leo, what was that rock-door-thing that was closing when I ran into you?" Leo gripped her hand lightly. "Look, don't tell any of the other campers, but," He sighed, "It's called Bunker 9. My cabin mates told me that it was used during this battle against the Roman half-bloods of Camp Jupiter that was called the 'Demigod Civil War' during the 1860's or something. It hasn't been used in years. That is, until I came across it two years ago." Leo explained, and Caroline got an idea, "Can you show it to me tomorrow?" she asked, causing Leo to beam. "Of course we can!" He sounded like a little kid, but Caroline laughed "Good. I love you, petit ami." She had no idea where the French thing came from, but she didn't care. But what surprised her the most, was that she kissed Leo gently on the lips. Leo kissed back, but she pulled away with a blush, "See you tomorrow, Leo!" She said, running back into Cabin Six before anyone else saw her and try to kill her again.