Fire and Wisdom [Leo Valdez]

VIII - Leo

The next morning after breakfast at the Mess Hall, Leo took Caroline by the hand (where he earned a couple of "ooh's" from a few Aphrodite children) and lead her into the woods where the entrance to Bunker 9 was. "Watch this," He smiled, then threw a blast of fire at a large rock, that slid open, revealing a set of stairs that seemed to head underground. "Wow," Caroline followed him down the staircase, where she saw lots of fancy gadgets that she's never seen before. She saw a sword that she knew was a gladius—a Roman sword. "What's this doing here?" Caroline asked, holding the sword in her hand "Oh, it's a new weapon I'm working on. It's supposed to be the first gladius that isn't Imperial Gold. Instead it's Celestial Bronze," Leo explained, and he seemed pretty proud of himself. "Cool. Can I use it?" Caroline asked, looking up at him with a puppy-like look in her green eyes, "Uh—yeah, sure. It's finished anyway," Caroline smiled and kissed his cheek as a thank you, then observed her new sword that was balanced perfectly. "I like it. It feels... right, I guess." Leo smiled and decided to show her a few of the inventions in the Bunker. "What're those blueprints?" Caroline asked, motioning to said blueprints that was on a table "Oh, it's just some blueprints of a ship called the Argo II," Caroline smiled, "It looks like one of those old viking ships," Leo looked at her, "That's what I was thinking when I saw it!" He picked her up and spun her around, causing her to laugh as she gripped her gladius tightly so it wouldn't fly out of her hand. Once he put her down on her feet, Leo noticed something on her wrist, "What's with the bracelet?" he asked randomly. "Oh, apparently a silver owl gave it to me before I was taken to camp by Grover after I was flown into New York," She explained, "Where did you used to live before all this happened?" "Seattle, Washington. I was always interested in the Space Needle for some reason." Caroline smiled to herself as she looked at her owl cuff absentmindedly while Leo smiled at her. She has a beautiful smile, he thought—which drove him crazy about how much he thought about her. He was like a stalker or something. "It looks nice," Leo complimented. "Thanks, Leo." Caroline smiled and saw a brown Roman sword belt that was for gladiis resting on a table. "Could you hand me that sword belt?" She asked, "Oh, sure." Leo picked up the belt and handed it to her, were she handed him her gladius so she could put the belt on—and it fit perfectly around her waist. He gave her the gladius back and watched as it easily slid into the red-brown leather sheath. "Thanks," Caroline observed her new accessory in her reflection of a shiny metal dragon head. "Why is there a dragon's head in here?" Leo paused for a second, like the question was the last thing he wanted to hear. "It was my automation dragon. His name was Festus. He got destroyed in the yard of some crazy guy named King Midas." "You mean the guy who had the golden touch?" Caroline guessed, and Leo nodded. "And, does your dragon's name mean 'happy', in Latin?" Leo shrugged, "I guess. Only my friend Jason knew that. Wait—are you sure you're not another Roman half-blood who got into a Greek camp by accident?" Caroline was now confused. "What?" Leo shook his head, "Never mind." Caroline began to scratch her inner right arm for no reason. "Are you alright?" Leo was now concerned, "Y—yeah. It's just... since I turned fourteen two months ago, my arm has been driving me nuts. Like, one moment it would be fine, and then the next it would be all itchy and stuff." Leo grabbed his girlfriend by the hand and pulled her above ground, then closed the entrance to Bunker 9 with another blast of fire, and practically dragged her to the Big House as he screamed along the way, "CHIRON!" which got the centaur's attention. "Yes, Leo?" He asked as Leo pulled Caroline onto the porch, "I think Caroline may be like Jason—a Roman half-blood!" Chiron's eyes widened and he lead the two teenagers into the large house, "Now, we must test you, Caroline." Chiron said, looking at her with seriousness.