"In Latin my name, Aurelia, basically means 'the golden one.' My mother literally named me her golden light through the storm that was her life. That is my job. To be everyone's light at the end of the tunnel. And I got stuck worrying so much about...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Aurelia was losing brain cells.
At least that's what she believed that Leo's plan was doing for her. She watched as he psyched himself up for the extreme makeover. He summoned some breath minutes and a pair of welding goggles from his tool belt. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, used some machine oil to grease his hair back and had Hazel draw a tattoo of the words: HOT STUFF, with a skull and crossbones on his biceps with a marker.
Hazel was getting really flustered. "What in the world are you thinking?"
"I try not to think," Leo admitted. "It interferes with being nuts. Now just concentrate on moving that Celestial bronze. Echo, Aurelia, you ready?"
"Ready," she said.
Aurelia massaged her temple. "I hate this plan." She gave Leo a boost of confidence before following him and Echo back towards the pond.
"Leo is the coolest!" he shouted, strutting up. "Yeah, baby, check me out!"
"Check me out!" Echo said.
"Make way for the king!"
"The king!"
"Narcissus is weak!"
"Weak!"
The crowds of nymphs scattered in surprise. Leo shooed them away as if they were bothering him. "No autographs, girls. I know you want some Leo time, but I'm way too cool. You better just hang around that ugly dweeb Narcissus. He's lame."
"Lame!" Echo with enthusiasm.
The nymphs muttered angrily.
"You're lame," said another.
Leo adjusted his goggles and smiled. He flexed his biceps (though there wasn't much to flex) to show off his HOT STUFF tattoo. He had the nymph's attention and Aurelia poured her powers of suggestion into them—trying to form some sort of attracted fascination; but Narcissus was still fixed on his own reflection.
"You know how ugly Narcissus is?" Leo asked the crowd. "He's so ugly, when he was born his mama thought he was a backward centaur—with a horse butt for a face."
Aurelia's lips twitched, almost forming a laugh. Some of the nymphs gasped. Narcissus frowned, as though he was vaguely aware of a gnat buzzing around his head.
