Camper Chaos! (Book #4)

Chapter 7

Leo POV

Okay, this part is a little lovey dovey like Clover said, and I feel so stupid now. (Oh shut up Clover!) Ugh, let’s just move on...

I hoped this whole thing was a joke. If evil had a hand in this, I would set it on fire. If it was Gaea messing with us again, I would personally punch her in her dirt-filled nose. I paced back and forth, accidentally setting the porch on fire. Jason sighed and put it out, for the seventh time, with a fire extinguisher he had in his hands. I kept pacing. Clover had to be fine, she had to be. Piper sat in a deck chair and fiddled with one of her braids.

“Leo, I am sure she’s fine. Just calm down and take a seat.” she said. I did, but I knew she put some charm speak into her voice.

“I can’t. If Gaea messed with her head....” My hair caught on fire again, but I didn’t care. Someone came running up to the Big House and climbed up the porch. I recognized her as Clover’s sister, Amanda. She stared at my hair and looked at Jason, who stood up and put it out.

“What?!” I asked her. She looked like she was going to cry. I hadn’t meant to have it come out harsh, but it did anyway. She swallowed,

“I.... um... have come to see Clover. Is she okay?” I bit my lip, trying to keep the cuss words to myself.

“We don’t know yet sweetie, but we will tell you as soon as we know.” Said Piper, trying to be gentle. Amanda nodded and ran off, not looking back. Piper looked at me.

“Leo, you need to be nicer. She was just concerned about her sister.” I clenched my fists,

“And I’m not?!” Piper knit her eyebrows.

“Leo, it’s her sister. I know you care too, but she is family. Calm down.” Those last words dripped with charm speak and my body relaxed. Jason swayed, as if he were so calm, he would fall asleep. Piper quickly added,

“Not you Jason!” Jason shook his head to shake off the calm sensation.

“What!!” he snapped awake. Piper sighed,

“We were calming Leo down.” Jason thought about it,

“Oh yeah! Did you succeed?” Piper rolled her eyes.

“Duh!” She said spreading her hands. My mind felt fuzzy and slow.

“Is Clover okay?” I asked. Piper shrugged.

“Not sure yet, and you know what, I will go check.” she stood and went inside the house. Once she was gone, my mind went back to normal. I snapped awake and looked around.

“Did she really just use charm speak on me?” I asked Jason. He shrugged as he sat down.

“It was for your own good man. You almost burned a hole through the porch from your pacing.” I sighed and sat back in the deck chair. There was lemonade sitting on the table next to me and I decided to have some to calm my nerves. I poured some into a glass and took a sip. Normal lemonade.

“Clover,” I muttered to myself, “I promise.” I wanted to remember everything we had gone through. First kiss, Freak, her birthday, everything. She was amazing and sweet. There was no way I was going to forget about her.

(Shut up Clover! I know it sounds sappy, but that was how I felt then!)

Piper came out of the Big House and looked right at me.

“Leo, she is going to be just fine. Want to see her?” I shot up and placed the lemonade on the table.

“Sure.” I said in my best ‘cool with that’ voice. Piper lead me down the hall into a bedroom. When I walked inside, I saw Clover sitting up on a bed with a smile on her face. Piper left, knowing we would want our space. I sat down next to Clover on the bed and grabbed her hand. The color had returned to her face and her eyes were back to normal. But the way I could tell she was better was her smile. It was genuine and happy, no longer forced and pained. Chiron was on the other side of the bed looking at a liquid in a vile, in wheelchair form.

“Chiron, what is that?” I asked. Chiron broke from a trance and looked at me.

“Well, it is the poison. I got it from Drew and I now know that it is the same stuff that was inside Clover. We need to find the distributer of this poison.” I was lost, but Clover squeezed my hand.

“Chiron, I think I have an idea about how it came into camp.” she said. Chiron turned toward her and cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m listening.” he said. Clover took a deep breath,

“It came on the bus, but not in someone. It was in the bus itself. That was why the bus made horrible creaking noises. When the bus stopped, it had to find a new form. It moved on to Drew, and that is how she was turned into an evil monster.”

“Not that she already was.” I muttered. Clover giggled, but continued,

“Drew tended to the pegasi and transported part of it to the horse. Then I looked into the horses eyes and caught it from his. We might have someone else infected, so we have to check everyone from Aphrodite and Hermes. They were the one closest to the bus.” Chiron nodded. He put the poison in his inside pocket of his tweed jacket and started to wheel out of the room.

“Thank you Clover. I think you are onto something. Be careful.” and with that, Chiron rolled out of the room. I locked eyes with Clover and gave her a happy smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” I said, looking down at our hands. Clover smiled,

“I’m glad you’re finally opening up to me.” she said. I looked up and I could tell she was joking. I playfully hit her and she smiled bigger. She looked down at our hands and her smile melted. I looked down at them too, but I couldn’t tell what was wrong with them.

“What?” I asked her. She shook her head,

“Nothing. Do you have a drachma I could use?” I let go of her hand and went searching for one in my tool belt. I found one and handed it to her. She took it gratefully and threw off the covers. She stood and I helped her balance.

“Thanks, but I need to do this alone.” I let go of her as she left to make an IM.