The Boy On Fire (A Caleo Short Story)

Chapter 3

               Leo could barely contain his excitement. He was going home. Camp Half-Blood, the only place he was accepted. Even his own relatives hated him. Leo could still remember Aunt Rosa's voice, yelling about how he was a 'diablo' and a disgrace to the Valdez family line. Dang, he hated that woman. But now he was flying to his real home. Not back to Texas, where his relatives lived. And that accursed machine shop was there in Texas too. The first place Leo had met the goddess Gaia. The place his mother, Esperanza Valdez, had breathed her final breath. Leo missed his mom to death. She was perfect in every way. His mother was awesome, she stayed happy even when she had to work all through the night, and she could fix anything mechanical.

               "Leo, we're almost there." Calypso was right. They were approaching Long Island Sound, Leo could see the fireworks beach, where every 4th of July they would launch magical fireworks into the sky. The fireworks would explode into all kinds of shapes, stars, lightning bolts, satyr's heads. Leo's personal favorite was the chili pepper, because after it lit up it would make a massive explosion that would turn the whole sky red.

               "Festus, start to go down." The dragon lowered his altitude to prepare for landing. They were right above Camp Half-Blood and Leo could see small specks of people staring up at them. He couldn't recognize anyone from this high up, but he felt sure his friends were down there waiting for him. It was then that Leo realized that he had no idea how long he'd been gone. Festus might have been searching for Ogygia with his corpse on his back for years! Scratch that. Festus's fuel reserves could only last for a few months or so straight, so it had to be a few months or less. But still, lots could happen in just a few months. Some other super powerful godly being could have killed all of his friends. Actually, let's not think about that.

               Festus circled lower. Leo could finally see the faces of the people below. He scanned the crowd, looking for one of his friends. He saw the Stoll brothers staring up in amazement at the bronze dragon slowly descending upon them. Leo continued looking. Suddenly there he was. The one he was most hoping to see. Jason was standing over by the edge of the forest, next to the ring of cabins, with a massive smile on his face. Piper was right next to Jason, tears streaming down her face as she stared at him. He hoped it was from joy and not from disgust at the thought of him coming back.

               Leo couldn't help it. He stood up on Festus's back and yelled down at the crowd. "THOUGHT YOU COULD GET RID OF ME THAT EASILY! I'M BACK, BABY! WOOOOOO!!!"

               The crowd cheered as Festus landed on the grass. Leo slipped off his dragon's back and onto the ground. He then turned around and helped Calypso down. The crowd went silent as he looked around at them. They stared back at him. Just then Piper broke through the circle of dumbfounded campers and tackled Leo to the ground, hugging him tightly, her tears flowing down her face onto his shirt.

               "Leo..." She choked up.

               "Heya, Pipes. How's life?"

               They stood back up, but Piper was still clinging to Leo, her tears still streamed down her face.

               "Pipes, I think that's enough. Other people want a turn!" Leo glanced over Piper's shoulder and saw Jason, still with a huge grin on his face.

               "Hey, Jason? Little help?"

               His grin grew even larger. "Come on Pipes, he's right. We should give him some space. Who's the lady?" Jason motioned to Calypso. Piper followed his gaze and did a double-take as if just realizing that Calypso was there.

               "Hi." Calypso waved shyly. "My name is Calypso."

                Jason and Piper, along with all the other campers in the crowd, just stared.

               Leo broke the silence. "Umm... This is awkward."

               Jason was the next one to speak. He turned to face Leo. "You mean this is the Calypso? The one you and Percy met on that island?"

               Leo was about to answer but Calypso interrupted before he could. "You know Percy?" 

               "Yeah, I know Percy. He's here at camp."

               "Percy is here? Where?

               "Umm... I think he's at his cabin or something..."

               "No, I'm right here. What's all this commotion about?" They all turned around to see Percy looking at them in surprise. "Leo! You're back! Welcome home man! Who's that... ohh." He had noticed Calypso, who was looking at him with a strange expression on her face. It was a mixture of fear and anger, but also some happiness and excitement. Leo had no idea how she could feel that many emotions at once.

               "Percy."

               "Calypso, I'm so sorry. I thought the gods would keep their promise. I didn't think to check if they..."

               "Don't apologize. It all turned out okay in the end, right?"

               "I guess... But still..."

               "Don't worry. I'm fine with how it turned out." She walked up to Percy and gave him a hug. He looked flustered at first but then hugged her back.

               Leo interrupted the moment. "Well, I guess now that that's settled, I can finally show you around camp. Right, Cally?

               "Cally?" Both Percy and Calypso said at the same time.

               "What! Everyone's got to have a nickname! What do you have against Cally? It's cute!" Leo put out his hand to Calypso and she took it. "Come on Cally, there's so much I need to show you!"

                Leo started to walk away, but before even taking his third step, he turned back around. "Almost forgot! Where are Levesque and Zhang? I want to talk to them."

               "Oh, there not here. They're over at Camp Jupiter, doing roman stuff. I can Iris Message them later if you want me to." Jason replied.

               "Sure! That would be awesome! Just come get me when they're ready. I'll be at Bunker 9 with Cally." He turned back to Calypso and resumed walking, still holding her hand. "Let's go, Calypso. You'll love Bunker 9."