The Fire In Me (A Leo Valdez Love Story)

My Favorite Band Turns Into a Bunch of Sirens

Everything was dark in the big auditorium. Plenty of excited whispers filled the room, so that there was no silence to fit with the dimness of the area. I anticipated the very moment when the band would show up on that stage. The moment when my dream of seeing them in person would come true.  

I had wanted this to happen for forever! When I had found out that my mom had gotten me tickets to the show, I had flipped out completely. In fact, several of our lamps popped and broke, and the ceiling fan stopped spinning. This happened to me a lot. Whenever I got excited or anxious, several electric appliances broke in our house. But my mom always acted like nothing had happened. I hated that. 

Soon, lights came on the stage, and the crowd burst with screams, shouts, catcalls and whistles. I screamed along with them, and my favorite band walked out onto the stage. The band thanked the audience, then started playing. They started with a slow song, and everyone sang to the music. I tried to sing too, but I didn't understand the words they were saying, and I felt really sleepy and disoriented. The crowd was swaying in sync, which was odd. 

After a while, everyone started collapsing in the rows of seats. The security police took no notice. In fact, they soon collapsed also, snoring and smiling. I stifled a cry. My body tensed. Something wasn't right here. I tried to make my way to the exits, but the doors shut with a slam. 

Where do you think you're going? said a voice, echoing in my head. I turned around slowly to see that my favorite band was looking straight at me, grinning. If these were normal circumstances, I would have giggled and run up to the stage to join them. But this was no normal circumstance. This was danger. 

Slowly, the band members changed. Not very noticeable at first, but slowly they gained green skin, scales, flowing blonde hair, and their eyes turned a dark purple. Their legs meshed together into a tail, and their hands grew talons. Their teeth sharpened and yellowed. They grinned at me once more, and beckoned at me. 

I felt compelled to come to them. Then I realized that they were singing. Not with their mouths but with their minds, urging me to come to them. One of my feet stepped forward, then another. Soon, I found myself walking slowly towards them, as if in a trance. Their eyes were so beautiful, their scales glistening from the light. I wanted to touch their soft hair, and listen to their song forever...

Just as I was about to take one's hand, some other body slammed into mine. I fell over, gasping, and watched the creatures shriek in anger. The body turned around, and after I saw the person reach into their pockets, the person held a large hammer. It sparkled in the stage's lights. I watched in amazement as the person slashed at the monsters, and they spread wings and flew out one of the ceiling windows with a crash. 

I stared in amazement and horror, and then realized that the person-which, as I looked at him, was a boy-was extending his hand to lift me up. I took it thankfully. When I stood up, the world tipped to the left, and I stumbled. The boy caught me with strong hands. I looked at him and finally was able to look in on his features. 

The boy was only about 14 or 15. He had a shock of freckles, and a pointy nose, with rosy cheeks, and a mane of curly black hair. He had this quirky smile on his face, and his eyes glinted with mischief. He was dressed in a smithy outfit, complete with a toolbelt, which had nothing in it. He also had some sturdy black boots. 

"You alright?" His voice was kind of squeaky, like he was just getting through puberty, right in the middle of high and low. 

"I'm fine," I replied, though he raised one of his eyebrows, pretty sure I was lying. I was, of course. My favorite band had just turned into a couple of ugly, unearthly mermaids! My hands and legs  were trembling, and I almost fell over. I managed to stand, and asked, "What were those?" 

"Sirens. Probably why all the people in this room are asleep!" He grinned, like this was some kind of joke. I was not laughing. Those things were Sirens? I had read about those before, and I had never imagined I would hear their eerie song in person.  The whole ordeal had shaken me up.  Some of the ceiling lights buzzed, then went out.  The boy looked at them curiously.

"Who are you," I asked, not really wanting an answer, but it felt good to talk. 

"Oh! My apologies," He said it with a great bow. "Leo Valdez, engineer extraordinaire, son of Hephaestus." 

"Isn't Hephaestus a god of Olympus?" 

"Sure is!" 

"But that's impossible!" Suddenly, thunder rumbled overhead, even though the sky was clear. "What was that?" 

Leo looked a little uneasy. "Probably shouldn't say things like that. I'll explain everything once we get you to camp." 

"What camp?" 

"Why, Camp Half-Blood of course!" 

                                                                               ********** 

When he said Camp Half-Blood, I thought it was some kind of day camp or something. What I got was something completely different.

I had no idea what a half-blood was, but Leo said it was something about the gods from Ancient Greece surviving the last thousand years, and still living on the Empire State Building in New York, and how the gods came down sometimes and had kids with mortals. Or something like that. 

While he tried to explain what I was, I threw up over the side of the chariot we were riding in. I was not a big fan of heights, and the Pegasi pulling this chariot were not the most steady flyers. 

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that we were in a chariot! The thing looked like solid gold. The carvings on the side were deadly accurate, and the back was open to the wind. I stayed as close to Leo as possible, even though I didn't feel very comfortable around him. He just smiled as he watched the vomit hit the lake under us, and kept driving.  

After about another 30 minutes of swooping in and out of the clouds, Leo shouted, "We're going to land now. Try to hold on!" Then he flicked the reigns, and the Pegasi dived. My stomach did a summersault, or maybe a hundred summersaults. Then, I almost fell out of the chariot as the Pegasi lurched to halt, and landed gracefully onto the ground, beginning to nibble at the grass. Leo dismounted first, then offered his hand to me. I took it, and stepped carefully off the chariot. 

Some other kids, about 16 and 14 took the horses to some stables, where some half human-half furry legged kids were waiting for them. I looked around and saw what Camp Half-Blood really was. 

It was not a day camp. It looked like a colorful military school. Right in front of us was a volleyball pit, but behind that was a climbing wall which was on fire in several places, lava pouring down one side, and spikes shooting out of it at random. To our left was woods, that was rustling without a breeze. To our right, there was a set of cabins nestled on the side of the peninsula we had landed on. There was also this large farm-looking house, painted baby blue, and white trim.

A little past the set of cabins was an arena, where some beefy-looking teenagers battled with spears and flails.  I ducked as a kid in a chariot zoomed over my head, yelling to watch out.  I took a mental note to "watch out".  More of the furry-leg kids ran around a strawberry field on a hill, playing on what looked like Greek lutes.  A pine tree stood on a nearby hill, with a glinting piece of something in it's branches.  I did a double take. Of course, a baby dragon was sleeping underneath the tree.

Leo extended his hand toward the camp with a flourish, saying in a grand voice, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood: where kids learn how to be demigods!" 

"Demigods? What about half-bloods?" 

"Same thing, actually. Come on! Let's go meet Chiron."