𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑 | ʟᴇᴏ ᴠᴀʟᴅᴇᴢ ¹

𝐓𝐖𝐎

LEO ORDERED LAVINIA—well, invited, but it sounded like an order—to be the one to continue showing him around camp. He told Will to go back to his cabin, which Will didn't look too unhappy about.

The son of Hephaestus trotted over to the daughter of Nike and begged her to show him the lake. She set down her spear and wiped her hands on her jeans, which were torn from battle. Lavinia looked towards the post and wondered what Leo's fascination with her was. Lavinia imagined heart eyes appearing replacing his eyes as she looked at him, his jaw dropping to the ground and even more hearts circled his head, cartoon style.

"Follow me," she ordered. "I'll have to stop by my cabin first."

The outside of Nike Cabin looked like a relatively normal cabin, but the inside looked like it had been swallowed up by an Olympic champion. Sports bleachers curved up the walls, and sports equipment was held in the back corner. It appeared smaller on the outside than it actually was, especially to people who had never been inside, but there were rarely ever new campers.

Lavinia's photographs with her brother, Sebastian, faced a stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Wedged in one corner, her old photos with Luke Castellan, the son of Hermes were in bad shape. They were mounted on the walls with little to no care—she ended up moving them before the final Battle of Manhattan—but Lavinia couldn't seem to get rid of them for good.

Stickers were placed over Luke's smiling face in a sad attempt to hide the hurt she felt whenever looking at the images. Some had big red smiley faces and some had boring old produce stickers.
But the weirdest thing in the cabin was a Mythomagic card given to her by Nico DiAngelo before he had left the camp years ago. The card was of her mother, the goddess Nike, and it looked so real, her eyes seemed to follow anyone who looked at it.

"I won today, Mom" Lavinia chided. "What else must I do to prove myself to you? That I'm worthy of your love?

"Talking to yourself?" Leo said.

Lavinia rummaged through the drawer of her desk and pulled a pen on him. She threw her arms up as if she was about to stab him with it, and he moved out of the way, bracing for impact.

"Leo!" Lavinia said. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Um," Leo said. "Probably longer than you'd like"

"You shouldn't even be in here," Lavinia put the pen back in her desk, though her hands were trembling a little. "Who let you in?"

"I didn't catch the name," Leo said, but he refused to look at her when he spoke, which gave Lavinia the feeling he was lying.

"You just let yourself in," Lavinia said, "Didn't you?"

Lavinia fixed her new clean shirt on her sides, though her stomach was sick from the possibility of Leo hearing what she had said to the photo. Leo stepped back away from her and tried for a smile, but Lavinia could tell it was forced.

"Let's get to that lake now," she said, "If you still want to go?"

"I mean, only if you still want to show me," Leo started rambling on about how Will Solace had shown him a lot, from Hephaestus cabin to the forges.

Lavinia didn't react to the nonsense he had been spouting, other than to nod encouragingly for more. When Leo was done, they had made it to the lake.

"Here it is," Lavinia said. "The infamous lake."

"I lied to you," Leo admitted. "I've been here before."

Lavinia studied him with concern, as if she expected him to start crying and retreat. "Why did you ask me to show you here, then?" She looked at Leo like he had betrayed her trust.