Wildfire (Leo Valdez x OC) (1)

Have I been adopted?

When I could see straight again, I was back at Camp. In the dining pavilion. In the middle of dinner.

And Piper had one foot in Drew's pizza.

I would've laughed if I didn't feel so nauseous.

Sixty campers rose at once, gawking at us in astonishment.

Whatever Hera did to shoot us across the country wasn't good for my stomach and taking a glance at Piper and Jason, I could see them struggling to keep their lunch down.

Leo wasn't so lucky. He jumped off the table, ran to the nearest bronze brazier and threw up in it. Which probably wasn't the best burnt offering for the gods.

"Jason? Anwen?" Chiron trotted up to them. Even he looked totally flabbergasted. "What-? How-?"

The Aphrodite campers were staring up at Piper with their mouths agape.

"Hi." Piper said. "We're back.

I didn't remember much about the rest of the evening. We repeated our story so many times and answered millions of questions from other campers until Chiron noticed how tired we looked and sent us off to bed.

I didn't go to the Demeter cabin, however. I walked into the forest and went to my area.

When I was claimed by Pan, it had been a shock to everyone. I had been questioned for days by the Cloven council and even once I escaped them, it was all Grover would talk about for weeks. Eventually, Chiron had told them all to leave me alone and now I only got a few questions, mainly about how he died.

I had always felt an urge to go to the forest. Chiron had noticed how I would sneak out at night and followed me once.

He found me huddled in a small cave, talking to a mole and a squirrel.

He still didn't know what we had been talking about. I refused to tell him even though I had just been resolving an argument between the two.

Since then, he realised that I had made the cave into a makeshift home. I'd set up a small sleeping mat with a sleeping bag.

I'd dug out a small alcove to use as a bedside table with the help of a friendly mole.

I'd formed a little feeding station that I would put birdfeed on so that in the winter they wouldn't go hungry. The birds always liked to gossip about monster fights that had happened in the woods or funny things that happened during capture the flag when campers were alone.

Chiron asked me why I preferred to sleep in the cave. I told him I liked the forest and sometimes Camp was too loud. I told him it was like a mini escape I had.

I didn't tell him that it was because it reminded me of camping with my mum.

When I arrived at the cave, I found the bracken that covered the entrance had been folded up out of the way and that a lamp had been lit inside.

I frowned and walked inside cautiously.

Everything was the same as how I left it the last time I came. There was a small indent in the wall where I kept books, most of which I had yet to read. There was a small table and armchair covered in papers and my sleeping area was intact. There was no one in the front area of the cave but there was a light coming from the back of it.

I walked to the back of the cave, following the light and eventually came to my stargazing spot.

At the back of the cave, I had dug out a hole in the ceiling that found a gap in the dense forest canopy so I could look up to the stars during the night and let in natural light during the day. It also allowed me to have a back door leading to my favourite path through the forest.