𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xii ━━ the hurricane with my name when it came

04. chapter twelve

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

( leo's pov )

IF LUCK WAS A CURRENCY, i'd be the richest guy in the world right now.

I couldn't believe that Camille, the girl I'd liked for so long, felt the same way about me. I replayed the kiss in my mind, savoring the memory. Man, I must have done something right in a past life, I thought, grinning to myself.

I couldn't stop thinking about the prophecy. It had always loomed over us like a dark cloud, but now, it felt different. I realized that I didn't care what the prophecy meant or what trials we might face. As long as I ended up with Camille, nothing else mattered.

The only problem was that we never got to finish our conversation. What exactly did this mean for us? Were we officially together now, or was there still more to figure out?

The next morning, I tried to catch Camille alone, but she always seemed busy. First, she was talking to Nico (which seemed very serious), then she was helping Hazel feed her weasel, then she was teaching Piper sword fighting.

We tried to have a meeting on deck, but grey clouds still swallowed the sky. Cold drizzle sprayed across the deck, forming ice on the rails and the ropes.

"It's the sceptre," Nico murmured, hefting the ancient staff. "It has to be."

I wondered. Ever since Camille, Jason, and Nico had returned from Diocletian's Palace, they'd been acting nervous and cagey. Something major had happened there– something Camille and Jason wouldn't share with me.

When they first returned from their quest for the sceptre, Camille's eyes were red and glassy, like she had been crying. Nico seemed especially brooding. And Jason just looked down. They wouldn't tell anyone what happened.

When I brought up Croatia last night, Camille got pretty upset and snapped that whatever happened there didn't matter, but it clearly did if they were so secretive about it.

It made sense that the sceptre might have caused this weather change. The black orb on top seemed to leach the colour right out of the air. The golden eagles at its base glinted coldly. The sceptre could supposedly control the dead, and it definitely gave off bad vibes. Coach Hedge had taken one look at the thing, turned pale and announced that he was going to his room to console himself with Chuck Norris videos.

"We can't talk up here," Jason decided. "Let's postpone the meeting."

We'd all gathered on the quarterdeck to discuss strategy as we got closer to Epirus. Now it was clearly not a good place to hang out. Wind swept frost across the deck. The sea churned beneath us.

I didn't mind the waves so much, but I could tell Hazel wasn't doing well. The girl got seasick even in calm waters. She looked like she was trying to swallow a billiard ball.

"Need to–" Hazel gagged and pointed below.

"Yeah, go." Nico kissed her cheek, which I found surprising. He hardly ever made gestures of affection, even to his sister. He seemed to hate physical contact. The only other time I ever saw him do anything like that was when he hugged Camille the previous day.

"I'll walk you down." Frank put his arm around Hazel's waist and helped her to the stairs.

Nico brushed some ice from his hair. He frowned at the sceptre of Diocletian. "I should put this thing away. If it's really causing the weather, maybe taking it below deck will help..."