Fire and Ice (A Leo Valdez fanfic) [2017]

Chapter 7: Eira ❄

EIRA WAS BURSTING WITH ENERGY. She asked Hazel question after question. Each thing she saw was even more interesting than the one before. Hazel told her about the Mist, the prophecies, which were currently not working, and of course the Great Prophecy of the month before.

"Who are the people in the Great Prophecy?" Eira asked.

"Me, Percy, Annabeth, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, and Piper McLean."

"What about the emo guy?"

"Nico? He's my half brother. He was on the quest for most of the time."

They were walking toward the forge, a building full of power machines and tools. Kids were working with wood and metal in the forge, hammering and drilling and bending. Eira walked in and almost instantly bumped into a kid who'd been walking by. They both stumbled backwards. Hazel jumped forward to steady Eira. The boy caught himself against a red-hot metal grate. He steadied himself and stood up straight, not seeming to notice that the thing he'd used to pull himself up should have been like 300 degrees.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Eira asked. The boy she'd bumped into was a scrawny Latino kid with pointy ears and a mischievous grin. The boy made eye contact with her, and suddenly his expression changed and panic flashed across his face. Then the look was gone and he was grinning again. Eira almost thought she'd imagined it.

"No problem! What's your name?" the boy asked.

"Eira Bowen," she replied. She saw his shoulders visibly relax. "What's yours?"

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. Great to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Eira had to ask what was on her mind. "Hey, Leo, you know that you caught yourself on a hot piece of metal, right?"

"Oh, that," Leo said. "Yeah. Hephaestus is the god of fire, so I have fire powers and I'm also immune." He held up a fist and it burst into flames. On any other day, Eira would have been alarmed, but after being chased by Greek vampire cheerleaders, seeing a pen turn into a sword, and seeing a boy with goat legs, seeing someone catch their hand on fire wasn't much of a surprise. 

"That is awesome," Eira said. "So you have powers from your godly parent?"

"Yup!"

That explains it, Eira thought. She had promised herself that she wouldn't use her powers again. But maybe a lot of demigods had powers like hers. She hoped so.

"So, what's your backstory?" Leo asked. "Pretty name, by the way."

"Thanks," Eira said, blushing. "It's Welsh. It means 'snow'. As for my backstory, I lived with my dad until I was thirteen. Then he abandoned me and I was sent to live with my aunt for a few months. She was a jerk and eventually sent me to an orphanage. I hated it there. I ran away. Grover found me in New York City."

"I lived with my mom until I was eight." Leo swallowed. "Then she died, and I was sent to orphanage after orphanage, since none of my relatives would take me. I ran away six times."

"Six?" Eira gasped. "Whoa."

"Then a satyr like Grover came and took me to camp, and I went on a quest to get back my best friend's memories. I found a bronze automaton dragon in the woods of Camp Half Blood and tamed him. We took him on our quest. He kind of broke on the way. I made him into the figurehead of a Greek warship. We flew it to California, then to Venice, then to Rome, then to the Doors of Death, then to Greece, then back to New York. Then I died, came back, went to an enchanted island, got betrayed by the girl I loved, and came back on my dragon, this morning."

Eira stared at Leo in awe. "Oh my god."

"Gods," Leo corrected, grinning.

"Gods."

"We've all had some crazy experiences. Come on, I can introduce you to my friends. Thanks, Hazel, I'll take it from here." He nodded at Hazel, who smiled and left the forge. Leo led Eira outside and Eira saw two people, a boy and a girl, walking across the green in the middle of the camp. Leo waved to them and yelled, "Piper! Jason! Come here!"

The two kids came over and greeted Leo. They were obviously his best friends. The boy, Jason, had a scar on his lip and gold, wire-rimmed glasses. He wore a purple shirt with the letters SPQR on it, and a tattoo on his arm with the same letters, twelve lines, and a bird. The girl, Piper, wore a Camp Half-Blood shirt with the sleeves tied in a fringed pattern. Each wore a necklace that consisted of a leather cord and a single orange and purple bead. Eira noticed that Leo wore an identical necklace. Piper was also extremely pretty: brown hair braided down the side with a white feather, eyes that seemed to change color. Eira had the fleeting thought that she hoped Piper was not Leo's girlfriend. 

"Guys, this is my new friend Eira. Eira, meet my two best friends, Jason and Piper." Leo introduced them.

The expressions on their faces mirrored that of Leo's when he'd first seen her. Their faces showed surprise, anger, and maybe even fear.

"Are you undetermined?" Piper demanded.

Leo put a hand on her shoulder, and Eira swallowed. "Pipes, hang on--"

"What does that mean?" Eira asked. 

"Have you been claimed?"

"No, not yet. Why?" Eira said defensively. She didn't know why Piper and Jason were looking at her like that. Did they know her? She was positive she didn't know them.

"I don't know, it's just--" Jason began.

"--you look like someone we know," Piper finished.

Eira wanted to know more, but she didn't press. "Nice to meet you. Who are your godly parents?"

"Aphrodite," Piper said.

"Zeus," Jason added.

"God of the sky?" Eira asked. "And goddess of love? That's so cool!" She really wanted to get along with people from this camp, so she wanted to be as nice as possible.

"Yeah," Jason said. "I get lightning and wind powers."

"I get to tell people what to do, and they do it," Piper said. "Not super interesting."

"Must be useful, though," Eira said. "You guys are part of the Great Prophecy?"

"Yeah. We were all on the Argo II together," Jason confirmed. "Me and Piper and Leo and Hazel and Percy and Frank and Annabeth. Nico, too, part of the time, and Reyna. Also Coach Hedge, of course."

"The satyr that took us three to camp," Leo explained. "Well, Eira, you still haven't met Frank and Will, and of course you need to meet Chiron. Then I'll show you a cool place. Come on!"