The Curse of a Broken Heart

Chapter 4

Leo's POV

I wake up in a cold sweat, dream of Tia Callida wandering through my mind. The dreams that I have come to expect never failed to scare me, no matter how used to them I was. The cabin was dark, and my I was feeling too hot to sit in bed. With small movements and little noise, I creep out of bed.

My fingers start feeling warm, and as soon as they start heating up, I conjure a small flame on my pinky finger. Through the flickering flame, I see my cabinmates sleeping, and a boy named Thomas is closest to the door of the cabin. He is facing the wall, but is shifting, and I put my pinky finger away from him. I tiptoe to the door, moving with the little light I have across the floor. I've come to know every part of the floor that creaks, but never fixed it because it feels homey. I move somewhat like a Leo-Ninja, moving like people do when they have to cross a laser field. I am almost to the door when Thomas turns away from the wall, facing me. He opens his eyes, and lifts his head.

"Leo? What are you doing?" He asks groggily, rubbing his eyes.

"I, uh...Thomas! Why are you dreaming about me? Hephaestus's hammer, what is wrong with you?" I stage whisper. I may as well do what I do best; improvise.

"I'm not a creep! I'm not dreaming about you!" He yells and flings his blanket above his head.

I chuckle and turn the door knob. I shudder at the cold, crisp air that I am greeted with as I open the door. I put out the flame on my pinky, if anybody takes a look out of their window, I do not want them to see what I'm about to do.

"I'm not a creep..." I hear Thomas mumble as I quietly shut the door. I run, holding my arms to keep them from the cold. It never seems to matter what season it is, Camp Half-Blood is always cold when you can't use fire. The cabin is coming into view. Not my cabin, no, the Aphrodite cabin. I do not like my dreams about Tia Callida, and I am not going back to sleep, the nightmares that come are shocking, but of course tonight, I can't deal wiht it. Not when I'm about to go on a quest. My mind is too full. So I'm going to the only person I want to talk to.

The outside of the cabin just looks beautiful. It gives off some sort of air, it makes me feel...beautiful (wink wink). I slowly open the door, awaiting the screaming girls that could wake up and report me. The campers were not awake, as I thought they would be, but I still am careful. Anything could set them off.

I tiptoe around in the dark. I really do not want to set a fire here. It was pitch black, but I saw a spot of light coming from somewhere. With a closer inspection, I saw that it was a window, and when I pulled back the curtain, the moonlight shone through the cabin.

It smelled like strawberry and perfume, and I realized that I was stepping on somebody's pink fluffy pillow. This seemed like it wasn't worth it, but McKenzie was. I mean, I defeated Gaea. I can do this. After a bit of looking around, I figured that the bed I as walking toward was McKenzie's. The other beds were occupied, but hers smelled like lilac, and that was what McKenzie smelled like yesterday.

But as I got closer, I realized that the blankets were laying flat on the bed. As soon as I realized this, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It took all my strength not to let my hand burst into flames. I whipped around, to see McKenzie, her eyes green today. Just the girl I wanted to see.

McKenzie's POV

I woke up in the night with a dream of me, Leo, and Percy falling off of a cliff. I know it is stupid, but I mean, dremas are dreams. Demigod dreams are unpredictable. So I got out of bed and decided to talk to Piper. I needed to talk to Piper about my 'boy problems.'

But as soon as I get out of bed, I see a person open the door. I didn't panic, but I flung myself under the nearest desk. The person opens the curtains, and in the moonlight, I realize the person is Leo Valdez. I smile and crawl out from under the desk. I tap Leo on the shoulder, and he turns around sharply, but smiles when he recognizes me. I sigh in relief, and he pushes his hair back. He looks around the room, then his eyes land on the window, looking through it into the garden. He points to the door, and I mouth the word 'garden.'

We walk to the door, and I lead him to Aphrodite's garden. My cabinmates and I keep it up and running. As I lead Leo outside, I realize that I am holding his hand. I am holding Leo Valdez's hand. Oh my gosh.

He smiles when we reach the garden. We walk around by a rosebush, and I sit down on a bench. He takes a seat next to me.

"I don't want to get you in trouble, or anything, but I really wanted to see you. I wanted to talk to you." I smile, but I know I'm masking my severe anxiety right now.

"That is very sweet of you, Leo. What do you want to talk about?" I ask, and he scratches his head.

"Well, demigods always have bad dreams, but I..." His voice wanders off, like he wanted to say something. He sniffs the air and shudders.

"The smell of this place is overpowering. Can we talk somewhere else?" He asks, and I smell the air. It seems normal for me, but for anybody who isn't used to the smell of a lot of perfume could be annoyed by it easily. I guess that is why Aphrodite's garden doesn't have a lot of campers except for me and my cabinmates.

"I don't know anywhere else," I say sadly. He scratches his head-something I realize he does a lot-and looks to the ground, frowning. After what seems like forever, he looks up and snaps his fingers.

"I have a place we can go. Follow me." He stands up and takes my hand.

Leo's POV

I take her hand and run. McKenzie's hands are warm, but not sweaty. They are soft, unlike mine. But why do I care? I'm acting like a girl, I think as I run with McKenzie.

We run out of the arrangement of cabins, and into the woods. After two minutes, the forest stops, and there is a small clearing. I stop running and sit down, panting heavily. McKenzie puts her hands on her knees, but her breath is normal after about twenty seconds. I laugh as I breathe heavily, clutching my side as I stand up.

When I catch my breath, I look up and see McKenzie gaping at what is ahead of us.

"Before I left for my last quest, I made a place where I could just, leave. It was a home, but not a cabin filled with people I didn't want to talk to. It was my place. Now it is ours." I explain and walk with McKenzie to the front door.

I made a large metallic treehouse, with properties only the mist has. On the inside, it changes into whatever I want to see, then becomes real. A cottage, a mansion, whatever you want. I pick up the keys from under the welcome mat, and we step in.

"Right now, it is a kitchen. It could be anything, though, if we leave and come back wanting a palace, it would be a palace. I used the mist." I explain, and McKenzie pulls out a wooden chair from a wooden table. She sits down in the other chair, and I take a seat in the one she pulled out.

"I have terrible dreams about Tia Callida. She used to do terrible things, she still haunts me. But tonight, it was terrible." I say to McKenzie, and she puts her hands under her chin. She looks at me intently, and when I stop talking to look at her, she asks me to continue.

"She was telling me that this quest was wrong. That's pretty much her point, but she said that we were in great danger. I'm worried about us. I'm worried about you." I say, and McKenzie frowns.

"The betrayal, that's what the prophecy said. This quest is destined to be wrong, we will have a traitor on our side. I just hope it isn't us." She says calmly, but her voice is laced with worry.

"I just want to come back with you, alive. Safe. That is my main priority." I say, and she smiles.

"We will. I'll take care of you, buddy." She teases and swats my arm. I laugh and we sit in the treehouse, talking until it is time to go back. We get to our cabins before anybody wakes up.