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

Chapter 10: Eira ❄

"TEAMS ON YOUR MARKS!" Chiron yelled. "Get set!"

The starting conch rang through the woods, and Annabeth took off, her ten years of camp training paying off, and Eira and Piper had to sprint to keep up. They ran through the dense trees, dodging low hanging branches and large rocks. Annabeth sidestepped and jumped them easily, Piper had more difficulty, and Eira ended up with lots of bruises and scratches, having had very little agility training.

"Okay, now we're going to split up and search for the flag," Annabeth said. "If you find it, make this sound--" She made a bird call. "That's the call of a New World warbler, a bird in this area. It'll blend in unless you're listening for it. If you're in trouble or need backup, do this." She made another call and explained what it was. Eira and Piper tried to imitate the calls. Annabeth nodded. "Awesome! No one will notice that it's actually us." She ran straight ahead, and Piper went right. Eira went through the bird calls in her mind, then started running to the left.

She lost track of how long she'd been running, but her legs were getting tired when she reached a clearing. Hung on one of the trees was the Hephaestus flag.

Eira made the New World warbler bird call. Then she tiptoed up to the tree. At that moment, someone dropped out of the tree and landed on their feet in front of Eira-- the person who would distract her the most: Leo.

He gave her one of his trademark grins. "How's it going, chica?"

Eira smiled. "I'm taking your flag," she said casually, stepping toward the tree.

Leo laughed. "You just try," he said. Eira scanned the ground and the bushes around the clearing and spotted two other kids, one Ares and one Demeter, hiding with swords drawn. She immediately understood. She could use their own weapon against them. She heard someone nearby-- probably Annabeth-- imitate the New World warbler call. She hoped that meant she'd be here soon.

"Why'd they put you on defense?" Eira said, stalling.

"Because they know I'm awesome," Leo replied. "And I'm great with traps."

Eira suppressed a grin and looked above them to see a cleverly hidden contraption that was connected to a hidden pressure-sensitive plate on the ground. "You weren't supposed to tell me that."

Leo's face turned red. "Oops."

Eira laughed. "Looks well made. You made this on the spot?"

"Yeah." Leo grinned, tapping a rhythm onto the tree. Eira instantly recognized it as Morse code. She didn't know Morse code, but she could tell that Leo was communicating with someone. She stepped toward the tree again, trying to calculate the distance between her and the flag. Could she reach it? Leo was too close to her-- there was no way she could get back to her side, even if she did manage to get the flag. She needed backup. She hoped Annabeth would come soon, or maybe even Piper. But before she could do the "I need backup" call, an Ares boy and a Demeter girl jumped out of the bushes and pointed their weapons-- two curved swords for the girl, a Roman spear for the boy-- at her. Eira tapped her ring and it became a silver sword. The boy jumped back, and Eira recognized him as the Asian boy she'd met the day before, Frank.

Leo grinned widely. "Good try, Eira. You're surrounded. We aren't going to hurt you... too badly."

Eira rolled her eyes. "You think you've won just because I'm surrounded?" she laughed. "You think I'm not just going to..." She raised Chionothyella and hit Frank's spear so hard, she almost disarmed him. He regained control of his weapon and attacked. She parried with her blade. Sword against spear was hard. Eira wasn't used to Roman fighting, either. She slashed at the other girl, making sure not to hurt her. The girl wasn't paying attention, but Leo yelled, "Watch out, Miranda!" and the girl blocked Eira's strike. They fought for a while, and Piper and Annabeth appeared in the clearing from opposite directions.

"Eira!" Annabeth yelled. She drew her bone-sword and took over the battle with the Demeter girl, Miranda. Piper lunged for the flag, but Leo put up a wall of fire between her and the tree. Piper stepped back and tripped over the pressure-sensitive plate that triggered the trap in the tree. She went shooting upward, caught in the trap. "Help!" she yelled, but Annabeth and Eira were too busy fighting Frank and Miranda to free her. Annabeth was doing well with Miranda, but Frank was beating Eira and Eira didn't have a huge amount of stamina because she'd been at camp for only a day. Leo joined the fight with a fiery hammer and helped Frank corner Eira against the tree. Chionothyella clattered to the ground. Eira grimaced, finding herself weaponless.

"Eira, hang on!" Annabeth yelled, still fighting Miranda. Frank drew his bow and nocked an arrow. The point was dull, but Eira was sure it could give her a serious bruise if shot correctly, and if she remembered what Leo had told her, Frank was pretty darn accurate with a bow.

Eira blocked her face using her hands, knowing there was no escape, and suddenly the center of her palm became ice cold and something hit Frank in the face, sending him stumbling backwards. Leo's mouth dropped open in shock, and Annabeth and Miranda stopped fighting to watch. A few other kids had showed up, and they all stood frozen with amazement.

Frank recovered quickly, but he stared at Eira in surprise. "What the--"

Eira stared at the ground, looking for what had hit Frank. She saw it at Frank's feet-- a small, solid block of ice.

"Wh-what--" Eira couldn't speak. The ice hadn't come from nowhere. At the same time as it appeared, her hand had gotten very cold. She'd summoned the ice.

She stared at her hands in horror.  Uncertainly, she thought snow. Instantly, a flurry of snowflakes burst from her palm.

Piper had freed herself from the trap. She stared at Eira with fear in her eyes.

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth whispered. "Eira?"

"I-- I didn't--" Eira stammered, but it was useless. It was all a lie. She'd promised herself she'd never do it again. She'd lost control.

As she stepped away from them, a jet of ice shot from her hand, just barely missing Leo and hitting a tree, which was immediately coated with ice. Leo whispered something in what sounded like Spanish, taking a step back. The clearing was filled with faces with expressions of shock, wonder, and even fear. Then a bluish-white glow lit the clearing, the source in the air above Eira's head, and the whole clearing gasped. Eira tried to look at the light, and caught a glimpse of a silvery blue sphere swirling above her head. Twirling around inside the sphere was a bright white, intricate snowflake.

"No," Leo gasped. "It can't be."

"That's the symbol of the goddess of snow," Annabeth said quietly, dropping to one knee. "You've been claimed by Khione."