Burning Passion: A Leo Valdez Love Story

Chapter 7

{LEO}

"Rainbows. Very macho."

"Everyone be on their guard, but remain calm."

What kind of an idiotic order was that? It'd be pretty hard to "remain calm" if you had to "be on your guard" as well.

"The camp is under attack."

Yep. That little detail. Wonder what the attack was? I hoped everyone was okay.

I looked at Jason. "What do you think this is all about?" I asked him.

"I have no idea," he said, looking at Piper. She shook her head as if she had no idea either.

"Okay . . . uh, what do we do now then? Go outside?" I asked.

"Yeah, we might as well," Piper said. She got up and pulled Jason with her. I followed them out.

Outside, the air was thick and polluted smelling. I pulled my shirt up to cover my face.

"Oh, gods, what happened to the air?" Piper asked.

"It's awful!" Jason agreed. "Why don't we split up?"

"And look for clues?" I joked.

Piper glared at me. "Good idea, Jason. We'll find the thing-or things- faster that way."

I noticed she out an emphasis on Jason. Oh well, I didn't particularly deserve praise right now.

I nodded. "Okay. I'll go that way. You two lovebirds stay together if you want," I said to them, smiling.

The two of them nodded and headed in the opposite direction of me.

I walked away and started to walk toward the smell. I thought it was a good idea . . . then again, I was kinda feeling sick from it.

The air was thick and foggy, with a green tint. I was starting to feel light-headed.

Then, I ran right into someone.

"Ow!" they cried.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed. "Who . . ." Then she came into vision. "Oh, it's you, Louise."

"Hi, Leo!" She smiled brightly at me. Even in the situation we were in, she was still flirting with me. Th way she acted with me was the complete opposite of how Naia did.

"Leo." Another figure walked forward. I could tell by her voice-and her dismissive tone-that it was Naia. Behind her was that creepy girl, Aislin.

"Hey, Naia," I winked.

She glared. "Don't you have something better to do than flirt with me?" she hissed. "And if you're going to try that garbage on anyone, do it with Lou."

I smiled. "Cute and selfless."

As an answer, she smacked my arm, hard.

"Let's go. We came out here to find the monster, not to chat," she said.

"Let's go!" Aislin echoed. "Naia's right. Come on!" She squealed, looking excited.

"Want to help us look, Leo?" Louise asked.

"Sure," I replied.

We set off for the source of the air pollution-or hopefully, since that was the intent.

"You know what I think?" Aislin said.

"What?" I asked.

"That we have two people who like the same person in the same area. I can practically smell the tesion!"