The blazing storm

Chapter 8

Darcy practically ran to the Hepheastus cabin.  The door was open and she ran right in.  She somehow knew what bed Leo slept in and walked right up to it.  Pictures were pinned on the walls, mostly of blueprints but there was one picture that was crumpled and burnt around the edges.  It was obviously well loved and used. 

She recognized Leo in the picture.  He sat on a beach holding a girl's hand.  With a jolt, Darcy recognized the girl as the one who saved James from the cage in her dreams.  Only in this picture, she was wearing an orange camp half-blood shirt and her hair was up in a ponytail.  She was also not pregnant.

The realisation hit Darcy like a brick wall.  Either Leo was going to be a dad or that girl had been sleeping around with other people and gotten herself pregnant.  

"Her name is Leora." Leo's voice came from behind Darcy. 

Darcy looked back at Leo.  "I saw her."

Leo took a step forwards.  "Where?" He asked in confusion, but there was eagerness present in his voice.

Darcy shook her head.  "In a dream." She frowned.  "She was kind of... round."

Leo didn't look surprised or angry.  Instead, he smiled.  "Yes, she would be.  It's been eight months." 

Darcy was the one too feel surprised.  "So you're..?"

"Going to be a dad?" Leo grinned happily to himself.  "Why yes, I am." He said proudly.

A smile twitched on Darcy's lips.  She looked back at the girl in the picture.  "Who is her godly parent?"

Leo walked over and unpined the picture from the wall.  "Posiedon." He said as he looked at the picture.  Darcy noticed that Leo looked at the picture with so much love.  And that was just the picture.  She knew that he must love Leora very much. 

"Where is she now?" Darcy asked quietly. 

Leo shrugged.  "She could be anywhere now." He stuck the picture back on the wall with a red thumbtack.  "She said she was coming back in nine months."

Darcy felt another twinge of depression, like the one she had when Leo told her he had a girlfriend.  She envied Leora. 

Darcy had another dream that night.  Even after telling Leo about her first dream, she didn't feel any better. 
Leora babbed at the cuts in James' face with a white washcloth.  It came away from his face stained a pinkish colour.  "They did this too you?" Leora asked, dipping the cloth in a steaming bowl of water. 
James was laying on a plush bed.  The room around him was decorated in gold and sky blue with a fluffy white carpet underfoot. 
He nodded.  "They needed information."  I winced as Leora started delicately wiping at his cuts again.  "And we wouldn't give them anything.  My friend I was talking about, Darcy, she has them all down her back." 
Leora looked very intent on cleaning out a specific cut.  "You said Darcy has known Leo since she was little?" She asked.  She was obviously trying too keep James' mind off his cuts. 
"Yes," James said smiling slightly.  "She always talked about him."  He smiled. 
"You must love her very much." Leora smiled kindly at him. 
James looked taken aback.  "L-love?"
Leora laughed.  It sounded like bells ringing in Elysium.  "You're not the best liar I've met." She ringed out the washcloth and dropped in the bowl.  "You love her, my friend, and it's pretty obvious." She winked at James. 
James' face was flushed red.  "Ya ok, maybe I like her a little bit."
Leora laughed again.  "I'll get you something to eat." She said before waddling out of the room.

When she came back, she was carrying a golden tray filled with all sorts of delicious foods.  She helped James sit up straight with one hand and balanced the tray in her other hand. 
She set the tray on James' knees and gingerly picked a glass mug of golden nectar of the tray.  She sipped it and a smile spread across her face as she remembered the fond memories that went along with whatever she was tasting.
James ate the meal on the tray hungrily. 
"Whoa there tiger," Leora took his hand that was holding his fork and slowly lowered his hand back to the tray.  "Slow down before you choke on something."
James looked down at the plate.  Half the food was already gone.   He started to chew again, only much slower. 
Leora smiled and took her hand off his.  "Plus," She sipped her nectar again peeking at him over the rim of the mug.  "We need too get you back to your girlfriend in one piece."
James smiled at her and resumed eating, savouring the flavours he hadn't had the freedom to taste in over five years. 
Once he was done eating and Leora was done her nectar, Leora gathered the dishes and disappeared out an intricately carved door.  She was back in a minute.  "You need rest," She said pulling a pair of silk violet pajamas from a golden dresser and handed them to James.  They looked perfectly his size, only the colour was an odd pick. 
James looked doubtfully at the pajamas in his hands.  "They're too soft." He hesitated before giving them back. 
Leora frowned.  "Ok." She placed them back in the golden dresser.  "Flannel or cotton?"
James smiled a little.  "So many choices." He peered into the open drawer.  To his astonishment, the drawer was smaller on the outside.  Inside it looked like it dropped all the way to the floor and it contained every pair of pajamas you could ever want in all the different colours of the rainbow.  They also all looked his size, oddly enough. 
He pulled out a scruffy looking pair of blue cotton pajamas and smiled over at Leora.  "These ones."
She smiled and left the room so he could put them on.  Once he was done, she came back and helped James crawl under the fluffy golden duvet.  "Get some sleep." She gave him another kind smile and walked to the door.  "You have a big reunion tomorrow."

Darcy woke up the next morning and went straight to her mirror.  She lifted up her shurt and turned and so that her back face the mirror and twisted her head to try and see her back and the cuts James had been talking about. 

From the corner of her eye she could she red scars crisscrossing down her back. 

"What the Hades?" A voice said from the door. 

Darcy dropped her shirt and swivled on her heels towards the speaker.  Leo stood in the doorway looking very concerned. 

He walked over and made Darcy turn around again before pulling up her shirt to get a look at the scars on her back. 

"Theses look infected." Leo dropped her shirt.  "Get some pants on, we need too go to the Apollo cabin."

Darcy pulled on the first pair of pants she could find which happened too be grey sweatpants.  Now that she knew the cuts were there, she started to feel her back pulsing and stinging at every move. 

As they walked towards tge Apollo cabin, Darcy couldn't help but be curious.  "How long have you and Leora been together?"

Leo looked over at her.  "This year wpuld be five years." He said, a ghost of a smile flickering on the edge of his lips. 

"And she's already going too have your kid?" Darcy pushed futher. 

Leo frowned.  "Yes," He said looking slightly offended.  "Isn't that what two people do when they love eachother do?  Make another person too love?"