The blazing storm

Chapter 12

Darcy and Leo stumbled into the Hepheastus cabin, laughing.  "Do you have a television?" Darcy asked excitedly. 

Leo grinned and led her towards a back room.  Darcy could barely contain her joy.  The room was filled with all sorts of modern technology made out of celestial bronze.  There were televisions, videogame consoles and computers.  "No way!" She exclaimed happily.   

Leo grinned.  "The other Hepheastus kids and I designed it." He gently took her hand and led her to a brown leather couch.  The flopped down on it together.   Leo flicked the television on with a remote and an episode of Doctor Who was halfway through.

Darcy looked at Leo suspiciously.  "Were you watching without me?"

Leo looked away guiltily.  "Maybe."

Darcy laughed and leaned against him.  "It's fine.  Press play." She nudged him. 

Leo smiled at her and did as she asked.  After a few episodes, Darcy started to drift off. 

"Drink this." Hecate thrust a small vial of black, bubbling liquid at Leora. 
Leora eyed the liquid suspiciously and crossed her arms.  "Why?"
Hecate got impatient and shoved it into Leora's hands.  "You want to keep that child, drink it." She hissed.
Leora looked at the vial in her hand.  "What is it going to do?"
Hecate smiled triumphantly.  "As soon as that child is born, you will become a full demigod again and that child will just be the child of two demigods, nothing more."
A smile played across Leora's lips.  "I'll be a demigod again?" She asked happily.
Hecate nodded.  "You do want to return to being a demigod, do you not?"
Leora nodded quickly.
"THEN DRINK THE ANTIDOTE." Hecate raised her voice. 
Leora brought the vial to her lips and downed the liquid.  As soon as she swallowed it, she grimmaced and coughed.  "What was that?" She gags.  "If I could throw up, I would."
Hecate rolled her eyes.  "Just because you are immortal dosen't mean you can't taste nasty things." Hecate turned on her heels and walked away. 
As soon as Hecate was out of sight, Leora wiped her tongue off on the edge of her toga.  "Bleehh." She said then looked down at her stomach.  "Did that make you feel queasy too?" She asked.  She smiled and gently patted her stomach.  "I can't wait to see your father again." She smiled.  She walked over to her bed and layed down.  "He's wonderful, you know." 
Leora pulled a celestial bronze trident pendant out from under the collar of her toga.  She turned it over between her fingers and her thumb gently rested against an orange stone on the end of the trident.  She sighed and dropped it back against her neck.
"Only a few more weeks." She smiled at the thought of seeing Leo again.  "Oh gods, I miss him."

Darcy woke up with a start when something on the TV monitor exploded.  Leo jumped a little as well.  Apparently he'd been sleeping as well.  Darcy wondered if he had the same dream as her. 

"Spoilers." A voice sing-songed on the television.  Leo rubbed his eyes.

"I was totally awke." He said. 

Darcy straightened herself out.  "Hey," She said drowsily.  Leo looked over at her.  "Did you have that dream about-"

"Pickles?  Hell yes." Leo grinned. 

Darcy thought for a moment and decided not to bring it up.  They curled up on the couch again. 

3 1/2 years ealier
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Darcy was still bummed out that she never caught up to Leo's warship. 

James was always trying to lift her spirits.  He was sweet and caring.  One day, he miraculously showed up with enough money to rent themselves a small hotel room.  Darcy didn't know how he did it, but she was to overjoyed to sleep in a real bed again to ask. 

They had just learnt that James was the son of Hermes a few weeks ago.  A green glowing symbol of a winged shoe appeared over his head in the middle of a marketplace.  The mortals around them started to panic.  They didn't know what was going on. 

So, naturally, the two ran. 

"We will be able to go back to America soon." James said enthusiastically one night.  "As soon as we land ourselves new passports and enough money for plane tickets." 

Darcy was excited.  She wanted to go back to Camp Half-Blood and run around with the other Half-bloods.  Those happy thoughts kept her running throughout the months. 

There was a tall bath stone wall near their hotel which the climed every night.  They looked over the city if Athens.  Lights sparkled like a million stars that had touched the earth.  But it also looked like there had been a war there recently.  Tall buildings where crumbled and on the verge of tumbling to the ground,  trees had been ripped from the ground and big boulders had to be moved out of the streets.  Darcy and James suspected it had something to do with Gaea and Leo's warship. 

Darcy looked up at James' face.  The lights reflect softly off his hair and his eyes.  Darcy realized how handsome he was.  She never really looked before and only really saw him as an older brother.  But now that she was older herself, feelings started to surface.  She tried as best she could to suppress them, but it simply wasn't working. 

It was hard to share a small bed at night and not brush up against eachother every once and awhile.  Often, she woke up and found herself tangled in his arms. 

Darcy leaned up against his shoulder.  James peered down at her.  "Hey sweetheart," He said, grinning.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him.  "How goes it?"

Darcy smiled up at him.  "Just fine." She felt lost in his eyes.  They sat there staring at eachother for a few minutes.

Darcy could barely take the tension anymore.  She unconsciously looked at his lips and the next thing she knew, he was kissing her.  His lips felt so warm and soft against hers.  His hands gently gripped her biceps and pulled her body closer to himself. 

Every inch of Darcy's skin felt like it was on fire.  The good kind of fire though.  The kind of fire that tickled her pleasantly.   When they finally pulled appart, they were both gasping for air.  "Gods," James breathed and rested his forehead against Darcy's.  "I don't think I could have waited any longer." He said.

Darcy closed her eyes and smiled.  When she was little, she always wanted to have her own night in shinning armour.  In her mind, she'd always seen Leo because he was really the only boy she ever talked to.  But everything seemed so much clearer now.  It felt like she and James had been made for eachother. 

That night, they slept in eachother's arms.  The next morning when Darcy woke up, she was greeted with a kiss. 

She felt absolutely wonderful. 

And she never wanted that feeling to end.

Present day
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Leo made fake gagging motions.  "Gooey romance is not my thing."

Darcy narowed her eyes and moved to better look at him.  "So what was this thing about you and Leora?" She asked, crossing her arms. 

Leo rolled his eyes, turned of the TV and stood up.  "Come on," He said offering her a hand.  "We're going to be late for supper."

Darcy took her hand and heaved herself up.  They walked to the dinning pavillion together, playfully bumping eachother's shoulders. 

They split and went to their respective tables.  As she ate dinner, Darcy kept playing her newfound memory over and over in her head.  She could almost feel James' lips on hers from that night.

She glanced over her shoulder at the Hermes table.  James looked up as if he felt her gaze and winked.  Darcy looked away and bushed. 

She felt like if she was falling in love with him all over again.