Haven't We Met Before?

Chapter 2: Backstories (Brianna's Point of View)

        After Leo took me to the "Big House," where a magical horse man named Chiron told me I was some sort of "demigod" and that I'd be "claimed" soon enough, we went to the lake to get more aquainted. I had had no idea about anything Chiron the pony guy said, so I asked Leo to dumb it down a bit for me.

        "Well," he began. "Basically, you're a child of some greek god or goddess. I'm a son of Hephaestus. Being claimed means one of the gods claim you as their daughter."

        "So..." I said. "My mom married a god and had me?"

        "Yeah, it's pretty weird," he replied. "But if you want to hear something really weird," he grinned. "When me and my friends Jason and Piper found out we were demigods, we were at the Grand Canyon with some school for troubled kids or whatever. So we get attacked by this idiot Dylon, who just so happens to be an evil storm spirit called a venti."

        "That makes them sound like evil espresso drinks!" I giggled.

        "I know, right? Anyway, Piper falls off, and Jason goes after her and BOOM! What do you know? He can fly!" We both started laughing until Leo almost fell into the lake.

        "So what's your story?" I asked. Sudenly, Leo saddened. Noticeably. "Oh, no! You don't have to, I mean I--" Leo cut me off.

        "No, no, it's okay, really," he told me. "I should probably open up to someone anyway." He hasn't told anyone about his past? I thought. "You see... My mom was a mechanic, that's why Hephaestus married her. And I had this crazy baby-sitter who called herself Tia Calida. She was actually Hera. Anyway, my mom died in a fire that--" his eyes actually teared up then. "That Gaea, the Earth mother, thought th-that I caused."

        "Leo, I'm so sor--"

        "No, I don't accept apologies. Anyway, I was in and out of foster homes and running away from every single one of them. Till I got to that place for "troubled kids," I basically was on the streets." We both were silent. Then, I did something entirely sudden. I leaned forward and hugged the crap out of that kid. Leo Hugged the crap out of me, too.