"Don't wake him up yet, he needs as much rest as possible."
"Dude, it's literally past breakfast. If we don't start now, we won't get to the Amphitheater before lunch."
"You might not anyways. You'll have to go slow and take breaks, he's still weak."
" He can hear you," Leo complained grumpily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. "And he is tired of sitting in bed and would love to get going."
Percy shot Will a triumphant grin, and Will held the back of his neck sheepishly. Leo wasted no time in throwing the blankets off his legs, and sitting up on the edge of the bed. A wave of lightheadedness swept through him, and he closed his eyes for a moment, letting it pass.
"Are you alright?" Will asked in concern. "A little dizziness is normal after not getting up in a few days, but if it's too bad, another day of rest won't do any harm."
"Nope, I'm feeling great! No need for anymore bedrest! Now, do you have any clothes I can change into?" Leo asked, glancing down at the pale gray-blue sweats and T-shirt he was wearing. "Because hospital clothes make for really bad first impressions. And trust me, I would know."
Will frowned for a moment, but then gestured to the pile of clean clothes beside Leo's bed. Percy exhaled with a laugh, and restlessly tapped his foot while he waited for Leo to get dressed in the bathroom that Will pointed out.
Leo ran his hands over the soft fabric of the orange shirt, admiring the design. It had a black pegasus in the center, and the words "Camp Half-Blood" encircling it. He couldn't remember the last time he had touched something new that wasn't a hand-me-down from past foster kids or children of foster parents.
The T-shirt was coupled with a pair of jeans, and those were clearly used, but they were clean, and that was miles better than anything Leo had worn in the past several weeks.
He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and left the bathroom feeling more refreshed than he had in months. He pulled on the army boots he had brought with him to camp, and listened to Will talk as he tied the laces.
"-new Hecate camper arrived last night, so I'll be in the infirmary watching over her if you need anything," Will said, marking some things on a clipboard.
"Is she okay?" Leo asked, kneeling beside his backpack and pulling out his army jacket. Someone had washed all the clothes inside, folded them neatly, and repacked them. Leo was mildly annoyed that they had gone through his stuff, but decided he couldn't complain when he pulled the clean-smelling article of clothing on.
"She'll be fine, she just had a bad encounter with Stymphalian birds on her way to camp," Will answered, his eyes filled with a gentle worry for the girl. "She'll be alright once she sleeps it off."
"Okay, then, we'll get out of your hair!" Percy said, straightening from his slouched position and glancing toward the exit. "Leo, ready to go?"
"Yep!" Leo replied, swinging his backpack over his shoulders. Logically, he knew that he could leave it and come back for his stuff after the tour, but he really didn't want to be without the pack. Everything that Leo owned was inside.
"Don't push yourself too hard!" Will was shouting as they headed towards the door. "Come back if anything feels wrong, and take plenty of breaks!"
"Sure thing, Doctor Sunshine!" Leo replied with a wink over his shoulder, and Will rolled his eyes in faux annoyance while Percy snorted a laugh.
The son of Poseidon pushed open the front door, and Leo was immediately assaulted by the bright sun rays, blinding him after the dim infirmary lighting.
"Agh! My eyes!" Leo exclaimed, blinking rapidly as his eyes watered. "Why is the sun out?! It's the middle of September!"
Percy laughed, and Leo shot him a glare through squinty eyes. Percy raised his hands innocently and said, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you!"
"I'm not laughing," Leo deadpanned, and then burst out into giggles.
Percy raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'ya sure about that?' but his own laughing hadn't ceased. Once they both finally quieted down and Leo could open his eyes without feeling like his cornea's were on fire—which, why should the sun be able to hurt his eyes?! He was fireproof—Percy explained the weird climate of Camp Half-Blood.
"Basically, there's this stuff called Mist that covers everything and keeps the mortals from knowing about us. It shields the camp and lets us control the weather within the borders," Percy said, and Leo just stared at him with a look that said 'huh?'
"Yeah, I don't really know how it works either, you'll have to ask Annabeth, or Chiron, or really anyone who isn't me," Percy finished apologetically. Leo shrugged, and honestly felt a little better that he wasn't the only one completely lost.
Percy led him along a paved path that started at the front door, and Leo spun around, walking backwards as he studied the building they had just left. It was a large sky blue farmhouse with peeling paint, a wraparound porch, and enough height to have at least four stories.
"I know I tend to get distracted easily, but I'm pretty sure the infirmary was not that big on the inside," Leo remarked in mild confusion.
"Oh, yeah, that's the Big House where Mr. D the camp director, and Chiron the activities manager live. The infirmary is attached to the side," Percy explained, and then his expression turned thoughtful. "Usually they would have introduced themselves to a new camper by now, but I guess they're waiting for you to get settled."
According to what Will and Percy had said, Chiron and Mr. D seemed to be the only adults at camp, and Leo was perfectly fine with never meeting them if that was an option.
They continued down the path until they reached a long wooden cabin, its windows stained with various designs, and the wooden front doors engraved with images varying in detail.
Percy stopped outside the front doors, and Leo could hear female voices arguing loudly inside. Percy winced, patting his front pocket as if making sure that his pen was still inside, which did not bode well for Leo's physical health during this interaction.
"Um, you just let me go in first, and follow once I make sure everything is safe," Percy said, and Leo caught a quiet mutter under his breath, "and hopefully not get caught by a stray hex."
Percy pushed open the doors, and suddenly the intelligible voices became clear words.
"You can't use magic to paint them, that's cheating!
"You never made that a rule when we planned the competition."
"Well, I thought it would be a given!"
"Shut up both of you, it's obvious that I'm the winner anyway!"
"Oh, hi Percy."
"Hey," Percy's voice drifted out the front door, calm and unconcerned. "Mind if you pause your argument while I show a new kid around the Arts and Crafts building?"
"Yep! We'd already decided that I won anyway," Leo heard one of the girls reply, followed by an "umph!" and a "be quiet, Laurel!"
"Leo, you can come in!" Percy yelled, and Leo ducked in through the cracked doors, pulling them closed behind them.
Inside, there was color everywhere. Easels with large half-finished paintings, looms for weaving, metal sculptures, and drying pottery littered the tables and floor. Three girls were standing by the pottery station, Percy a little ways away from them.
The oldest-looking of the trio—Leo guessed her age to be about sixteen or seventeen—had long blond hair, pale green eyes, and wore regular Camp Half-blood attire. The one standing beside her looked a couple years less than that and had brown hair and the same pale green eyes, so Leo assumed that the two were sisters. Both had bits of gold woven into their hair—a little too much, Leo thought, as if they had been trying to one-up each other with how much was tangled in the strands—and yet no jewelry.
The third and youngest girl, maybe around fourteen, looked drastically different from the sisters. She had black hair and dark green eyes, black cargo pants, and a black Camp Half-blood T-shirt with white lettering, as if she had magically swapped the colors. She wore necklaces and bracelets with colorful stones or charms, and one of her necklaces had a vial with a bright green glowing liquid inside. She also had neon paint splattered across her clothing, which Leo assumed originated from the brightly designed pot at her side.
The two sisters fought to introduce themselves first, but Leo eventually learned that the blond-haired girl was called Laurel Victor, the brown-haired girl Holly victor, and they were co-cabin heads from the Nike cabin.
"That's the Greek goddess of Victory," Percy explained, and Leo held back a snort. Well that explained a lot. "I'm pretty sure the only reason Chiron let them co-lead is so that they would be too busy fighting with each other to turn the camp into a dictatorship," Percy added under his breath, and Leo couldn't hold back his laugh at that.
Leo turned to the girl still yet to introduce herself, and found her already watching him. She had an intelligent look in her eye, and Leo was reminded of a wily street kid who would distract a store owner while she stole from right under his nose.
"I'm Lou Ellen Blackstone, but you can call me Lou Ellen," she said, holding out a delicate hand for Leo to shake. "I'm a daughter of Hecate, the goddess of magic."
Magic? Leo had kind of thought that Percy was kidding when he said he might have to dodge a stray hex, but it seemed that he was serious after all. The softly glowing vial of green liquid caught Leo's attention again, and he wondered if it was some kind of potion, and if so, what it did. So Leo being Leo, blurted out the question without thinking about it.
"What's in the vial?"
Thankfully, Lou Ellen just smiled mischievously and said, "want to drink it and find out?"
"Ah ha, no, I'm good!" Leo said quickly while Percy smirked a few steps away.
Leo and Percy left the Arts and Crafts building to the Victor siblings arguing about who was brave enough to drink the potion, and Lou Ellen watching with her arms crossed as they bickered.
Percy then led him to a large lake with canoes tied to the long wooden dock. There was no one there, and Percy explained that most campers would be busy with chores at that time of day.
Normally when Leo heard the word 'chore,' he would groan and mope, because why do boring things like chores when he could be building incredible machines? But at Camp Half-Blood, Leo had a feeling that the chores would be anything but boring.
To the right of the lake, a huge structure rose up from the ground, its wooden bleachers large and imposing. It reminded Leo of one of those medieval battle arenas in movies where the Romans would force captives to fight to the death. Percy assured him that campers rarely died in the Amphitheater, as it was used primarily for chariot races. This did nothing to reassure Leo.
Percy guided him inside, and Leo saw a pair of kids working on a golden chariot. They both looked around fifteen or less, and Leo's eyes were immediately drawn to the first camper's hair. It was ginger and cut right above her shoulders, but the shock factor came from the bright blue and green streaks dyed at the tips, the tones warring with each other like the orange and blue of a setting sun and rising moon. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows hanging around her shoulder, and bright blue eyes that reminded Leo of Will.
The second half-blood was an African-American boy with cornrow braids in the shape of a double helix. He wore black slats and a black wool pea-coat like a jazz performer from the 1930's, and he had a saxophone strapped to his back like he was prepared to spring pop-up jazz performances the second the occasion called for it.
Leo must have been standing unmoving for a second too long, because Percy put a hand on his shoulder and ushered him towards the pair. Resting for a minute had caused Leo to realize how sore his legs already were just from the short amount of walking they'd done so far, but he chose to ignore the ache for a little longer.
"So," the ginger-haired girl said slowly. "You're the one who's got the whole camp buzzing? Kind of young to be the focus of a pro-"
"Shush!" The jazz performer whispered harshly. "I'm sorry, she's not good with new people," he added apologetically, shooting her a glare. "I'm Austin Lake, and this is Kayla Knowles. We're both children of Apollo."
"I'm Leo Valdez, and don't worry, I'm notoriously horrible with first impressions," Leo said, trying to win over the Kayla girl with a joke. Leo had only met a few demigods, and he would really prefer if his time at camp was not spent hiding from people who hated him.
Austin smiled at him and gave a little laugh, and Kayla's eyes softened just slightly, as if she was amused but refused to let it show just yet. Leo counted that as enough of a win, and his eyes focused on the chariot they were cleaning. Kayla must have noticed him staring, because she gave an explanation, her eyes glowing with pride and her animosity forgotten.
"It's a flying chariot!" She proclaimed eagerly, her hand running along the smooth metal edge. "The Apollo cabin stole it from some monsters earlier this year."
"No. Freaking. Way." Leo said, his voice practically quivering with excitement. "How is that even possible? Did they use some kind of magnesium alloy? No, that would account for the lightness, but not the strength. Maybe titanium? Or maybe…"
His voice trailed off as he caught the confused looks on their faces, Percy appearing completely lost.
"I don't know," Kayla said with a shrug. "I told you we stole it."
Leo shook his head in disbelief. They had an entire flying chariot and no one had thought to figure out how it was made? What if it broke and they had to repair it, or they wanted to make a fleet of them? Leo resolved to think more about it later, however much he wanted to chip off a piece of the metal and drop it in a highly acidic fluorine solution.
After saying goodbye to Kayla and Austin, Leo and Percy climbed over the hill at the back of the Amphitheater and stepped out of the copse of trees into a large clearing. The center of the field was occupied by a fifty foot tall climbing wall, and Leo stopped in his tracks, staring open-mouthed at the structure while Percy chuckled at his expression.
The wall had two sides and a space in between, and the two sides smashed together periodically, causing rubble to fall and the two demigods climbing the wall to grasp on tight and hug their bodies to the rock. Attached to the wall were stones and branches that jutted out as obstacles for the climbers to dodge. Oh, and if that wasn't dangerous enough, there was also lava.
It spewed from the top every time the two sides of the wall smashed into each other, and a basin at the bottom contained the falling lava for it to be reused. The pair of climbers were fast, flying up the cliff face with a graceful strength, but whenever lava fell, they ducked and hissed, dodging the drops.
A grin spread across Leo's face and he imagined smoking them all as he scaled the wall unburnt, the lava like a lukewarm bath. Well, when he was finally strong enough to do the actual climbing part. Currently, black spots were swimming in his eyes, and his muscles were aching like he had already scaled the wall and come back down.
"-alled Sherman and Mark, and they're from the Ares cabin," Percy was saying, and Leo realized that he had zoned out. "Ares is the god of war, and most campers from that cabin are crazy competitive."
Leo just nodded, and then the two made their way to the beach, Percy pointing out various landmarks and telling stories of what had happened at each one. At this point, Leo's ribs were aching, his head was pounding, and Percy seemed to have caught on.
"Dude, are you alright? You're being kind of quiet, which is seriously not normal," Percy asked, stopping at the line where grass turned to sand, and studying Leo in concern.
Normally, Leo would just brush it off and say he was fine. But then he remembered Will's stern speech about taking as many breaks as needed, and Leo really didn't want to hear the lecture he would get if he was unlucky enough to collapse during the tour. So he answered Percy with a sigh, admitting defeat.
"I'm just a little sore from walking, Aquaboy. But it's nothing The Human Flamethrower can't handle!" Leo hurried on, seeing Percy's expression growing more worried. "But maybe it would be best if we took a little break on the beach so that Will doesn't kill me himself," Leo added heavily.
"Sure thing, man," Percy said with a kind smile. "The Aphrodite campers left a couple beach chairs down there, and I've been wanting to catch up on some gossip from the dolphins."
For the fiftieth time that day, Leo decided to just accept the strangeness of everything that was said and move on. The two continued on towards a few lounge chairs, with Leo walking a little slower than normal, and Percy anxiously hovering nearby, as if afraid that Leo would pass out at any moment.
Leo just rolled his eyes playfully and assured him that he would be absolutely fine, and then Percy walked into the ocean like it was something he did everyday, continuing on until the water closed over his head.
Leo settled into one of the chairs, tucking his backpack under his head, and watched for a moment to see if Percy would come back up. Minutes passed without a stir in the water, and Leo accepted that Percy was doing his whole Aquaman thing.
The early-afternoon sun was beating down on Leo, cutting through the previously chilly morning air, and the wind rustled the leaves of the forest behind him. There were no demigods on this side of the camp, and the soft sound of the waves crashing over the sand was enough to soothe the headache that had been building.
Percy had said he might be awhile, and Leo was supposed to be resting anyways, so he allowed himself to close his eyes for just a moment.
Leo was asleep a second later.