Daughter of Wine

Callida

When I wake up, I'm in the co-pilot's seat of the helicopter. I'm in a panic. All of Tristan McLean's emotions had rushed into me. 

"Woah, mamacita." Leo is beside me. He's... he's flying the helicopter now? "Take a breath."

It takes everything in my waking mind to push the panic away. It's not my panic to have. I know that gods and monsters exist. This is just residual energy. 

I take a shaky breath, and feel myself calming. "Where are we going." 

"Some guy's mansion." He tells me. "Jack London. Ever heard of him?"

"He was an author." I remember. "Call of the Wild, White Fang-"

Leo rolls his eyes, but smiles. "Nerd." 

I look behind me and see that Piper and Jason are asleep in the back. "What did I miss?"

"Well, I got to carry you again, Coach left with Piper's dad, Thalia called and told us to go to the Wolf House, apparently we have until sunset to free Hera." 

"That's... a lot. I missed a lot." I look at him again. "Are you really flying the helicopter?"

As if my words trigger some sort of reaction, Leo suddenly struggles to keep the chopper steady. "Let's not think about it too much, yeah?" He laughs shakily. "I think about flying, I think about crashing." 

"Okay, let's talk about something else." I agree. "What's that drawing in your pocket?" 

"Pass." He scoffs. "What's that note in your pocket?"

I imitate his scoff. "Pass." 

He rolls his eyes. "Okay, tell me about yourself." 

I feel my cheeks burn. "There's not much to tell." 

He shakes his head. "Nah, don't do that. You were crazy scary with whatever you did to Enceladus. You were glowing. There's a lot to tell about you." 

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. My ribs ache, but I don't think they're shattered to pieces anymore. I ate ambrosia until it felt like if I took one more bite, I'd dissolve. "After Gaea killed my mom, my dad brought me to Camp Half-Blood. Everyone found out I was a daughter of Dionysus, and they just... assumed I wouldn't really try to learn how to fight. So I did." 

"You became a good fighter because people thought you wouldn't?"

"Yeah, and..." I wince. I hate talking about my feelings and all that. I'm a happy, friendly, cheery person. I don't like talking about dark, scary, sad things. 

"And?" Leo waves his hand, gesturing for me to continue. 

I pull my knees up to my chest. "And, I didn't want to feel helpless again, like I did with my mom. I want to be able to protect the people I love." 

Leo is quiet for a few moments. "Yeah, that makes more sense." He looks over at me thoughtfully. "There's a lot more to you than you let on, you know." 

"There's a lot more to everyone than they let on." I raise my eyebrows as I stare out at the rolling hills. "It's like Shrek once said. People are like onions. Onions have layers." 

"He said that about ogres." 

"Okay, people are like ogres, who are like onions." I huff. 

Leo cracks a smile. "A very wise quote." 

I can't help but laugh a little. "What about you? You got to peel back one of my layers. Now it's my turn." 

I shift so that I'm leaning against the side of the helicopter, facing him.