Daughter of Wine

Callida

I can't get Eros's words out of my head. His voice echoes on repeat inside my skull, as if he installed a magical speaker in there. 

I am the god of love. I am never fair.

"Shut up." I mutter under my breath. 

Even a glancing hit at true love is more than most heroes manage. A glancing hit. You and I are not so different. Love and insanity.

"Shut up!" I say a little louder. 

"Huh?" Leo frowns at me. "I didn't say anything."

"Not you." I sigh, rubbing my temples. "Just... talking to myself."

"Uh huh..." He sets down his screwdriver. We're at the prow of the ship. Leo has dismantled Festus for maintenance. He wants to rewire his processor for a motor control upgrade with the Archimedes sphere. I'm supposed to be helping. 

"Sorry." I do my best to shake Eros out of my head. 

Leo stands and walks over to me, grabbing my shoulders and looking me up and down. "You've been acting funny, ever since you got back from Croatia. Did Cupid... did he say something to you?"

My heart pounds in my chest. "Of course he did. I told you."

That's not the whole truth. I didn't tell him everything Cupid said. But to be fair, neither did Jason or Nico. In fact, we kept the Cupid-talk to an absolute minimum, for Nico's sake. As far as our friends know, we fought Cupid and he gave us the scepter. 

"Calli..." Leo tries, his expression dropping. He lets go of my shoulders. "What did he say?"

"Nothing, really." I try, gripping his hand. "It doesn't matter."

Leo looks up at me, a worried expression on his face. "If he said something about us... I mean, you've been so distant... I'm just, I feel like-"

"Leo." I bring my hand up and stroke his cheek with my thumb. "Eros said I've found true love." 

His face brightens immediately. Cupid had also asked if I doubt myself. Of course I do, but I don't doubt that I love Leo. That's a fact. As solid and strong as the foundation of Diocletian's palace. 

"So what is it, then?" He rests his arms on my shoulders lacing his fingers. 

"Nothing." I insist. "He was just kind of an ass, that's all. He... nevermind." 

"He what?"

I grimace. "It's... it's almost embarrassing. He said that... he said that he and I aren't so different. That love and insanity are two sides of the same coin. He made it seem like... like I was going to have to deal with something big soon. And I'm scared-" My voice cracks. "I'm scared that I won't be able to handle it."

Leo tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. "If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that you can handle anything."

 A glancing hit, Callida.

I shudder, but push the thoughts out of my mind. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Okay." He shrugs, picking his screwdriver back up. "What do you want to do in Miami?"

"Huh?" It takes me a second to put his train of thought together. "Oh, Miami." I can't help but smile. "When we're done with this quest. I don't know. I want to go back to South Beach, for sure. I haven't been since I was a kid. I guess I just want to see it again. What about Houston?"

"You mean besides the mechanical bull riding?" He jokes. "I want to show you my mom's old machine shop." He doesn't look at me, but I can tell he's nervous. "And I thought maybe... maybe we'd go to high school there."

"High school..." My voice trails out. 

"Yeah." He finally turns and raises an eyebrow at me. "But we could stay in New York, too, if you want."

"No, I mean, Houston works. I've just.. I've never been to high school."

"No?"

I shake my head. "I've lived at Camp Half-Blood since I was seven. Chiron home-schooled me. High school always seemed so scary and foreign."

"Well, it's up to you." Leo shrugs. "But if we went together, we could be a team there too." 

I can't help but smile. "I have to admit, it does seem a lot less scary if you're there with me." 

"Of course it does. I'm like, a bully repellant, obviously." 

I can't help but laugh. It feels so good to laugh. Eros's voice seems so distant and far, like the speaker is running out of battery. 

"I thought you'd like to join the soccer team." Leo continues. "I'd go to all your games, of course. And you could help me with history, and I could help you with math."

"I can do math!" I insist. 

"Yeah, okay." He scoffs. 

I punch his shoulder, and he grins up at me. "True love, huh?"

"Shut up, boludo."