Drowning in the Siren's Song -II

Chapter 6

"You sing nice," Leo said. He gave compliments freely.
"Made me wanna wriggle." He proceeded to attempt a dance which looked like he was suffering from violent shivers. 

Percy forced his cheeks up initially but the extreme silliness of his actions made it so that he didn't need to force anything. 

Nevertheless, Percy replied with courtesy; happy. "Thanks."
He wasn't very sure on what 'wriggle' really meant, but his dancing gave it away. After watching his demonstration, he concluded that it looked similar to the way a Hydra's neck twitched after it was cut; except for the part where it was gruesome. 

"I could hear you all the way from the next street." He stated. "Came to be entertained and left a hero." He sniffed, looking very smug. He leaned back and placed his hands on his hips, smiling at nothing. 

"Thank you." Percy said again. Leo's act made him want to clap and cringe at the same time. He chose the former, of course. 

It was a good choice, since Leo puffed up more and blushed a little. Percy internally snickered at how cute he was, reminded of Jason and Reyna. They both also enjoyed receiving compliments but it was his first time seeing someone outrightly asking for them. 

He indulged him. 

After a while of casual banter, Percy got more comfortable with him. Leo's energy was light and contagious. It made him forget the darkness which lurked within him.

He knew that Leo had his own darkness but his efforts to fight it were commendable. Respectable, even. Percy knew near to nothing about him but he already knew that he was going to upset when it was going to be time to say goodbye. 

So for a few short minutes, Percy let himself smile and laugh, relaxing under the warm sunlight. It seemed like Leo, too was enjoying since his impish smile barely left him, except for the time he imitated a old man and crumpled his face. 

"Lets go get your money." Leo jerked his head in the direction from where they'd come from. Percy had every reason to agree with him, but didn't want to. He was having too much fun to return back to the chaos of a crowd. 

Nevertheless he nodded and got up, dusting of his clothes. He could feel Leo's eyes following his wrist but he conveniently ignored his hungry gaze. 

They had opted to run back- a light jogging pace, but they were made to stop frequently after Leo realized he'd used his all his fuel and adrenaline in dragging Percy till there. After a few stops, they chose to walk as Leo fumbled along, embarrassed. It wasn't long before they arrived at the site of incidence.

Keria, of course was upset and irritated. Thankfully, she didn't attack him at sight, but waited till Percy collected the hat with the heaps of bills and coins. Once she made sure the money was secured, all hell broke loose. 

Conveniently, the crowd had dispersed. He assumed that some were irritated by her persistence and some lost interest. So there was no prying eyes or questions as she attempted to shred his face. 

Percy had severely underestimated her.

He had confidently strolled in, assuming- maybe hoping- that her diminished size would diminish her ferocity. 
He was wrong. 

There was darkness surrounding him as she zoomed in and once he could see again, it was a blotchy red filter. There was blood trickling down from somewhere above his eyes, he got to know after listening to Leo's panic. 

After a moment of study he was thankful to realize that she had gone easy on him. There were only a handful of scratches all over him and just a particularly nasty one on his forehead which had decided to bleed. He wiped the blood on the back of his sleeve, wincing slightly. 

He would've headed to water the moment Keria was done with her rage but he didn't want Leo as an audience. He could feel a faint wave of worry coming from Keria once she understood that Percy was not going to heal himself. His ability was the sole reason she went batshit crazy on him. 

Percy laughed it off easily, reassuring the now wide-eyed Leo and sent soothing thoughts to Keria. Once she seemed calmer, he addressed Leo who seemed as scared as awed. 

"Feisty, isn't she." Leo made a small comment. Brave, considering how he was partially standing behind Percy.
The words were a question but his tone wasn't. He was blinking hard and looking her over as she settled on his shoulder. There was lingering surprise and fear lurking in his big eyes as he moved again, putting more distance between them. 

He was still curious.
Maybe he didn't realize it but he had crept closer as he studied her. She allowed him precisely 10 seconds before she spread her wings and snapped her beak. 

Of course, she forgot the fact that she was now a tiny bird and what once would look fearsome just simply looked cute and did no more than surprise Leo. 

Instead of troubling him more, Percy moved a step back, bringing a hand up to stroke Keria. Or rather, a finger. She was tiny.

"This is Keria." Percy patted her. 
"This is Leo." Percy patted him. 

"Uh... hi?" Percy's introduction was so serious that Leo felt obliged to greet her. A bird.
Well, he had done weirder things.
To his surprise (again), she gave a clipped chirp turned her head. Leo could have sworn she narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Your bird," Leo started, "She's blurry." He narrowed his eyes and blinked hard, the answer dawning over him. 

Percy had to admit he was sharp. Leo had now noticed his leather band as well as the mist around Keria. He suddenly made sure to pay more attention to his actions and words. 

What once was a casual pose turned into a calculated stance without any movements. He stopped petting Keria to think deeper. Even she calmed when she felt his turbulent thoughts.

Percy had already guessed that Leo had godly blood. But he didn't want to be responsible for his future. What he could tell him now could potentially influence his whole life. Just interchanging the words 'Glamour' and 'Mist' could turn the world upside down.

Percy sucked in a breath and forgot to breathe out when he realized that the thin line between the 2 worlds could be easily be broken by him. He had the potential to render the promises and vows of centuries useless. 

The barrier between Rome and Greek had been touched before, but all of them were accidents and were wiped out from history. The whole league of Gods had to come together to fix those 'accidents'. 

And here he was, a little boy with no allegiance, able to twist fate to whatever he wanted. 

Of course he wasn't going to do so. His sole desire was to escape unscathed. Meddling between the boundaries of the Romans and Greeks was equivalent to waving a red beacon while yodeling loudly. 

Percy mapped his thoughts in a split second and shook his shoulders. He snapped his fingers, sharp and light, and willed the mist to fade away.  

Bam! 
Leo tripped over his own feet as he stumbled backwards, landing right on his backside. He'd had too many surprises today. 

The tiny, black fluff of ruthlessness was now a very big, black not-fluff of ruthlessness. 

And boy, did she look smug looking down at him.