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There were several things Leo had planned on doing with his day. None of them involved crashing, passing out, or meeting possible Greek goddesses.
Head still spinning from the impact, he tried to stand up. That was when he noticed the splinters in his hands. And his arms. And possibly his butt. He surveyed what had been an elegant wood dining table, before he’d smashed into it. It figured that Leo’s entrance to this place would be a crash landing. Only, where was he exactly?
He took a look around, noting the sun-bleached sand, the glittering Mediterranean Sea, and the….completely gorgeous girl standing on a rise watching him.
“Hi.” Leo swallowed hard. He tried to step forward, then noticed the smoking napkin, the spiffy cloth kind you found at hotels or other places he didn’t really see the inside of, which seemed to have melted against his shoe. He tried to shake it off, with little success. “Sorry about your table.”
“Are you hurt?” she asked as she approached.
“No-uh, not much.” He elected not to tell her about the splinters.
She lifted the hem of her dress enough to step around the table scraps safely. That was when Leo looked close enough at her to come to a very scary conclusion.
This was no regular high school girl. She had her hair braided neatly so it fell around her shoulders, and her dress looked old-fashioned, way too authentic Ancient Greek to have been from a costume shop. She looked, literally, like a goddess. Inhuman.
Leo swore mentally. She was like a foot away from him now. Was she going to whip out claws? Transform into a giant snake? Suck off his face?
She didn’t look monstrous. She looked…well, more than beautiful. Cute. Her eyes were huge, and the prettiest brown Leo had seen since he’d last looked at his mother. She had round cheekbones smattered with freckles, and a mouth that looked made for smiling. Unfortunately, it wasn’t now.
“You certainly look in better shape than the last boy who visited me.” She swept her fingers along his cheek, like she was testing for a fever. A wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows. “You’re a little warm.”
“Naturally hot.” he joked, then nearly cursed aloud. This wasn’t a girl he was going to flirt with. As if he even had a chance with a pretty, island-living Greek whajamahoozit. “I mean,”
She cracked a smile, and Leo dropped the rest of the sentence. It was a nice smile, just like he’d thought it would be. Who was he kidding? It was a freaking great smile.
Then another thought popped into his head. “Wait-last boy?” he managed. “There’ve been others?” He tried to keep his cool. “Did you eat them?”
So much for cool.
She laughed. Her laugh was even better than her smile. It was like bells, but warmer. “No, of course not. I heal them.” She looked him over, lips pursed, and suddenly self-consciousness replaced fear. Monster or not, he didn’t like to look stupid in front of pretty girls. “You don’t look like you need much healing, though.” she remarked. Her smile lessened.
“No, no, you can heal me if you want.” Leo found himself saying. Stupid, stupid. He held out his arms. “See, splinters. Lots of. There’s plenty to heal."
She laughed softly, and Leo felt something swell in his chest. It felt good to make her laugh. Suddenly he wanted to do it again. Maybe twice more. Or a million times. "I suppose you could come back with me, and I could wrap your arms, for the splinters. You look like you could use some food as well.”
Was that an invitation to eat with her? Was this girl asking Leo for a godly dinner date?
….He didn’t hate that idea as much as he probably should have. He had been facing a cranky snow goddess just five seconds ago. Who knew if his friends were okay? And Gaea was rising and everything, the end of the world, yadda yadda yadda.
Somehow all of that made it even more appealing.
“Yeah, I could do that.” Leo decided. “My arms could totally use a wrap, and food. Dinner. That is-”
The girl took his hand and Leo dropped it again.
As Leo followed her out of the wreckage, he promised himself that he wouldn’t have a crush on this girl, dang it.
He wouldn’t. He didn’t.
He totally did.