Daughter of Wine

Leo

Riding Arion is the best thing that's happened to me all day, which isn't saying much since my day has sucked. The horse's hooves turn the surface of the lake to salty mist. I put my hand against the horse's side and feel the muscles working like a well-oiled machine. For the first time, I understand why car engines are measured in horsepower. Arion is a four-legged Maserati. 

Ahead of us lies an island. A line of sand so white, it might be pure table salt. Behind that rises an expanse of grassy dunes and weathered boulders. 

I sit behind Hazel, one arm around her waist. The close contact makes me uncomfortable, but it's the only way I can stay onboard. Behind me, Calli has her arms wrapped around my waist, which I like a lot more. I can feel her breath on my neck, giving me goosebumps. 

Before we'd left, Percy pulled us aside to tell us Hazel's story. According to him, Hazel is a daughter of Pluto. She'd died in the 1940s and been brought back to life only a few months ago. 

I find that hard to believe. Hazel, seems warm and alive, not like the ghosts or other reborn mortals I've tangled with. 

Arion thunders into the beach. He stomps his hooves and whinnies triumphantly, like Coach Hedge yelling a battle cry. 

"Seriously," Calli mutters. "What's the horse equivalent of putting a bar of soap in someone's mouth?"

We all dismount, and Arion paws the sand. 

"He needs to eat." Hazel explains. "He likes gold, but-"

"Gold?" I ask. 

"He'll settle for grass. Go on, Arion. Thanks for the ride. I'll call you." 

Just like that, the horse is gone. Nothing left but a steaming trail across the lake. 

"Fast horse." I note. 

"And expensive to feed." Calli scoffs. 

"Not really." Hazel says. "Gold is easy for me." 

I raise my eyebrows. "How is gold easy?" 

Calli shudders. "Please tell me you're not related to King Midas. I don't like that guy." 

Hazel purses her lips, as if she regrets raising the subject. "Never mind." 

That makes me even more curious, but I decide it might be better not to press her. 

Calli kneels and cups a handful of white sand. "Well... one problem solved, anyway. This is lime." 

Hazel frowns. "The whole beach?"

"Yeah, see?" Calli asks as I crouch down next to her. "The granules are perfectly round. It's not really sand. It's calcium carbonate." I pull a Ziploc bag from my toolbelt and dig my hand into the lime. 

Suddenly I freeze. I remember all the times the earth goddess Gaea had appeared to me in the ground, her sleeping face made of sand or dirt. She loves to taunt me. I imagine her closed eyes and her dreaming smile swirling in the white calcium. 

Walk away, little hero, Gaea says. Without you, the ship cannot be fixed.

"Leo?" Calli takes my hand gently, calming and exciting me at the same time. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I look up at her and her eyes shine. "Yeah, fine." 

Calli helps me fill the bag. "We should've brought a pail and shovels."

The idea cheers me up. I even smile. "We could've made a sand castle." 

"A lime castle." 

Our eyes lock, and her expression changes from a goofy smile to an intense gaze. Her eyes, just for a split second, dart to my lips, making my chest pound. 

Hazel frowns. "You are so much like-"

"Sammy?" I guess, breaking eye contact with Calli. 

Hazel falls backwards. "You know?"

"I have no idea who Sammy is. But Frank asked me if I was sure that wasn't my name." 

"And... it isn't?"

"No! Jeez." 

"You don't have a twin brother or..." Hazel stops. "Is your family from New Orleans?"

"Nah. Houston. Why? is Sammy a guy you used to know?"

"I... It's nothing. You just look like him." 

I can tell she's too embarrassed to say more. But if Hazel is a kid from the past, does that mean Sammy is from the 1940s? If so, how could Frank know the guy? And why would Hazel think I'm Sammy, all these decades later?

We finish filling the bag in silence. I stuff it in my toolbelt, and stand to scan the island. Bleach white dunes, blankets of grass, and boulders encrusted with salt like frosting. "Festus said there was Celestial bronze close by, but I'm not sure where-"

"That way." Hazel points up the beach. "About five-hundred yards." 

"How do you-?"

"Precious metals." Hazel explains. "It's a Pluto thing." 

Calli tilts her head thoughtfully. "Handy talent. Lead the way, Miss Metal Detector."