(Un)masked

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Leo hadn't slept all night, but he felt better than ever. He'd studied Rachel's statue over and over, something picking at his brain he couldn't figure out.

Then it hit him. The red dirt. He'd seen it before.

His old school, where he'd met Piper and Jason, had been in Oklahoma. The land there was incredibly rich in iron, resulting in red clay dirt. It was common in southern states. At the time, he'd thought it was the most boring thing in the world. He'd passed the time drawing mustaches on the windows so if a person passed by at the right time, the unlucky pedestrian seemed to be sporting a lovely handlebar.

Now, he was thankful his busy brain usually picked up conversation happening a room away, even when it bothered the hell out of him.

"This red-dirt is found only in the more southern regions of the United States, including Oklahoma, the Carolina's, and a small patch in rural New York-" his teacher had droned, boring him out of his mind until he'd been forced to take her chair apart and add in some springs so the next time she'd sat down, there was a little extra...bounce. Long story short, she'd broken her hip and he ended up here.

Ah, memories.

He'd googled the location of this red-dirt, and discovered a small strip mall, a couple warehouses, and other such places had been built on it. Know what stores were in this strip mall?

Halloween stores. Meaning: masks.

The giant jerks who'd taken his boyfriend didn't seem that smart. Hopefully, their HQ was near the mask shop. He'd opened up all his friends doors, blasting an air horn and basically freaking out.

"Leo, what?" Annabeth asked, rubbing her eyes, still in her pajamas. It was 3 AM, after all.

"CLUE!" he screeched, and she was wide awake. As soon as he'd explained the situation, they all changed out of their pajamas and got supplies.

"I'm calling the cops!" Annabeth announced as they were getting ready. "Seems like the right thing to do."

However, she wasn't on the phone five minutes before she screamed "Wait? Are you crazy?" And hung up.

"I'm leaving his father a voicemail, and then we're going. The police are being idiots," she sniffed, ushering them out the door. "Get the supplies."

Supplies being medical kits, a couple of knives, cell phones and candy bars.

Chiron had specifically told them they had no curfew, probably hoping they'd use the time to grieve. But there wasn't any grieving happening tonight, oh no.

Tonight they were finding Nico, and bringing him home.

________________________________

Nico's sword may have been confiscated by Gaia, but that didn't mean he was out of tricks.

It had started out with a lack of screaming after a round of crazy gas. The effort it took to stop the yells was tremendous, and resulted in him actually biting through the fabric of his favorite jacket, but he knew the result would be worth it.

Sure enough, after about an hour, the gears of the platform started to creak and Otis was dropped down.

It seemed Nico's luck was really improving. Gaia would have seen through his ploy in an instant.

"Boss lady says to make sure you aren't dead. Since you ain't screamin'," Otis said, lumbering over.

"You ain't dead, are ya? Euphie will kill me if you're dead...."

"No, you idiot. I'm not dead," Nico laughed, trying his best to sound pretentious and haughty, not like he was terrified. Behind Otis, things flickered in the shadows, looming faces and empty eyes.

We've all got bruises. (Leico)Where stories live. Discover now