THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

THREE

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]

L E O
chapter three: i steal a wicked bed from beyond the grave

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LEO VALDEZ'S tour was going pretty great.

well, in his opinion. he didn't care much about the blonde boy had to say. or about that girl, whatever her name was, who assigned the blonde to him. for the tour or whatever. leo didn't care at all.

well, until he learned about the dragon.

the archer dude, who he learned was named will solace, seemed pretty cool. everything he showed leo was so amazing, it should've been illegal. real greek warships moored at the beach that sometimes had practice fights with flaming arrows and explosives? sweet! arts & crafts sessions where you could make sculptures with chain saws and blowtorches? leo was like, sign me up! the woods were stocked with dangerous monsters, and no one should ever go in there alone? nice!

and the camp was overflowing with fine-looking girls. he didn't quite understand the whole related-to-the-gods business, but he hoped that didn't mean he was cousins with all the pretty ladies. that would suck. at the very least, he wanted to check out those underwater girls in the lake again. they were definitely worth drowning for.

will showed him the cabins, the dining pavilion, and the sword arena. "do i get a sword?" leo asked asked the blonde curiously.

will glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing. "you'll probably make your own, seeing as how you're in cabin nine."

"yeah, what's up with that? vulcan?"

"usually, we don't call the gods by their roman names," will told the new demigod. "the original names are greek. your dad is hephaestus."

"festus?" leo had heard somebody say that before, but he was still dismayed. "sounds like the god of cowboys."

"he-phaestus," will corrected him, blinking at him like he found leo a bit bizarre. "god of blacksmiths and fire." he had heard that too, but he was trying not to think about it. the god of fire...seriously? considering what had happened to his mom, that seemed like a sick joke.

"so, the flaming hammer over my head," leo said, blinking at his guide. "good thing, or bad thing?"

will took a while to answer. "you were claimed almost immediately. that's usually good."

"but that rainbow pong dude, butch. he mentioned a curse."

"ah...look, it's nothing. since cabin nine's previous counselor died — "

"died? like, painfully?"

"i ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it."

"yeah, where are my home dawgs? shouldn't their senior counselor be giving me the v.i.p. tour?"

"you've already met her. chandler is your counselor." will forged ahead before he could ask anything else.

"curses and death," leo said to himself. "this just gets better and better." he was halfway across the green when he spotted his old babysitter. and she was not the kind of person he expected to see at a demigod camp. leo froze in his tracks.

"what's wrong?" will asked.

tía callida. that's what she'd called herself, but leo hadn't seen her since he was five years old. she was just standing there, in the shadow of a big white cabin at the end of the green, watching him. she wore her black linen widow's dress, with a black shawl pulled over her hair. her face hadn't changed a bit; leathery skin, piercing dark eyes. her withered hands were like claws. she looked ancient, but no different than leo remembered. "that old lady..." leo said. "what's she doing here?"