THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

TWENTY-FIVE

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

L E O
chapter twenty-five: wheel! of! fortune! & i also meet hephaestus, so i guess that's cool, too

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LEO KEPT looking back.

he half expected to see those nasty sun dragons toting a flying chariot with a screaming magical saleswoman throwing potions, but nothing followed them from her flaming store from hell. he steered the dragon toward the southwest. eventually, the smoke from the burning department store faded in the distance, but leo didn't relax until the suburbs of chicago gave way to nothing but snowy fields, and the sun began to set, casting them in a golden glow.

"good job, festus," he patted the dragon's metal hide with as much affection as he could muster. "you did awesome." the dragon shuddered in response, or leo assumed it was a response. gears popped, and clicked in his neck. the hephaestus boy frowned as he didn't like those noises. if the wires were failing again — no, hopefully, it was something minor. something he, or his older sister could fix. "we'll give you a tune-up next time we land," leo promised the dragon, trying to mask his nerves. he pasted on a smile, forcing his voice to sound lighthearted. "you've earned some motor oil, and tabasco sauce."

festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. he flew at a steady pace, his great wings angling to catch the wind, but he was carrying a heavy load. two cages in his claws, plus three people on his back, the more leo thought about it, the more worried he got. even metal dragons had limits.

"leo." piper patted his shoulder, trying to catch his attention from being hyper focused on his dragon. "you feeling okay?"

"yeah...not bad for a brainwashed zombie." he hoped he didn't appear as embarrassed as he felt deep in side, but he felt it showed anyway. his neck was burning hot, no doubt the flesh flushed beet red. gods, as if anything else could go wrong. "thanks for saving us back there, beauty queen," he said, his gaze focused on the reins steering festus. he couldn't even look her in the eye after what had happened. "if you hadn't talked me out of that spell—"

"don't worry about it," piper interrupted, trying to brush the entire thing aside, as if it weren't major at all. but leo worried a lot despite her words of assurance. he felt terrible about how easily medea had set him against his best friend. the hephaestus boy could admit, those feelings hadn't come from absolutely nowhere. his resentment of the way jason always got the spotlight, and didn't really seem to need him wasn't something new. leo did feel that way sometimes, even if he wasn't proud of it.

what bothered him more was the news about his mom. medea had seen the future down in the underworld. that was how her patron, the woman in the black earthen robes, had come to the machine shop seven years ago to scare him, to ruin his life. that's how his mother had died, because of something leo might do someday. so, in a weird way, even if his fire powers weren't to blame, his mom's death was still his fault. when they had left medea in that exploding store, he had felt a little too good. he hoped she wouldn't make it out, and would go right back to the fields of punishment, where she belonged. those feelings didn't make him proud, either.

and if souls were coming back from the underworld...was it possible leo's mom could be brought back? he tried to put the idea aside. that was frankenstein thinking. it wasn't natural, nor was it right. medea might've been brought back to life, but she hadn't seemed quite human with the hissing nails, and the glowing head, and whatnot. no, leo's mom had passed on. thinking any other way would just drive leo nuts. still, the thought kept poking at him, like an echo of medea's voice.