DEJA VU || Leo Valdez

eight

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"How did he die?" Leo asked. "I mean Beckendorf."

It was obvious that Brooke didn't want to answer or even think about it. "Explosion. Beckendorf and Percy blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn't make it out."

There was that name again—Percy Jackson, Brooke's secret brother, Annabeth's missing boyfriend. That guy must've been into everything around here, Leo thought.

"So Beckendorf was pretty popular?" Leo asked. "I mean —before he blew up?"

"He was awesome, the best. He was always so nice to me especially when I first came to camp." Brooke reminisces. "It was hard on the whole camp when he died. Jake—he became head counselor in the middle of the war. Like a lot of campers, actually." Brooke pauses, those harsh memories and that dreadful feeling coming back, she tries to shake it off. "Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, things started to go wrong. Cabin Nine's chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that—the Curse of Cabin Nine. And I wasn't here for a while but then I'm guessing Jake had his accident—"

"Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned," Leo guessed.

"I assume they're working on it," Brooke stops. "And here we are."

The forge looked like a steam-powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. White marble columns lined the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pumped smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sat at the edge of a stream, with several waterwheels turning a series of bronze gears. Leo heard machinery grinding inside, fires roaring, and hammers ringing on anvils.

They stepped through the doorway, and a dozen guys and girls who'd been working on various projects all froze. The noise died down to the roar of the forge and the click-click-click of gears and levers.

"'Sup, guys, this is your new brother, Leo Valdez." Brooke introduces.

Leo looked around at the other campers. Was he really related to all of them? His cousins came from some big families, but he'd always just had his mom—until she died.

Kids came up and started shaking hands and introducing themselves. Their names blurred together: Shane, Christopher, Nyssa, Harley (yeah, like the motorcycle). Leo knew he'd never keep everybody straight. Too many of them. Too overwhelming. None of them looked like the others—all different face types, skin tones, hair colors, height. You'd never think, Hey, look, it's the Hephaestus Bunch! But they all had powerful hands, rough with calluses and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who couldn't have been more than eight, looked like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat.

And all the kids shared a sad kind of seriousness. Their shoulders slumped like life had beaten them down pretty hard. Several looked like they'd been physically beaten up, too. Leo counted two arm slings, one pair of crutches, an eye patch, six Ace bandages, and about seven thousand Band-Aids.

"Well, all right!" Leo said. "I hear this is the party cabin!"

Nobody laughed. They all just stared at him.

Brooke cringes. "I'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Could somebody show Leo to dinner when it's time?"

"I got it," one of the girls said. Nyssa, Leo remembered. She wore camo pants, a tank top that showed off her buff arms, and a red bandanna over a mop of dark hair. Except for the smiley-face Band-Aid on her chin, she looked like one of those female action heroes, like any second she was going to grab a machine gun and start mowing down evil aliens.

With a nod and a fist bump to Leo, Brooke left. But not before sending Leo a if you need me call me look.

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Brooke was not ready to walk past an empty Poseidon cabin. She didn't want to face the facts yet. The fact... the fact that Percy's gone. A part of her was worried that maybe Annabeth was right. That even though she clearly stated it in her letter, Percy tried to look for her. Alone, with no backup, and no leads, just decided to leave and search. Meaning he could be anywhere, possibly hurt.

No, Brooke thinks, he can handle himself. If I could do it surely he could too.

Brooke not wanting to think overthink and make herself sadder decides she should go to the Big House. She hadn't seen Chiron in a while and greatly missed him. She was sure he already knew of her return. Word spreads quickly around the camp.

As she made her way to the Big House she was startled by Annabeth and Rachel?, running past her towards the Big House holding a limp Piper. Brooke quickly follows after them worried about her friend.

The four girls, well, three girls carrying an unconscious Piper, ran onto the porch and opened the door.

"What happened?" Jason rushed over. "What's wrong with her?"

"Hera's cabin," Annabeth gasped like they'd run all the way. "Vision. Bad."

Rachel looked up, and Jason saw that she'd been crying.

"I think ..." She gulped. "I think I may have killed her."

Brooke's heart drops again for the second time today. I don't think I can handle any more bad news, she thinks.

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