Our Parents are WHAT?!?

17: Family Love

Author's Note: Hi guys. I am so sorry for not updating in a while. I just got off of crutches after 8 weeks and was kind of stressed out about getting back all of my skills at gymnastics before the upcoming season. So sorry about that. But here is your next chapter. I'm thinking only two more chapters after this. Anyways, continue to R&R and ENJOY!

Leo's POV

After the monster attack and stupid Gian returned, I went back to my mom. I wanted to show her around my new home. She had met Calypso and fallen for her in a motherly way just like Sally had for Annabeth. I left the scene and grabbed my mom's hand pulling her into a tour. I showed her the dining hall, the training arena, the forges, and the Hephaestus cabin. I even showed her the underground tunnels. We were almost finished with the tour. There were two more things I wanted to show her.

"C'mon, Mama," I said pulling her along like I did when I was little and wanted her to see a machine I had just created. She chuckled. "I'm coming, mijo." she laughed as I pulled her toward the woods. When I entered we were caught up with a hellhound that wasn't Mrs. O'Leary. I lit up my hands and blasted it with a hot burst of fire. It yelped and raced away. My mom looked amazed. "Gift from Dad," I explained. She nodded. I decided it was better not to bring up the fact that the reason she had died was because of my hands. "Okay," I muttered and gave a short whistle. We were still at the entrance of the woods and the thing I wanted to show my mom was deeper into the woods.

A few moments later, a whooshing sounded from above. I smiled as I heard the clicking and whirring of my favorite machine/pet ever. Festus, my automaton dragon that I had fixed before my quest to free Hera with Piper and Jason. My mom looked at the golden hide of the dragon that had just landed in amazement.

"Mom," I began. "This is my pet machine dragon, Festus." I looked at her shocked face.

"Did you make it?" I smiled.

"No, well, kinda? I don't really know. My half-brother, Charles Beckendorf created him. He died in an explosion though. He malfunctioned I guess and was threatening camp. My siblings were gonna trap it and destroy it because nobody could control it but Beckendorf. So on my first quest, I was only allowed to go if I could get us a ride. So I went into the woods, trapped Festus, and fixed the disk in his head. He was pretty friendly after that. I also created wings for him that night so we could fly. Then, on the quest, he broke down and his body was destroyed. Dad took Festus's head back to camp and I used it on the Argo II, which is the war ship I created for the war. Then, I died and came back to life and that brought Festus back too. So yeah..." I trailed off. My mom looked astonished.

"You died!" she screeched. I smirked.

"Yeah. For Calypso. Long story. Anyways, I am back now. Now, come and hop on." My mom happily climbed onto Festus's back with me. She locked her feet in between two of Festus's armored hide. Then she wrapped her arms around my waist and Festus took off into the sky. I smiled happily, loving the feeling of being back in the air again. And not at the least, with my mom. I could hear my mom laughing with glee as we rose higher in the sky far above the trees. "Go to Bunker 9," I whispered to Festus. who whirred his teeth in Morse code. Then, we took off and flew above the forest to Bunker 9. Gradually, we lowered to the ground to the bunk. I thanked Festus and gave him some tobacco sauce. My mom gave me a questioning look. "He's weird." I answered simply. She cracked a similar smile to my own and I approached the rock. I gently set my fingers ablaze and pressed them to the rock. With a shallow growl, the rock slid against the ground revealing the best place ever. My mom gasped and I smiled once again as I entered the room.

"Leo, what is this place?"

"Welcome, to Bunker Nine," I announced. "I found it when I fixed Festus. It's kind of my hide out." My mom nodded at a loss for words as she surveyed the room while I took a seat and began to fix a mosquito killing centaur, the same kind that I had been attacked by on my first day. My mom slowly walked around. She studied the array of tools lined on the walls. She looked through the cluttered work benches that lined the walls. She glanced up and saw the multiple blue prints tacked to the walls. She stopped on the original of the Argo II. Not the one that I had drawn, but the real original.