The Skeletons In The Closet

Chapter Six

Frank's POV

I knew we weren't in Virginia anymore. I breathed a sigh of relief seeing that we weren't in Canada either. It was pretty hot out and cacti were all around us.

"We're in Texas," Will deducted. "So is it you?" Clarisse asked him. "Well it's either me or Leo," Will answered.

I looked at Leo and his face was scrunched up. "I..."He trailed off, walking forward, towards what looked like a machine shop. "I know this place. This is me."

I watched him carefully, trying to gauge how he would react. His face was pretty neutral. But then a sudden fear filled his eyes and he backed up, right into me. He was too flustered to apologize. "Not today," he muttered, "please not today!"

"What happens today?" Travis's question fell on deaf ears, for Leo was not paying attention to any of us.

"Hey man, you okay?" I asked. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. He was a lot paler than usual, but he forced a smile. Even now he was trying to be the funny guy. When I first met Leo, it drove my crazy, but then as I got to know him, I realized it was just a defense mechanism. Considering how much he used it, it was a little concerning.

Piper and Jason made their way to Leo. "Is today..." Piper asked. Leo just nodded. He made no move to enter the warehouse, so I decided to lead the way. The sun was kissing the horizon when we slipped in the door. We heard clangs and other tools making a lot of noise coming from the back.

We followed the noise to see a woman and her eight year old son. The woman was maybe in her mid thirties, a long dark braid down her back. She was wearing overalls and her hands were covered in grease. She definitely seemed like a hands on kind of woman.

The eight year old Leo was standing next to his mom, watching her hands and copying her movements. He was constantly telling jokes, making her laugh.

"Alright, mijo," she said, packing up what she was working on, "time to go."

I turned to look at Leo. His eyes were wide as he stared at the woman. "Mom?" He asked. But of course she didn't answer, because we weren't technically here. Not really, anyway.

We followed the two of them to the front of the warehouse, back the way we came, into a lobby of sorts.  There was a set of double doors leading back into the warehouse. The 'lobby' we were in had a table set aside and a coffee maker. The rest of the room was decorated with pictures I assumed Leo had drawn and blueprints for different projects.

Leo and his mom had just reach the doors leading outside when Leo's mom stopped. She patted her pockets and frowned. "I forgot my keys. Wait here, mijo." She walked off, back through the warehouse, muttering something about "swearing she had them".

Leo reached out his hand to his mother as she left, and somehow I knew something horrible was going to happen.

Young Leo drummed his fingers in the table as he waiting for his mother.

The smell of dirt and grass suddenly filled the room and the door Leo's mom left through slammed shut. Leo's head snapped up and he ran over, pulling at the now locked door. "Mom?" He called.

There was a flurry of movement in my peripheral vision so I turned to look. I yelped and leapt back. Gaea was standing right there.

I had to remind myself that she was asleep. We'd defeated her. I steadied my breathing and watched the scene unfold. This was in the past, I reminded myself.

Gaea's eyes were closed and her smile sickly sweet. Leo's face was filled with terror. His hands caught fire and he screamed, launching fireballs at her. She just scoffed and came towards him. Leo seemed to realized what he'd done as the warehouse caught fire.

He turned and started pounding on the door again, screaming for his mom. I heard a call come from the other side of the door, and then silence.

Leo faced Gaea once again. The warehouse was completely engulfed in flames, and I could sense it would collapse pretty soon.

Her smiling face seemed sinister now, daunting. "Remember this day hero, when you face me again." And with that she was gone.

The building started to come down. Firefighters ran in and did a quick sweep of the room, finding a weeping Leo. One fire fighter got down on his knees in front of Leo and told him something. I couldn't hear it over the roar of the flames.

He picked Leo up and retreated back outside. We followed, catching a glimpse of Leo over the fire fighter's shoulder, reaching a hand out to the burning building before collapsing in a sobbing heap on the man's shoulder.

We just stood there as the warehouse collapsed around us. Leo looked down at his feet looking absolutely heart broken. Calypso enveloped him in a hug. "Hey, it's not your fault."

"How can you say that?" He pulled away from her, looking suddenly angry. "It was every bit my fault! I started the fucking fire!"

I realized that it'd never occurred to me that I wasn't the only one afraid of Leo's fire. To some extent, he was scared too.

"Listen to me," Piper said, taking Leo's face in her hands. "What I just saw was Gaea. Alright? Gaea. She's the one that-that killed your mom. Not you, do you understand?"

Leo broke eye contact and nodded. "What was her name?" I asked softly. "Esperanza Valdez," he answered gruffly.

"We're really sorry about your mom, Leo," Hazel said, coming up to give him a hug.

"And the fact that despite this, you faced her again, and even killed her yourself? That's," Thalia paused, looking him in the eye, "that's pretty brave."

Leo cracked a smile at the compliment. He took a deep breath as the flames melted away in front of our eyes.

We ended up in what looked like a foster home. A woman and a man were trying to corral four kids, trying to get them to go to bed. Leo was among them, looking glum and depressed.

Even after the other three kids got into bed, Leo remained at the window, looking out at the night sky. The man came with a belt. Leo's eyes widened in fear as the man snapped it for emphasis.

Leo scrambled to his feet, trying to slip by to his bed, but the man grabbed him by the arm and whipped the belt across his back. He did this once more before letting the boy scramble to his bed, where he lay on his stomach, his back too sore.

He ran away the next morning.

Who's next?