Heroic Spirits Of Olympus: The Lost Hero

"Call Me The Mechanic."

Okay, so Leo decided to be stupid. It happened plenty of times.. nothing to be worried about.. hopefully. 

Not like it was a surprise. Leo had some bad influences growing up.

Take his old babysitters for instance. Sister Kiara and Tia Callida. The two of them would always be the ones babysitting Leo when he was a child and his mother was up front at the machine shop dealing with customers.

Now Tia Callida, she was like the community grandmother. Tia itself meant grandma in spanish, but it wasn't because she and Leo were related or anything, but merely because she was sort of like the den mother of the area.  She babysat lots of kids. An old lady with a black dress, who would croon and sing as she knitted by the fire, she always told Leo to "Look at the flames through your hands, and not just your eyes.. feel the flame.. "

She would let Leo play with matches, put his hand in the fireplace when it was still smoldering, She even once tried to shut him in the oven before his mother came home shrieking and pulled him out in time.. 

Because of all of this, sometimes Esperanza would be forced to take Leo to the local daycare instead, which was expensive and took a whole day's wages to pay for. 

Now this one was just as crazy.. the Nun who managed the place, Sister Kiara, after he was around 5 years old, Leo figured this place HAD to be a cult.  The way all the children devotedly worshiped her like she was some sort of goddess..  it was.. almost.. sick really.  He had once peeked through a door and caught Sister Kiara breastfeeding a 14 year old... like.. what the heck! Even at 5 years old Leo knew that was just wrong. 

His mother was a smart woman though, and after only 3 days, she decided to leave Leo in Tia Callida's care instead of Kiara's. 

Callida might have let Leo do some crazy things, but he always was unharmed in the end weirdly enough. With Kiara he was more likely to need a restraining order with the Pedo Police. 

Sister Kiara didn't leave them alone though. She would visit regularly, bringing baskets of fruit for "her little trooper".. though Esperanza always threw the fruit away in disgust after Kiara left.. 

Kiara always looked at Leo in a creepy strange way..a lustful manner..

If you looked past this creepiness, she was actually a very beautiful woman. A well endowed woman with plenty of curves, and long black hair under her nun's habit. she looked like the ideal woman for many men.  But on more than one occasion, Leo would catch her shadow on the front porch of his mother's shop, and see what looked like the shape of long curved horns coming out of her head.. 

Tia Callida in particular hated Kiara. She always gave her a immense glare whenever she arrived at the front door with more fruit.

"Stay away from that woman.. "Callida would croon as she watched Leo draw with crayons on the dining table. "She is not to be trusted Leo Valdez.. never.. ever..  muy mal.. that's what she is.."

Leo came out of his thoughts momentarily in the present day to hold up his hand, lighting the night up with a ball of flames on his fingers.

Yep.. that's right, he was one of those fire wielders that Jake talked about.. probably forgot to mention that part right..?

He was currently walking into the forest at night..  looking for.. yep.. guess what.. the dang dragon. 

He had to after all. Maybe curses were real, maybe there weren't. Maybe he just thought Nero would be impressed if she saw him riding on a big Mecha Ghidorah thing into camp? Maybe give him a kiss that wasn't the result of altered memories?