Waves of Fire || Leo Valdez

IV - We Meet the Pretty Boy of Ancient Greece

"Who is Aunt Rosa?" Hazel asked.

Leo didn't look eager to answer. "Long story," he said. "She abandoned me after my mom died, gave me to foster care. "

I felt a rush of sympathy for him. I'd always had my mom, and then Paul when he came along after Gabe had gone. This boy had lost his mom and no one else in his family would take him. A demigod's life really sucked. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well..." Leo seemed anxious to change the subject. "What about you? Who's Gabe?"

I wasn't up for a heart-to-heart either. "My ex-stepfather. My mom married him so the monsters wouldn't be able to smell Percy and me. He treated all three of us like trash."

Leo glanced at me. "That sounds bad."

" 'Bad' is an understatement," I mumbled, my hand drifting up to my neck where Gabe had choked me once after I'd bad-mouthed him. The bruises had faded, but the memories never would.

Leo noticed. "Does it still hurt?"

I blinked, wondering how he'd known. Maybe he'd been hurt by one of his foster homes. "No, but I don't think I'm ever going to forget about it."

Leo looked seriously guilty. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could figure out what happened."

I frowned. "What are you--" Then I realized he was talking about himself choking me when he'd fired on New Rome. "Oh. That's not what I was talking about, but I'm not mad at you. And we will figure out what happened."

"If you're not talking about Leo, then what were you talking about?" Hazel asked, frowning with concern. After a moment her eyes widened. "Alaia--"

I scowled. "You know what, I'm going to go scout ahead, see if I can find that cursed boy Nemesis was talking about."

I sped past Leo and Hazel, climbing one of the largest boulders to get a better view. I tried to calm down. I knew Hazel wasn't trying to be nosy, but I really wished she'd left that subject alone. I didn't like people knowing Gabe had hurt me. It made them pity me, and I hated people giving me pity. It made me feel weak.

A few minutes later, Hazel and Leo caught up to me and climbed the boulder I was on. I heard a yelp and I turned around.

Leo and Hazel were on the rock, holding hands, face-to-face.

I frowned. The whole reason I'd gone with Leo and Hazel was to avoid third-wheeling. Now here they were acting all infatuated with each other.

I cleared my throat.

"Um, thanks," Leo muttered.

"When we were talking to Nemesis," Hazel said uneasily, "your hands...I saw flames."

"Yeah," he said. "It's a Hephaestus power. Usually I can keep it under control. "

"Oh." Hazel put one hand protectively on her denim shirt again, like Leo was about to go for Frank's stick.

Leo frowned, looking depressed, and I had the feeling he was thinking about what Nemesis had said about him being the odd man out.

"Leo?" Hazel asked gently. "You can't take what Nemesis said to heart. "

He frowned. "What if it's true?"

"She's the goddess of revenge," I mumbled. "Even if she's on our side, she exists to stir up resentment."

Leo's frown faded.

"We should keep going," he said. "I wonder what Nemesis meant about finishing before dark. "

Hazel glanced at the sun, which was just touching the horizon. "And who is the cursed boy she mentioned?"

Below, a voice said, "Cursed boy she mentioned."

I drew Shaker. "Who's there?"

"Who's there?"

At first, I saw no one. Then my eyes adjusted and I realized a young woman was standing only ten feet from the base of the boulder. Her dress was a Greek-style tunic the same color as the rocks. Her wispy hair was somewhere between brown and blond and gray, so it blended with the dry grass. She wasn't invisible, exactly, but she was almost perfectly camouflaged until she moved. Even then, I had trouble focusing on her.