The wind howled through the broken window above Emma's head, making her shiver under her sweatshirt. She had been planning on stealing a coat from her foster dad, knowing that even in the spring it would get scary cold once the sun went down, but she didn't have time and the food was more important. Well, it was until now, when she could feel her bones rattling.
Emma finally gave up and decided to brave the dilapidated stairs, hoping whatever family had abandoned this run down house she was squatting in had also abandoned a blanket she could use.
She had scoped out this house every day for the last two weeks. It was close enough to her school that she could veer off the path on her way home to check if it had been sold or torn down, but far enough away from her foster home that no one would suspect her of living here for the time being.
The last straw had been when she had been moved to Texas, of all places. She'd been in the east coast for most her life, but it was much harder to find foster parents willing to take in a teenager, especially one who was only a month away from aging out of the system entirely. But that was her plan, wait it out until she turned eighteen and then she'd finally be free. That's all Emma had ever wanted.
The old staircase creaked under her sneakers, making Emma cringe. She knew from her recon missions that the only neighbours were an old deaf man and a nurse who worked the graveyard shift, but still, she didn't want to attract any attention.
The second floor seemed stable enough, albeit a bit dusty. She started opening doors carefully, looking for a storage closet or any room that might have something to keep her warm. She would've lit the fire place, but a smoking chimney didn't exactly say "Abandoned House, No Runaways Here."
A loud bang made nearly made Emma jump out of her skin. She reached into her bag and grabbed a flashlight, shining it low on the floor so it didn't show outside. Everything was still in place, but she noticed tiny footprints in the dust. They were clearly new.
"Hello?" Emma asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She didn't get a response, but she heard a small shuffle coming from the door ahead of her.
Emma knew those footprints couldn't belong to anyone but a child, but still, her heart raced knowing someone was in her hiding supposedly empty place.
She nudged the door open, finding a dark bathroom, moonlight shining from a hole in the ceiling. A small fire burned in what looked like a magazine basket next to the toilet and the medicine cabinet was crashed on the sink, probably what had made the bang. The moldy shower curtain was still translucent enough that she could see a small silhouette behind it.
Emma whisked it open, greeted by a bat swinging at her legs. The little boy was quick but she was quicker and she snatched it from him, holding it above her head.
"You aren't gonna get me," The little boy yelled, banging on Emma's hip with his tiny fists. Emma had never been tall for her age, but this kid was barely eye level with her navel. He had a pile of crazy black curls and he looked scary thin, like he hadn't eaten in days.
"Stop, hey, kid, cut it out," Something about her voice must have thrown him and he looked up at her with warm, dark brown eyes.
"You're not the scary lady," The boy said. He plopped himself down on the bathroom floor, like that small attack had taken all his energy. By the looks of him it probably had.
"No, I'm not," Emma said, kneeling next to him. "My name's Emma. What are you doing here, kid?"
"Can you put that out?" The boy asked her, tears starting to form in his eyes as he pointed to the basket fire. "I don't know how."
"What? Yeah, sure," Emma said. She picked up the slowly growing fire and dumped it into the back of the toilet. "How'd that start anyways?"
"It follows me, I dunno how to stop it." The boy said. "I don't like it."
"Okaaay," Emma said, not really sure what to make of this kid, he only looked to be about seven or eight but that still seemed a bit old to believe in fire monsters that chased you. "What's your name?"
"Leo," He said, slowly standing up. Emma reached into her backpack, finding the bag of blueberry bagels she'd filched from the kitchen of her foster home before leaving and handed it to the little boy. Leo's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas as he tore open the bag and shoved half of one into his mouth.
"Who did you think I was?" Emma asked. Leo finished his first bagel, dusting the crumbs from his already dirty face.
"The Scary Lady," Leo said. "She's got red eyes and a mean ponytail and snakes for legs."
"Snakes for legs?" Emma asked. This kid had quite the imagination. "Where do you live, Leo?"
Leo set the second bagel he was chowing on down as if he suddenly weren't hungry. "I don't live anywhere. The Scary Lady came to get me when my Tia Rosa didn't want me at her house."
Emma felt her own basket fire grow in her chest. This poor little kid had a family, or at least an aunt, and he was still on the run, just like her. She knew who the Scary Lady was. A social worker there to take him into foster care. She may not have had snakes for legs, but to a child who was being torn from everything he knew, she might as well have.
"How long have you been running from the Scary Lady?" Emma asked.
"I dunno. A week, I think." Leo said.
"They aren't trying to hurt you," Emma promised. It made her stomach churn to defend the system, but she knew a little kid couldn't face the harsh world on his own. He needed to go back to his social worker, no matter how scary she was. "You need to let her find you, she'd just trying to help you, Leo."
"No, please," Leo begged her. "She's gonna feed me to her snakes."
Emma smiled at him sympathetically. She figured he must have just lost his parents. She was found as an infant and she'd grown up in the system, but she'd known many kids who'd been taken from their parents or had recently been orphaned, putting them in the care of the state. The kids taken from their parents were used to having it hard, dealing with criminals or abuse or neglect, most of them were almost relieved to be taken in. But the orphaned kids were more frightened, they'd lost everything they'd ever known and anyone who cared about them and then had to be uprooted from their home. Leo had that look about him, like he'd been well cared for, at least until he had run away.
"I won't let anyone feed you to snakes, Leo," Emma promised. She felt for this kid. She resolved to take him to the police station in the morning and leave before they questioned her too. But for now, she'd let Leo spend the night in her hovel.
After finding some slightly mildewy blankets in the attic and camping out in the kitchen next to the oven that Leo had somehow managed to get working ("I can make things work" the eight year old had offered as an explanation), Emma's begrudgingly woke up her small new under the ruse of going to the store to get more food. She felt horrible about tricking him, but she couldn't take care of a kid. She could barely take care of herself. And she could leave him on his own. No, the foster care system would be the best fit for him now. Maybe she could find him after she turned eighteen, get his information to keep track of him. She felt like the biggest hypocrite, here you go kid, get taken in by the very institution I'm trying to run from, it'll be super.
Emma managed to help him clean up at the kitchen sink, washing his face and hands clean so he didn't look so much like Oliver Twist. He insisted on holding her hand as they walked out of the house together and while Emma tried to be annoyed, she had to admit it was kind of cute. They left around the time Emma knew school started so that they wouldn't draw any extra attention.
As they turned of their street, they passed a young mother herding her kids to school, the oldest looking about Leo's age. "Where's your mom, Emma?" Leo asked, looking up at her with his wild chocolate eyes. She could tell he was probably a trouble maker normally, the kid who was in time out more than anywhere else.
Emma gave him a strained smile. "I don't know," She said. "I never met her."
"You never met your mom?" Leo asked sympathetically. "It's okay, I never met my dad. My mom always said I would one day, though." Leo got quiet, his little hand in Emma's going tense. Emma figured she must have been right about him being an orphan. She hadn't had any luck getting any information out of him last night, so she'd just talked to him about other things he liked. Tommy Pickles was a personal hero of his and he had quite the knack for knock knock jokes.
"Things will get better, kid," Emma said, squeezing his hand.
"If you say so," Leo said, kicking a rock and avoiding Emma's gaze.
"Leo Valdez," Emma and Leo both turned at his name. A woman was stepping out of a parked car on the other side of the street, her hair in a mean ponytail just like Leo had described. Leo stepped in front of Emma, blocking her with his arms as if trying to protect her from the middle aged social worker who, at worst, would probably give her a paper cut. She looked brutal, sure, but no worse than any other case worker Emma had had. And definitely no snake legs.
"We gotta run, Emma!" Leo shouted as the case worker approached. "She's gonna eat us!"
"Leo, it's okay," Emma said, crouching down to Leo's level. "She's not going to eat you, she's going to take you to a safe place." The betrayed look in Leo's eyes stabbed Emma's gut. "Here, I'll talk to her," Emma tried.
"Emma, no!" Leo said, pulling on her hand, but Emma approached the case worker anyways. Leo stayed back on the sidewalk, looking at the woman as if she really did have snakes for legs.
"Hi," Emma said awkwardly. She was never good with adults. "My friend here is just a little scared, understandably."
The case worker regarded her with a tilted glance. "You smell...powerful," She said. "But not a demigod. An oracle maybe?"
"Demigod?" Emma laughed. "What, like Hercules?"
The case worker scoffed. "Hercules is nothing compared to what Leo Valdez will be. That's why my patron wants him dead."
"Dead?" Emma asked, her voice shaking. "Leo was right, you're crazy." The case worker's head snapped up at that, and Emma could swear her eyes flashed red.
"Leo, run!" Emma yelled back to the boy. He froze for a moment, clearly not wanting to leave her. "Leo, go, I got this."
"You have nothing, mortal," The case worker sneered. Emma swung the bag off her shoulder and into the woman's head, at least knocking her down for the moment. As Emma ran to the case worker's car, she saw Leo bolting for a fence up ahead. Emma just needed to buy him some more time.
She jumped in the car, finding the keys in the ignition. Whatever this lady was, it wasn't bright. She turned the car on and put it into reverse, backing up and slamming the back into the case worker, sending her back onto the ground, looking crumpled and broken.
Emma opened the door again, checking to see where her small friend had gone, but she saw no sign of Leo. At least that was good, he was safe for the time being.
"You little witch," The case worker growled, pulling herself up. Despite just being hit by a car, she seemed totally fine, but now her eyes were definitively glowing.
"Oh crap," Emma said. She hadn't intended on stealing a car, but stealing one from a demon case worker seemed like the right thing to do.
And at least now, she and Leo were free.