Leo

When he woke up in the morning, Leo felt the after effects of his fit yesterday. He sat up in bed and groaned. Then he looked down, and noticed he was different. He walked over to the mirror and gawked. He had grown to a solid 5'11 overnight. He knew his father had been assisting him yesterday, but he hadn't expected that there would be this much change. He felt like Frank, after his dad had given him the blessing of mars. His arms were toned from working on all the mechanical things he did, but that was nothing new. His face was more defined, more chiseled. He looked at his dark curls, which he secretly thought made him look like a little boy and walked upstairs. When he got to the deck, he saw Frank, Percy, Hazel, Annabeth, Reyna and Nico all at the table eating. An alarm started to go off in his head when he realized both Jason and Piper were missing from the table. Percy caught his eye and glanced at Annabeth as if hiding some sort of secret.

"Where's-" he started, but Frank stood up to intercept him.

"They just wanted to talk man," Percy said, looking at Frank nervously but they both held their ground.

Leo took in both of them and looked around quizzically. Everyone was on edge, and it took him a minute to realize that it was because of him. Yesterday, he had scared them. He didn't know how to feel about that, but he didn't have time to think about that now. He sighed and plopped down in a chair, French toast appearing on his plate. He dug in, not looking at the others. He sensed them all relax, as the tension was eased. Conversation eventually came back to the group, well except for di Angelo, but that guy never talked. Everything was fine until Jason and Piper walked in. All eyes immediately zeroed in on them, or more accurately, on their joined hands. Leo felt his body start to heat up, but he kept his gaze on his toast. He didn't even realize he had melted his fork until it started dripping into his food. He stood, pushing his chair back abruptly, his head still down, muttered "excuse me" and briskly walked out of the dining room.

"Leo, wai-" he heard Percy call, but he ignored him.

He rushed into his room and closed the door behind him, his eyes burning, and not from fire. He stood and looked at himself in the mirror, his anger and hurt overtaking him now. He saw his own eyes, which weren't as he had seen them this morning. They were dull, and he saw a sadness he hadn't seen since his mother's death. His body shook, and smoke started to curl out from under his clothes. It was all he could do not to catch the whole place on fire. After burning himself out, literally and mentally, he took a shower, letting the warm water trickle down his face, making streaks down his sooty face. He let the water run through his curls, down his neck, washing away all feeling. He felt that was the only place he could cry, his salty tears mixing with the hot water.