Hello, everyone, I'm back! One more chapter to go after this!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

WARNINGS: LANGUAGE, DRIVE BY SHOOTING, BRIEF MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM


"Again?" Hazel asked in amazement.

The boys standing there were about the same age as the majority of the seven- sixteen. One of them was short with sleek, brown hair and blue eyes that stared at them in amazement; his pale skin was dotted with a few freckles. The other boy was darker skinned with dark brown hair that curled around his hair lines; his eyes were brown and friendly, but were now only shocked.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked. The two boys opened and closed their mouths three times, searching for words, but not finding any.

"This is Alex and Logan," Leo explained. "We landed on top of an apartment building; most adults would've brushed this off as a huge bird or something, but Alex and Logan are... different."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

Leo shrugged before mouthing, 'Not demigods. But maybe slightly clear sighted.'

The freckled kid, Alex, looked up. "What is-"

"An invention of mine," Leo told them. "It's pretty cool, but I'm still working out the kinks. He can get over heated pretty quickly."

The other boy, Logan, nodded, his eyes still trained on Festus. "Why's he blurry?'

Leo shrugged. "I can see him fine. Maybe you just need glasses."

Alex nodded, slowly. "So what are you doing here?"

Leo told him, "Well, I was going to visit my aunt, building bridges and such. But Festus started overheating, so we needed to land."

"Oh," Logan responded. "Well, do you want to come inside? I'm sure after all these years, my mom still loves you."

Leo laughed. "Can I bring my friends?"

"Of course. I'm not gonna leave them standing out here," Logan chuckled. "Come on."

Leo looked at his friends before following Logan and Alex; the seven, in turn, followed him.

"Same apartment?" Leo asked.

"Yep, 12B."

Logan unlocked the door and escorted them inside.

"Mom, guess who's here?"

"It'd better not be that Jamie girl again; she's no good for you, Logan."

A woman strolled out of the kitchen. Physically, she looked nothing like Logan. With pale skin and curly red hair, she was tall and thin and beautiful. Her eyes were green, and she resembled an older version of Rachel Dare. But there were similarities: their friendly expressions and broad smiles and the way they radiated kindness.

"Leo?" She whispered in amazement.

"Hello, Ms. Rodriguez," Leo said, sheepishly.

"Ah, none of that. You know you're supposed to call me Rose," she laughed before sweeping Leo into her arms almost like he was her own child.

The seven were busy looking around the apartment to notice the way Rose's eyes filled with tears when she saw Leo.

There were photographs everywhere. On the fireplace mantal, framed photos were in a neat line. In the center was a photo of a man that looked exactly like Logan, and the man was undoubtedly his father. On either side were more photos of him. One with a baby, who was probably Logan, and another with a two year old Logan. The pictures stopped after Logan was two. There were also pictures of a teenage Rose and a teenage version of the man, and another of the pair of them holding a one year old Logan.

There were more on the walls of red heads and more people that resembled Logan- family. But on the tables, there were photographs of boys. Alex starred in a few of them, starting from the time he was six until a recent photo. Another one had a dark skinned boy in it that the seven had never met.

But there were also photos of Leo- thirteen maybe. His eyes were a little more haunted, but his smile was still just as bright.

"Where have you been?" Logan demanded.

Leo shrugged. "Everywhere. After the incident, I couldn't take it anymore, so I did what I do best. I ran away. I found myself in New York, Nevada, Arizona, and back to New York."

"You could've called," Alex huffed.

"I'm sorry, but I thought you wouldn't want to hear from me after... the incident."

The group immediately saddened, and the seven were left wondering why.

"That wasn't your fault," Logan told him.

Leo smiled, sadly. "Sure."

"Dude, I'm serious," Logan told him. "What happened wasn't your fault."

"Then, who's was it?"

"The guy that pulled the trigger!" Alex answered.

"But he was aiming for me."

"So what? He hit Jordan; it's his fault, not your's."

Leo nodded. "Yeah."

"Leo, what are they talking about?" Piper suddenly asked.

The three jumped; they'd obviously forgotten the seven were there.

Leo sighed. "It's a long story."

"We've got time."

"Alright. I guess the best place to start is when I met Jordan Gollahand."

*FLASHBACK*

Leo had been bounced around enough over the past few years, but being moved again wasn't much of a surprise or a disappointment. After Jake and Terra, Leo didn't want to stay in that town anyway.

This town was small. It was a tiny town in northern Ohio with buildings squashed together, and Leo lived on the rough side of town with two drunks. At least they didn't hit him. Much.

He attended school, and he wasn't doing too bad. Sure, he wasn't straight A's, but he wasn't straight C's either.

That was where he met Jordan Gollahand.

Jordan was... normal. You wouldn't be able to pick him out of a crowd, but once you met him... you'd never forget him. He was tall and thin with long brown hair that curled at his neck. With brown eyes and a friendly smile, Jordan was... kind, smart, clever, a friend to all. He was different than most people, in a good way.

"So what's our science homework?" Leo asked as he jotted down their math homework in his notebook.

Jordan raised his eyebrows. "You're actually gonna do it?"

"Hey, I do all my homework. Except for my English," Leo added at Jordan's dubious look.

"I still think that that's not entirely fair. I mean, you're a genius in science and math and fluent in Spanish. That knocks out three subjects right there," Jordan pouted.

Leo laughed. "Sorry, dude. I was born naturally gifted."

"And narcissistic," Jordan joked.

"Don't you mean awesome?" Leo said, chuckling.

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Whatever floats your boat."

"Come on, we gotta get going," Leo said. "I told Logan I'd come over to help him with his Spanish project, so..."

"Can I come too? You can help me with mine."

"Sure, 'cause apparently I'm everybody's Spanish tutor now."

"It was your first language!"

"No, I learned English and Spanish at the same time, so Spanish is my half first language."

"Huh?"

"I don't know. I'm not good with words."

"You can say that again."

"Hey, neither are you. You have a C in English."

"That reminds me. How am I gonna explain that to my parents?"

"Beats me, dude."

"Well, how do you explain it to your parents?" Jordan asked.

Leo shrugged. "I don't have parents."

Jordan froze. "Foster parents?"

"They... don't really care about my grades... or me."

Jordan stopped Leo on the sidewalk. "Well, why don't you tell anybody?"

Leo shrugged again. "Jordan... I've been bounced around the system from Texas to Nebraska to Kansas to Michigan to here. If I tell anybody, they're gonna move me again. And it's not that bad; I've had worse."

Jordan frowned. "What's your home life like?"

Leo sighed. "They're drunks. The dad hits, but not very often. They forget to feed me, but if they do, I eat at Logan's or Alex's or your house. Honestly, it's the best home I've been in besides my last one, and... something happened there, so I had to move. I don't want to risk getting out of a bad home and into a worse home because trust me, that's happened before."

"Alright," Jordan relented. "But promise me that you'll come to me if things get too bad, okay?"

Leo nodded. "I promise."

Jordan surprised Leo by embracing him. Leo, after a few moments of hesitation, hugged back.

BANG! BANG!

Jordan slumped against Leo, who gasped in shock, his eyes wide. He looked up just in time to see a car speed off, a gun being pulled back into the window.

Jordan was loosing a lot of blood, and Leo laid him on the pavement, screaming for help. Stripping off his shirt, Leo pressed it against the two wounds in Jordan's back.

"Come on, Jordan!" Leo screamed. "No!"

The two wounds weren't even an inch apart, and they were in the top part of his shoulder. Any higher, and they would've hit... Leo's forehead. Which had been the intention.

Somehow, Leo knew that Blake's gang was behind this. He'd gotten many of them arrested after Julia, and they wanted revenge. They knew people all over the US, so it wasn't that much of a stretch that they knew people here Ohio.

"I'm sorry," Leo whispered. "I'm so sorry."

But Jordan didn't hear him. He was already before the judges, and Leo could only pray that he received Elysium.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

Piper hugged Leo.

"I should've kicked that bastard's ass," Jason growled. At Logan, Rose, and Alex's questionable expressions, he explained. "We met Blake back in Detroit. He helped Leo, but he was planning something. I know it."

Leo nodded. "I don't doubt it."

Alex walked over and placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Jordan doesn't blame you, I know he doesn't. And he wouldn't want you blaming yourself either."

Leo nodded. "I know. It's hard sometimes, though. You're always looking for somebody to blame, and in my case, that person's always me."

"Well, it shouldn't be," Frank told him. "None of these deaths were your fault."

"I know you're right. I'm working on it, but... it's not a habit I can break in one day."

"I know that feeling," Percy said.

Leo sighed after a moment. "We should get going, but this time, I promise I will call. Same number?"

Alex and Logan nodded.

"519-3557," Leo listed, pointing at Alex. "And 239-1017," he said, gesturing to Logan. "You see, I didn't forget you. I just didn't know what to say."

"Well, don't make that mistake again," Logan said.

Leo smiled. "I won't. I'll come visit sometimes. See you."

"Bye, Leo," Alex called.

Logan turned to the seven. "Take care of him," he ordered, too quietly for Leo to hear.

Percy smiled. "Oh, believe me, we will."

The seven followed Leo from the room and up to where Festus was waiting. Picking up on Leo's mood, he rubbed his head against Leo's shoulder, much like a cat would do (it was a very funny picture, considering Festus almost knocked Leo over).

"I'm fine now, buddy," Leo said. "Truly fine."

And he knew he would be. Someday.


They made it to New York. That was good, but somewhere over the South side of long Island- the opposite side where Camp was- something else happened.

Leo was sleeping for the first time in a while. After the talk with Logan and Alex, he'd found some closure over Jordan's death, and that closure was enough to make him forget about the others (at least for now) and sleep.

The woman came to him in his dreams. She was rapidly changing between people, so fast that Leo didn't recognize half of them. But the occassional glimpse was enough to know. Alexis, Bradon, Jordan, Maddie, and so many others... his ghosts.

She met his eyes and settled on his mamá.

"Who are you?" Leo demanded.

"I am Melinoe, goddess of ghosts."

"You're the one who's been messing with us, aren't you?" Leo scowled.

"Guilty as charged," she smirked, "but I did help you, didn't I?"

"I suppose, but I'm not about to thank you. There are a lot less painless ways to expose my secrets," Leo said, adding sarcasm to the end.

"It's not over yet, you know," Melinoe informed. "We still have one more alter to go."

Leo froze. "You mean..."

"Yes. Good luck, Leo Valdez. You're gonna need it."

Leo woke up, falling.


I apologize for any mistakes, but I was literally editing this as I got ready for school, so that involved a lot of multi tasking. Hope I didn't make too many mistakes! Thanks for understanding!