Chapter 29! One more to go!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN.


"In which Leo meets a Future Enemy."

"That can't be good," Beckendorf muttered.

"Trust me, Becky, it'll be happening a lot more in the years to come" Leo said, wrapping an arm around Beckendorf's shoulders.

"First of all, not helping. Second of all, don't call me Becky!"

"After Lord Hades had gotten over his amusement, he had sent Sally back to her apartment, with an oath on the Styx that she would tell no one he laughed, as he had an image to keep after all, and then turned to Leo.

"Son of Hephaestus, I have been thinking on my children as of late, and though I wish for them to be removed from the casino, I have nowhere to send them. If I send them to camp, they will be crowded in the Hermes cabin, and that is unbefitting for my children. If I leave them in the mortal world, then they will be hunted. But their mother, my Marie didn't want them growing up in the underworld. I confess myself at somewhat of a loss."

Leo thought for a while. He knew that if they were removed from the casino too soon, Bianca would be older that Percy, which made her the child of the prophecy, and she would either have to die, or fulfil it. During his time at the casino, he had come to think of Bianca as his sister, and he really didn't want her to die. But he also wanted her out of the casino as soon as possible, especially with the bullies there.

If they couldn't go to camp, or the mortal world, or the underworld, then where could they go? "Lord Hades, there is an ancient law of Gods not getting involved with their kids right?"

"Yes, that is indeed one of my problems."

Leo thought back to his childhood, Hera must have broken that law, the amount of times that she almost killed him as a kid. "Does that mean that gods can't get involved with other gods kids? I could've sworn that that sometimes happens."'

Hesphestus glared at Hera at the reminder of how she'd treated his son.

"It is somewhat frowned upon, but not strictly against the law, why?"'

It was Zues's turn to frown, but he didn't complain. After all, he would've done the same for Thalia.

He should've done the same for her...

'"Well couldn't you remove them from the casino and ask a god, or goddess you trust to look after them, I mean, that could work right? Perhaps Lady Hestia would be willing to; I can't imagine her turning children away from a place to call home."'

Hestia smiled. "You are right, Leo."

She turned to Hades.

"Whenever you are ready to remove your children from the casino, I will aid you."

Hades appeared shocked.

"Thank you, sister," he said, smiling.

The gods should've been surprised, but they weren't. Partly because of the book, and partly because Hestia could get even the most miserable of the miserable to smile.

"The idea has merit Valdez, and I shall think on it. My eldest sister has always been kind to me. I have no intention of taking them out this year, or even next. I do not wish for my daughter to be the child of the prophecy, Poseidon's son can die for Olympus, but I will not allow my daughter to. I will send you back to the surface, be ready for a call from me at any time. I will require your service if I am to keep this from the ears of Olympus."

Leo bowed, "Yes sir" then felt a strangely cold sensation gripping him, when he next looked up he was standing outside the DOA recording studio, and felt a little sick. So that was shadow travelling. Leo thought her would have preferred walking back through the fields of punishment. He couldn't understand how Nico could stand travelling like that all the time.'

"He can't," Reyna rasped. "Remember when he started disappearing?"

Leo nodded, somberly.

"Disappearing?" Hades demanded.

"Nico shadow traveled so much that he started becoming a shadow," Leo explained. "He didn't, though. In that sense, he was okay."

"And in other senses?"

Leo didn't respond.

'Leo felt someone push past him and in his queasy state, fell over, groaning he got back up, and sent a glare at the familiar face. A snooty voice responded.

"How is it my fault that you were blocking the sidewalk?" then, in Latin, he added "ignorant mortal should stand aside for someone who is clearly better than he. Probably drunk." Leo peered closer; the guy had blond hair, was scrawny, and seemed to be carrying a small dagger. No way!'

Apollo groaned. "Not him!"

"Him," Leo smirked.

"I liked him better when he was a kid. You know, he used to be nice," Apollo appeared to be depressed for several moments. "I feel kind of bad for him."

"But at the same time, you want to throttle him," Reyna said.

"We know that feeling," said Leo.

Everyone else was simply wondering what the heck they were talking about.

'Now Leo had been doing quite well with separating people from their older counterparts, well up until now at least. Seeing the guy who had condemned both Leo's camp and his own to death, even a younger version, made his blood boil. He couldn't resist messing with him a little. Hanging around with Jason, Hazel and Frank, well, he knew a bit of Latin, and he wasn't particularly impressed with what the blond scarecrow had just said.

"You should be careful what you say, legacy, you never know who might be able to understand you. Gods can take any form. Be grateful I do not smite you where you stand." Leo took one look at Octavian's bewildered face, then turned down the road, and strode off. He just made it around the corner before he broke down into hysteric laughter. He hoped that the gods wouldn't smite him for that, but even they would have to admit that Octavian's face was freaking hilarious.'

Apollo burst into laughter.

"Dude, we wouldn't even think of smiting you for that. He had it coming!" Apollo howled.

'Leo swung his backpack of his shoulder, he had been sure that he'd left it in Sally's room, but he figured that Hades had sent it with him. Either that or Chaos had charmed it to return to him. Leo hoped that wasn't the case, as it was slightly wrecked now, so he kinda needed a new one. Having an old, wrecked backpack following him around would be really irritating.'

"That's a weird mental image," Percy muttered.

Leo cocked his head to the side in a kind of 'thinking/imagining' pose.

"It really is," he agreed.

'Leo fished out the notebook that Chaos had given him. Actually that would explain the bag coming back. Both the notebook and wallet had been in the backpack, so instead of them just disappearing from the backpack, and reappearing in his pockets. They decided to bring the backpack with them. He flipped over the notebook and fished a stub of a pencil out the bag, mentally noting that as there was a stinking mess at the bottom of the bag, he should probably clean it out.'

"Oh, it must be bad. Leo wants to clean it," Grover joked.

Leo playfully swatted his arm.

He wrote two words.

-What now-

The reply didn't take long; Leo figured that Chaos had been waiting for him to write.

-I suggest you head to camp Half-blood Valdez, and feel free to 'find' your tool belt in the woods. Don't make bunker nine common knowledge yet though. After summer you have a choice to stay at camp year round, or go back into the social care system.-

-Chaos-

Leo flipped the book shut, and stood up. He had a choice to make, but first he was heading to a pizza takeout, then he could do with a nice violent game of capture the flag. Look out camp Half blood, he thought, Here come Leo Flaming Valdez!'

As soon as the book was closed, it vanished and another appeared.

This one was slightly larger than the other and the cover displayed a triangle made of fire.

Above it, the title was scrawled:

Fire Triangle


That's that! Bye!