Still Four more days, but I decided to be AWESOME and post two chapters today! :D This was mostly because I didn't wanna leave it at the last chapter for the day. Plus, I got a little excited about my fifth chapter and wanted to post it earlier than Monday, so I went ahead and told myself to post this a whole 22 hours earlier than usual! Happy Friday everybody!

musicforlife: Don't make me think about it! D: I'd be among them if Leo died!

Disclaimer: I own the kids/teens, but not any of the canon characters.


III

TULIO

As it turns out, the Zhangs and Valdezes weren't the only one with the missing parents.

The Jackson and Grace families had also been plagued by this tragedy. The camp alarm was raised and a search went out immediately to find the Cyclopes and the legendary Seven.

And, of course, there was nothing in New Athens or Camp.

They were about to check the woods surrounding Camp Half-Blood when a sudden storm came in. The storm didn't really affect the camp or New Athens much, but it still was pretty damaging to the woods beyond the border. Chiron ordered searchers to halt the search outside the borders until it was deemed safe again.

So, there they were, sitting at the dining pavilion.

Tulio huffed and picked at his pizza with a fork. His twin sister Espie sat next to him. She held a great façade, hiding her worriedness behind humor, just like their father could. But Tulio, being able to sense strong emotions, knew she was on the verge of panic—more so than the other legacies, which was worrisome.

That was one of the reasons Tulio and Esperanza Valdez were stuck like glue to each other and inseparable through the years. Most twins, even regular brothers and sisters, got extremely annoyed with each other in the teenage years and tried to do everything in their power to not be together. Not Tulio and Espie. What they had was a mutual sibling love. Whenever Tulio was feeling insecure or inferior about his abilities (thank you, Papi, for giving me that fatal flaw…) or needed a hug in general, Espie was there to help him out. And if Espie was giving off waves of emotion that weren't happiness or general ADHD excitement, Tulio would be next to her at all times to make her feel safe and grounded.

And to, you know, help her settle down if she caught fire. Hey, being fireproof meant you had to give your flaming sister a hug, too.

Anyway, Espie was definitely feeling panicky right now. The Latina was way more fidgety than usual and Tulio could see small flames flickering in her black curls. He scooted closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Espie stopped in mid-corny-joke and shot her brother a thankful glance. Her panic died down a little.

The Hephaestus kids kept asking to make sure the twins had searched everywhere they thought Leo might be. Tulio huffed in annoyance.

"For the last time," he growled. "We checked each place three times! Here, Papi's old bunk in Cabin Nine, the forges, Bunker Nine, home, Papi's personal shop and forges, even the Shrine of Hephaestus. We haven't found anything!"

Espie gripped his arm and he realized he had melted the fork he was holding. Oh, the joys of being an internal fire user!

He dropped his hands below the table and fell silent.

A huge BOOM suddenly echoed through the air. Tulio could feel the vibration through his butt on the seat. An orange glow began gleaming from the woods. Smoke curled up to join the clouds above.

The Hephaestus Cabin stood up immediately. They knew what that was. They worked with it daily. They knew the acrid, stinging smell anywhere.

"Fire," Espie commented. "The woods are on fire!"


The whole camp had burst out of the dining pavilion to go put out the fire. Lacy Jackson, the headstrong sixteen-year-old daughter of Percy and Annabeth, immediately willed water from the lake to funnel towards the woods. She was just as powerful as a Big Three demigod, and most people who didn't know Percy would have thought Lacy was Poseidon's daughter and not his granddaughter.

Bobby Jackson, her thirteen-year-old brother, began making plans for the extinguishing. He had more Athena in him than Poseidon, so he stayed with the Athena Cabin (though he was allowed to sit with his sister at meals since she was all alone). The Athena Cabin loved him. Tulio suspected he might make senior counselor in a couple years—maybe even sooner.

Sammy Leo went over the plans once with the Athena legacy and began barking out orders in his Roman commando-voice. Everyone was to help. That fire was not going to reach Camp. Everyone instantly obeyed the Roman without hesitation. He was a leader, that was for sure. Tulio knew he got that from his father, Frank.

"Sora, see if you can help!"

Tulio turned his head and saw 14-year-old Mark Grace standing off to the side, analyzing the storm. His trademark spiky brown hair was plastered to his face with rain, almost covering his intense blue eyes.

Tulio winced. Mark wasn't really a storm kinda guy. Sure, he was a legacy of Jupiter and probably could fly ('probably' is the key word because he was afraid of heights like his Aunt Thalia), but he had more Aphrodite in him than anything. He could charmspeak like his mother, Piper, if he wanted to, and was possibly the most handsome guy in the camp. But he was strong in combat like his father, Jason, and handled pressure and leadership quite well.

However, when it came to freak storms, Sora couldn't really do squat. He shook his head at Sammy and yelled, "It's too much for me! Maybe Dad could control it, but I can't!"

Tulio knew how that felt. Sora was always selling himself short, always comparing himself to his father and telling everybody how much better Jason was at doing Zeus/Jupiter-like things—like conjuring up and controlling storms, for example. He needed to prove himself, and now would've been the best time to do it, with Jason out of the picture.

Sammy grimaced and turned to the Valdez twins. "Espie, Tulio! See if you can will the flames out!"

Tulio yelled back, "I'm an internal fire user! I don't do flame control!"

"Then stop whining and go help carry water to put out the flames!"

Tulio bit back a remark and followed Esperanza toward the fire. He would be her moral support and catch her if she faltered. Espie went to the frontlines and stood in her flame control stance. Tulio froze.

None of the flames were moving.

Espie snarled and fixed her stance, this time howling, "C'mon, stupid flames! MOVE! GO DOWN!"

The flames just soared higher and inched closer.

The fire was now ten feet away from the border. Eight feet. Five.

Tulio took a bucket and tried dousing the flames. They hissed and steamed, but the flames kept coming.

Then…

They stopped.

Well, the flames themselves were still going strong. But, the moment they touched the border, the flames halted in their advance. It was like a huge wall of flameproof glass was there, preventing the fire from entering camp.

The whole camp sighed in relief.


Scouts went out to see where the fire was as soon as the storm subsided. About thirty minutes later, they returned. The scouts said that the fire was somehow just staying within a certain area—right around the area where they usually held Capture-the-Flag. It wasn't growing or advancing, but it also wasn't weakening anytime soon. Strangely, too, the trees and grass within the blaze didn't seem to be turning to ash.

Chiron nodded to the scouts and turned toward the crowd of demigods and legacies. "Children, I regret to say that due to circumstances, there won't be any Capture-the-Flag or War Games until further notice. Try not to get too close to the flames. In the meantime, now that the storm has passed, let us continue the search for the Seven!"

Tulio looked at the wall of flames. He had a feeling that fire had something to do with their parents' disappearance.

Tulio grabbed Espie by the wrist. "Let's go visit Grandpa's shrine again."


About ten minutes later, the demititan twins were staring up at their grandfather's statue. Tulio bent down onto his knees and prayed, "Dear Hephaestus. Help us find our father, Leo. I know you can't help directly, but could you at least give us a clue on his whereabouts? Please. He's one of your favorite sons, right up there with Uncle Harley and Beckendorf! Please help us, Grandfather. Please!"

Espie crouched down and stroked Tulio's back. Tulio smiled up at her. "You could pray too, y'know."

She shrugged. "I'm an internal pray-er. I don't do praying out loud."

Tulio grinned at his sister and got up. Suddenly, a ding rang through the air. It sounded like something small and metal had been dropped on the ground.

He looked down and narrowed his eyes.

There, placed between the feet of the Hephaestus statue, was an orange key.

Tulio, swearing internally that the key hadn't been there before, picked up the item and examine it. It seemed quite ordinary, what with its basic old-house key look. The grip end of the key was shaped into a basic flame.

"I wonder what this is for?" he asked.

"Let me see," Espie whined, snatching the key from his hand.

The key suddenly glowed and hovered out of Espie's hands. Writing appeared above the key:

The first of the rescues is for the son of Flames,

Who can only be saved by hope's twice-used name.

The writing faded and the key gently floated back into Espie's hands.

She locked eyes with Tulio.

"We need to tell Chiron."


A/N: Oh Styx! D: What's gonna happen!? What is that poem thing? Why am I so good at cliffies? Why do I not have a copy of BoO right this second?

Almost all of those questions shall be answered in the next chapter! Til then, guys!