I'm very close to hyperventilating right now. Two. Days. Oh. My. Gods. Two. Days.

Anyway.

I got really excited for this chapter a couple days ago when I wrote it, mostly because of pissed off Leo/Tulio. I've never written Leo like that, so I got a little excited about it, even if it was for, like, 30 seconds :)

Please don't start a debate on flame colors and their hotness. I tried to research that and came up with it going either way. So, I ended up making it the way Espie kinda explains it in her thoughts.

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


V

ESPERANZA

Not long after Espie left Tulio behind in the orange flames, the blue flames began to get even hotter. Espie felt sweat begin to slide down her neck. She never perspired when she created flames, but that didn't mean foreign heat wouldn't make her sweat.

Soon enough, white flames penetrated the blue.

White, she thought. Huh. I thought blue was hotter? But, then again, I've never actually shot blue flames. It's either white or orange/yellow. Maybe that means there's a fire-user controlling the flames if the center of the blaze is white!

Espie had to shield her eyes to the total whiteness that had taken over the forest. She was suddenly glad Tulio didn't try to come with her. This heat was almost unbearable to her! She couldn't imagine what Tulio would've had to go through if he had tried to endure!

She gazed around and saw a small dark dot in the distance.

What is that? A rock?

She stepped closer, feeling like something was pressing her back. That must mean I'm getting close to the source, she thought.

Espie squinted and focused on the dot that was slowly taking shape. It was a person—a person lying flat on their back. And they weren't moving!

Espie picked up the pace and gasped when she got close enough to see details.

The person was an almost middle-aged Latino man wearing overalls, an old yellow tool belt, work boots, and a white t-shirt. His curly black hair was splayed out around his head and neck. Though his eyes were closed, Espie knew that they were deep chocolate brown.

She knew that because she had inherited those eyes.

The unconscious person in front of her was her Papi, Leo Valdez!

Espie rushed over to his side. She moved to try and shake him awake, but some sort of force hissed and struck at her hands. She reared back in alarm and examined her hands.

A few red blisters were suddenly present on her palms. When she flexed her hands, a searing pain shot through her.

I got burned!? she thought in disbelief. I got burned!?

She stared in disbelief at the flames encircling her Papi. They were even brighter than the white flames surrounding the woods, if that was even possible. Espie had to wonder if she was suffering the same effect as Tulio. Maybe because she was a second generation fire user, she couldn't endure a first generation's hottest flames?

Leo himself looked weak. It seemed as though the flames were sapping his strength. Yet, he seemed peaceful. If Espie didn't know better, she would have thought he was sleeping. Of course, it would have been hard to think that since Leo was bound with chains.

Espie examined the chains. They were Celestial Bronze chains—obviously fireproof. The ends were linked together with a huge flame-shaped lock that seemed to be fused to Leo's shirt and chest.

A lock?

Espie brought out the key. It was glowing more intensely, matching the white hot flames surrounding the son of Hephaestus.

Espie tried to move the key towards the lock, but the flames burned her again. She glared at the flames.

Espie sat back and tried to think. These flames are different. They look as if they're draining Papi's energy. What would happen if I…

She spread her hands towards the flames and thought, Go out. Die down. Decrease. Do SOMETHING!

The flames surrounding Leo didn't do anything of the sort. They just seemed to grow stronger.

Espie flinched. Oh, gods…what do I do? I can't make them go out, then…go out…out…what if I tried to make them…go in?

She gulped and held her hands out again. What she was suggesting to herself seemed crazy.

Well, I'm a Valdez, she decided. We're all crazy! Papi's just crazy in general, Mom's crazy for marrying him, Tulio inherited Papi's craziness for machines, Aria's crazy for her music, Zac's a crazy baby, and me? I'm crazy because I'm about to do this!

She willed the fire toward her. She was aiming to absorb the flames, which would take their focus off of Leo and onto her. If she could make them her flames, she could probably will them out.

The flames immediately moved towards her, eagerly wanting a taste of the young demititan. The flames seared her skin, making it red and blistered, but Espie held strong.

That's right. Come to Mama.

Soon, Leo's flames were gone—now they had relocated to Espie, who was slowly being burned alive by the sheer power of the white flames. She bit back a scream and balled her hands into fists.

Now you're mine, she screamed in her mind. And I say, cool off!

The fire began to sizzle, cooling to a light yellow. Espie would have cheered if not for the fact that she was still hurting. Come on. A little more. Now, go away! Disperse!

Finally, the flames dissipated and died out. As they fizzled out, so too did the forest's blaze. It was like someone had flicked a light switch to the 'off' position. Darkness was suddenly present as the flames flickered out. The forest, which looked as if a fire hadn't even touched it, fell silent.

Espie collapsed next to Leo, hissing in pain. Now that the fire was all gone, the air stung her possibly-first degree burns that riddled her entire body. It was a weird feeling, something she hoped would never happen again—if she survived them, that is.

She turned her head. Leo was still peacefully unconscious, still bound in chains. Espie wanted to reach out to him, but her strength was gone. Her eyelids grew heavy.

Papi's fine, she thought tiredly, closing her eyes. I bet if I closed my eyes a few minutes…he'd still be…okay…

Just as she was about to completely pass out, Espie felt a body next to her. Through her haze, she could feel someone lift up her head and kiss her on the forehead.

The pain in her body ebbed. The burns disappeared and the blisters healed. Strength returned and she could open her eyes again.

Tulio was crouched above her, smiling impishly. "Hey, Sis. Welcome back."

Espie sat up, wincing at the remaining burns that hadn't gone away yet. "Tulio? How'd you…"

"The flames suddenly vanished," the Latino explained. "I immediately teleported to you. I see you got burned, too."

"Yeah," she mumbled. "I tried to absorb Papi's flames since I couldn't make them go out. It was strange—being burned, I mean." She shuddered. "It felt awful."

Tulio nodded. "I can agree. What about Papi?"

Espie turned. She took out the key, which was still white hot, and held it up. "The key was for this."

Her brother nodded. "'Hope's twice-used name'," he recited. "Espie, that's you."

"Pardon?"

"Hope," he said, smiling. "Your name. Esperanza means hope. Papi named you after our abuela. Your name has been used twice!"

Espie grinned and turned back to Leo. She stuck the key in the lock and turned it.

It clicked.

The chains disappeared as quickly as the blaze had. The lock and key seeped into Leo's chest, never to be seen again. Espie wanted to know what that was about, but her train of thought was interrupted by the fact that her Papi was stirring.

Leo's eyes fluttered open. He groaned, "Wha…?"

Espie and Tulio looked at him expectantly.

Leo turned his head and narrowed his eyes. "Kids? What're you doing…? Shouldn't you be at camp?"

The twins laughed and bombarded Leo in a huge double-team bear hug. He gasped.

When they finished, Leo managed, "How did I get into the forest?"


Thirty minutes later, the Valdez trio had hobbled back into camp. Espie and Tulio were now at another council meeting. Leo was also present, feeling stronger now that he'd had some nectar and a sandwich. He was sitting between the twins, mostly because they wanted to make sure their Papi didn't disappear again without at least one of them knowing.

"Well," Chiron said. "At least we have one parent returned safely."

Leo looked down. Espie figured he wasn't in the mood to crack a joke. After hearing that all of the Seven—including Calypso—had been taken away, the son of Hephaestus's mood had dropped dramatically.

"Now the question is," Sammy Leo said, "where are the others?"

Arey Stoll looked at Leo expectantly. "Any ideas, Mr. Valdez?"

Leo cracked a smile, as did Espie. He hated it when people didn't call him Leo. "Sorry, Makwell." Arey flinched at the use of his first name. "I don't know squat. All I remember is these two Cyclopes jumped me and used a chloroform rag to knock me out. A little bit 'mortal' in tactics, but I appreciate them not just hitting my head with a club." He subconsciously rubbed his head. "Gods know I've had enough of that to make me feel like Jason."

Lacy sighed. "I was really hoping you'd have a clue to where everyone was…"

Leo blinked sadly at her. "I know, Lacy. I'm real sorry."

The son of Hephaestus put his hands in his overall pockets, probably to get something to tinker with like his son, Tulio, was doing.

Leo's eyes widened. He looked down at his right hand as he pulled his fist out of his pocket. "Or…maybe I do have something…"

Espie gazed at his hand as he held it out for the whole council to see. She—along with many others—gasped.

Inside Leo's palm was a silver key. At its end was a carved owl with little diamonds placed delicately into the metal—a symbol of Athena.

Bobby gasped, as did the Athena Cabin head counselor, Edward Welsh.

"Gimme that," the young legacy demanded.

Leo cocked an eyebrow and handed the key over.

As soon as Bobby grabbed it, the key began to hover and glow. Silver words floated in the air above the key:

A battle of riddles and wits shall break

With only the daughter of Athena at stake.

Bobby and Lacy paled as the key floated back down into the boy's hand. Instead of completely returning to normal—like Leo's key had—it kept glowing, the 'key' end pointing southwest, regardless of how much Bobby tried to move it.

Chiron cleared his throat. "So it seems a quest is in order," he stated.

The group shifted in their seats. Finally, Mark piped up, "So, who's gonna go and how? Obviously, that key is pointing to Annabeth, who probably isn't nearby like Leo was."

Bobby stood up. "I have to go. A battle of riddles and wits? That's my forte."

Lacy stood next to him. "Me too. Annabeth's my mother, too."

Chiron nodded to both of them. "Then who will be the third?"

Bobby shook his head. "No. I don't think this is a three-person quest."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" he began. "Well…I don't think this is going to be 'rescue Annabeth and find everyone else at the same time'. I think once we find Mom, there will probably only be just one more key—and it could be anyone's; Dad's, Frank's, Piper's…anyone's key could pop up next."

"What are you getting at?" Marina McGuffey asked.

"I'm saying we need more than three people to rescue our parents. We need all the legacies—Me, Lacy, Mark, Sammy Leo, and Esperanza and Tulio. We all need to go."

Tulio shrank in his seat. Espie's mouth fell open. All of us? That certainly would attract tons of monsters right off the bat.

It seemed Chiron was thinking the same thing. "Having six legacies—no, four Big Three legacies and two demititans—would be very dangerous."

"Wrong," Leo said. Espie jumped. Her Papi hadn't spoken since he pulled out the key.

Chiron's eyebrows lifted slightly. "Pardon?"

"There won't be six," Leo said gruffly. He crossed his muscular arms. "Four Big Three legacies, two demititans, and one son of Hephaestus. I'm going, too."

The entire table burst into whispers. Espie and Tulio both looked at Leo incredulously. "But," Espie protested, "You haven't gone on a quest since…the Second Giant War!"

"I went on the one to get my memories of Calypso," Leo corrected. "And Percy, Hazel and I didn't even get hurt on that one."

"Still," Sally Vern said slowly. "You've been on a grand total of three quests, Mr. Valdez. Two of those happened over two decades ago."

Leo's hair ignited. His eyes glowed fiercely. "I will not sit idly by while my wife is in danger. If I don't go…"

He trailed off. Espie's widened. Her Papi clutched his chest for a few seconds before dropping his hand again. Oh, she thought. Papi can't be separated from Mom for very long without feeling a tug from their life-string binding.

Tulio seemed to sense it, too. He scooted closer to Leo and placed a hand over his father's shoulder. Leo smiled at his son. Tulio turned to the group.

"Papi has to go," he demanded. "Besides, when we rescue Annabeth, do you think she won't go, either, to rescue the others?"

Tulio had a fair point. The more parents they rescued, the bigger the group they'd get. Either way, this was going to end up with a huge group. What was one more?

Sammy Leo chimed in, "I don't think group size will be a problem. If I recall correctly, our parents seemed to have a giant warship that kept them safe from monsters in America, even if there were seven of them—eight counting Coach Hedge the satyr."

"You're actually suggesting you guys bring that hunk of junk out and ride in it?"

Espie didn't know which idiot counselor said that, but she knew they were immediately sorry they did.

Whatever sort of do-hickey thing was in Tulio's hand had melted and was now burning through the floor. An intense orange glow was suddenly surrounding him, and his eyes were completely orange—white part, irises, pupils; everything was taken over by a wall of orange. Tulio only did that when he was angry. And boy was he angry. Espie rarely saw true angry scowls come over his face, but when they did, she was glad she was fireproof!

Leo was completely on fire now. He had burned through his chair and was now standing up to his full 5'6 height. That wouldn't have been scary, but Leo had muscles to back up threats now. His biceps were twitching and huge veins bulged out in anger. His burning feet were leaving dark impressions on the floor. His eyes were also glowing orange, but the difference between his and Tulio's was huge. Leo's eyes were actually on fire like the rest of him.

"You wanna run that by me again?" her Papi snarled, his voice extremely low and dark.

When no one spoke up to repeat the question, Leo growled, "If anyone has a problem with my warship…please, don't hesitate to bring it up again!"

Tulio nodded, still glowing. "What do you think I do all day in Bunker Nine? Play 52 Card Pick-up? I keep the Argo II up-to-date. I've even added a new figurehead/motherboard, since Papi had to take Festus off. That ship is as spankin' hot as it was when it was first built!"

Tulio was standing now as well, since his chair—which had been one of those metal foldable chairs—was now a silver puddle on the floor.

Espie didn't do anything to stop this. She didn't understand her father and brother's love for machines, but she supported them no matter what.

It was still a frightening sight to see two fire-users, father and son, be so close to burning the Big House down, though.

Everyone except Espie, Sammy and the Jackson siblings backed up against the walls. Even Chiron had taken a tentative few steps back.

Espie finally stood up and walked around her Papi to take Tulio's hand. Tulio glared at her, his titanic aura pressing her back. She gripped his hand harder and mumbled, "Don't feed off of Papi's anger. You made your point. Calm down."

Tulio's glow disappeared and his eyes returned to normal. He slumped his shoulders and took deep breaths. "'Kay," he muttered.

Leo's fire fizzled out as well. He gave sharp looks to everyone in the room besides his twins, Sammy, and the Jackson kids. He looked like he was silently daring anyone to speak out against the Argo II again.

Chiron stepped closer again and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Well, it seems we have a means of transportation. Tulio, how soon can the Argo II be ready to depart?"

"As soon as everyone's ready," the demititan answered. "And I'd like Papi to go over some final checks to make sure she's cleared."

"Don't worry about assigning a 'protector' satyr," Leo said to Chiron. "I'll be a chaperone—I'm totally old enough and responsible enough. And once we get Annabeth, we'll have two chaperones. And, by the way, I'm driving."

Sammy breathed a sigh of relief. When Lacy gave him a pointed look, he merely said, "What? I can barely drive a car! I doubt I'd be able to drive a ship!"

"It's just as well," Tulio said sheepishly. "I made modifications to the steering and controls that I don't think anyone besides me or Papi could keep up with."

Leo clapped him on the back. "That's mah boy!"

"Fine," Chiron conceded. "Then, do all the legacies agree to going?"

Mark and Sammy Leo nodded. Bobby gripped his mother's key tightly, a look of pure determination on his face. Lacy lifted her chin defiantly. Espie smiled and stood proudly next to her brother.

Tulio shivered nervously. Espie gripped his hand again. She knew he was nervous. Tulio didn't do quests. Now, suddenly he was going to be on the biggest quest since the Prophecy of Seven. Eventually, Tulio nodded.

Chiron blinked slowly. "Then it's settled. We have the questers and the means of transportation. I have a feeling these clues will be the substitute for the usual prophecy, so we won't bother Rachel about one. Now the only thing left to decide: who shall lead this quest?"

The legacies shuffled nervously. Except for Tulio and Espie, the world's (currently) only two demititans, all of them were legacies of the Big Three. They all had awesome powers and gifts from their grandparents. And almost all of them had been on many quests already. Every single one of the legacies (minus perhaps Tulio) had every right to claim leadership, even Espie.

Espie looked over at Chiron and raised her hand.

"Esperanza?" Chiron questioned. "You wish to lead?"

"No," she stated. "I'm nominating Sammy Leo Zhang as the leader of our quest."

Sammy stuttered and blinked. "Me? Why me?"

"Because you technically have more experience," she said. "You've been a part of the Legion longer than the rest of us have been at camp. Yeah, sure, we've gone on quests, but you were born to be a leader. You should be the leader of this quest."

Sammy didn't look convinced. His golden eyes were fixed to the ground, embarrassed that he had been called out. Espie felt her stomach do a flip when he acted so modest like that.

Focus, she scolded herself again, fighting back a blush. Stop flipping over every time I see Sammy, traitorous stomach!

Tulio was holding back a smile. Espie shot him a glare, knowing he could sense her ridiculous feelings.

Sammy spoke up again. "I appreciate the offer. And I accept, but on one condition: Leo has every right to challenge my authority—when it's necessary—since he's a hero of Olympus and our…uh…chaperone."

Chiron nodded. "So be it." He turned to the group. "You'd better get a good night's rest. Tomorrow you shall start your quest to find the rest of the Seven."

"Ahem," Leo coughed. "And Calypso."

The centaur nodded again. "And Calypso."


A/N: Yay! Quest time already! I know this story seems like it's going by pretty fast, but I'm trying to make it slower. Don't worry, there's still all the rescues plus finding out who's behind the kidnappings to write out :D Plenty of story left to entertain you guys!

Next chapter will be Bobby's POV, too! :D And we get to meet the new figurehead of the Argo II, since Festus has already been rebuilt and is currently living in New Athens with the Valdez family.