To Riordanlover16- Yes! Totally legit! XD Car shop, yes, mechanic-y kind of place, but I personally feel like Leo would be making all sorts of crap, some of which obviously worked well enough to make Valdez Industries :P And Bradley's totally fine, he's chilling with Nana J!
To valdeznation- I misread your review and thought you said you were 'twerking the fuck out', not 'tweaking'. Completely different mental image, minor confusion for a few seconds XP Don't worry about coherency; the lack of is fun and I can tell you're excited XD My dude, I was so proud of that Nico chapter, you've no idea. Definitely one of my favourites so far! Leo's a bit like Annabeth in a way. Neither of them had anything permanent, really, and Annabeth strives to build something permanent, yeah? So, why not Leo too? :D BRADLEY IS HIS BABY, I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL!
"Where the hell have you been?!" Jessica demanded. Leo saw hands fly out the door, locking onto Louisa's hoodie. She disappeared with a yelp, any form of explanation drowned out by her mother's blustering. Jessica was too worked up to muster anything coherent, spewing strangled noises and garbled swears. Leo wasn't sure what a 'bastry' or a 'shituck' were, but he added them to his personal vocabulary all the same.
He stepped inside, Jessica's head whiplashing round. Her gaze darted about, searching for any hint of trouble. Leo stood still, knowing her mama bear side was out all guns blazing. Her daughter came first no matter how many cakes he brought her.
Jessica's eyes narrowed. "What happened to your neck?"
"Empousa bit me."
"Are you OK?"
"Lou fixed me up." He wriggled his arms to prove he was fine. Jessica eased off, loosening her grip on Louisa's hoodie.
"Mom, where's Bradley?"
"Asleep. Don't worry, Storm's in there and I've got the baby monitor." She unclipped it from the waistband of her jeans.
Louisa's expression tightened. Jessica let go and she vanished into her room.
"Leo," Jessica said without looking from her daughter's wake, "what happened?"
Leo explained as best he could. Jessica's eyes widened on hearing of the bounty, anger whitening her face anew. She checked Leo over herself, lips pursing at his new scars, before sending him back to Louisa.
"I have to make a call," she mumbled, locking the bathroom door behind her.
Leo knocked before he entered. Louisa was sat cross-legged on her bed. Bradley was nestled in one arm. Her sword lay across her lap. She looked away as Leo came in, sniffing.
Storm shouldered him, huffing. She bit at his face, the gnash of her teeth missing his nose by a handsbreadth. Leo stepped back, hands raised.
"No, Storm," Louisa said thickly. "He was hurt, it ain't his fault."
"I'm sorry," Leo said anyway. He didn't understand the pegasus, naturally, but it felt safer to apologise. "We got somewhere safe as quick as we could." The mare's ear flicked and she pawed the carpet. Leo glanced past her to Louisa. "What's she saying?"
Louisa wiped her face on her sleeve, hurriedly reclaiming her hold on her blade.
"Storm," she called. "You can trust Leo."
Storm regarded him coldly, a look Leo knew would soon entail a trampling. He smiled as innocently and as reassuringly as he could. She snorted, headbutting him in the chest with enough force to drive him back a step.
Louisa frowned. "Storm."
The pegasus spun away, flicking her tail. Louisa sighed. "Sorry, Leo, she's—"
"Looking out for you, I know. Consider me warned."
Storm settled on the floor by the bed, staring at Leo. Leo stared back. "And there I was thinking we were just starting to get along," he said in a put-on hurt voice. Storm scoffed, if pegasi could scoff. Or it might have been a laugh. She was a mare in more ways than one.
Leo reached into his toolbelt. "That's a shame," he said. "I guess I'll have these sugar cubes myself."
Storm gave a start, ears pricked, nose raised. She snuffled the air, bobbing her head demandingly.
She didn't bite his fingers off, though did nibble the tips in a final warning. After that, she tucked her head to the floor for a nice nap.
Leo braved scratching the tuft of mane over her forehead, then behind her ear as he knew she liked. He sat on the edge of the bed, carefully, not wanting to startle Louisa or the baby. He sat within arm's reach, not touching. Her eyes were still red, casting down when he looked over at her.
"Are you OK?" she asked quietly.
"I was going to ask you the same thing."
"I didn't almost die today."
"Yeah, but I haven't been through hell." She squeezed her eyes shut, held Bradley closer. Leo winced. "Sorry. I'm… I'm just worried you're bottling it up."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"OK."
"I want ta know who's put a bounty out for a baby. I want ta know if it's… it's that thing."
A gruff noise from the doorway split the room. Louisa's sword flashed, rising to stand on the bed with Bradley clutched to her chest.
Leo stood as well, on the floor like a sensible person, though did not arm himself when he saw who was there.
"Lord Poseidon," he said, bowing. The god grumbled, indicating his tailored navy suit. "Sorry. Lord Neptune."
"Dad," Louisa marvelled. "What are you doin' here?" Neptune appraised the sword with a raised brow. It shrunk back into her watch. Leo offered his hand to help her step down, resisting the urge to smile when she kept it firmly grasped.
"Your mother contacted me," he replied simply. "She remains a formidable woman." Louisa nodded. Neptune straightened his tie. "You need not burn food for me any longer, Louisa. It is a debt I should have repaid long ago, your freedom." Louisa flinched, fingers constricting on Leo's.
Neptune moved into the room. Storm looked up, sensing an intruder. She got to her feet when she saw who it was, though there was no rush to it. The god smiled grimly at her. "You need not burn anything at all, young one. Your last offering was most distasteful." Storm tossed her mane and snorted.
"What was it?" Leo whispered to Louisa behind his hand. Her mouth twitched in an echo of her father's expression.
"She shat in the fire."
Storm nodded as if to say And I'll do it again! Leo had a higher respect for the pegasus, though tried to keep it from his face before the deity. He made a mental note to stock up on sugar cubes.
"Louisa," Neptune said. "You were right. As my daughter, you have trialled under my name. I never thanked you. I never apologised." He held his hands out. Louisa jolted. "I cannot make amends, but I can try."
"You want Bradley?" Leo worried.
"Don't take him away," Louisa warned, voice suddenly steady. "I won't let you." Sea green met sea green. Leo could smell the ocean, almost hear the swell of the coast. This is not safe, he thought. He stood between two tides so similar they could only clash.
Neptune had proven capable of taking a baby from its mother. The evidence stood before him, now glaring him off from doing it again.
"I will return him safely to you in a moment," Neptune assured. "I swear on the Styx," he added to appease her. Thunder boomed. Louisa looked at Leo, nodding the same time he did.
Anything to keep Bradley safe.
She passed him over, adjusting the height of Neptune's elbow to keep the head supported. Bradley grizzled at this new person, squirming in his blanket. Neptune was captivated by him, stroking his hair with a featherlight touch. He sighed. "I do not know when I last held one so small. He will be a monument to you, Louisa."
"I don't want him ta be a monument. I want him ta be safe."
"Of course." Neptune caught a tiny hand in his own, thousands of years meeting a few short weeks. "I looked into that creature that took the form of Luke Castellan."
"You did?" Leo asked when Louisa couldn't. Neptune nodded, inspecting the impossibly small fingers encircling his thumb.
"It is a creature of darkness and shadows. Worry not— I will not let this child live under its taint." Green light rippled from his hands, layering over Bradley in a fine sheen. Louisa clutched Leo's arm, watching in horror.
The sheen evaporated only seconds later. "I cannot do much more," Neptune said apologetically as he returned Bradley to her, "but he will be safe from the darkness that awaited him."
"Darkness," Louisa echoed, checking Bradley over. He was watching her with eyes no longer blue but her own sea green. Neptune stroked his bearded chin in thought, nodding twice.
"A darkness you're all too familiar with, I'm afraid." Leo looked round at the hitch in her breath. She stared at her father, jaw set, eyes wide. She knew the answer to come but did not want to hear it. Hearing it made it real.
Neptune tucked his hands behind his back, bowing his head. "Your adversary in the tree. My investigations have revealed much. He hoped to destroy you physically, mentally, on any plane he thought possible. He did not bank on you surviving."
"He wants Bradley? He put the bounty out?"
"He will be a powerful child," Neptune confirmed. "Darkness helped spawn him, very little of it shapes him. He is your child and he is a blank slate. What better power to train and command than your own?" Neptune's eyes darkened as Louisa swore.
"That wasn't aimed at you," she said quickly.
"I would hope not."
Louisa turned to Leo, passing Bradley forward. Leo took him immediately, his arms enveloping the bundle.
"I don't understand," he said. "What tree? Who's in the tree?"
"Popadom," Louisa growled, turning to the door. Leo started; Neptune beat him to it. His hand closed on her elbow, drawing her to an abrupt halt.
"That is unwise, daughter," he said sternly. "You are the fly willingly going to the spider's web. It is what he wants."
"No, he wants Bradley. 'N' I ain't gonna let that happen."
"You are tied to that tree. Whatever damage befalls it—"
"I think I've been damaged enough by that tree, don't you?" Louisa snarled. The temperature in the room dropped, their breath fogging. "High time I returned the favour."
"You risk your life."
"Untie me then. Untie me 'n'… 'n' I'll deal with it."
"If I untie you, you risk unleashing him in full."
"Wait 'til I get there then. He ain't goin' nowhere."
"What are you talking about?" Leo interrupted, terror pitching his tone. "What's going on?" He had heard the Entourage, had heard Mikey mention a Popadom, but knew very little beyond the name.
Louisa inhaled through her nose, pushing her hands through her hair. She met his gaze levelly, fists clenching at her sides.
"Popadom is goin' to die today," she said, simple yet firm. Her next words shook with fury untold. "'N' I'm gonna make sure he feels every last bit of pain that I do."
"Wait," Leo blurted pleadingly, "wait wait wait. I can help. I can… if you tell me more, I can—"
"The tree is at the bottom of the sea," Louisa said, looking away. "It'll be quicker if I went."
"Take Percy then," Leo tried.
"Stay with Bradley."
"You are in no shape," Neptune said gravelly. Louisa snatched her arm away, temper exploding.
"I know! I know I couldn't deal with the empousai today, I know! I was there! But that tree, you tied me to that tree because I could deal with it!"
"And you will again," Neptune countered hotly, "just not today." She glowered, spinning on her heel. "Jessica!" Neptune called.
Clearly having been eavesdropping, Jessica stepped into view. She planted herself firmly in the doorway, barring the way.
"No," she said.
"Bradley—"
"Will be safer with you here," Jessica finished for her. She peered closely at her daughter's face. "For once, your dad is right—" Neptune scoffed at this affront "—you're in no shape to be taking that damn tree on."
"I'm fine!" Louisa snapped.
"You look like shit!" Jessica countered, standing tall.
"I'm fine! Storm!" Louisa snapped her fingers, gesturing to the glassed doors of her room. "We're goin', come on." Storm shook her head. Louisa went still, staring at her. "No? What d'you mean no?" Storm shook her head again, stomped her foot. Louisa coloured furiously, opening her mouth to argue.
"Catch her, Jessica," Neptune said. Jessica stepped forward just in time— Louisa staggered, knees buckling. Jessica caught her under the arms, levering her close. She was out cold.
"What—?" Leo's head was spinning. It had only been a few minutes since the god had arrived, but he had information to process to last a century.
"Son of Hephaestus." Leo fell statue-still under the god's eye. "I would like a word with you."
Jessica was occupied, deftly moving her daughter's diminished frame to the bed. She took Bradley from Leo once done, once she had assigned Storm guard duty.
Leo followed the god out, wondering what sea creature he would be turned into.
Dolphins were Mr. D's thing, so maybe a shark?
No, nothing as cool as a shark. Maybe a shrimp. Some kelp. A bit of flotsam.
How peaceful it would be to be a bit of flotsam.