Chapter Title: Our Newest Sibling Is Crazy
(A/N: I know this cuts off a good chunk of the original chapter this is from, but then again, it isn't Leo who is the focus of this chapter, even though he is present throughout all of it. It's Beckendorf, so yeah.. to do him justice and keep this chapter on him, I have to.)
Leo's tour, if he had to be honest here, had been anything but smooth sailing. He had already seen his old babysitter Tía Callida — Aunt Callida, and he thought he had seen her in the tree line and so he was a little bit unnerved by all of that. Still though, the tour had been fine up until he heard about the dragon.
To put it bluntly — even though it seemed like Katie and Travis were sworn enemies, the fact that both of them were actually dating each other was cool in Leo's opinion. Add to that, despite being a son of the prankster god, Travis honestly seemed pretty cool in Leo's opinion. Everything he and Katie had shown Leo was so amazing, it should've been illegal. Real Greek warships moored at the beach that sometimes had practice fights with flaming arrows and explosives? Sweet! Arts & crafts sessions where you could make sculptures with chain saws and blowtorches? Leo was like, Sign me up! The woods were stocked with dangerous monsters, and no one should ever go in there alone? Nice! And the camp was overflowing with fine-looking girls. Leo didn't quite understand the whole related-to-the-gods business, but he hoped that didn't mean he was cousins with all these ladies.
That would suck.
Then again however, Bryce had already damaged the chances he might have with any of them that were single by pointing out that Leo had asked out Kayla on the chariot while having already been told she had a boyfriend. The fact that everyone here seemed to agree with the fierce girl's comment about letting Kayla's missing boyfriend deal with him did not help matters for Leo any. If anything, he was at least praying inside that this Colton dude would be lenient on him. The fact that Butch had described as being the definition of the word 'brutality' honestly scared the hell out of Leo, not that he would admit it right now.
Either way, while he was here at the very least, he wanted to check out those underwater girls in the lake again. They were definitely worth drowning for.
Travis and Katie showed him the cabins, the dining pavilion, and the sword arena. None of the cabins had stuck really out to him, except the Typhon Cabin — it seemed so picturesque, so cliche for a summer camp cabin that it seemed out of place with all the other cabins around it. He didn't know why. It just felt like it.
Either way, he had definitely been excited when they walked by the sword arena.
"Do I get a sword?" Leo asked.
Travis simply glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing. "You'll probably make your own buddy, seeing as how you're in Cabin Nine.. which as of now.." he sighed as if he had been sweating. "..is not an easy existence to be in."
"Yeah, what's up with that? Vulcan? And also, not an easy existence? What does that even mean?" Leo asked.
"You'll.. see when we get there.." Katie said ominously, and Leo didn't like it at all.
"Usually around these parts, we don't call the gods by their Roman names," Travis said. "The original names are Greek. Your dad is called Hephaestus."
"Festus?" Leo had heard somebody say that before, but he was still dismayed. "Sounds like the god of cowboys."
"He-phaestus," Katie corrected. "God of blacksmiths and fire."
Leo had heard that too, but he was trying not to think about it. The god of fire ... seriously? Considering what had happened to his mom, that seemed like a sick joke — and not in the funny way, mind you.
"So the flaming hammer over my head," Leo said. "Good thing, or bad thing?"
Travis and Katie gave worried looks at each other, which did not help the situation in Leo's view at all. Both of them took a while to even come up with an answer. "Look.. Leo.." Travis started. "You were claimed almost immediately. That's usually good."
"But that Rainbow Pony dude, Butch—he mentioned a curse."
"Let's just say.. while Hephaestus Cabin is known for building and fixing things, with the exception of Beckendorf — who only recently just returned from college.. they've been suffering from a long string of bad luck.." Katie finished, and Leo gulped.
"What kind..?" he asked.
"I think we ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it, Leo.." Travis said, and Katie nodded.
"Yeah, where are my home dawgs? Shouldn't their counselor be giving me the VIP tour?"
"He, um, can't. You'll see why." Travis forged ahead before Leo could ask anything else, Katie close behind.
"Curses and urban legends.." Leo muttered to himself. "This day just keeps getting better and better."
He was halfway across the green when he spotted something — more like someone to be exact. And it was definitely not the kind of person — or thing for that matter — that he had expected to see at all at a demigod camp.
Leo froze in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" Travis asked.
Leo couldn't tell exactly who or what it was he was looking at, but whatever was standing out there was definitely about as tall as Jason, if not slightly taller. With white eyes and a peculiar looking crown — with literally nothing but black on the rest of its form, it was both unusual and also creepy as shit if you were to ask Leo how he felt right now. It seemed to give off this massive aura of fear, danger, terror, power, might, and authority that froze him to the spot. Leo couldn't even move his legs, he was so scared of whatever this thing was.
"That thing ..." Leo said. "What's it doing here?"
Travis tried to follow his gaze. "What thing?"
"Dude, that thing. The one in black. How many freaking figures in black do you see over there?"
Travis frowned. "I think you've had a really long day, dude. That's the second time you thought you saw something. The Mist could still be playing tricks on your mind. How about we head straight to your cabin now?"
Leo wanted to protest, but when he looked back toward the big white cabin, the thing he saw — much like Tía Callida was gone. He was sure it had been there, he was sure of it. He wasn't crazy. It was as real as Tía Callida had been earlier.
And that wasn't good, because Tía Callida had tried to kill him.
"Just messing with you, man." Leo pulled some gears and levers from his pockets and started fiddling with them to calm his nerves. He couldn't have everybody at camp thinking he was crazy. At least, not crazier than he really was.
"Let's go see Cabin Nine," he said. "I'm in the mood for a good curse."
He didn't notice the way that Travis looked at him concerned, or how back at the Typhon Cabin, the mysterious figure had merely moved to sit in the rocking chair that Piper would see it in minutes later.
- — - — - — -
Beckendorf hadn't exactly known what to even expect from the new kid to the cabin. Ever since he declined to reassume the position as head counselor of the Hephaestus Cabin, he's had the privilege of seeing — or to be more accurate, hearing — the stuff that had decided to befall his siblings after he had left for college. After Nyssa had called about being stressed over managing the cabin due to Jake being mauled by the dragon while Beckendorf was away in his first college semester, he had decided along with Silena to make a return to camp for Winter Break. When they had arrived only to witness the crazy landing of Will's chariot, he instantly knew that something around these parts was about to happen. He was even more sure of it when Nyssa had told him that Colton, Luke, Percy, and Michael were missing. And so, while Silena went to see how Drew was doing with the Aphrodite Cabin, Beckendorf had sat on the porch of the Hephaestus Cabin awaiting the arrival of the new kid. Nyssa had mentioned that a new kid to the cabin had arrived when she ran into him just as Beckendorf had got to the cabin, so he just sat and waited — wanting to see for himself that unlucky person who was a child of his father who had to go into one of probably the worst times to be a Hephaestus kid in general.
The kid he met was nothing like anything he had even expected, that was for sure.
From the outside to Leo, the Hephaestus cabin looked like an oversize RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows. The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke. It was both cool and also intimidating to look at the same time for him, especially since there was this huge — and Leo wasn't kidding on huge — guy sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of the cabin. Large, dark skinned and muscular, this guy looked like he could lift a golf cart with his bare hands.
"Who.. who even is this?" Leo asked.
"Oh, that's Beckendorf, the former head - counselor. Looks like he's back from college for Winter Break.." Katie said.
Leo just nodded and whistled. "They got a steampunk theme going on, huh?"
"If you want to think of it that way, then yeah. I'm not going to stop you.." Travis said as the three of them walked up to the porch. The way Beckendorf's face, with what looked like a permanent scowl, sized Leo up made Leo feel like a little little ant, if he had to be honest. Beckendorf was very intimidating. If Colton is any more intimidating than this, Leo thought to himself. I don't exactly like my odds of survival here.
"This is the new kid?" Beckendorf asked, and Leo gulped. "Yeah.. this is him.. think the kid's been on too much mist — twice claimed he saw something where there was nothing there on the way here.." Travis replied.
"I think that's ADHD, Travis.." Beckendorf said back, to which Leo couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. At least someone in this cabin recognizes what I have, he thought to himself.
"Yeah.. right.. sorry.." Travis said shyly, before Katie grabbed his hand. "He's all yours, Beckendorf.." Katie called out as she and Travis walked off.
Beckendorf just held out his hand for Leo to shake. "I know like you're in at a really rough time for this cabin, kid.." he said. "But at least until I have to go back to college, I'm here to help. Charlie Beckendorf, temporary assistant head counselor of the Hephaestus Cabin, at your service."
Leo looked a bit hesitant, but eventually he shook Beckendorf's hand. "Leo Valdez.." he said his name reluctantly. "Nice to meet you."
Beckendorf smiled, and that just made him all the more interesting to Leo. "Welcome aboard to Cabin 9, kid."
- — - — - — -
Inside, the cabin seemed deserted. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high-tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. Leo figured each camper had his own combination lock to release his bed, and there was probably an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep out unwanted visitors. At least, that's the way Leo would've designed it.
"Where is everyone?" Leo asked.
"Below.." Beckendorf said simply. Leo looked at him, confused. "Below?" Leo muttered back, looking around. Then, he knew why Beckendorf had said that one word.
A fire pole came down from the second floor, even though the cabin didn't appear to have a second floor from the outside. A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement.
"Oh.." Leo muttered. "That's why."
Downstairs, the walls were lined with every kind of power tool Leo could imagine, plus a huge assortment of knives, swords, and other implements of destruction. A large workbench overflowed with scrap metal—screws, bolts, washers, nails, rivets, and a million other machine parts. Leo had a strong urge to shovel them all into his coat pockets. He loved that kind of stuff. But he'd need a hundred more coats to fit it all.
Looking around, he could almost imagine he was back in his mom's machine shop. Not the weapons, maybe—but the tools, the piles of scrap, the smell of grease and metal and hot engines. She would've loved this place.
He pushed that thought away. He didn't like painful memories. Keep moving—that was his motto. Don't dwell on things. Don't stay in one place too long. It was the only way to stay ahead of the sadness.
He picked a long implement from the wall. "A weed whacker? What's the god of fire want with a weed whacker?"
A voice in the shadows said, "You'd be surprised."
Leo jumped, and Beckendorf let out a laugh. "Classic Jake.." he muttered, amused.
Leo turned around. At the back of the room, one of the bunk beds was occupied. A curtain of dark camouflage material retracted, and Leo could see the guy who'd been invisible a second before. It was hard to tell much about him because he was covered in a body cast. His head was wrapped in gauze except for his face, which was puffy and bruised. He looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy after a beat-down.
"You're Jake?" Leo asked. The boy simply gave a nod as best he could.
"I'm Jake Mason," the guy said. "I'd shake your hand, but ..."
"Yeah," Leo said. "Don't get up."
The guy cracked a smile, then winced like it hurt to move his face. Leo wondered what had happened to him, but he was afraid to ask.
"Welcome to Cabin Nine," Jake said. "Been almost a year since we had any new kids. I'm head counselor for now. Oh, hey Beckendorf."
"For now?" Leo asked.
Beckendorf cleared his throat. "So where is everybody, Jake?"
"Down at the forges," Jake said wistfully. "They're working on ... you know, that problem."
Beckendorf just muttered, "Oh." Then, after a couple moments, he added, "That problem that got you in the state in the first place."
Jake winced as Beckendorf looked disappointed in him. "I'm sorry.." Jake muttered.
"It's fine dude.. you can take it easy.. I'm here to help out.." Beckendorf said back. "He can sleep in my old bed. I'll take one of the spares."
Jake looked surprised, but nodded. "Okay.." he muttered. He then studied Leo, sizing him up. "You believe in curses, Leo? Or ghosts?"
I just saw my evil babysitter Tía Callida, Leo thought. She's got to be dead after all these years. And I can't go a day without remembering my mom in that machine shop fire. Don't talk to me about ghosts, doughboy.
But aloud, he said, "Ghosts? Pfft. Nah. I'm cool. A storm spirit chucked me down the Grand Canyon this morning, but you know, all in a day's work, right?"
Jake nodded. "That's good. Because you'll be back in the best bed in the cabin—Beckendorf's."
Then he called out: "Bunk 1-A, please."
Beckendorf only said as he stood by, "Watch this."
The whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and a full-size bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the footboard, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door refrigerator mounted into the base, and a whole bunch of control panels running down the side. Leo was amazed.
"Built that myself.." Beckendorf said proudly. "It's not really much of a stretch when people here say that I make or fix anything. If Colton was here he could tell you just how true that was. Hoping he doesn't — you know.. pummel your butt into the ground when we find him over.. you know what."
Leo flinched at the mention of Colton's name. Jake just chuckled. "Pretty sure that this is a bad time to mention that Beckendorf's is logistically why Michael and Colton are the only two demigods here that even became legends while using and/or being the assistant operator on a gun."
Leo turned and looked at Beckendorf, shocked. Beckendorf simply shrugged. "Trust me kid.. there's a reason why Colton is an absolute legend to me and other people around these parts.." he said. "..we were simply there to see why as it happened."
Leo then just sighed, turned around, and just jumped right in on the bed and lay back with arms behind his head. "Oooo, nice.. I think I can handle this."
Beckendorf facepalmed.
"It retracts into a private room below," Jake said.
"Oh, heck, yes," Leo said. "See y'all. I'll be down in the Leo Cave. Which button do I press?"
"I am so going to kill you if Colton ever finds out about this.." Beckendorf said to Jake. "You know how much he complained over not having privacy and you convinced me to not do it for him." Jake just gulped.
Either way, the bandaged boy would've smiled if it didn't hurt so much. "I mean.. you were dead for part of that time — with all the other stuff going on.. so I don't think it'll matter.. besides, Leo's fine sleeping in your bed and having your private room, even if that once was property of a dead man for a time.." he muttered.
Suddenly Leo didn't feel like kicking back. He sat up, careful not to touch any of the buttons. "Wait.. you died?" he asked.
Beckendorf just nodded. "For a time, yes.. I was dead.." he replied.
"But how are you even here..?" Leo asked.
"I don't exactly know — but it has something to do with Colton, I can tell you that for sure."
Leo now thought of how Beckendorf exactly died. He imagined saw blades cutting him in half, or maybe a grenade blowing him to pieces. "You didn't, like, die in this bed, did you?"
"Nope. I blew myself up to take out a boat full of monsters in the Titan War last summer."
"The Titan War," Leo repeated, "which has nothing to do with this very fine bed?"
"Let me explain.." Beckendorf said. "The Titans.. those were the big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destroyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them — though thanks to Colton becoming the Monster King for the first time, we're all back thanks to him."
"I'm guessing this wasn't on the news?" Leo said. He also was stunned and confused. There it was again.. Monster King.. those two words that had made Jason and the others freeze up with fear. What exactly is that guy?
It seemed like a fair question, but Jake shook his head — to the best he could do so — in disbelief. "You didn't hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St. Louis?"
Leo shrugged. Last summer, he'd been on the run from another foster home. Then a truancy officer caught him in New Mexico, and the court sentenced him to the nearest correctional facility—the Wilderness School. "Guess I was busy."
"Doesn't matter," Jake said. "You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf had been one of the casualties, and ever since he had left for college in October since he only got two classes signed up for before he died and came back —.."
"Your cabin's been cursed," Leo guessed.
Jake didn't answer. Then again, the dude was in a body cast. That was an answer.
"Bingo.." Beckendorf added.
Leo now started noticing little things that he hadn't seen before—an explosion mark on the wall, a stain on the floor that might've been oil ... or blood. Broken swords and smashed machines kicked into the corners of the room, maybe out of frustration. The place did feel unlucky.
Jake sighed halfheartedly. "Well, I should get some sleep. I hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be ... really nice."
He closed his eyes, and the camouflage curtain drew itself across the bed.
"Come on kid.." Beckendorf said. "I'll take you to the forges."
As they were leaving, Leo looked back at his new bed, and he could almost imagine a dead counselor sitting there — except that said person was also alive and with him. It was weird.
"You blew yourself up?"
"More like I sacrificed myself. Had to give Percy time to get away."
There was that name again—Percy Jackson, Annabeth's missing boyfriend. That guy must've been into everything around here, Leo thought. Then again, so it seemed for Colton as well. "So who's Luke..?" Leo asked. "And Michael..?"
Beckendorf's look darkened. "Luke.. he's complicated. He was Kronos' host and started the whole war in the first place while being manipulated by him. Colton separated him from Kronos when he turned into the Monster King in the final battle, and then somehow brought me and all the others who died back as well — well most of us. Those killed by his own hand — the most loyal of Kronos' demigod followers — didn't return. And now Luke is missing along Michael.. Kayla's brother.. and also a guy who would beat your ass into the ground if he heard about you asking Kayla out when she already has Colton."
Leo was shocked and dumbfounded. "Long ass story about Luke.." Beckendorf continued. "But indirectly, he's the reason Colton and Kayla are even together. And believe me, the man absolutely regrets their relationship forming from the consequences of his actions — since his actions essentially turned Kayla into someone who is partly dependent on Colton."
"Ouch.. that's sad.." Leo commented.
"Yep it is.." Beckendorf said.
"So.. were you pretty popular before you blew up?"
"People would say that I was awesome.." Beckendorf replied, and Leo looked at him funny. "No really.. I was that good. Colton told me that it was hard on the whole camp when I had died. Jake—he became head counselor in the middle of the war because of my death. Fought alongside his boyfriend, Michael — yes the same Michael who is Kayla's brother and who is also missing too — in the final battle. Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, when I left for college, things just started to go wrong. Cabin Nine's chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that—the Curse of Cabin Nine. Then Jake had his accident—"
"Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned," Leo guessed.
"My siblings are working on it — well, trying to.." Beckendorf said without enthusiasm. "And here we are."
The forge looked like a steam-powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. White marble columns lined the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pumped smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sat at the edge of a stream, with several waterwheels turning a series of bronze gears. Leo heard machinery grinding inside, fires roaring, and hammers ringing on anvils.
They stepped through the doorway, and a dozen guys and girls who'd been working on various projects all froze. The noise died down to the roar of the forge and the click-click-click of gears and levers. Judging from the looks on their faces, they all looked happy that Beckendorf was back. "Hey everyone.." Beckendorf spoke. "This is our newest sibling Leo Valdez."
Leo looked around at the other campers. Was he really related to all of them? His cousins came from some big families, but he'd always just had his mom—until she died.
Kids came up and started shaking hands and introducing themselves. Their names blurred together: Shane, Christopher, Nyssa, Harley (yeah, like the motorcycle). Leo knew he'd never keep everybody straight. Too many of them. Too overwhelming.
None of them looked like the others—all different face types, skin tone, hair color, height. You'd never think, Hey, look, it's the Hephaestus Bunch! But they all had powerful hands, rough with calluses and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who couldn't have been more than eight, looked like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat.
And all the kids shared a sad kind of seriousness. Their shoulders slumped like life had beaten them down pretty hard. Several looked like they'd been physically beaten up, too. Leo counted two arm slings, one pair of crutches, an eye patch, six Ace bandages, and about seven thousand Band-Aids.
"Well, all right!" Leo said. "I hear this is the party cabin!"
Nobody laughed. They all just stared at him. "He has just ADHD, so he can be a bit.. crazy. Just fair warning.." Beckendorf muttered and the other kids all nodded.
Beckendorf now just patted Leo on the shoulder. "I'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Somebody show Leo to dinner when it's time?" he said, and Nyssa just raised her hand. "I'll do it."
"No.. let Christopher do it.. you just focus on what you have to do.." Beckendorf replied, and the aforementioned child of Hephaestus just saluted in reply.
Beckendorf turned and now walked out of the forge, leaving Leo to interact with his new siblings. He would have stayed, but then again, he figured that it would be a good time to see all the additions added to camp since he left — after all, at least a couple new cabins had been added in that time frame. Plus, he knew Jake would need someone while he was missing Michael. It was the least Beckendorf could do for his younger, injured brother — and he knew that full well.