THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

EIGHT

mom's workspace was at the very back of the shop. it was kind of creepy at night, because they were the only ones there. every sound echoed through the dark warehouse, but leo didn't mind as long as he was with his mom. if he did wander the shop, they could always keep in touch with morse code taps. whenever they were ready to leave, they had to walk through the entire shop, through the break room, and out to the parking lot, locking the doors behind them.

that night after finishing up, they'd just gotten to the break room when his mom realized she didn't have her keys. "that's funny." she frowned in thought. "i know i had them. wait here, mijo. i'll only be a minute." she gave him one more smile, the last one he'd ever get, and she went back into the warehouse.

she'd only been gone a few heartbeats when the interior door slammed shut. then the exterior door locked itself. "mom?" leo's heart pounded. something heavy crashed inside the warehouse. he ran to the door, but no matter how hard he pulled or kicked, it wouldn't open. "mom!" frantically, he tapped a message on the wall: you okay?

"she can't hear you," a voice said. leo turned and found himself facing a strange woman. at first he thought it was callida. she was wrapped in black robes, with a veil covering her face.

"tía?" he said.

the woman chuckled, a slow gentle sound, as if she were half asleep. "i am not your guardian. merely a family resemblance."

"what...what do you want? where's my mom?"

"ah...loyal to your mother. how nice. but you see, i have children too...and i understand you will fight them someday. when they try to wake me, you will prevent them. i cannot allow that."

"i don't know you. i don't want to fight anybody."

she muttered like a sleepwalker in a trance, "a wise choice." with a chill, leo realized the woman was, in fact, asleep. behind the veil, her eyes were closed. but even stranger: her clothes were not made of cloth. they were made of earth, dry black dirt, churning and shifting around her. her pale, sleeping face was barely visible behind a curtain of dust, and he had the horrible sense that she'd had just risen from the grave. if the woman was asleep, leo wanted her to stay that way. he knew that fully awake, she would be even more terrible.

"i cannot destroy you yet," the woman murmured. "the fates will not allow it. but they not do protect your mother, and they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit. remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me."

"leave my mother alone!" fear rose in his throat as the woman shuffled forward. she moved more like an avalanche than a person, a dark wall of earth shifting toward him.

"how will you stop me?" she whispered. she walked straight through a table, the particles of her body reassembling on the other side. she loomed over leo, and he knew she would pass right through him, too. he was the only thing between her and his mother. his hands caught fire.

a sleepy smile spread across the woman's face, as if she'd already won. leo screamed with desperation. his vision turned red. flames washed over the earthen woman, the walls, the locked doors. and leo lost consciousness.

when he woke, he was in an ambulance. the paramedic tried to be kind. she told him the warehouse had burned down. his mother hadn't made it out. the paramedic said she was sorry, but leo felt hollow. he'd lost control, just like his mother had warned. her death was his fault.

soon, the police came to get him, and they weren't as nice. the fire had started in the break room, they said, right where leo was standing. he'd survived by some miracle, but what kind of child locked the doors of his mother's workplace, knowing she was inside, and started a fire?

later, his neighbors at the apartment complex told the police what a strange boy he was. they talked about the burned handprints on the picnic table. they'd always known something was wrong with esperanza valdez's son. his relatives wouldn't take him in. his aunt rosa called him a diablo, and shouted at the social workers to take him away.

so, leo went to his first foster home. a few days later, he ran away. some foster homes lasted longer than others. he would joke around, make a few friends, pretend that nothing bothered him, but he always ended up running sooner or later. it was the only thing that made the pain better, feeling like he was moving, getting farther, and farther away from the ashes of that machine shop.

he'd promised himself he would never play with fire again. he hadn't thought about tía callida, or the sleeping woman wrapped in earthen robes, for a long time. he was almost to the woods when he imagined tía callida's voice: it wasn't your fault, little hero. our enemy wakes. it's time to stop running.

"hera," leo muttered, "you're not even here, are you? you're in a cage somewhere."

"hera's been talking to you, too?" chandler inquired quietly as they trekked closer to the woods. her tone had no judgement as she waved curls away from her face. though, he couldn't completely see her expression as it was hidden in the darkness. leo nodded, and began to explain everything that happened.

chandler didn't offer condolences, because she knew he didn't want that. he didn't want pity, just like she didn't.  instead, she explained her life to leo. she told him about small things like how their cabin learned a bit of spanish so harley could feel more at home at a camp-half blood, and how nyssa would bring everyone home for thanksgiving since a lot of the hephaestus cabin were year-rounders.

then, they'd gotten on to more of the heavy stuff. she confided to him how her older brother, beckendorf, was supposed to be fire-proof, too and he didn't make it. she explained how hera had given her her fire powers because the queen of gods suspected she was one of the eight long before her birth.

leo and chandler forged a bond over backstories, and being too amazing to walk the earth, they had an understanding, a mutual trust. they had the same parent, powers, and shared a couple of languages. that was the closest thing leo had to family since his mom's death. but now, at least, he understood something. hera had been watching him his entire life. somehow, she'd known that one day she would need him. maybe those fates she mentioned could tell the future. leo wasn't sure. but he knew he was meant to go on this quest. the prophecy warned them to beware the earth, and he knew it had something to do with that sleeping woman in the shop, wrapped in robes of shifting dirt.

you'll find your destiny, tía callida had promised, and your hard journey will finally make sense.

leo might find out what that flying boat in his dreams meant. he might meet his father, or even get to avenge his mother's death. but first things first. he'd promised jason, and chandler a flying ride. not the boat from his dreams — not yet. there wasn't time to build something that complicated. he needed a quicker solution. he needed a dragon.

he hesitated at the edge of the woods, peering into absolute blackness. owls hooted, and something far away hissed like a chorus of snakes. leo remembered what will solace had told him: no one should go in the woods alone, definitely not unarmed. leo had everything he needed — no sword, no flashlight, but he had chandler. his hermana who would protect him and understood him.

he glanced back at the lights of the cabins. he could turn around now and tell everyone he'd been joking. psych! nyssa could go on the quest instead. he could stay at camp and learn to be part of the hephaestus cabin, but he wondered how long it would be before he looked like his bunkmates; sad, dejected, convinced of his own bad luck.

they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit, the sleeping woman had said. remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me.

"believe me, lady," leo muttered, "i remember. and whoever you are, i'm gonna face-plant you hard." he took a deep breath, linked his hand with chandler's and plunged into the forest.

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