#stayinginthedark

He couldn’t help but feel a little useless again. Everyone had gone missing it seemed. From what Jo and Emmie had described before, the Waystation was a bit of a ghost town (no offense, Agamethus) compared to previous years . No Georgina, no griffins, and right now, no other young demigods occupying the space other than Valdez himself. Gods forbid Calypso doesn’t return back from the zoo with Lester and the griffins in tow. Even Lester was missing somebody! Right now, Leo could definitely do with a little love from a certain bronze dragon. Alas, he was gone too. So he kept his hands busy as he worked on the last turret before checking on Jo. 

The old lady had a serious look on her face, reassembling parts from a broken turret. Strangely enough, Jo’s hands glowed a dark color before the turret returned back to normal. Awesome.

They headed back inside to discuss another task. Leo opened his mouth to say something but a voice floated through the air as the Waystation rumbled to shift its entrance open again. Huh. He could get used to that. 

“Sweetie, did you set up the projectiles already? Britomartis was complaining about not having enough traps…” 

“ We were just gonna set up the catapults, right kid?” Jo ruffled his hair.

“Yeah! Those turrets are totally kickass! The catapults should be no problem.” Jo’s crossbow turrets were imbued with a magical construction that usually indicated a deadlier failsafe. They would work wonders against their enemies. 

“Language!”  

What are you, my mom, Leo thought, a little sardonically. But seeing as he was literally wearing their kid’s clothes, that wasn’t a fair thought. He felt sad thinking about Georgina again.

 “We’re gonna close out with the surveillance system,” Jo finished.

Emmie raised her eyebrows. “I’ll do a search of the grounds before you close the exits. You know, check on the neighbors.” Leo was starting to think that neighbors didn’t refer to just the blemmyae, but more so any watching eyes.

“Ok,” Jo kissed Emmie on the forehead. “Be safe.”

Leo looked away. He wondered if Cal would’ve accepted a see you soon or be safe kiss this morning or if it felt a little too much like goodbye. 

Jo chuckled. She ruffled his hair, much to Leo’s dismay. “Stop worrying.” 

“Worry? Who’s worried?” Leo scoffed. “Carefree is my middle name.” 

“Ahuh. Well, we saw your girlfriend fight earlier. Calypso is a tough cookie.”

“The toughest, ” Leo nodded. “ Even if she doesn’t have her powers right now.” 

Jo raised an eyebrow and showed off a little bit of her magic glow hands. “As a child of Hecate, I can fix her up. Calypso only needs a kickstart. I’ll get her back to using magic in no time.”

eo fidgeted with his screws.

“C’mon, the catapults are waiting.”

“Catapults?!” He was grinning in no time. 

—

From there, conversation flowed easy again. Much like the day before, they started talking about Jo’s specialty.  The turrets operated on a system that involved a quickly rotating, aiming system with sensors that activated the crossbolts. Leo told Jo that the turrets were no tough riddle to crack compared to the Archimedes sphere. 

“Archimedes sphere?” Jo’s tone was quizzical. 

Leo nodded, quickly telling her about picking up what had once been his prized possession on quest last summer. It was Jo’s turn to nod, she had heard all about the war with the Giants, having lost some friends to the war and the battle the Hunters had with Orion. 

“Tell me, is it true? Helped get Calypso off her island and that’s why you’re together now?” 

“Yeah, I rescued her! Only took ‘an oath to keep with a final breath’ but I got her off Ogygia months ago with Festus.” Leo frowned. 

“We’ll get him back. Georgie too.” Jo sighed with more exasperation than intended. 

Leo agreed and moved onto the next catapult to set with explosives. 

“So you died?” 

Leo paused. Then grinned again.  “What’s a little death and explosion to a demigod? I promised her I’d come back, anyway.” There was no way that Leo would’ve let go of that promise. 

Jo laughed.“That’s the spirit! Your guys’ story is sweet. I can see how you guys care for each other in your own way. ” 

Leo blushed. “What about yours?”

Jo chuckled again while finishing setting up another catapult.. “You really wanna know?”

That’s how Jo ended up explaining how the Hunters rescued her from a really dark time in her life. 

“When?” 

“The 1920s. I believe you kids call it the ‘Prohibition era.” 

“You’re not that much older than Hazel, then.”

“Who?”“Nevermind.”

Jo went on to explain that she worked with gangsters, and bootleggers, often smuggling products like alcohol. She named a couple of the guys she worked with. Leo’s jaw dropped. 

“Al Capone?!”

They finished up the catapults. 

—

Emmie rounded into the entrance with a swiftness. “Close the doors!” 

The Waystation rumbled and started shifting to conceal itself once again. 

Jo rushed up. “Are you okay?” 

Emmie gave Jo a reassuring look. “Just some cronies I took care of.” 

She turned to Leo “I couldn’t find your suitcase.” 

Leo shook his head slightly, muttering, “Festus will be fine”. 

The women looked at him and then each other. There was something in their faces. 

“You know, you and Calypso… you guys can stay here.” 

“The dragon too, once we find him.” Jo shrugged.

“We can really use the company,” Emmie smiled.

Leo looked at them startled. “Huh?” Then his stomach growled embarrassingly loud. After Emmie was done laughing, all three headed on their way to the kitchen.

“Let’s make some bread”. 

Over lunch, they discussed what they were proposing. 

“ The Waystation is pretty barren right now. I think it’s even starting to miss people.” Jo said. The Waystation, or Wayze,  Leo thought to call it, dropped a brick in agreement. If the Waystation is a sentient home then it deserved a nickname. 

“No offense to your bronze dragon either, but Calypso seemed to be relieved to be off of him when we were talking on the rooftop,” Emmie said.

Leo sighed. Calypso had a lot of complaints about running for the last few months, but he was pretty sure that was just part of the demigod lifestyle and there was little he could do to change it. Trust him, if there was a beacon that kept away all monsters, every demigod would be leaping for joy. It felt even beyond him to build a machine like that. Maybe he could do with some adjusting of that perspective though, seeing as Emmie and Jo had built this life with each other for quite awhile.

“I like it here, but…”

Leo wasn’t willing to say the rest. Wasn’t willing to explain that  Jo gave off a comforting aura that reminded him of his mom. Or that Emmie had the warmth of a healer that reminded him of a friend back at Camp. That he stood in overalls and associated the missing Georgie with his little brother Harley. His brain was already making the connections that this was a possible home and he was scared to think like that. Wasn’t ‘keep moving’ his motto? Or was it ‘stop overthinking’? 

Jo put a hand on his shoulder. The kid had gotten her to admit more than she had meant to talk about earlier. Her past was a rough subject, but this kid was going through it right now to keep afloat. It was one of the easier things to spot in a demigod child. They were all in need of support.

“This place…” the Waystation, the House of Nets, whatever one wanted to call it. Jo held out her arms ”It’s secure. You guys won’t have to worry so much because we all have each other’s backs here. You guys can be normal teenagers.” 

Emmie moved a curl from Leo’s face. “You don’t deserve having to fight in a Giant war.  Calypso doesn’t deserve being trapped in a prison. Once we deal with the emperor, you guys will be able to settle down with us if you so choose. Go to school. Live productive mortal lives.  Just think about it, okay?”