Percy woke with a start, the screams that haunted his nightmares mixing with the ones from down the hall. Blood pumping with adrenaline and still half asleep, Percy ran towards the source with Annabeth right behind him. Luckily his mother was at work and his father was away at a teaching convention or there'd be a lot of explaining to do.

He opened the door to find one Nico DiAngelo trying to shake awake the son of Hephaestus to no avail (Wait, Nico? What's he doing here?), while avoiding a fire that was smothering the bedside desk. The boy was screaming bloody murder, writhing around, entangled in sheets and sweat. Percy immediately went to work extinguishing the flames. Luckily the bathroom was directly across the hall, so he had no trouble guiding the water and stopping the fire in its tracks.

Annabeth was by Leo's side holding the boy down so he didn't hurt himself or others, but that seemed to just make things worse. Percy quickly used some of the water he'd gathered and dumped it on the teen, startling him awake.

Annabeth released him as Leo bolted upright and clutched his chest in a vice grip, while his eyes darted around the room. The three coherent demigods recognized that look, having experienced it themselves, and waited with him until he caught up with reality. His breathing slowed to shuddering breaths and he shut his eyes tightly before collapsing back on his bed utterly exhausted, covering his face with his arms.

"Damn it…" he whispered through clenched teeth, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Leo…" The demigod, tensed and slowly lowered his arm to see three demigods staring at him with equal parts worry and diminishing panic. That's when he looked at his surroundings with growing horror. The charred desk, the sweat-soaked sheets abandoned on the floor, the redness of his friends' hands from trying to wake him up. He did this...

Nico broke the silence, placing a hand on the teen's shoulder and ignoring the flinch that came with it. "Are you okay?"

And Leo thought that was the easiest and hardest question he was ever asked because no, he was not okay. He was definitely not okay. Looking at his friends, he knew they all knew this as well, but they wanted to hear him say it. To confirm their suspicions that he was broken and hurting, and he couldn't do that because then the questions would start, and he couldn't deal with the questions right now.

So instead he did what he's always done.

He wiped away the waterworks, took a deep breath, plastered on a smile, and said, "Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?"

Annabeth, Percy, and Nico stared in disbelief at the boy's outright lie and knew they were all thinking the same thing.

It was so damn convincing.

Leo's smile widened, like he was attempting to convince himself of the lie he was trying to feed his friends. "Why are you all in here anyways? Oh! Are we having a slumber party? Did you miss me so much that you had to see me at," Leo looked at the clock, "Three- thirty? Wow, I'm flattered! Hey Nico, why are you here? Aw, you missed me too didn't you? But of course, it's hard to resist the presence of the great Leo Valdez." Leo laughed and got out of bed. Nobody missed how his eyes flickered to the burnt desk before bounding to the kitchen.

Ever since the incident at the park, Leo has been acting strangely. Something was definitely off, but Percy and Annabeth couldn't put their fingers on it. Leo acted like he was fine, but there was something in his eyes that had them worried them.

Annabeth's concern grew. She saw it now. The boy was definitely not okay. His eyes were glazed over and conflicted, like he was trying to fight to stay in the present moment and not to whatever demons plagued his mind.

The scary thought was, that if Annabeth wasn't looking for it, if she didn't see it in Percy when the memories of Tartarus took hold of his mind, if she didn't see it in the mirror from her own reflection after reliving the hell they fell into (and got out of, she needs to remind herself of this fact constantly), she wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong. His facade was nearly flawless. How long has he been keeping this up? How had she not noticed it before? His signature smile seems so fake to her now, it was disconcerting.

His breathing hitched every now and then, revealing that he was trying to even it out, to seem even more convincing. His hands were twitching and his frame was trembling.

She followed after him silently, Percy and Nico close behind in the same state of shock. Percy decided to step up to the plate and walked up to the demigod who was making himself some hot chocolate.

"Leo." The boy looked up innocently, and took a sip of the drink, humming in acknowledgment.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Leo tensed, and put down his cup of coco, tapping his fingers on the countertop while bouncing his leg with pent up energy.

"Uh, yeah, I said I was."

"Dude, we just saw you screaming and thrashing around your bed like you were in agony. You set the desk on fire in your sleep."

Leo looked down guiltily at his hands, "I'm sorry about the desk, that was my bad, and I'll make you a new one…"

Annabeth kneeled in front of the boy. "Leo. Look at me." His eyes met hers. "This is not about the desk. This is about you. We're worried, we're your friends, you can talk to us."

Leo glared at his friends, and his nonchalance quickly turned to defensive annoyance.

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm fine! Carajo, déjame en paz! What, so it's a crime to have a nightmare every now and again?" He growled out.

The three demigods stood in shock. Leo never used that tone of voice on them before. Leo looked just as surprised and his annoyance quickly turned to embarrassment. He took out a rubber band ball and some springs from his tool belt to have something to distract himself with (He sleeps with it? Annabeth wondered how she didn't notice it before.).

Percy opened his mouth to say something when he heard the distinct click of the door being opened. The demigods turned towards the sound as Sally Jackson walked in, holding bags of groceries and wearing the uniform she had for her job as a receptionist. She was shocked to see the kids up this late and geared up to give a lecture when she realized there was a new addition to the group.

"Nico! How have you been?" She gave the demigod a hug and tussled his hair. Nico smiled and returned the hug. He stayed at Percy's place after the war with Gaea to recuperate somewhat and now Mrs. Jackson is like a second mother to him. "I thought you wouldn't be able to make it."

The three other demigods turned towards the son of Hades, wondering the same thing. Nico nodded and said, "Yeah, Hades put me on 'mandatory vacation'," Nico air quoted. He glanced towards Leo and decided he would give the teen the letter from Chase later. It seemed personal enough to discuss in private.

Sally's smile widened and said, "Well, that's great hun." She turned to Percy and raised a brow, "And why exactly are you all awake at this hour?"

The three standing demigods all turned to Leo, and before any could respond Leo said sheepishly, "Sorry Mrs. J, I accidentally barbecued the desk, I'll fix up a new one by tomorrow- er, well, today technically."

Sally didn't skip a beat, one of the perks of being the mother of a demigod is that it was hard for anything to surprise her these days, "Oh, alright. I'll move that out later today." She gave a tired sigh, and turned to the teens, "Since you're all up, can you help me put away the groceries?"

The teens nodded and went to work in silence. Sally noticed the tense atmosphere and dismissed herself, saying she was tired and was going to get some sleep. They continued working and eventually, Leo said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you." Percy stopped what he was doing and addressed the boy.

"We're just worried about you-"

"And I appreciate that," Leo interrupted with a grateful smile, "But really, I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about."

Nico stared at the teen and thought about what Chance from Elysium said. The boy really was a mystery when he thought about it. It just wasn't so obvious because he tended to wear his heart on his sleeve, or at least they thought he did. "Would you tell us if something was seriously wrong?"

Leo hesitated, and his eyes flickered to the side. "... Yeah, of course." He paused again. "I'll keep that in mind."

Nico, Percy, and Annabeth didn't miss his hesitation but decided to leave it for now. It was past 4 in the morning. They were all tired, so they finished putting away the groceries and went into their respective rooms.

Leo sat on his bed, smile dropping completely in the absence of his friends, and rubbed his face in frustration and restlessness. He didn't know what to do! He thought he was past this, he hasn't gotten a nightmare like that in months! He tried not to think about his encounter with the man in park. 'He can't get to me now, I'm not the same kid from back then,' he thought, 'I've got friends, I've saved the world damn it! He's nothing now, he's no one. He can't get to me. I'm okay, I'm okay, You're fine Leo, you're okay…' He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes, he repeated the process until his anxiety went down a bit. It was a trick he learned from Chance, during the times when he thought he couldn't handle it.

Chance. His heart panged at the thought of his older brother. He never did find out what happened to him, all he was told was that the boy had died. Not how, or when, only that he did. Then again, it was that monster that told him, so maybe there was hope…

He stood up, taking out some wood and screws from his tool belt and went to work on building a new desk. There was no way he was getting any sleep tonight, might as well do something productive.

Elsewhere, a few hours later…

A girl with flaming, red, wavy hair and chocolate brown eyes quickly sat up from where she'd been napping on her desk. The students around her jumped about a foot in the air and the teacher stuttered in her explanation of the Cold War before gathering her senses and continuing the lesson. The students watched as the girl's head zipped to one side, then the other, then to the teacher, confusion marring her face. She raised her hand.

The teacher sighed wearily, "What, Lillian?"

Lillian either didn't notice the woman's frustration or didn't care. "Which class is this?"

The teacher stared in disbelief. "I hope you're joking. It's World History." Some of her classmates laughed. The ones closest to her whispered "freak." Only one student frowned at his friend being made fun of, the hair covering his eyes hiding his hazel-eyed glare of disapproval.

Lillian nodded thoughtfully and looked at her palms, studying them intently. "A shorter life than last week…" she muttered to herself. She looked outside, and shook her head, her brows knitting together. Lillian stood up swiftly and the teacher cut off mid sentence. "Lillian, is there something- where are you going? Lillian!" But the teen didn't stop, instead she continued out of the classroom and down the hall. Her Converse sneakers slapping the tiled floor with purpose and haste. She heard heavy boots trying to catch up and the distinct sound of panting breath as a teen with dark brown hair and deep hazel eyes caught up to her just before she walked out the school doors. He grabbed her forearm and she tensed in his grip. The boy immediately let go and instead swiped the hair from his sweaty forehead.

"Where are you going?" He panted out, and Lillian only frowned at her best friend. She grabbed his wrist and proceeded to walk out of the school.

"Okay, where are we going?

"There's a storm coming." She said impatiently. The boy looked to the sky, it was a clear day, the only wisp of cloud was a lone white swirl that looked to be receding quickly. It was so hot he could see heat waves coming up from the sidewalk, the sun seemed to be scorching even the shadows in the small Californian town.

The boy looked to his friend exasperated, "What do you mean?" he asked, because she sure as hell wasn't talking about the weather. She suddenly stopped and he realized they've walked several blocks and were now standing in front of his rundown residence.

She huffed out a breath and dragged a hand down her face, trying to articulate what she didn't understand herself. "I don't know, It's-" She made a sound of frustration. "It's happening again! James, do you remember Chicago?"

James frowned, they never talked about Chicago. Never. It was an unspoken agreement, and he was suddenly worried about what he's about to get himself into. "Is this like Chicago?" Lillian nodded her head solemnly. "Okay, do you know who it is?"

Lillian nodded and studied the flowers adorning the sad little garden in front of James' house. The forget-me-nots were withered under the harsh rays of the sun. "I think so, now start packing."

The hazel eyed boy's eyes widened. "What, right now?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

Lillian tapped her foot in annoyance, "How should I know, a week? Just hurry up!" She waved her hands towards the house to urge her point.

James rolled his eyes, "Okay, alright, no need to shout…"

As James was packing, the teenage girl grew more and more worried at what she'd seen. Or rather, heard. She always had a gift for knowing. Nothing like her cousin Rachel, not as concrete, but even more frequent. Sometimes she saw what others did not, so obviously there that she soon realized it was like trying to describe color to a blind person. Sometimes it came in smells, or tastes, and most often in combination with this , emotion.

She looked at the lone, wispy cloud with growing concern. This time, it was a song. It wasn't just any song, it was the last song she ever heard with one of the only friends she'd ever had. And with it, she felt like someone who was watching a storm approach faster than she could outrun it. She could practically hear the Latino boy, trying to reassure her that he would be fine as they played cards over the calming tunes of Chicano Batman. She hadn't seen or heard from him since.

James came out with a traveler's backpack and a nervous grin. "So, where are we heading?"

Her gut pulled her towards her house and James struggled to keep up. The words that she replied with surprised even her. "New York."

James stumbled, "N-New York? Who's in New York?"

They stopped in front of her house and James followed her in as she opened the door and made her way up to her room. Both of their parents were at work and neither would really care if they went on a little spontaneous trip. It was not the first and certainly wouldn't be the last.

As she was packing she chose her words carefully. "I have a friend that'll need some help."

James actually gasped a little. "Lillian Dare, you have more friends other than moi? I thought I'd never see the day."

Lillian scoffed, "You're one to talk."

James' smile widened, "So what's the lucky fool's name?"

Lillian felt a pang of sadness, who knows if he even remembers her? Let alone considers her a friend? The name almost burned as she drew it from her throat.

"Leo Valdez."

Carajo, dejame en paz!- Damn it, leave me alone!