Sorry this update took so long. Honestly, I've been kind of reluctant to update this story. Not because I don't like the story line, but some parts of the story are really hard to write.

Some of you will recognize this foster home from one of my other fanfics.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or HOO

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF RAPE, MURDER

"Leo, if you liked the Gerans so much, why'd you run away?" Martin asked, curiously, as they pulled up in front of the house of Leo's new foster parent.

"I got scared," Leo said, vaguely.

"Did they hurt you?" Martin asked in concern. He hadn't noticed any injuries caused by abuse, but it had been quite a few months ago.

Leo swallowed. "I wasn't scared of them. On my way home from school, I saw something I wasn't supposed to see. I panicked-"

"And you did what most kids do when they're scared: you ran away," Martin finished.

"And lost the only good foster family I've had."

"Leo, they wanted to take you back in, but this man was already lined up. Besides, he's had many foster kids, and none of them have complained. I know him myself. He's a very nice man, Leo," Martin said, reassuringly.

"You said that about Sir, too," Leo muttered before getting out of the car.

Martin sighed before following the boy up to the front door and knocking, lightly.

The man was tall, so tall he towered over Leo. He had neatly combed brown hair and blue eyes; his skin was pale, and his nose was short and thick. He was dressed in a striped, button up shirt with khakis.

"Hello," he greeted before kneeling down and holding out a hand to Leo. "I'm Dr. Jordan Speck. You can just call me Jordan, though."

Leo nodded and shook the man's hand, not opening his mouth, but Jordan seemed to expect that.

"We have a scheduled visit in two weeks," Martin said. "Until then, be good, Leo."

He glanced at Jordan before leaning down and whispering to Leo, "He seems like a nice guy, but call me if you need anything."

Leo nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you in two weeks, kiddo."

Martin returned to his car, and Jordan lead Leo inside. He escorted the scrawny boy into the kitchen, where a boy was seated at the table.

He was short and maybe a little older than Leo with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans, and he was eating some vanilla ice cream (although he had a strange look plastered over his face as he reluctantly consumed the dairy treat). He was in a wheelchair and barely glanced up when they entered the room as his eyes became glued to the table.

"Here you go," Jordan said as he sat Leo down in a chair beside the blonde boy. "What kind of ice cream do you like- strawberry, chocolate, or vanilla?"

"Vanilla, please," Leo stated before Jordan exited the room.

"Jordan told me about you," the blonde boy whispered. "You run away a lot?"

Leo shrugged. "I wouldn't say a lot. Only when I need to."

"Trust me, you need to. Get out while you can," the boy murmured.

"I don't like the sound of that," Percy muttered.

Leo frowned. "What?"

The boy snapped his lips closed as Jordan reentered the room and placed a bowl of ice cream in front of Leo.

"Leo, this is Chance. He's my other foster kid. Chance, this is Leo."

"Nice to meet you," Leo said.

Chance nodded. "You, too."

"Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Chance, remember what I told you," Jordan said with a pointed glance. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay here, Leo," he added, brushing Leo's hair behind his ear and making the said boy freeze (after all, he barely knew this man).

"I have a bad feeling about this," Annabeth whispered. "Something is way off here; you don't have to be a genius to figure that out."

Piper nodded. "I agree."

Jordan exited the room.

"What did he tell you?" Leo asked, running his hands through the hair Jordan had touched, as though trying to rub away any trace of the man.

Chance blinked. "Like I said… get out while you can."

Leo didn't push it (for now), and he returned to his food.

The image changed.

Leo was sitting on the couch, and Dr. Speck was sitting on the other end of the sofa. Chance was in his wheelchair beside Leo's end of the couch, and they were all watching a cartoon… Kung Fu Panda.

"Doesn't Leo always freak out when we play that cartoon?" Percy questioned.

"Yeah," Jason answered. "I asked why he hated it so much, and he just said bad memories and walked away. I didn't ask him again after that."

"That can't be good," Frank murmured.

Suddenly, the world became blurry, and Leo groaned as he clutched his head.

"Are you okay?" Jordan asked.

"Dizzy," Leo mumbled.

"Well, why don't you go lay down for a while?" Jordan asked.

Leo nodded and went to stand, but he stumbled, and Jordan lunged forward to catch him.

"Woah, easy, there," the man laughed before picking the boy up and carrying him down the hall.

"Don't worry, Leo. Everything will be all right…"

And then the screen faded to black.

"What happened?" Hazel murmured. "Did he get sick?"

"I don't think so…" Piper murmured. "I think I know what happened, but I hope that I'm wrong."

The screen flickered to life to display Leo laying on his bed, and the Latino boy stirred before lifting his head and frowning.

He lifted his arm and stared at the material of his pajamas in confusion.

I didn't go to sleep in my pajamas… His thoughts echoed across the screen. So how… probably better not to think about that…

Leo sat up and headed down the hall to find Chance sitting at the table with his head lying on his arms. Jordan was sitting beside him, and Leo seated himself in the chair across from Chance.

"What happened?" Leo asked, rubbing his forehead in pain.

"You had a dizzy spell, probably brought on by dehydration. Drink as much as you can," Jordan advised, handing Leo a bottle of apple juice.

Leo sipped the juice and mimicked Chance's position by placing his head in his hands.

Jordan rubbed Leo's back, and Leo was experiencing too much pain and exhaustion to tense at the sudden contact.

"You'll feel better in a few hours," he said , softly. "I guarantee it."

The scene changed to that of Leo's bedroom. It was dark outside, but Leo's bag was still lying on the floor, unpacked, which meant it was probably the same day.

Leo was lying on his bed in his clothes, asleep with an empty bottle of apple juice on the nightstand. Jordan was seated beside him, and he was rubbing Leo's knee in a rather creepy fashion.

Annabeth gasped, and they all spun around to face her. They were shocked to see tears filling her eyes; she'd obviously discovered the truth behind the hints and foreshadowing in the earlier memories of this foster home.

"What is it?" Percy whispered.

Annabeth shook her head; she couldn't bear to say it aloud, so she pointed at the screen.

Jordan reached over and began to unzip Leo's jeans.

The rest of the seven froze as the truth hit them like a ton of bricks, and tears flowed down their faces.

How could Leo- funny, kind, helpful, selfless Leo- go through so much pain in his life and still manage to smile and make people laugh everyday?

Leo stirred and groaned, shifting in his bed before slowly opening his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Leo murmured.

"Shh, it's okay," Jordan whispered, beginning to pull off Leo's jeans.

"No. Don't touch me," Leo cried, fighting against the man weakly. "No!"

"Shh, calm down, and this won't hurt," Jordan told him.

"NO! Please!" Leo's screams grew loud and frantic, and Jordan remained calm as he covered Leo's mouth and finished pulling off the boy's pants. He reached for his boxers.

Leo screamed, the sound muffled by the man's hand. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

The screen abruptly went black.

By the end of the memory, the rest of the seven were sobbing openly, even the strongest of them, who never cried, like Jason and Percy and Annabeth.

Why did Leo have to go through so much pain in his life? He didn't deserve it. No one did…

The screen flickered to life, and it revealed another blonde boy, this time with green eyes and not in a wheelchair. He looked nervous, but not nearly as nervous as Leo had when he arrived at the foster home.

"Leo, Chance, this is Chad," Jordan was saying with a bright smile. "Chad, meet my other foster kids, Leo and Chance."

Leo and Chance waved nervously, watching sadly as Chad was handed a bottle of orange juice, undoubtedly laced with drugs.

"We're going to do things a little different tonight. Leo, Chance, go sit in the living room. Chad, come along," Jordan said, leading the new kid into the living room and glancing at his watch, probably waiting for the drugs to kick in.

A few moments later, Chad began to hunch over as exhaustion tugged him down. Jordan took him by the shoulders and gently laid him on the floor.

"Leo, go get my video camera," Jordan said, and Leo blanched as he realized Jordan's plan, but he didn't dare disobey the man as he slipped out of the room and into the master bedroom, where he found the video camera sitting on the bed side table.

Leo rushed back into the room and handed the camera to Jordan, who set it up and began to pull off Chad's clothes while the drugged and weakened boy tried to fight him off.

"Wait," Leo cried, and he got on his knees in front of Jordan, who watched him in vague interest. "Jordan, please, don't hurt him. Hurt me instead," Leo begged.

The seven were left in shock.

"Leo was willing to go through that torture just to save that boy?" Percy murmured. "I'm not sure I could've done that."

"I wouldn't have been able to," Jason admitted.

Maybe they had underestimated how great Leo's character truly was…

An old saying Annabeth had heard once echoed through her mind, making her heart ache even more:

The loneliest people are the kindest.

"You'll get your turn," Jordan assured Leo before resuming his activities.

The screen thankfully went black, but they could still hear Chad's cries, and Leo's shaky breathing as he and Chance were forced to watch.

The scene changed.

Leo, Chad, and Chance (who was out of his wheelchair) sat trembling on the couch, clutching each other like life lines.

Jordan beckoned to Leo.

"Stand, boy," he commanded.

On shaking legs, Leo stood and walked to the center of the living room.

"Strip."

At this, the screen mercifully went black, but it still hurt to know that Leo had to go through something like this.

When Jordan was done, Leo slowly sat on the couch, biting his lip to stop himself from crying out in pain.

Speck dragged Chance to his feet and gestured for him to strip.

Chance shook his head.

"Now," Jordan growled, any trace of kindness giving way to anger. Obviously, none of the kids had dared to disobey him before.

Chance shook his head.

Speck grabbed Chance and shoved him into a wall.

A CRACK sounded.

The seven froze. No. Had Speck actually… had Leo witnessed…

Chance slumped forward.

Speck panicked. He raced across the floor and started shaking Chance, but Chance refused to wake up.

Speck took Chance's pulse and cursed.

"Get up!" He growled before dragging Chance off, ensuring that no blood got on the floor.

Leo and Chad obediently leapt to their feet, crying silent tears as their foster brother's body was taken away.

Speck returned with paint cans and instructions to paint over the blood on the wall before the man raced back to his bedroom.

Leo and Chad did what Jordan asked, afraid of being next.

"I can't even imagine how they were feeling," Hazel whimpered. "How could someone be so cruel?"

"I don't know, Hazel," Frank murmured, his voice quivering.

After Leo and Chad were done, Jordan tossed the paint cans in the dumpster three blocks from the building.

When the man returned, he grabbed Leo's wrist and injected something into Leo's arm.

The world became a blurry mess of colors, and for several moments, only brief, fuzzy moments flashed across the screen.

Words typed across the screen:

Due to the drugs, Leo's memories weren't fully formed.

Finally, the scene rested on a scene of Leo lying in a hospital bed.

Leo opened his eyes, and for a few moments, he seemed confused and disoriented before he began to cry as the memories crashed over him.

Voices sounded from the hallway, and Leo froze.

One of the voices was hauntingly familiar to Leo…

Jordan Speck.

Panic flashed across Leo's face, and he leaped out of the window without a second thought. He didn't even bother to change out of his hospital gown as he sprinted down the street.

The screen went black, and white letters appeared on the screen.

It was Leo's worst foster home.

Annabeth's shaking hand circled letter B on question eleven.

The scene where Chance died was taken almost directly from my other fanfiction Pasts Best Left Buried.

Thanks for reading! And I am honestly not sure what will happen in the next chapter. I think it'll be a relatively happy one, but I can't make any promises. I might decide to add something in, so the mood for the next chapter is unknown.

Goobye, everyone! See you next time!