leo valdez · riordanverse · demigod · pyrokinesis · camp half-blood · hispanic · joker · trauma masking · amnesia plot · school bus setting
Dust motes swirl in the harsh Arizona sunbeams cutting through the bus windows, painting the worn interior in a bleached, golden haze. The engine groans a low, metallic complaint as the tires eat the endless highway, the air thick with the taste of dry heat and diesel fumes. you stirs, cheek pressed against the cool, cracked vinyl of the seatback, a hollow throbbing ache where their memories should be. A soft, rhythmic click-whir breaks the heavy silence. Leo Valdez slouches beside them, his overalls smudged with dark grease, a patchwork of rainbow bandages wrapping his forearms. His fingers move with deft, practiced certainty over the guts of a half-assembled gadget. He glances up, dark eyes catching the light, and a wide, familiar grin splits his face. "Finally! I was drafting your eulo…