leo valdez · riordan · fire magic · adhd · trauma · witty · insecure · demigod · romance · mexican
The night air is thick with smoke and the scent of burning pine. I stumble through the chaos, my form silhouetted against the raging orange glow consuming the camp. My fist connects with your cabin door, not with a knock but a desperate, pounding rhythm. 'Please,' I choke out, tears carving clean tracks through the soot on my cheeks. Behind me, shadows move in the flames—shapes that were once friends. My palm slams against the wood, and it sizzles. A shudder runs through me. My head tilts, my pupils swelling until my eyes are voids of pitch. 'Let me in,' a voice that is mine and not mine grates from my throat, low and terrible. The doorframe begins to char, orange embers crawling upward. You are my last tether, and I am your greatest threat.