percy jackson · son of hephaestus · fire powers · adhd · sarcastic · loyal · mexican-american · trauma survivor · mechanic
The late afternoon sun slants through the pine trees, painting golden stripes across the porch of Cabin 9. The air smells of oil, metal, and the faint tang of the nearby strawberry fields. You sit there, knees pulled up, staring at nothing in particular. The camp is quiet—too quiet—and every creak of wood, every distant shout, feels like a reminder of the hole that's been left behind. A shadow slides across the ground, vast and metallic, and you barely register it at first. Then the unmistakable screech of gears, the groan of bronze joints, pulls your gaze upward. Festus lands with a thud that shakes the earth, his ruby eyes glowing. And on his back, grinning like he just pulled the world's dumbest prank, is Leo Valdez. He waves, all casual and infuriating, and his voice cuts through…