"SORRY," A sheepishly silent voice came over the rustling of wind in her ears, it was hardly audible, yet Blaire still heard it by some misfortune. Though the words were almost incoherent due to the extreme volume of the breeze, Blaire still knew exactly who was at fault for them. Considering Jason and Piper snored steadily behind her, and only one other being could be responsible for the apology. Unless, by some miracle, Festus had learned to talk.

  "Back at the castle, I didn't mean to upset you," Leo continued, rotating slightly in place to speak to the supposedly offended teenager. She was sitting motionlessly behind him, staring blankly ahead at the clouds overhead. "I didn't know asking about your prophecy would upset you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have minded my own buisness...."

He was staring at Blaire with those huge brown eyes, each and every one of his emotions welling in their surface, on display for her and anyone else who may wind up looking to see. A startiling amount of sincerity was also gleaming within his irises.

Weirdo.

Blaire tore her gaze away from him rapidly, as if she thought his mere stare would set her on fire somehow. His words—the apology—sounded very heartfelt liked he'd searched within the deepest depths of his soul to find them. She almost wanted to forgive him: he was only at fault for being nosey afterall. Besides, usually no one even cared enough to say sorry after crossing her, this was a first.

  "Yeah, whatever," Blaire shrugged carelessly, rolling her dark eyes— for the hundredth time that day. She returned back to staring at the clouds, ignoring the way Leo grinned impishly at her.

  "Cool," Leo remarked bubbly.

  For awhile, the two flew in silence. Blaire found it unnecessary to say anything, for she had nothing to say to the boy, whilst Leo couldn't muster up anything of enough importance to say to the girl. Though, he did want to speak to her.

    Then, Festus jolted forward slightly, knocking Piper into Blaire, and Blaire into Leo.

     Her chest was pressed flush against Leo's back, for only a second though because she was quick to tear herself away from him and his terrible body warmth.

  It seemed Piper and Jason didn't even stir from the slight malfunction, for they still slumbered soundly on the dragons hide.

  "Sorry," Leo flushed, patting Festus' head. "There's just a few kinks I couldn't work out. I only had a few hours to fix 'ol boy."

Blaire was obviously aware that Leo was the one who'd repaired Festus, bringing him to his current state. She knew he was alone in fixing the murderous dragon— and she knew he'd done it in a matter of hours. But, somehow the verbal confirmation really suprised her. She didn't understand how this strange 15 year old boy was able to do such a thing on his own.

  He must have had mounds of freetime in past.

  "Why do you know how to fix a malfunctioning metal dragon?" Blaire interrogated the Valdez boy, not even attempting to disguise the judgemental edge riddiling her tone.

  Leo turned back to face her, suprised she was speaking to him.

  "I have my ways." Leo raised both of his dark eyebrows mischievously. Blaire watched as they dissapeared beneath the fray of curls falling over his forehead. "Joking. I grew up around mechanics. It rubbed off on me, I guess."

    Blaire didn't t know much about Leo or his mysterious past. But she could tell that he was hiding something— that much was clear. For, when he spoke about his youthful years, he did so cautiously.

  "I was on the run alot," He further explained, "And before my mom died—-"

  Oh.

  He cleared his throat, glancing down at his feet situated on either side of Festus. Never before, in the short amount of time Blaire knew Leo, had she seen him look so sad. Or sad at all.

  She almost felt sorry for him. She was familiar with the pain of loosing a parent at a young age.

  "I just grew up around machines."

  She gave him a funny look before turning back to the clouds.

   APPARENTLY, there were more than just a few kinks Leo was yet to work out regarding Festus, because Blaire found herself flailing through the air less than an hour after he'd apologized for the dragons slight mistake. Blaire, along with her accomplice's were falling from the dragon after he'd totally tweaked out.

    The cityscape flew by rapidly as she descended, small luminous lights twinkling behind her. Around her, the screams of her frantic questmates could be heard. And below her, she could spot Festus' little bronze body.

  "Not cooooool," Leo cried, grabbing at the clouds from a few feet above Blaire.

  The wind whipped rapidly at her hair, freeing it from the messy braid it previously resided in. Frizzy strings of brunette obscured her vision.

   Faintly, she could hear Piper and Jason calling to eachother from higher up in the clouds. All of her senses were on overdrive, yet her vision was going blurry.

  "What the—" Blaire screeched, but the final part of her curse was ripped from her mouth before she was able to mutter it.

    In a matter of seconds, a hurdle of too flairing bodies knocked into her, increasing the volume of her screaming by a tenfold. A pair of shaky arms snaked around her waist, pulling her further into the pile of free falling demigods.

She knew whom was holding her soely because of the spicy scent of tobasco sauce lingering in his curls— no one else she'd ever met had smelt so strongly of a condiment. However, the realization that Leo was the one holding her only made her panick worse.

Great.

On the other side of Leo, Piper clung to him, and beside Piper, Jason held her. It was like Blaire's worst nightmare— a massive group hug.

"My dragon," Leo yelled— into her ear, though he was speaking to Jason. "You gotta save my dragon!"

However, before Jason could even consider obliging, a fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

Though, Blaire thought the dragon was the least of their worries. They were falling to their deaths and Leo was crying over a peice of scrap metal.

Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing Blaire's stomach or mental terror any favors.

As they wobbled and zigzagged, Blaire could make out details of the factory complex below—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill—or skykill —when Jason groaned, "I can't—"

And they dropped like stones.

They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness, eliciting a series of sounds that somewhat resembled fireworks. The fireworks that would be let off at the end of the night as a grand finale. The loud ones that nearly shattered eardrums.

Blaire was hardly aware of anything besides the fear coarsing through her veins, turning the pits of her stomach into a violent mosh pit containing a herd of killer moths. Her head was spinning and she felt incredibly nauseous— if she'd accepted ther dinner Leo offered, she'd have thrown it up.

Then, she abruptly slammed into the hard concrete ground, face first, smashing the bones of her wrist that she clutched to her stomache in fear. Leo, who was previously beside her, had let go last minute and went flying elsewhere.

The position of her arm did her no good, for it was resting beneath her, being compressed by the entirety of her body weight. The length of her arm erupted into a void of extreme pain, as a sickening snap sounded over her vile thoughts.

"Shit!" Blaire hollered, immediately rolling onto her side to inspect the injury through her pain-blurred vision.

Good news, her arm had broken the fall. Bad news, har arm had broken in the fall. More specifically her wrist, it was bent at an odd angle.

"Piper! Where's Piper?" Jason shreiked the second he'd reached ground level.

Then Leo's obnoxious voice rang over her labored breathing, furthering her headache. "Blaire? Where are you?"

"Fuck!" Blaire hissed, cradling her broken wrist. "Fuck. Fuck!"

She heard shuffling and grunting, then feet pounding on metal steps.

She and Piper had both landed on a metal catwalk that ringed the warehouse interior, while both of the boys landed on ground level. Though, they were making their way up to the injured girls.

"Fuck!" Blaire cried again, throwing her head back as another wave of pain crashed over her trembling body.

Blaire willed herself to focus on anything beside the bile making it's way up her throat which was raw from screaming.

The hole they'd made in the roof was a ragged starburst twenty feet above. How they'd even survived that drop, she had no idea. Hanging from the ceiling, a few electric bulbs flickered dimly, but they didn't do much to light the enormous space.

Next to Blaire, the corrugated metal wall was emblazoned with a company logo, but it was almost completely spray-painted over with graffiti. Down in the shadowy warehouse, she could make out huge machines, robotic arms, half-finished trucks on an assembly line. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years.

Jason and Leo had reached the two.

Leo started to ask, "You okay ... ?" Then he seemed to lay eyes on the two's warped bones. "Oh no, you're not."

Whilst Jason knelt before Piper, Leo knelt before Blaire.

"Thanks for the reassurance," Piper groaned.

Blaire only muttered, "Fuck" again.

"You'll be fine," Jason said, though anyone could detect the worry in his voice. "Leo, you got any first aid supplies?"

"Yeah—yeah, sure." He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape—both of which seemed too big for the belt's pockets. Blaire had noticed the tool belt yesterday morning, but she thought it was merely a simple aspect of his steampunk persona. It didn't look like anything special—just one of those wraparound leather aprons with a bunch of pockets, like a blacksmith or a carpenter might wear. And it seemed to be empty.

"How did you—" Piper tried to sit up, and winced. "How did pull that stuff from an empty belt?"

Blaire cursed again, and this seemed to attract the attention of Leo, whos gazed was zeroed in on her wrist.

"That's definitely broken," He said aloud, while Jason searched Piper's bag for ambrosia a few feet away.

"Thanks, Einstien," Blaire managed through the thickness in her throat.

"No problem."

Jason tended to Piper's foot with the supplies Leo had somehow spawned, and Leo— Leo did absolutely nothing. He sat there, looking rather crestfallen. His face was pale as he stared at the state of Blaire who was still murmuring profanities in several languages.

Until, suddenly, with no explanation, he reached out and wrapped his shaky hand around her throbbing wrist. She absolutely did not stand for this though. Within a matter of seconds, the Hecate girl snatched her hand away with a disgusted-shocked expression gracing her features, ignoring the pain.

"What the hell, Valdez?" Blaire shouted, her voice unsteady and very shrill. "What are you doing?"

Leo scrambled to explain himself, though for a few seconds, he did nothing but open and close his mouth like a fish. "Heat. I'm heat— and heat soothes... like, it soothes broken bones. And reduces swelling!"

Blaire did not really understand a word of what the boy said. The ringing in her ears and his frantic tone made the scentence nearly impossible to grasp.

"What?" She breathed, bringing her hand back to her chest, grasping it again. Holding it as if the touch of her skin would magically heal the pain.

Leo looked to Jason and Piper, making sure they were still preoccupied, before turning to Blaire.

"Remember what I showed you?" He questioned, his voice a meek whisper. "With the body heat?"

Blaire gave the boy an odd look, which was confirmation enough— so he continued.

"I just figured that might help with the pain," Leo explained. "Heat reduces swelling. And help's increase mobility— when it comes to broken bones, I mean."

Blaire wanted to tell the boy to get lost, to make himself useful elswhere and stop finding excuses to hold her hand. But, he was right. Warmth was a common remedy used to ease pain, and Blaire knew it. She knew that Leo's weird superhuman heating powers could very well help her in her desperate time of despair.

If her mind wasn't clouded by fiery tendrils of pain that somehow had an iron grip on her common sense, she wouldn't have agreed. If her wrist wasn't broken, she wouldn't have agreed. But unfortunately, it was broken. And that was the only thing she could focus on.

So, Blaire hesitantly agreed. The idea of Leo's body warmth mending her bones was something that intoxicated her. The concept of a normally set wrist was very alluring.

Gently, Leo took her wrist in his hand, wrapping his palm around it with a startiling sense of delicacy, pulling it away from her chest. Then, somehow, he willed his body to warm by a tenfold, again.

The heat transmitted from his calloused fingertips, gracing the shattered fragments of her joints. The inflamed tissue surrounding the fracture immediately warmed by Leo's touch. The blood flow and circulation increased in an instant, bringing Blaire a momentary sense of serenity.

She let out a sigh at the soothing sensation, feeling herself relax totally as warmth enveloped her. At that moment she didn't even care about that source of the warmth. All she cared about was the sudden relief from the previous throbbing—on and on— that she felt. His steady, yet soft grip brought her great comfort.

If she could not have internal peace, she would at least have external peace.

With her eyes closed, she couldn't see the way Leo watched her pain stricken face in awe. She couldn't see the way his cheeks brightened at the way she gnawed on her own magenta-colored bottom lip, or the way her eyebrows slightly furrowed, the freckled skin of her nose folding in on itself.

He was very greatful for this fact. And he was also greatful that there was no way she could possibly be aware of the hoard of flutters riddling his stomach and playing at his internal organs.

After a short moment of this, the two were interrupted.

"Umm," Jason muttered in confusion, "Am I like, interrupting something."

Blaire immediatly yanked her hand away, though the relief left and was replaced with a bout of pain.

"I was inspecting her hand," Leo lied, not too enthusiastic to tell them about his powers.

"Ambrosia," Piper smiled weakly at the Hecate girl, despite the pain she was in. Her foot was now set and held straight by bandage and plywood.

The Aphrodite daughter passed Blaire the ziplock bag filled with ambrosia squares. She took one and savoured the taste of hot chocolate: the kind her dad would make her when she was a child. On cold, snowy days.

It made her incredibly sad— for she knew she'd only taste it in the form of ambrosia, not by her father's hand.

"Can we— erm—" Jason began, gesturing toward her injured bone, "bandage your wrist? Leo can do it, if that'd make you feel any better."

Blaire gave him a funny look, making sure he knew that would not make her feel any better. If anything it would make her feel worse. She didn't want the annoying, untrustworthy mechanic to bandage her wrist.

She hoped that Jason and Piper didn't read what they'd seen wrong.

Plus, she didn't want Leo touching her for longer than absolutely nessecary. He'd probably mistake her for a machine and try taking a wrench to her.

"Anyone but Leo can do it," She snapped, "That would make me feel better."

"Hey!" Leo protested, but Jason, the only capable person besides the boy she'd refused, moved forward to help her.

"This might hurt," Jason told her, and without further warning, he snapped her hand back into place, tearing the most guttural scream from the confines of her chest. It echoed through the empty building, bouncing off the metal walls.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Jason apologized over the racket of Blaire cursing him in every language she knew; English, Greek, French.

The boy quickly worked on wrapping her arm as Leo watched with narrowed eyebrows, his arms crossed over his dingy army jacket. He wasn't jealous. He wasn't...! It was just weird that Blaire was alright with Jason helping her— but not him.

When Jason was finished, Piper passed Blaire her half-filled water canteen. After a few sips, she felt more at ease. Though, she did miss the physical warmth that Leo provided her. It stopped the throbbing of her wrist, even if for only a moment.

Once she wasn't screaming in pain, she could hear the wind howling outside. Snowflakes fluttered through the hole in the roof, and after their meeting with Khione, snow was the last thing any of them wanted to see.

"What happened to the dragon?" Piper asked. "Where are we?"

Leo's expression turned sullen. "I don't know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall."

Blaire did not miss the way Piper turned away, seemingly guilty of something. The way her face fell even further (if humanly possible) and the small slivers of hope still alight in her eyes seemed to vanish, made Blaire suddenly suspicious of the Mclean girl .

Blaire was very good at reading people.

Leo pointed to the logo on the wall. "As far as where we are ..." It was hard to see through the graffiti, but Blaire could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: monocle motors, assembly plant 1.

"Closed car plant," Leo said. "I'm guessing we crash- landed in Detroit."

Piper sighed, "How far is that from Chicago?"

Jason handed her the canteen that Blaire had set down. "Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland."

"No way," Leo demanded. "It isn't safe."

"He's right. Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And three people—Jason, you can't fly that many across country by yourself." Piper lowered his head.

"No way," Jason agreed. "Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and—"

"And I might not have repaired him right?"

Leo seemed suddenly defensive. Blaire, however, couldn't help but agree with Jason.

"You did say there were a few kinks you couldn't work out," Blaire pointed out. Leo turned to her with the widest frown she'd ever seen, his doe eyes looked extremely saddened. It was as if he felt that she somehow betrayed him.

"Maybe you could fix him?" Jason encouraged the Valdez boy.

"I don't know." Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. "I'd have to find where he landed, if he's even in one piece."

"It was my fault," Piper spoke up.

"Piper," Jason said gently, "you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn't be your fault."

"Yeah, you're just shaken up," Leo agreed. He didn't even try to make a joke at her expense like he usually would. Perhaps Blaire's unintentional insult had removed any traces of humor from his mood. It upset him. "You're in pain. Just rest."

The group elapsed into a heavy moment of silence.

Leo stood, apparently fed up with the situation. "Look, um, Jason, why don't you stay with them, bro? I'll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him."

"It's too dangerous," Jason jumped in. "You shouldn't go by yourself. Blaire, you should go."

Both Leo and Blaire turned toward him.

"I would... but I think I should stay with Piper," Jason informed the two, gesturing toward the weakened girl. "She needs someone who can fight."

Blaire cocked her head. He is a demigod for a day and suddenly think's he's the strongest man on the face of the earth.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I— I just mean— like," Jason frantically began trying to defend himself. "Your wrist is broken so... like, your strength isn't—- y'know?"

Blaire scoffed, and made herself comfortable against the railing, not planning to go anywhere with Leo.

Then came Piper with her charmspeak.

"Blaire, please go with him. You wouldn't want your new friend Leo to go off all on his own, would you?"

She would. She certainly would. But something about Piper's words propelled her toward the boy, who was standing akwardly nodding along to her words.

A sort of alluring charm was weaved within the demand.

"Okay," She agreed, pushing herself up and toward Leo, who was now flicking his flashlight on and off, shining it down the metal stairs.

With that the two made their way down the stairs in silence, following the light beam, letting it lead them astray, further into the dark warehouse in search of Festus. Until she realized. Piper had convinced her with charmspeak to accompany Leo.

"She used charmspeak on me," Blaire thought aloud, pivoting in place. She didn't truly realize the situation until she was fully consious, free of Piper's wicked charm.

Although Leo was calling out to her, she made her way back toward the catwalk, preparing to take a seat again. She wouldn't let herself fall victim to some stupid Aphrodite charm when all she wanted was to rest, away from Leo's rapidly moving mouth.

Piper and Jason must not have heard Blaire making her way back up the rickety stairs, toward her backpack, where she'd previously rested, because they didn't halt their conversation.

"Seriously, who does she think she is?" Jason groaned, earning a hum of approval from Piper. "Blaire's not done a single thing other than complain and be a complete jerk. And she expects us to help her."

Piper said, "I wouldn't have wrapped her arm. I would have let Leo do it. Since he likes her so much... for some reason."

Oh.

She suddenly wanted to go with Leo. She wanted to go anywhere as long as it was away from them.

Although, Blaire supposed they were right. She hadn't done anything, all she'd done so far was complain. And be a complete jerk. That's all she ever did. She was a liability, she knew it, and so did everyone else. They never failed to mention it.

She was used to being talked about. All her life she'd been put down. But maybe, just maybe, she thought things would be different with Piper, Jason, and Leo.

But she was wrong.

So with that, she set off to find Leo in the dark building, her footsteps echoing over the sound of her huffs.

LYN SPEAKS : Kept getting distracted writing this?? So, this is not by any means my best work but there are some cutey moments! the bleo talk on festus and leo healing scene came from jas bby ( WCSTERNNIGHTS ) the biggest bleo supporter! everyone say thank u ☺️ ik the end is supes out of charecter for jason and piper but it's crucial to blairebaby's charecter development!! i hope u all enjoy 💞 this is also unedited! don't be a ghost also i love reading ur comments!

dedicated to laciesrot for yelling at me to write btw 😭