The first time Leo regained consciousness, it was to the murmur of voices. His eyes remained closed, the effort to open them too much in his foggy mindset.
"What are we going to do with him?" The voice of an older boy.
"What do you mean? He's a half-blood like us, we'll treat him the same as any other." The soft, yet defensive voice of a slightly younger boy.
"But you saw those flames, he fits the prophecy. He could be dangerous if he can't control them." The calculating voice of a teenage girl.
"You are both correct. He deserves the same treatment as every other demigod, but we will have to be careful about his powers. Percy, Annabeth, let us leave Will to care for him. We will discuss this later." The low baritone of an older man.
Leo wanted to ask something like, "what's a half-blood? Why are you talking over me like I'm not here? Oh, and why are you casually discussing literal fire powers as if you're talking about what you had for lunch?"
But his voice would not work, and sleep pulled him under once more.
The next time Leo awoke, he was able to open his eyes, although his vision was still foggy, and every limb felt like an overcooked noodle with nerve damage.
He was lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed, a wall on his right, and a pale blue curtain on his left.
There were a few machines surrounding the bed—Leo was not even going to pretend to have a clue what they did, although he was already imagining taking them apart to find out—and an IV attached to his left forearm.
His right shoulder was stiff, and when Leo turned to look at it, he saw white bandages poking out from underneath his sleeve. He found wraps around his torso too, which Leo assumed were to support his damaged ribs. There were smaller bandages covering other little cuts, but none of the injuries concerned Leo. What did, was the question of who had tended to them?
There were no other people in the room, but as Leo struggled to sit up, a teenage boy with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes stepped around the curtain, entering his field of vision. He held himself with an air of soft confidence, like the type of person who knew he was good at what he did, and yet was humble about it.
"Hey, no, lay back down, you're not quite ready to be up and about yet," he said as he gently put his hand on Leo's uninjured shoulder and lowered him back onto the mattress.
The boy seemed like knew what he was talking about, so Leo obeyed without complaint, but with a Valdez-style interrogation hovering on the tip of his tongue.
Leo was clearly in some type of hospital, which meant that he had been found after his fight with the dragon. If this was a regular hospital, then he needed to escape before they called Child Protective Services and he was put back in the foster system. However, a normal hospital wouldn't have a kid as a doctor, as the older boy seemed to be, so Leo decided to wait for an explanation before making any decisions.
"My name is Will Solace, and I'm sure you have a few questions for me which I will be happy to answer," he said with the steady yet caring tone of a medical professional.
Yeah, buddy, Leo thought wryly. I DO have a few questions for you. Starting with the most important one…
"Why is a teenage guy who looks like a 1980's stereotypical surfer dude my doctor?"
The surfer dude in question—Will Solace, he had said—looked mildly taken aback, as if that was not quite the inquiry he thought he would be answering.
"Um. Uh, I'll get to that later. Can I first ask what your name is?" Will asked, recovering quickly.
"Leo Valdez. Where am I?" Leo responded, moving on from his perfectly reasonable question to one that was probably more expected.
"Well, Leo, you are at Camp Half-Blood."
"I thought I was at the hospital. If not, then this is a really weird summer camp."
Will chuckled softly. "More specifically, you are in the camp's infirmary. We found you on the other side of Half-Blood Hill. Do you remember what you were doing before you passed out?"
Leo's mind was racing. Firebug had led him to the foot of that hill, taking him all the way from Texas, and then vanished as soon as the pair reached it. That had to mean that this camp was where he was supposed to be. And yes, Leo definitely remembered the last thing he was doing before falling unconscious.
"I was having a battle to the death with a fire-breathing dragon," Leo responded bluntly, mostly to see the look of shock on Will's face.
Unfortunately, Will did not look nearly surprised enough, instead nodding his head like that was a perfectly ordinary event.
"The creature you fought was actually known as the hydra, a monster from Greek Mythology."
Greek Mythology? Like gods, and the underworld, and too many affairs to count? Leo had no response to that, and yet Will was waiting for him to say something, closely monitoring Leo's reaction.
"The hydra?" Leo chose to say, hoping it would be enough to get Will talking again.
"Yes. This may come as a shock to you, and I'm here to talk through anything, but the Greek gods are real, and so is the rest of Greek Mythology." Will still wore the same patient yet cautious expression, as if expecting Leo to react badly.
In all truth, Leo was mostly relieved to hear that he wasn't alone in the strangeness of his life. In a world of monsters and apparently gods, maybe his fire powers were normal. Maybe his Aunt Rosa was wrong, and he wasn't a diablo . After all the danger and hatred Leo had experienced from those that were meant to care for him, monsters that were actually supposed to be monsters were a welcome baseline.
And even if this Will was delusional—or a figment of Leo's imagination, conjured by actual hospital drugs—at least he and Leo could be delusional together.
Will seemed somewhat surprised by Leo's lack of reaction, but continued on with his explanation nonetheless.
"You and I are both half-bloods, children who are half-god and half-mortal. I am a son of Apollo, the God of healing and the sun, which is why I am skilled enough to be your doctor at my age."
Usually, Leo could not stop talking. He would ramble on and on about any and every little thing, hoping that if he was funny enough, people would like him. That they would choose to help rather than hurt, to love rather than hate. But in the face of Will's exposition, Leo kept his mouth shut, afraid that speaking would cut-off the answers he had been so desperately craving.
"Camp Half-Blood is a place for kids like us, where we can be safe from monsters, and learn to use the skills that come from the godly side of our family."
Immediately Leo thought of his fire, and he wondered if there were others here like him, who had been through the same experiences, and who would understand him.
Will seemed to be on the same train of thought, because he continued with:
"You've probably noticed some strange things about you, skills that no one else has. I only know of one of yours: the fire."
When Will said this, Leo caught a flash of wariness in his expression, but it vanished as quickly as it arrived, replaced with something gentler.
Maybe it was because he was the first kind face Leo had seen upon waking up, or maybe it was the way that Will was talking so casually about things that should have been crazy, but Leo felt safe telling Will the secret that he kept his entire life.
"I've known that I could do it since I was five, but I've only been using it recently. Against the monsters," Leo said slowly.
He remembered the first time Tia Callida had placed him in a fireplace. He was two years old, and far too young to understand the implications. Now he wondered if good old Tia knew more than he had thought, if she was a part of the Greek myths Will had said were real.
"That's actually how we found you. There was a massive burst of flames that we could see from the center of camp, but by the time we made it over, there was just you and a clearing of ashes," Will said, his expression carefully blank.
"I didn't hurt anybody, did I?" Leo asked, suddenly worried. He never meant to hurt anyone, but it had happened before. His mother, his foster parents, unlucky hobos on the street who had startled Leo in his sleep. It was rarely more than slight blistering, or a first degree burn, but Leo felt completely awful every single time.
"No, you didn't, but I have to ask: have you hurt someone with your fire before?" Will questioned, his voice steady.
Leo hesitated, mouth dry. What would happen if he was honest? Would he be kicked out of this place that made everything seem a little more normal? Would Will turn on him? He didn't appear like the type of person who would, but Leo had only known him for a few minutes, and he knew from personal experience that first interactions could be deceiving.
Will noticed his fear, and the careful expression faded into something kinder. "Whatever you say, it's okay. Camp is here to help you control your powers, so you don't make mistakes again," he said gently, and Leo instantly felt more comfortable.
"Rarely on purpose. I don't want to hurt anyone, I just didn't know how to control it. I'm a lot better now," Leo said quickly, praying that Will would trust him.
"I believe you. We'll figure out how to help you, but first, you need more rest. The hydra caused a laceration on your shoulder and two cracked ribs, not to mention the countless bruises and scrapes you already had. You're also extremely underweight, and you'll need time before you're back to full strength."
Will said all this with an intensity that can only come from someone who truly cares, and Leo fought back tears. The last time he had someone like that had been his mother, four years ago.
"Alright. Thank you," Leo said, voice cracking slightly.
"You're welcome," Will said with a soft smile. "Get some rest, and I'll check you over when you wake up again."
Will left, and Leo thought it would be harder to fall back asleep, what with the world-changing information he had just received. But he'd barely closed his eyes for a second when sleep claimed him once again.