The other Grace/HoO fanfiction

(12) Camping At The White Mansion

As it turned out Leo's abilities didn't only have to do with repairs. He managed to find and deactivate all the traps so fast, it was almost as if he could sense them. He reminded Layla of a girl she knew back at camp. Ines, that was her name, was equally good with traps and webs and had tried teaching Layla how to distinguish and deactivate them. Let's just say Layla wasn't the greatest at it.

When they finally reached the door Leo searched his belt and found just the perfect tool to pick the lock.

"You're amazing, man." Jason complimented.

"Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing."

"Hey that wasn't your-"

"Back door's already unlocked." Leo cut Layla off.

"Is it? All those traps and the door's unlocked." Piper starred at the door in disbelief. Without hesitation Leo turned the knob and the door opened slightly. He stepped inside and the other followed him.

Once the got inside, Layla couldn't help but wince a little even though she had never been afraid of the dark. As for the room's size, from the dim light that the curtains allowed to get inside she could tell that this hall was even larger than the one in Boreas palace.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason asked.

"Don't see one." Leo replied. "But I also don't see anything else."

"Fire." Piper suggested.

Leo held out his hand and tried to create a small flame but nothing happened. "It's not working."

"You're fire is out? Why?" Piper asked.

"Well if I knew that-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." She cut him off. "What do we do?

"Explore?" Layla suggested.

Leo shook his head. "After all those traps outside? Bad idea."

"Leo's right," Jason said. "We're not separating again- not like Detroit."

"Can we please not talk about Detroit. As if we needed a reminder of of how terrible this. day was." Layla said annoyed.

"It's a few hours until dawn," Jason guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages with the venti in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight, then we can decide what to do."

Since there were no better ideas they brought the cages in and settled down at a corner of the huge room.

Leo gave them something to eat. Not his famous tacos, of course, since they had no fire but some sandwiches that were equally tasty.

As soon as Layla finished eating, Piper had already fallen asleep in one of the three couches. Jason and Leo were chatting in in low voices but soon Jason bid goodnight and fell asleep in the other one. That only left one couch and two people to sleep there. Layla gestured for Leo to take it. She took off her jacket, placed it on the floor as a pillow and lied down.

She wasn't tired, though. She had already slept enough thanks to her stupid head injury. Instead of sleeping she just looked around the room until her gaze fell on Jason. She looked low-key creepy staring at somebody sleeping.

Even more creepy was her smile as memories of them as children came back to her. Like the times they were fighting each other with the kitchen knives and the spoons. They didn't usually harm each other but there were a couple of times they ended up badly injured making both Beryl and Thalia worried. She chuckled loudly at the memory. Perhaps a little too loudly.

"What's so funny?" Leo scrunched his brows.

"I was just thinking about Jason. He probably doesn't remember anything but I suspect that he is my brother." She replied.