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I can barely bargain with Sharpay. I'm not even going to try with the gods.

A little, but I'm not going to say it's good Spanish. It's like...not so bueno espanol. [Case in point.] But I can pay attention enough to learn some dots and dashes.

Yeah...I feel like I should apologize for that, too, since I was purposefully trying to get you to use it. You were right. I should have thought that one though. You weren't even really using the Blessing against lightning-me, were you?

[He shrugs even if Leo can't see it.] She'll be a lot happier having cute cabana boys waiting on her hand and foot instead of the imps.It just kinda makes you wonder why they bring people here if they're just going to get rid of them so soon. What are they really looking for?

[ That actually gets him to laugh. ] Lo que es malo, amigo. I'll try not to judge. Not everyone grows up with it.

[ He shifts uncomfortably. ] It's not your fault. You didn't know anything about it. You didn't know what could've happened. [ What has happened. Only Jason and Piper know, and they're long gone. ] And yeah, I was. The fire is the Blessing. I'm the only person in centuries to have this power, remember? The cabin used to say it was actually a curse because those of us that have it tend to come hand in hand with destruction, and... I agreed with them.

Got me. They just sent Annabeth away again, did you know that? That's the second time since I've been here. I dunno what they think they're accomplishing by doing that, but sending the daughter of a war goddess away doesn't seem like it's going to help their cause.

[At least he can laugh about it, too.] I really should practice but not a lot of people I know use it so there's almost no point, you know? I wouldn't blame you if you judged a little.

I can probably guess. [He can't. Not to the extent Leo knows and he knows that.] I think I just keep disassociating it because yeah, that definitely doesn't sound like a Blessing. And remind me why you can't just ask your dad to take it back?

Annabeth. Percy's girlfriend? [Assumptions. Lots of assumptions, but he'd heard Annabeth's announcement about Percy's departure a while ago and put that together.] I never met her but no I didn't know that. [A beat.] When'd they send her out?

There's definitely not a lot of people around here who speak it, that's for sure. There's not really much reason for you to learn Spanish, but Morse code could definitely help - especially if we started teaching other people so they'd get it, too. I can't be the only one here that knows it.

[ There's a soft laugh. ] Tell me about it. It wasn't so bad, honestly, until my mom - [ He hesitates, and decides to go a different route. ] She made me promise I wouldn't use it. I didn't think it was a problem until I broke it. If I had any way of actually talking to my dad, I probably would have asked him to take it back.

[ Heavy stuff. ]

Yeah, her. It wasn't even that long ago - like a day or two, maybe.

It could do more than help. We could use it to keep all communication a secret so our information doesn't fall into the wrong hands, right? Have you ever asked the network if anybody else knows it?

I can't say I blame her. [That hesitation is, of course, suspicious, but he won't bring it up yet. Soon, Valdez.] ...breaking promises is always the worse, isn't it? [That's all he says on the subject though.] I'd say maybe try talking to your dad via Morse too but somehow I don't think that'd help. He's a god, right? What about a sacrifice or something?

How do we keep losing people without knowing about it? There has to be a way we can catch them in action and figure out how they're really doing this.

Not yet. I have thought about that, but we don't know how many Unseelie would understand it, either. We'd have to, like, make a code or cipher or something to mask what we're saying, just in case, so they wouldn't catch on.

[ This is Cold War-level stuff, and Leo's not sure he wants to go there. At least the wars back home are all straightforward.

He's quiet for a moment before continuing. ] It sucked majorly. But I never forgot why she asked me not to use it, after that.

[ With a bitter Laugh, he says, ] I'm pretty sure that wouldn't do anything to get his attention. Supposedly, he's been watching over me all these years, but he hasn't even tried to talk to me except that one time. Now they're all locked up on Olympus, Zeus's orders, and most of them are going crazy anyway, so trying to talk any of them is a thousand times harder than it used to be. I don't think my dad is really into sacrifices, either, but I dunno. Never asked. I still try to do the offerings whenever I eat, but I don't know if any of them get it from the Drabwurld.

All I've heard is that one minute they're there, and the next, gone. It's like the second they're alone and the monarchs don't want them anymore, they vanish, and all that's left is their shard. It's messed up.

Can you make a code out of morse code and still call it morse code though? [That seems pretty complicated, bro.] At that point we might as well make up our own language.

That's the problem with breaking promises. Really seals the deal whether you want it to or not.

Supposedly? You'd think he'd make more of an effort if he gave you some freaky blessing-curse thing. I'll take a wild guess and say you can't really just march on up to Olympus, can you? [Rhetorical question.] They've made it pretty clear that this world and our worlds aren't connected but I still don't think that makes enough sense if they're supposedly watching us long enough to know who to bring. Or however it's decided.

...this is probably a really, really bad question to ask but where's her shard?

If you can substitute some letters for others with the normal alphabet, you can probably do it with Morse code, too, [ Leo says pointedly. ] We'd just have to make sure whoever's on the receiving end has the key to decode it.

Yeah, it kind of... burns it into your memory. [ And not a trace of humor in his voice. Now is not the time for humor, Valdez. ]

Technically, we could. The Empire State Building isn't that far away from camp, but Olympus is basically on lockdown. I don't think we'd be able to get in even if we went. [ He snorts. ] And how they watch us before bringing us sounds a lot like the gods watching us from their thrones on Olympus. They're a lot alike, the good and the bad.

[ Leo pauses before answering, considering that. ] I'm... not really sure. Probably one of the other demigods that are still around, but I don't even know all of us. Thalia, maybe?

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