His mom worked at her machine shop since no one would hire her, providing for the both of them. It took years for him to realize not everyone spoke that way. Esperanza would switch between English and Spanish when she talked to him, and made him bilingual. She taught him Morse code, and they would communicate using it, tapping messages on the walls. She told him to never use fire again until he met his father, and when he did, he would explain everything. After the visit, Esperanza had a talk with him and said she couldn't come back again, and he wasn't ready to be a hero. The fire left his handprints in the table, leaving the people in his apartment to wonder for years how he did it.
A few minutes later, Esperanza came out and shrieked when she saw him sitting in the middle of a fire, with his hands burning the picnic table, and the crayons melted into goo. She then told him to make a fire to warm her old bones. Tía told him that it wasn't time yet to be a hero, and he will find his destiny, but first he had to face many sorrows. When he was about to sign his name, it flew away. As she sang songs, Leo drew a design of the Argo II. The last time she watched him was when he was five, she brought him paper and crayons, and sat on a picnic table under a pecan tree while Leo drew. He didn't poke the snake, and it disappeared into the grass. When he was four, she found him a rattlesnake from a cow pasture, gave him a stick, and told him to poke it to show that he was brave, and the Fates were right to choose him. Tía continued to show up at his house, and when he was three, she let him play with knives, saying that he needed to learn his blades someday if he wanted to be her hero someday. When Esperanza came home, she was furious, went to take Leo from the flames, and yelled, "How could you?", but Tía disappeared. He didn't know what the language was at the time. He dreamed of being on a boat made of fire, and Tía sang him lullabies as he slept, in Greek. He remembered sleeping comfortably, grabbing sparks. She nestled him in blankets and laid him in what Leo thought were red and yellow pillows, but was actually a fireplace. Tía Callida decided to lay Leo down for a nap, and said she wanted to see if he was her brave little hero. He gave Leo his blessing and said he was special, just like Hazel. He told him to apologize for selling the diamond and that the diamond came with a curse: she never saw her again.
He then told Leo to tell Hazel that he was sorry, and told him to help her.
He told his great-grandson that a woman named Doña Callida had warned Hazel's danger would not happen in his lifetime, but he'd promised he would be there for her. Sammy told him about Hazel, and said he would not live to see her again. Sammy was overjoyed to see him and held him, chuckling and tickling his chin. When Leo was just a baby, his mother took him to see his bisabuelo (great grandfather), Sammy Valdez. He was the first child of Hephaestus to control fire born in centuries. Unlike most of his half-siblings, Leo can control fire. Leonidas "Leo" Valdez was born in Houston, Texas, to the mechanic Esperanza Valdez, and the blacksmith god Hephaestus. 2.3.1 Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford.
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