Leo Valdez

Leo Valdez is a son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. Although Jason can not remember it, Leo tells him that he is his best friend, though Jason thinks his "best friend" is weird. It's not quite clear if this is true or not, since as Gleeson Hedge stated, Jason has never before been in his class and everything the others think seems to be manipulation of the Mist.

Description
Leo is described to look like a "Latino Santa's elf", with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile. He is of normal height with a slim built. At one point Will calls him "Mr. Spock" because the Roman name for Hephaestus is Vulcan, and he said, "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

History
Leo ran away from home six times, possibly because of a bad relationship with his mortal foster parent. His real mother got killed in a fire accident that was cause by him under the threatening of Gaea. Leo is the only living son of Hephaestus that can manipulate fire. He fixed the bronze dragon and named it Festus (which means happy in Latin). Jason called it Happy the Dragon.

The Lost Hero
Leo goes to Wilderness school with Piper and Jason. He works in team with Jason on their field trip to Grand Canyon, where they have to fill their work sheets on the skywalk. As a storm starts, all the kids flee from the sky-walk except for Jason, Leo, Piper, Dylan and Coach Hedge.

As Dylan turns out to be a Ventus and attacks the others with the help of two other venti, Leo is thrown off the sky-walk and slams into one of the canyon walls. While Jason and Piper try to fight Dylan, Hedge, who turns out to be a Satyr sent to protect Leo and Piper, rescues Leo. Hedge manages to get Leo back onto the sky-walk, where Dylan tries to abduct him. This is prevented in the last moment by Hedge, who is then abducted instead by the ventus.

Personality
Leo likes to play pranks on others, especially Coach Hedge, for which he uses his technical abilities to manipulate Hedge's megaphone to frequently say "The cow says moo" and similar things. He has fun by creating small wonders. He also makes fun of other people by imitating them. Inside however, he is a emotionally scarred person from the loss of his mother.

Abilities
Leo has ADHD, like all demigods, which is manifested by his hyperactivity and superhuman senses. He has amazing mechanical abilities (even for children of Hephaestus), he can manipulate a microphone to say " The cow says moo " and build a working helicopter out of pipe cleaners. He was able to fix the dragon, Festus, even though the rest of the Hephaestus cabin thought it was beyond repair and had to be destroyed. He even added wings to the dragon so it could fly. He can understand machinery and has the ability to operate machines he has never even learned about. Once, he had to fly a helicopter because they didn't have a pilot. He simply put his hand on the helicopter and knew what type it was, and how to fly it. He has a magical tool belt that he uses constantly. Practically whatever he wants from his tool belt, it will give it to him; including the mechanical tools he needs. He can also summon small everyday items, such as food or medical supplies. The belt is seemingly endless and he doesn't know where it all comes from. However, larger items especially things that don't have to do with mechanics require the belt to recharge. He discovers he is fireproof when Festus, the large bronze dragon, is unable to harm him with his flames. He is also the first demigod child of Hephaestus in hundreds of years to master their natural ability of pyrokinesis, the ability to generate and manipulate fire. His pyrokinesis is supposedly a curse, but he is determined to interpret it as a gift. His fire powers can go as far as to shoot white hot flames high in the air that could burn through a metal chain link. He was able to hold his own against the snow goddess Khione for a long time and caused her to retreat. However, sometimes he has trouble controlling his pyrokinesis. For example, when he gets excited or scared he begins to heat up and smoke.