° ~ •. ♆ chapter eighteen ♆ .• ~ °
"jason gets a quick recap and hera's gone gambling"
Leo stood there in silence, watching the gold dust scatter around. Then he made a victorious whistle noise.
"Not immune to engines, huh?" Leo said. "Boo-yah!"
"Leo!" Mari yelled, running over and tackling him with a hug.
"Mari! Is everything—"
"Never do that again." she said, burying her face in his shoulder. She could feel giant tears streaming down her face, flooding to the floor around them.
Leo patted her on the back, heating up a bit. "No guarantees."
Mari broke away and examined his face. "Are you ok? You aren't hurt or anything?"
"I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"Oh thank god." Mari sighed. "So how long have you been able to... you know?"
"...I've always been able to do it. I'm sorry, I should've mentioned it sooner—"
"Hey, it's all right. What matters now is that you're ok. Now come on, we have to go make sure Piper and Jason are safe."
She grabbed Leo's hand and led him to where Piper and Jason were. Jason looked a little better now, the color in his face returning and the welt on his head shrinking, but he was still unconscious.
"You're alive!" Piper exclaimed. "The fire— how did you— have you always...?"
Leo looked down. "Always. I'm a fuckin' menace. I'm sorry, I should've told you guys sooner but—"
"Sorry?" Piper said. When Leo looked up, she was grinning. "That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives."
"I couldn't have done it without Mari." Leo said. "You helped me so much, especially with that last earthquake. You got that Cyclopes right where I needed her."
"I— I did?" Mari said, confused. She had no recollection of the last "earthquake." She looked to Piper for confirmation.
"You were causing earthquakes left and right." Piper said. "You also made a water spring."
Mari peered behind Piper to see the water spring had become a gurgle of water coming from the ground. "Uh... I guess it's a Poseidon thing?"
"Probably." Leo pointed to the clumps of dust at Piper's foot. "Sorry to change the topic, but we need to get out of here. They're forming again."
Piper looked down and stepped away from the dust. "That's not possible. Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when they're killed. They go back to Tartarus and can't return for a a long time."
"Well, nobody told the dust that." They all watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs.
"Oh no." Piper said, turning pale again. "Boreas said something about this— the earth yielding up horrors. 'When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades.' How long do you think we have?"
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misplaced || l. valdez
Fanfictionshe shouldn't be here. she really, really shouldn't be here. but when a goddess saves your life and asks for something in return, you can't really deny her, can you? DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or the story, all rights reserved t...
