Haunted || Leo Valdez

25 - Aphrodite Gives Us a Makeover

They got to the last big junkpile before the end of the junkyard. Rebecca sighed in relief. They were almost out, then they could talk to her father and get out of there. Then, hopefully they could find Piper, Jason, and Hedge. If not, Rebecca would just drop the pretense and go to the Wolf House. If Leo found that suspicious, she wouldn't care. Not much, anyway.

"Is it just me, or do they keep getting bigger?" Leo wondered breathlessly.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Rebecca replied. She looked back at the one they'd just climbed. They were about the same size, but they were still huge and made completely of scraps of metal, which shifted and weren't super stable.

"Here we go," Leo said dryly, and they started up the last pile.

They were halfway up the pile when it happened. Rebecca led the way, prepared to draw her swords if she needed to. Then she relaxed. She'd been tense the whole time, and nothing had happened. She let down her guard, thinking they'd be safe the rest of the way.

This was a big mistake.

Leo started making choking sounds again, and Rebecca shook her head. "You have to stop gasping, you're going to hurt yourself."

She turned around, half-smiling, to see a contraption with a metal claw gripping Leo by the throat.

She drew her swords and tried to slice through the metal, but they just glanced of the machine's surface. Of course, it was made by Hephaestus. She should've known it wouldn't work.

Leo grabbed her wrist and put it on top of the machine, pointing at it. Rebecca saw a tiny hatch. She got the picture: if she could get into the hatch, she could shut the machine down. She tried stabbing her sword into it, but it was just as indestructible here as everywhere else.

Leo crammed a screwdriver into her hand. Without hesitating, she undid all the screws on the hatch (there were five of them-- way too many) and ripped it off. Dozens of wires fell out, all different colors. Which one would shut it down? She grabbed one of the silver knives and started hacking at all of the wires, but nothing stopped it.

Leo pointed at her sword. Rebecca grabbed it and drove it through the contraption. The wires sparked and the machine shuddered, then stopped. The claw loosened, and Rebecca pulled it off.

Face blue, Leo crumpled to the ground.

"No!" Rebecca cried, kneeling beside him. His throat was covered with nasty bruises, and he didn't seem to be breathing. She put her ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat. Nothing. She felt his wrist for a pulse. Nothing.

This was Bianca all over again. She could see him in the lobby of DOA Records, looking confused.

No. She was not going to let him stay dead. She placed her hands over his heart and tried CPR, then mouth-to mouth. Finally, thirty seconds later, Leo gave a loud gasp ad opened his eyes.

He stared at Rebecca for five seconds before blurting out, "Were you just kissing me?"

Relieved, Rebecca let out a shaky laugh and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. Slowly, Leo responded. He was so warm that Rebecca found herself wishing she hugged him more often. Tears streamed down her face, and she didn't bother to wipe them away. She was too relieved.

"Don't cry," Leo said. "I'm okay."

"I know. You scared me."

"Sorry," Leo replied.

"You're an idiot, Leo Valdez," Rebecca said. "But you'd better not try to die on me again."

"I won't, I promise."