𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 ( leo valdez. )

xvii. LEO HAS OFFICIALLY ENTERED HIS ANGST ERA

Leo faintly heard Jason from behind him.

"Together," Jason said to himself. "Yeah, we're doing great with that."

Leo could tell that the entrance hall was enormous just from the echo of his footsteps. It seemed even bigger than Boreas's penthouse, but the only light had come from the yard lights outside peeking through the open door. Through thick velvet curtains in the house, a faint glow peered in.

The windows stood about ten feet tall. In between them, along the walls, were life-size metal statues. When Leo squinted he could see sofas arranged in a 'U' in the middle of the room, paired with a circular coffee table in the center of seating. Past it, way in front of them, was a large chair, and a huge glittering chandelier. Behind it was a row of closed doors.

Leo wasn't a home designer by any means, but the layout was admittedly weird.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason's voice alarmingly echoed throughout the room.

"Don't see one," Leo murmured.

"Fire?" Piper suggested.

Nothing happened when Leo held out his hand, "It's not working. Huh, it was working a second ago..." He mumbled the last part under his breath.

"Your fire is out? Why?" Piper asked.

"Well, if I knew that — "

"Okay, okay," she said. "What do we do explore?"

Leo shook his head. "After all those traps outside? Bad
idea."

He crossed his arms as he looked around the room for a place to rest, but the place made him uneasy.

"Leo's right," Jason agreed. "We're not separating again — not like in Detroit."

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes," Piper's voice quavered. "I needed that."

Y/n groaned from behind him, seemingly annoyed. Leo assumed she was tired of the sarcastic responses from him and Piper. Leo pouted when he realized this.

"It's a few hours until dawn," Jason guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight, then we can decide what to do."

"That's a good idea," Y/n nodded.

They went back outside and rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits, then settled in.

Thankfully, Leo didn't find any electric whoopee cushions or poison throw pillows on the sofas.

Leo wasn't in the mood to make more food. Besides, they had no fire, so the group settled for cold rations.

He looked down at the coffee table, and there sat a tea service and a stack of glossy brochures, but Leo didn't look long enough to read it. He thought the big chair at the other end of the table looked like a throne; none of them tried to sit in it.

The canary cages didn't help make the eerie atmosphere any more comforting. The storm spirits kept flying around their prison, spinning and hissing, and it made Leo dizzy just watching them.

Coach Hedge was still frozen mid-shout, with his club raised. Leo sat in front of the cage and worked at it with various tools, but the lock was beginning to frustrate him. Next to him was Y/n, who's picked a couple of twigs out from Coach Hedge's club through the bars of the cage, and was very focused on trying to start a fire the natural way; by rubbing sticks together.

Leo didn't have it in his heart to tell her it wouldn't work.

Besides, it was pretty cute.

Piper had already curled up on the other sofa, and Jason was starting to nod off. Leo noticed his friend trying to fight the tiredness.