DAYLIGHT ↬ leo valdez x reader

21. and i can still see it all

I almost dropped the vials I had been holding. Leo caught them. Each was the size of an apple, and the liquid inside glowed poisonous green.
"Come on!" He handed me one of the vials. "We can kill the monster— and save Frank!"

Getting to the port rail was more like rock climbing than walking, but finally we made it.
"What is this stuff?" I gasped, cradling my glass vial. It felt warm through the glass in the palm of my hand.
"Greek fire!" Leo replied.
"Are you crazy? If these break, we'll burn the whole ship!" Greek fire was insane. I had researched it when I did my medical unit on burns.

"Its mouth!" Leo said. "Just chuck it down its—" Suddenly Leo was crushed against me, and the world turned sideways. We were wrapped in a tentacle together. Our bodies were pressed so close that my breathing was compressed. Leo's arms were free, but it was all he could do to keep hold of his Greek fire vial. My arms were pinned against me and I tried with all I could to secure the vial and ensure it didn't break. If it broke, we were screwed.

We rose ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet above the monster. I could see our friends still trying to defend the ship.
"Leo," I gasped, "I can't—my arms—"
"Y/N," he said. "Do you trust me?"
"No!" I shook my head with as much emphasis as I could.

"Me neither," Leo admitted. "When this thing drops us, hold your breath. Whatever you do, try to chuck your vial as far away from the ship as possible."
"Why—why would it drop us?" I said, my voice slathered in fear. Leo stared down at the monster's head. He raised the vial in his left hand. He pressed his right hand against the tentacle and summoned fire to his palm—a narrowly focused, whitehot burst. Despite seeing it in Utah, it still made me tense.

That got the creature's attention. The monster raised its maw, bellowing in pain, and Leo threw his Greek fire straight down its throat. My stomach dropped like we were plummeting on a rollercoaster because we may as well have been. I looked up and saw a green flash of light inside the giant pink lampshade of the monster's body. The water hit my body like a thousand needles. I saw Leo floating above me, twisting and turning in fear, before everything went dark.

I hoped I had woken up more gracefully than Leo had. He seemed disoriented and Frank was a lot less glad to have someone to talk to.
"About time."
Leo sat up...or rather he drifted upright. We were underwater, in a cave about the size of a two-car garage. Phosphorescent moss covered the ceiling, bathing the room in a blue-and-green glow. The floor was a carpet of sea urchins. Frank levitated nearby in meditation position and I floated on my stomach, my chin in my hands. 

With his chubby face and his grumpy expression, he looked like a Buddha who'd achieved enlightenment and wasn't thrilled about it. The only exit to the cave was blocked by a massive abalone shell—its surface glistening in pearl and rose and turquoise. If this cave was a prison, at least it had an awesome door.
"When did you two wake up?"
"I've been awake way longer than you both." Frank shrugged. "That's all I know."
"Hazel wasn't here when I woke up." I shook my head.

"Where are we?" Leo asked. "Where is everyone else?"
"Everyone?" Frank grumbled. "I don't know. As far as I can tell, it's just us and Hazel down here. The fish-horse guys took Hazel about an hour ago, leaving me with you and Y/N." Frank's tone made it obvious he didn't approve of those arrangements. At least, being with Leo. Leo focused on Frank's body for a moment then in a panic, Leo patted his waist.

"They searched us," Frank said. "Took anything that could be a weapon." That was true. I had carried my medpack connected to my own waist for my entirety on the Argo II and now it was completely gone.
"Who?" Leo demanded. "Who are these fish-horse—?"
"Fish-horse guys," Frank clarified, which wasn't very clear. "They must have grabbed us when we fell in the ocean and dragged us...wherever this is."