LABYRINTH ↬ leo valdez x reader, book 3

5. breathe in

"We should reach Sparta by morning," Leo announced. "And remember to come by the mess hall tonight, folks, 'cause Chef Leo is making his famous three-alarm tofu tacos!"
As we dispersed, I whispered to Hazel a heed of warning. "Don't eat those tacos."

Somebody needed to count how many nights in our lives we've actually slept through a full night on the ArgoII. With the night shifts and evil monsters harassing us every night, I'm not sure there's even half a tally on that scoreboard.

Leo had dragged me out of bed and I had protested, as usual, begging him that it wasn't my turn for nightly watch. The storm I found upon my groggy arrival was a nightmarish wave of terror. All I could think was poor Hazel.

Leo got back to what he had been trying to do before — lashing himself to the console with a bungee cord harness with the help of yours truly. That might have seemed like a good idea when we rigged it up, but every time a wave hit he was washed away, then smacked back into his control board like a human paddleball. Each time it happened I had to pause just to snicker.

Jason arrived just in time to witness my failure of a rescue attempt. I screamed but absolutely nobody heard me over the large crashing of the ocean and thunder blasting overhead. Jason was probably going to get hurt even worse, which would mean even more usage of our healing supplies. I didn't have the heart to tell anyone how we were running low.

I had been grabbing everything I could that was discarded around the shrouds and flinging it down the brig. A wave the size of a skyscraper crashed over the forward deck, washing the front crossbows and half the port railing out to sea. The sails were ripped to shreds. Lightning flashed all around, hitting the sea like spotlights.

Piper and Annabeth were trying to save the rigging. Since Sparta they'd become quite a team – able to work together without even talking, which was just as well, since they couldn't have heard each other over the storm.

Frank had turned into a gorilla. He was swinging upside down off the starboard rail, using his massive strength and his flexible feet to hang on while he untangled some broken oars. The plan was to get the ship airborne once more since our docking in Sparta, but seriously nothing was going to help.

Even Festus was trying to help. He spewed fire at the rain, though that didn't seem to discourage the storm.

Only Percy was having any luck, unsurprisingly. He stood by the centre mast, his hands extended like he was on a tightrope. Every time the ship tilted, he pushed in the opposite direction and the hull stabilised. He summoned giant fists of water from the ocean to slam into the larger waves before they could reach the deck, so it looked like the ocean was hitting itself repeatedly in the face.

I was probably better off making sure everything below was safe and okay, including the very seasick Hazel but I knew I had to do my part. Whatever that was. Honestly, I was more confused at the fact that in the blink of a very soaked, sea water filled eye Jason had levitated and Zeus knows where Percy vanished off to. By Piper's terror stricken face I could make a few guesses of what was going to go down...

At least they explained what happened. Percy had a tad bit of sibling drama (who can't relate?) and our ship was just on the verge of capsizing. A big shocker that after our encounter with Kymopo-what's-her-name, the Argo II limped through the Aegean, too damaged to fly, too slow to outrun monsters.

We had the privilege of fighting hungry sea serpents about every hour. We attracted schools of curious fish. At one point we got stuck on a rock, and Percy and Jason had to get out and push.

I was the first of us to hear the wheezing sound coming from the engine when I was giving Jason and Percy a check up. Leo could only be described as crestfallen so over the course of three long days, he got the ship more or less back to working order just as we made port at the island of Mykonos, which probably meant it was time for us to get bashed to pieces again. Personally I wasn't looking forward to that.

Percy and Annabeth went ashore to scout while Leo stayed on the quarterdeck, fine-tuning the control console.
"You're okay, right?" I checked. He waited a few seconds before replying.
"Hm?" He was so engrossed in his wiring. "I'm fine."
"Leo, we all know the Argo II is literally like your child."
"Just gotta hope we can make it through whatever else gets thrown at us."
Before either of us could sulk in the sadness of our overly eventful lives, Percy came and shared the first good news in a while.
"Hey, guys. Gelato."

Instantly, my day got better. Leo's did too. The whole crew sat on deck, without a storm or a monster attack to worry about for the first time in days, and ate ice cream. Well, except for Frank, who was lactose intolerant. He got an apple. I got F/F (favourite flavour) ice cream and it tasted like summer afternoons at camp. Leo got double chocolate delight and practically engulfed it, not before swapping with me for a small portion of spoonfuls.

The day was hot and windy. The sea glittered with chop, but Leo had fixed the stabilisers well enough that Hazel didn't look too seasick. I wondered what I'd be doing back at camp. Probably, Gracie and Valentina and Katie would have been banding together to force me into some sort of activity that included too much physical work and a ton of complaining on my part.

Curving off to the starboard side was the town of Mykonos – a collection of white stucco buildings with blue roofs, blue windows and blue doors. I silently cursed myself for not bringing a camera for pretty pictures, or at least a million euros to buy myself a holiday house.
"We saw these pelicans walking around town," Percy reported. "Like, just going through the shops, stopping at the bars."
Hazel frowned. "Monsters in disguise?"

"No," Annabeth said, laughing, "just regular old pelicans. They're the town mascots or something. And there's a "Little Italy" section of town. That's why the gelato is so good."
"Europe is messed up." Leo shook his head. "First we go to Rome for Spanish steps. Then we go to Greece for Italian ice cream."
"You call that messed up?" I scrunched my nose and ate some more gelato for good measure.

Piper set down her ice-cream cup. "So, the island of Delos is right across the harbour. Artemis and Apollo's home turf. Who's going? Y/N, you said you did a quest for Apol—"
"Me," Leo said immediately.
Everybody stared at him. I didn't know why we were ever surprised by Leo anymore.

"What?" Leo demanded. "I'm diplomatic and stuff. Frank and Hazel volunteered to back me up, and Y/N was already planning to go."
"I am.." I confirmed, sounding more like I was questioning that.
"We did?" Frank lowered his half-eaten apple. "I mean ... sure we did."
Hazel's gold eyes flashed in the sunlight. "Leo, did you have a dream about this or something?"
"Yes," Leo blurted. "Well ... no. Not exactly. But ... you got to trust me on this, guys. I need to talk to Apollo and Artemis. I've got an idea I need to bounce off them."

Annabeth frowned. She looked like she might object, but Jason spoke up.
"If Leo has an idea," he said, "we need to trust him."
"Thanks, man."
Percy shrugged. "Okay. But a word of advice: when you see Apollo, don't mention haiku."
Hazel knitted her eyebrows. "Why not? Isn't he the god of poetry?"

"Trust him." I deadpanned."Got it." Leo rose to his feet and extended his hand to help me up too. "And, guys, if they have a souvenir shop on Delos, I'm totally bringing you back some Apollo and Artemis bobbleheads!"

➻ AUTHOR's NOTE
how aesthetic is this authors note? im going to be setting them all up like this now so that i can keep my little messages on the page but they're just less ugly. love you guys all soooo much!!