━━━━HURRICANE!
❝ it's all we know,
the hurricane. ❞
( the mark of athena & the house of hades )
( l. valdez x fem!oc )
( p. mclean x male!oc )
( heroes of o...
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━chapter twenty-five, ❝leo fall down, go boom! woohoo!❞ 『V A L E N T I N A』
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━━━As per usual, it's Leo's fault.
Really, it's kind of embarrassing. If that stupid son of Hephaestus didn't have such an eye for mechanical stuff, they would have never found the secret chute, gotten lost underground, or been attacked by metal guys.
As they wander around Rome in what feels like a million-degree heat with no air conditioning, Valentina can't help but feel like she's dying. She wears denim shorts and a flexible but cute white top━not the most stylish but she pulls it off well━with her sunglasses perched on her nose. And, still, she feels like the sun is blazing twenty feet above her head. She even had to pull her hair back (she brought a blue scrunchie with her).
She sees several citizens of Rome pass them by on the streets, staring at her, and do a double-take, struck by her beauty. Valentina should be used to it, maybe even flattered, but she supposes after everything with Bryce, she never will be.
Hazel isn't doing so well. Not only do waves of anxiety, stressing over Regina and Nico, radiate off of her, but she can't sense underground very well. She keeps leading them around and around the city, getting dizzy, and doubling back.
"Sorry," she says. "It's just... there's so much underground here, so many layers, it's overwhelming. Like standing in the middle of an orchestra and trying to concentrate on a single instrument. I'm going deaf."
Valentina is sure that if Regina was here, she would be able to clear Hazel's head and help her. But unfortunately, her little cousin is off somewhere else in Rome with Annabeth Chase, following the Mark of Athena to the Athena Parthenos.
As a result, they get a tour of Rome. Frank seems happy to plod along, but Valentina can't help but feel a little impatient. She's trained for ten years and has fought countless battles, but even her feet are sore. The day is sunny and hot and she hasn't felt air conditioning in ages. The streets are choked with tourists who keep glancing at her.
And they are in Rome. The whole place reminds Valentina of her own home, New Rome. Naturally, as she thinks of her home, she can't help but think of Reyna, too. She always imagined visiting one day with her best friend, hopefully as her girlfriend, even if they weren't allowed to visit the ancient lands. They'd break the law, anyway, because they wanted to have some fun. She wishes she were with Reyna on the streets instead of with this group━no offense to them, they're great!━and without the threat of the entire city being destroyed.
