madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-dead mum [two syllables]-

omg i edited this chapter and the old authors note was me thanking you guys for 25 reads on this book <3 <3 <3

After Leo had showed Piper and Jason how to put their feet in the stirrups, and they all looked like they were riding a very long golden horse, Festus took off. The wind blew Teqi's hair absolutely everywhere. She was just glad she didn't have lip-gloss on.

She would've tied her hair up, but she didn't like the way it made her look. Maybe she just hadn't found a style yet.

Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The metal wings clinked like a cutlery drawer as they flapped, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them that Teqi couldn't draw her eyes away from. She was leaving camp. She was leaving camp again.

With people she'd grown attached too, again. Her heart was pounding fast enough to jumpstart a metal dragon.

Leo turned, grinning his head off, "Cool, right?"

"What if we get spotted?" Piper asked, tightening her grip around Teqi's waist and peeking over the side. She'd changed out of her glamourous pantsuit and now she was in a new camp shirt and jeans with holes in the knees.

"The Mist," Jason said. He was sitting at the very back. Being the least likely to die from falling, of course. "It keeps mortals from seeing mythical things. If they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane, or something."

Piper glanced over her shoulder to him. "You sure about that?"

"No."

"Yes." Teqi said. She shifted in her metal seat, and leaned over Leo's shoulder to ask him about his skills with leather padding.

"Shut up, me," Leo said abruptly, before she could open her mouth.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing," he said, rubbing his eyes with a chuckle. "Long night. I think I'm hallucinating... Kidding! So, what's the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, breaking wind, or something?"

As they flew over snow covered valleys and church steeples, Jason laid out the game plan he'd come up with, probably assisted by Annabeth: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information—

"His name is Boreas?" Leo piped up. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

"God of the north wind, storms, winter, and ice. Cruellest of all four wind gods," Teqi said monotonously. She'd never paid much attention in Greek History, she'd preferred to spend her time drawing on desks and throwing things at the backs of people's heads, but Clarisse's dioramas were memorable, to say the least.

Second, Jason continued with a sigh, they had to find those Venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon [and gave Teqi the gods awful bruise Piper was squeezing right now]—

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asked. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

"Valdez, we're going to have to establish some ground rules since we're stuck with you for an extended period of time. One smartass comment per conversation, not sentence," Teqi said.

And third, Jason finished, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her. And of course, don't forget about his dreams. A big nasty mama wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.