madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-taco eating teenage freak ninja demigods-

get comfy <3

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"Cyclops!" Jason yelled, and gave Teqi a Heimlich manoeuvre.

She wheezed, coughing and spluttering, and pulled his arms from around her waist now that he was conscious and therefore wouldn't go plummeting to his demise. It felt like he'd broken her ribs.

And those bruises were never going away. Teqi just had to accept that.

"Whoa, sleepyhead." Piper chuckled. She was leaning with her back against Jason's, chewing on her fingernails because she was sick of the colour she'd painted them.

"Det... Detroit," Jason stammered looking around wildly. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought-"

"You're fine," Teqi said, patting his shoulder vaguely. A freak out in the sky wouldn't have a happy ending. "Those guys are long gone, but you're pretty banged up... How many fingers am I holding up?"

Jason blinked at her, adjusting his glasses. "You aren't holding any up."

Teqi nodded. Will always tested people with concussions like that. "You're fine."

"Leo smoked those bitches," Piper said happily, turning around in her seat. Teqi could tell cause the stirrups made this awful grating sound and Festus snorted about it. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing," Leo said quickly.

This was new. Leo Valdez did not want the spotlight. And he deserved it. The world must be ending. Then Teqi remembered they were here on this dragon because the world actually was going to end, and it seemed a lot less funny.

Piper laughed. "Shut up, Leo. I'm gonna tell him."

So she did. Leo turned back to the front, all squeamish and red in the face.

"That's awesome, man," Jason said weakly, after Teqi heard about all the things she couldn't see when she was crawling around in the roof, dripping with blood. "Hera said you guys would... 'see me through'."

Teqi took a deep breath. "Hera said what now?"

He told them all about the concussion induced hanging upside down ready to be cooked dream he had had. One filled with talks of exchanges, a peacock goddess in cage, and evil sleeping things that were soon to wake. And salsa.

Teqi shivered, she had a rotten fruit feeling in her gut, and it wasn't from Leo's sandwiches.

"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"

"So, Hera has a gambling addiction. Maybe she can get a two for one when she gets a marriage counsellor, and sort that out too." Teqi grumbled. She paused, holding her breath slightly, but no lightning struck her out of the sky.

Probably because Jason was behind her, still nursing his head wound.

"Or her gamble could save us," Piper said hopefully. That was good. Someone had to be the optimist, and Teqi hadn't had an optimistic thought since she'd found out she wouldn't have to see her father at camp. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."