madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-Immortal hawkeye's of the moon unite!-

Teqi scrambled out of her blanket cocoon clumsily, and Leo unwrapped his arms from around her. She felt the cold immediately, even though the fire was still crackling. 

The fire. 

It would show where they were, even if the wolves could already smell them. "Wolves," Piper said. "They sound close."

Jason rose and summoned his sword. Leo and Coach Hedge got to their feet too. Piper tried, but stumbled and winced, holding her head in pain. Teqi reached into Leo's toolbelt and pulled out a canteen of water, then proceeded to tip it over the fire while Jason pushed Piper back down. "Stay there," Jason told her, peering out into the dark. "We'll protect you."

Wolves edged into the light of the steaming coals—black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with muddy ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed threateningly, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill. They were definitely smaller than miss O'Leary but had a more savage aura.

"Oh gods! Moony and Padfoot had an evil baby wolf"

Piper pulled her dagger out of its sheath, and Teqi fumbled for her knives.
Then Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin, she didn't know what it meant, but the alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.

Jason turned quickly to a kneeling Piper, and then to Teqi. "You should try and do your mind thing, like, you were meditating? I don't know, but then you can protect Piper if, if something happens."

"Yeah, I can reach into their minds if I can focus enough, the wolves look smart enough that I can... do something. But I'll need a few minutes." She responded, wrapping Piper back into the blankets at the back of the cave.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Leo looked down at her, worried, "We'll try to hold them off, just don't faint and hurt yourself again." 

At that, she rolled her eyes. "When do I not get hurt. Now shush." She crossed her legs and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind.

"Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys' escape."                                                                                                           

"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper said.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Stick together," Jason said, and Teqi could hear the edge in his voice. Whatever they were seeing couldn't be good. "They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We're not leaving you or anyone else behind."

She tried to zone out their voices, and she started humming a tune. She wasn't really sure why she did it, but it seemed to help. Tony had thought that it was because of the vibrating waves of the sound, and her power could follow them to people, or in this case, wolves' minds. The other explanation was that she just really loved music, which was true.

She remembered when Leo had fixed her Ipod for her once, he even connected the radio. She mentally shoved herself out of the happy memory and into the situation, she could feel her friends 'auras' and then the feral ones of the wolves. There was something else as well, something more human, but still animalistic.