madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-she's interning for hermes-

⋆˖⁺‧₊🎧🧨🍷🎬🍓₊‧⁺˖⋆

________________________________________________________________________________

She punched the first straight in its maw, tearing open her skin and knocking it to the side. Hot pain burst but she was already smacking another in the side with her shoulder, and the streak of shadowy teeth veered away. She ducked, and a wolf crashed into her from behind, its teeth bared next to her face instead of around the back of her neck. But then her leg was pulled from underneath her, her shoe between jaws. Blood dripped down her wrist. She fell underneath the descent of wolves, the terrible hot breaths and mangy furs, as she was outnumbered. She tucked her arms over her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

Teqi couldn't help but scream. It came straight from her freezing lungs, and the singular drumming thought, the realization, 'I don't want to die'.

She struggled and writhed underneath the bodies, feeling what was hopefully clothing and not skin torn away from her body. She kicked out, hardly making contact. 'I don't want to die'. Her hands clawed at the snow as she thrashed, and tears filled her vision, but there was no escape.

'I don't want to die'. Her scream became a sob.

Teqi felt the moment that a pair of jaws around her middle paused, and then released her. Through the blood pounding in her ears, she could hear yips and grumbles, and feet padding around again. She lay still. The heavy limps stepped over her, and around her.

Maybe she was dead. She had become a spirit, and was lying there while the wolves tore apart her mortal body.

But she opened her eyes, instinctively, and stared at the muddy trodden down snow she was packed into. White grains only centre meters from her eyes. They caught on her eyelashes. Her focus shifted to the figure standing sideways. Or right ways up, since she was the one lying on her side.

Wet sneakers and torn pants, and a beaten up ski jacket pulled down from around her face.

Piper cleared her throat. "I said get back!"

Her charm speak met their furry evil ears again, and Teqi was left like a rabbit they'd realised was poisonous. Growls erupted, the biggest of the wolves stalking up to her and sniffing, looking to her, and then to the other blurry figures around her. It curled its lip and jutted its head towards Jason. In the pack around them, ears flicked around and paws were stamped.

They were waiting.

Teqi tried to pick herself up onto her elbows while they were distracted, but before she could try to crawl away, she was dragged backwards by- she stopped struggling when she realised it was Gleeson. They stumbled up the snowbank.

"Thanks," Teqi said in a small voice once she was tucked against a tree behind the other demigods. They hadn't left for Aelous's palace. Or whatever it was that was actually at the peak. She wasn't even one hundred percent sure her face was still attached to her head, but the word came out.

She patted herself down slowly, shaky fingers finding no open wounds. Only shredded knuckles and all over aching and stinging.

"It wasn't enough, look," Gleeson said to them, but she hadn't been talking to him.

They didn't attack, but they didn't leave. They were waiting, with a sense and composur they hadn't afforded Teqi, for something.

"Stick together," Jason said, his hands on the hilt of his shining sword. "They respect a pack."