madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-aNgEr iSsUeS-

"I have the water!" Teqi said victoriously, putting the jug on the table. Coach had finished the whole vase of flowers from their table, and had started one of the planter boxes behind them. Jason was sporting the pink hello kitty jumper, and Piper was rocking the teddy bear jacket.

"You knocked yourself out, didn't you." Jason groaned, seeing the small patch of dried blood at her hairline, and she rifled through Piper's backpack as Leo sat back down. 

 "Yup, talked to Annabeth. I also figured out who were fighting." She said through a mouthful of chocolate pudding flavoured golden gum.

"Care to elaborate?" Jason asked, dumbfounded. Leo was putting together more little gold things, but he looked a lot happier than before. 

"I need coffee for this." Piper said, before taking her pack back off Teqi and searching through it.

Leo whistled, grinning. "Allowance? Piper, your mom rocks!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Teqi muttered, quietly mocking the word 'sweetheart' to Leos confusion. 

"Waitress!" Hedge called. "Six double espressos, and whatever these guys want. Put it on the girl's tab."

Piper ordered a coffee and a pastry, Jason got some extravagant mocktail thing, and Leo handed the menu to Teqi, much to her dismay. 

"I'm not that hungry." She said quickly, and pretended to scan over the menu. She could read a few of the things, but she wasn't confident enough in her limited education to actually order them.

 Leo narrowed his eyes at her, "two croissants and a, a chocolate milkshake please." The waitress wrote it down, and then turned to leave, when Teqi stopped her.

"Wait, do you serve gin and tonics?"

It didn't take them long to figure out where they were. The menus said "Café Verve, Walnut Creek, CA." And according to the annoyed waitress, it was 9 a.m. on December 21, the winter solstice, which gave them three hours until Enceladus's deadline.

They didn't have to wonder where Mount Diablo was, either. They could see it on the horizon, right at the end of the street. After the Rockies, Mount Diablo didn't look very large, nor was it covered in snow. It seemed downright peaceful; its golden creases marbled with grey-green trees.

Leo pulled something out of his pocket, it looked like a little kid drawing, and Teqi had no idea where he had gotten it from. "What is that?" Piper asked, obviously confused as well.

 Leo folded it up gingerly again and put it away, not making eye contact with any of them. "Nothing. You don't want to see my kindergarten artwork."

"It's more than that," Jason guessed. "Aeolus said it was the key to our success." 

Leo shook his head stubbornly. "Not today. He was talking about... later."

"Wait, how much did I miss? First Coach gets the girl and now you've got magic crayons?" Teqi asked, while Piper thanked the waitress. Jason scrunched his nose in disgust when she mentioned Mellie's 'plans' with the goat.                                                                                                                                                                                 

"He gave us some things, stuff that had been lost in the wind. I got a picture of me and dad; Leo got this drawing thing." Piper helped out, wincing as the waitress eyeballed Teqi again. Leo slapped his knee, and puled more paper out of his toolbelt.