madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-into the lion den, or more fittingly, the wolf den-

At first, Teqi had assumed it was rocks that were pelting the windshield. Then she realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out their view.

"An ice storm?" Piper shouted over the engine and the wind, crawling forwards back into her previous spot between them. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?" Teqi was no Aeolus, but she knew this wasn't a normal storm, something about it was purposeful and incredibly violent for water. Jason woke up quickly as well. He grabbed their seats for balance, trying not to sway like a tipsy Teqi. "We've got to be getting close."

Leo was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply, Teqi was surprised he could even control it with the wind around them. Its movements turned sluggish and jerky, Teqi nearly faceplanted into the wind shield, and she started to doubt how much Leo had a grip on it. The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind, Piper nearly falling backwards. The helicopter probably hadn't been prepped for cold-weather flying, not that Teqi knew much about the machine, but she guessed correctly that they were supposed to stay in the air. Which they were not.

Below them, the ground was a dark blanket of trees and fog, Teqi wouldn't be surprised if Edward Cullen was spotted lurking around. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked at the stick he was holding, only just getting them over the treetops.

"There!" Jason shouted, pointing forwards from behind them.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing, like they were surrounded. Shapes moved through the mist [the vampires, obvs.], Combat seemed to be everywhere.

Leo set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. They all let out a simultaneous breath, shoulders sagging, and Teqi unscrewed her nearly empty water bottle when, "Out!" Leo screamed. He grabbed Teqi's shoulder, and shoved her out of his own door first.

Teqi rolled in the snow, her ears ringing from the impact, and was greeted with horrible memories of the last time she had leapt out of an exploding air craft and into the snow below. Nothing seemed to be endangering her at that moment, so she closed her eyes tightly and held her scarred face. Someone touched her shoulder, and Teqi tried not to flinch too violently at the contact.

Piper squeezed her reassuringly and helped her stand up from the cold wet ground. Teqi just stared at the thing that had almost killed her, it had obviously been aiming for them directly, as a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of the Dionysus cabin itself —had completely flattened the helicopter they had been in seconds prior.

"Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter." Leo said from behind Teqi, grabbing onto her wrist as they stared in shock at the previously named 'helicopter'.

"Frosty the snowman just got a whole lot more violent." Teqi murmured, glancing around at their cold surroundings. "Wait, my bag was in there!" she groaned in realisation, mourning her shield/bag.

Piper pointed south. "Fighting's over there." Then she frowned, her hair whipping around her cold face. "No ... it's all around us." She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House. Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home—a massive ruin of red and grey stones and rough-hewn timber beams. Teqi could imagine how it had looked before it burned down—a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack might build. But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. she could totally believe the ruins were cursed, it looked like a setting for a horror movie about Yetti's and evil snowmen.