madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-sweet sweet revenge-

Teqi honestly didn't remember a lot of the night. They told their story and answered a million questions from the other campers, but finally Chiron saw how tired they were and ordered them to bed.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Thankfully, her friends took the hint and didn't mention her whole 'driving people insane thing' and just said that she used grapevines instead, which made her look a little bit useless but it was better than the other option. Unfortunately, a certain someone knew exactly when she was lying, no matter how good she was at it, so Teqi promised to tell him the actual story when she woke up the next day.

Teqi's siblings were overjoyed that she was back, Ollie was slightly disappointed that she had ruined his stranger things hoodie, but he was smiling the whole time he complained. Ginny insisted on Teqi sleeping in her bed, just in case more giants came for them [they all knew she just wanted to show off her plushie collection once again].                                                                                                Teqi's last sibling, who was going by Branca that day, and Will, helped Teqi bandage up all her wounds and cheekily added stickers to, which Teqi appreciated, as it hurt to move. She had already had to much ambrosia so she was stuck with normal medical supplies for now.

None of them were quit sure why, when Teqi saw them all for the first time she flinched violently, and made sure none of them were dead. The memory of her family slaughtered and zombified would never leave her head, so she periodically checked that Ollie had his jaw attached, that Branca's spine was intact, and Will's face was all there.

It felt so good to sleep on a real mattress finally, and Teqi was so exhausted, she was asleep ten minutes after she hopped into bed, not caring about the my-little-pony toy that was sticking into her back and the small child clinging to her.

The next morning, Teqi woke in her bunk, feeling just as dead as she felt when she fell asleep. The sun came through the windows along with a pleasant breeze. It might've been spring instead of winter. Birds sang. Monsters howled in the woods. Breakfast smells wafted from the dining pavilion—all sorts of wonderful things. But Teqi didn't care about the ache in her bones and the stinging from all the cuts [for now] because she was home. Sure, she was trapped again, and probably wouldn't get to leave until she died or turned twenty.

But, as she listened to Ollie humming in the shower, Ginny snoring next to her, Branca talking to Leo the cat as she hung out all their wet clothes, and Will putting his shoes on and leaving for the infirmary quickly [he had stayed the night, for medical reasons in the bunk above] Teqi smiled to herself and hugged the rainbow dash teddy that Ginny had forced into her arms.

After Ollie got out of the shower, it was Teqi's turn, and the warmth was amazing. Considering there was no showers on quests, coming back and having one was amazing. She would never be ungrateful again. Okay that's a lie, she would be hating showers by tomorrow, but the thought was there.

Teqi had to steal more of her sibling's clothes, as someone had burned all of her stuff. Her Doc martens were drying on the little deck they had outside the sliding doors that looked out onto the strawberry fields, because they had minimal damage and they were just too good to get rid of. Teqi found a discarded belt to hold up the very baggy cargo pants that were under a beanbag, and a camp shirt from Branca's drawers, then she was ready to go.