madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-*faints for the plot*-

Teqi realised quickly what the fly actually was when Piper told them. Some weird dead thing was trying and failing to possess her. She could still feel it in the front of her mind, pushing forwards. Well, maybe they had more luck fighting them off if one was already distracted with Teqi.

"Piper is right." Hazel said suddenly, ruining the stunned silence.

"How can, you be sure?" Annabeth asked.

"I've met eidolons," Hazel said. "In the Underworld, when I was...you know."

Dead.

"So..." Frank rubbed his hand across his buzz-cut hair as if some ghosts might have invaded his scalp. "You think these things are lurking on the ship, or—"

"Possibly lurking inside some of us," Piper said nervously. "We don't know."                                                                                                                

Jason clenched his fist. "If that's true—"

Teqi leaned over and reached into Leo's toolbelt, pulling out a piece of blueprint paper and a grey lead pencil. She scribbled quickly on it, Leo leaning over her shoulder to read. She tried not to blush when she felt his breath on her neck.

She pushed the note to the centre of the table:

What colour are they?

Piper shrugged, looking uncomfortable when everyone turned to her again expectantly. Annabeth sat up straight, turning to Leo, "Your eyes! When you were possessed in Rome, your eyes were gold."

Teqi rubbed the bridge of her nose, cursing in her head. His golden-brown eyes, Teqi remembered thinking only moments ago. But now when she looked into them, they were only brown [she still felt stupidly giddy, but there was no gold.].                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Leo cocked his head, "querida, I'm not possessed anymore-" He paused when she mouthed something at him, "Sorry for what?"

Vines burst from the cylinder pots on the wall, there were three of them, but one grew out and wrapped around Leo, pinning his legs, arms, and torso to his chair. He looked down at the restraints, and back up at Teqi with nothing but hurt on his face. "I'm not..."

Everyone looked at Teqi like she was crazy, and her eyes glassed over for a moment, tiredness pulling at her body, but she stayed awake. Piper turned to her, glancing at Leo nervously, "Can you figure out who else is...."

"I'm not possessed!" Leo protested, straining against the vines. Teqi swallowed, looking away before she let him go just because of the sad look on his face. She felt so bad, it was tightening her chest and making her skin crawl. Teqi flipped over the note, writing more.

I don't really wanna go in everyone's heads

"You've already done it once." Percy grumbled, and Annabeth held his hand. 

Piper nodded, "Fair, just listen, okay?" Piper took a deep breath. "Everybody listen to me."

Piper met their eyes, one person at a time. "Eidolons," she said, using her charmspeak, "raise your hands."