madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-tea party's passive aggressively-

"Sorry, I sort of ate all your ice cream." Piper said with a shrug that meant she really wasn't sorry in anyway. It wasn't exactly Teqi's biggest problem at the moment. Not only was she one untied shoelace and slightly raised voice away from literally stepping off the flying boat, Teqi was genuinely terrified to walk outside.

After getting absolutely no sleep, and instead listening to music at one hundred percent volume so a single thought couldn't register and she didn't have to listen to her pathetic blubbering, Teqi was not ready for the day.

She was too far into her head and her misery to even cover up the dark streaks that rivalled coal underneath her eyes or the red rimming them. She was in her clothes from the day before, because she hadn't gotten into her pyjamas at any point, and she wasn't planning to get changed. She wasn't planning to do anything ever again, but the quest hadn't heard that news.

Teqi didn't bother to smile in hopes to cover up the pain through her whole body. It wasn't physical, except for the throbbing headache and the pins and needles through her aching body from lack of sleep, so maybe it was physical.

The two girls walked down the hallway to the fresh air outside. Teqi didn't want to, but she had already agreed to go look for this ghost guy, so she couldn't not go now without making a big deal out of it.

By the time Teqi had dragged herself up to the deck, Jason, Frank, and Leo had already left for the museum. Teqi nearly cried with happiness. She wouldn't be able to function if she saw Leo. According to Coach Hedge, they'd promised to be back by sunset, so Teqi had the day to run back to camp and cry in her cabin. Sadly, she couldn't do that, no matter how much she wanted to.

Not that she minded hanging out with Annabeth and Piper, but between the blondes' longing glances towards the ocean and the way she stopped at every signpost to read about every historical thing that had ever happened, and Piper's constant nudging and glances as she waited to hear what had happened last night, Teqi wasn't enjoying it.

According to the signs, the seaside park was called White Point Gardens. The ocean breeze swept away the muggy heat of the summer afternoon, and it was pleasantly cool under the shade of the palmetto trees, which looked like green versions of the trees from The Lorax. Lining the road were old Civil War cannons and bronze statues of historical figures that were probably all old white straight men when they were alive.

Charleston Harbor glittered in the sun. To the north and south, strips of land stretched out like arms enclosing the bay, and sitting in the mouth of the harbor, about a mile out, was an island with a stone fort. Soon they turned away from the seawall and explored the inland side of the gardens.

Teqi rubbed her eyes, blinking rapidly when specks of her mascara fell into her eyes. She followed the two girls, watching Piper's twin plaits swing side to side in the light breeze. They strolled along South Battery Street, which was lined with four-story colonial mansions. The brick walls were blanketed with ivy. The facades had soaring white columns like Roman temples. The front gardens were bursting with rosebushes, honeysuckle, and flowering bougainvillea.

Teqi heard rustling behind her, and turned around with her knife in her hand. Instead of a monster, there was a trail of grapevines growing behind her. She glanced at the two girls walking ahead and ripped out the plants, leaving them in a garden bed and running to catch up.

The other girls didn't say much as they wandered through the park.

Piper kept looking around like she expected an ambush. She had said she'd seen this park in the blade of her knife, but she wouldn't elaborate. Teqi guessed she was afraid to. After all, the last time Piper had tried to interpret a vision from her knife, Percy and Jason had almost killed each other in Kansas. Teqi had hoped Jason would win.