madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-not paid enough for all this trauma-

It wasn't exactly the first thing Teqi was expecting to hear when she woke up after an incredibly weird dream. Teqi blinked in shock at Jason for a moment, and then frowned. She rubbed her eyes, "Huh? What on Olympus are you talking about?"

Jason looked around awkwardly, and Annabeth turned back to her laptop, confused about what he was asking. He scratched the back of his neck, "I just-"

"Reooow chhharrhhk crrrkk ahhhhhschh!"

The demigods winced in sync, Teqi immediately shoving her face back into her pillow with a groan. Jason stood up, coin back in his hand, but there was nothing in the room to fight, except a very confused and tired Percy who was looking around with dried drool on his face.

"It was the intercoms, why was it so loud?" Annabeth questioned, standing up as well. Then they heard a loud crashing sound from above. Teqi scrambled out of the bed and stumbled onto the floor cursing and holding her leg. Why was she always injured?

"Leo messed up!" She yelped, wobbling to her feet and pressing down on her stinging thigh. 

Percy was already holding his sword and reaching for a breastplate, "You know metal language?"

"No, I just understand 'Valdez has fucked up' in most languages." Teqi winced, hobbling out the door with a vial of nectar in her hand. She took it like a shot, prepared to burst into a ball of flames, but instead she just felt like red bull had been injected into her veins.

Her body moved too quickly for her brain to catch up, and then she skidded to a stop with a huff, knives in hand, on deck. The thing was the length of their ship. In the moonlight, it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, and millipede-type legs undulating hypnotically as the monster scraped against the hull of the Argo II.

Its head surfaced last—the slimy pink face of an enormous catfish with glassy dead eyes, a gaping toothless maw, and a forest of tentacles sprouting from each nostril, making the bushiest nose beard Teqi had ever seen.

She felt like running to the side the side of the ship and throwing up just at the sight of it, but there was a large chance the crab fish shrimp would kill her instantly.

"Come on, Valdez!" Hedge yelled aggressively, startling Teqi out of her stupor. "Take the wheel so I can get my baseball bat!"

"A bat's not going to help," Leo called back tiredly, but he made his way toward the helm anyway. Teqi looked away quickly, her chest hurting. Behind her, the rest of the crew stumbled up the stairs in a disorganised fashion. 

Percy yelled, "What's going— Gah! Shrimpzilla!"

Frank ran to the edge of the boat, and Teqi realised Hazel was clutching the rigging, a dazed look in her dark eyes, but she gestured that she was all right to him.

The monster rammed the ship again. The hull groaned. Annabeth, Piper, and Jason tumbled to starboard and almost rolled overboard. Vines grew from the little pots along the side of the boat and caught Teqi like a green harness before she smashed into the side.

"How did it get so close?" Annabeth shouted, pulling herself up on one of the rail shields, and Teqi ripped the plants off herself, sending them to pull her friends upright with a flick of her hand. The nectar she had had glugged seemed to be making her powers work in overdrive, and really quickly, almost like the plants were responding to her thoughts instead of her movements.