YOU ARE IN LOVE ↬ leo valdez x reader, book two

4. time moved too fast

"Hold on," Leo said. "If I can find a release switch—"
"Just go!" Jason growled. "I'll follow you when I get out of this."
"But—"
"Leo, come on!" I shouted over the subsiding storm, facing the direction of the dwarves. They turned around the corner and we followed in pursuit, leaving Jason suspended upside down.

The dwarves stayed just at the edge of our vision, scampering over red-tiled rooftops, knocking over window boxes, whooping and hollering and leaving a trail of screws and nails from Leo's tool belt—almost as if they wanted us to follow.

We jogged after them, Leo cursing every time his pants fell down. We turned a corner and saw two ancient stone towers jutting into the sky, side by side, much taller than anything else in the neighborhood—maybe medieval watchtowers? The Kerkopes scaled the tower on the right. When they reached the top, they climbed around the back and disappeared.
"Great," he muttered. We had no way of getting up there. Half a block down, a set of double glass doors opened and an old lady hobbled out, carrying plastic shopping bags.

Leo must've noticed too as he started patting his pockets. He pulled out some euro notes and looked at me. We bolted for the store. I made it before him since he was only going as fast as his zipperless pants allowed. Leo scoured the aisles. I was feeling pretty parched, so I found my way to the fridges and pulled a few coins from my own pocket. Leo walked up to the counter with his weird assortment of items. Once I bought my water he lifted his groceries up. Charcoal, sugar, baking soda and more. Honestly I didn't even bat an eye at it.

The checkout lady asked him some questions in Italian, but he managed to pay, get a bag, and race out all without being too suspicious.
"What are we doing?" I asked.
"Making an arsenal." He said, ducking into a doorway. He summoned fire to dry out materials and do a little cooking. "Could you keep an eye on the tower?"
"Sure." I leaned against the doorway beside him and kept my gaze focused on the small windows of the tower, expecting to see the dwarves. Every once in a while he sneaked a look at the tower, but there was no sign of the dwarves.
"Should I go back and check on Jason?" I said after a while. He shook his head.
"No, he'll be okay. I need you here to help." He beckoned me over and ran to the tower and found the entrance.

We started up the winding stairs inside, only to be stopped at a ticket booth by some caretaker who yelled at us in Italian.
"Seriously?" Leo asked. "Look, man, you've got dwarfs in your belfry. I'm the exterminator." He held up his can of bug spray. "See? Exterminator Molto Buono. Squirt, squirt. Ahhh!" He pantomimed a dwarf melting in terror, which for some reason the Italian didn't seem to understand. The guy just held out his palm for money. 

"Dang, man," Leo grumbled, "I just spent all my cash on homemade explosives and whatnot." He looked at me hopefully. I shook my head.
"I've got enough to buy a stick of gum." I sighed. He dug around in his grocery bag.
"Don't suppose you'd accept...uh...whatever these are?" Leo held up a yellow-and-red bag of junk food called Fonzies. To my surprise, the caretaker shrugged and took the bag.

"Avanti!" Leo kept climbing, gripping onto my wrist to ensure I wasn't stolen away. The stairs went on, and on, and on. The whole tower seemed to be nothing but an excuse to build a staircase. We stopped on a landing and Leo slumped against a narrow barred window, trying to catch his breath. He was sweating like crazy and panting like a dog.
"Water." he moaned, extending a hand out. I groaned and handed him my bottle. Instead of drinking it like any normal person would do, Leo took one sip then poured it all over his face.
"Leo!" I shouted. He sent me a sideways grin, flipping the bottle in his hands and throwing it at me.
"Sorry, princesa, gotta stay hydrated." He got back up and continued up the stairway. I followed him, mumbling curses.
"That's not staying hydrated, you bunsen burner."