madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-magical cats and closet renovations-

Jason pulled himself up, brushing dust off his clothes.

All around Nico, the ground shifted. The grass withered, and the stones cracked as if something was moving in the earth beneath, trying to push its way through. "Give us Diocletian's sceptre," Nico said. "We don't have time for games."

Games? Cupid struck, slapping Nico sideways into a granite pedestal. Nico gritted his teeth and held his side. Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work—a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you—especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards.

Jason retrieved his sword. He wasn't sure if this invisible god knew that Love could still be flowery softness.

Piper dragged him into the kitchen on the Argo II to teach him how to make her favourite dishes and flicked bubbles at his face when they had to clean up because of Love. Teqi closed her eyes and searched for Jason's aura just to prove to him that he deserved to call Thalia his sister because of Love. Leo named the Argo II after the original Jason's ship because of Love. That was all good and well, but Jason knew that there was another side to the coin of comfy afternoons in the Dionysus cabin laughing and messing around.

Teqi lost parts of herself every day just to protect the people she loved.

The remainder of the Argo II crew had to deal with the fact they'd lost Percy because of Love, because he'd never leave Annabeth. They had to get to the doors of death, they had to save their friends because otherwise that Love would kill them.

"Nico," Jason called out nervously, "what does this guy want from you?"

Tell him, Nico di Angelo, Cupid said. Tell him you are a coward, afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half- Blood, and why you are always alone.

Nico let loose a guttural scream. The ground at his feet split open and skeletons crawled forth—dead Romans with missing hands and caved-in skulls, cracked ribs, and jaws unhinged. Some were dressed in the remnants of togas. Others had glinting pieces of armour hanging off their chests.

Will you hide among the dead, as you always do? Cupid taunted. Waves of darkness rolled off the son of Hades. When they hit Jason, he almost lost consciousness—overwhelmed by hatred and fear and shame and a tight ball in his chest and a sudden awareness of how people might react to...

Images flashed through his mind. He saw Nico and his sister on a snowy cliff in Maine, Percy protecting them from a manticore. Percy's sword cliff in Maine, Percy Jackson protecting them from a manticore. Percy's sword gleamed in the dark. He'd been the first demigod Nico had ever seen in action. Later, at Camp Half-Blood, Percy took Nico by the arm, promising to keep his sister Bianca safe. Nico believed him. Nico looked into his sea-green eyes and thought, how can he possibly fail? This is a real hero. He was Nico's favourite game, Mythomagic, brought to life.

Jason saw the moment when Percy returned and told Nico that Bianca was dead. Nico had screamed and called him a liar. He'd felt betrayed, but still... when the skeleton warriors attacked, he couldn't let them harm Percy. Nico had called on the earth to swallow them up, and then he'd run away terrified of his own powers, and his own emotions.

Jason saw a dozen more scenes like this from Nico's point of view.... And they left him stunned, unable to move or speak.

Meanwhile, Nico's Roman skeletons surged forward and grappled with something invisible. The god struggled, flinging the dead aside, breaking off ribs and skulls, but the skeletons kept coming, pinning the god's arms. Leopard paced back and forth, growling and swishing his tail at both the god and the bones.