Wildfire (Leo Valdez x OC) (1)

I never want to hear the word probably again

My jaw dropped. The central section of Aeolus's fortress was as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof, covered in silver. Television equipment floated through the air – cameras, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants. And there was no floor. Leo almost fell into the chasm before Jason pulled him back.

"Holy-!" Leo gulped. "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!"

An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain. It was probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves. Some of the tunnels probably led straight outside. I remembered seeing the winds blast out of them when we had been on Pikes Peak. Other tunnels were covered in some glistening material, like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled with harpies, aurai and paper aeroplanes, but for someone who couldn't fly it would be a very long, very fatal fall.

"Oh, my." Mellie gasped. "I'm so sorry." She unclipped a walkie talkie from in her dress and spoke into it. "Hello? Nuggets? Is that Nuggets? Yes, hi Nuggets. Could we get a floor in the main studio, please?" Mellie paused. "Yes, a solid one, thank you Nuggets."

A few seconds later, an army of harpies rose from the pit – three dozen, or so, demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of varying building material.

They went to work hammering and gluing – and using large quantities of duct tape. In no time, there was a make-shift floor snaking out over the chasm. It was made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod – just about anything.

"That can't be safe." Jason said.

"Oh, it is." Mellie assured him. "The harpies are very good."

Easy for her to say, she just floated across.

The other three stood looking at the bridge hesitantly.

I rolled my eyes. "Cowards." I muttered.

I stepped onto the bridge and, surprisingly, it held my weight. I turned back to the other three. "Where's your confidence in duct tape?" I said.

Jason looked at me sceptically and stepped onto the path. "Huh," he said, frowning.

"See? Also, you can fly Jason, you should be the least scared out of all of us." I said, crossing my arms.

Piper grabbed Jason's hand and stepped onto the path behind him. Jason blushed but Piper was too busy looking down into the chasm to notice. I shared a look with Leo, he snorted.

"If I fall, you're catching me." Piper said, as she took another step.

"Uh, sure." Jason said, going even pinker.

Leo stepped out next. "You're catching me too, Superman, but I ain't holding your hand."

Mellie led us towards the middle of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens floated around a kind of control centre. A man hovered inside, checking monitors, and reading paper aeroplane messages.

The man paid us no attention as Mellie brought us forward. She pushed a large TV screen out of the way as she led us into the control area.

Leo whistled. "I've got to get a room like this."

"Can you imagine how much your eyes would hurt from all these screens though?" I said. Leo raised an eyebrow at me. I sighed. "Yeah, I would also like a room like this." He snorted.

The floating screens showed all sorts of programmes. Some I recognised – documentaries and news broadcasts mostly – but some programmes looked a little strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters. Maybe they were movies, but they looked like reality shows.