LABYRINTH ↬ leo valdez x reader, book three

3. WOULD THAT I

"I am never letting you speak to me again."
"Screw Nike's little elves, Y/N, I have all the presents your heart desires."
"I'm going to kill you in this deathmatch. You've just settled it."

Leo was the worst teacher I think I've ever had. Archimedean mechanics this, decapitation that.

Nike's chariot appeared on the field, the Nikettes arrayed in front of Hazel with their spears and laurels raised.
"Begin!" the goddess bellowed.
Leo and I sprinted through the archway. Immediately, the field shimmered and became a maze of brick walls and trenches. We ducked behind the nearest wall and ran to the left.
Back at the archway, Frank yelled, "Uh, die, Graecus scum!" A poorly aimed arrow sailed over Leo's head.

"More vicious!" Nike yelled. "Kill like you mean it!"
"He sounds eager to come after us." I murmured.
Leo glanced at me. "Ready?"
I hefted the bronze grenade. "I'm never ready. I hope you labelled these right." I took a deep breath and lobbed the grenade over the wall. "Die, Romans!" I yelled through gritted teeth.

The smell of popcorn emerged and wafted towards our hiding spot.
"Oh, no!" Hazel wailed. "Popcorn! Our fatal weakness!"
Frank shot another arrow over their heads. Leo and I scrambled to the left, ducking through a maze of walls that seemed to shift and turn on their own.
Somewhere behind us, Nike yelled, "Try harder! That popcorn was not fatal!"

Another grenade exploded over our heads. We dived into a trench as the green starburst of Greek fire singed Leo's hair. Fortunately, Frank had aimed high enough that the blast only looked impressive.
"Better," Nike called out, "but where is your aim? Don't you want this circlet of leaves?"
Leo pointed across the field. The walls had shifted, revealing one of the Nikettes about thirty yards away, standing with her back to us. Hazel must be doing her thing – manipulating the maze to isolate their targets.

"I distract," Leo said, "you attack. Ready?"
"Why can't I distract?"
"You're not as charismatic as I am." He crossed his arms.
"Oh my gods, fine." I stomped off and pulled out my dagger by the handle from it's little loop by my medkit. My outfit was not suitable for fighting in a Colosseum against my friends but at least it was practical.

I winced and raised my dagger. "Hey, Bronze Butt!"
The Nikette turned as Leo threw. His hammer clanged harmlessly off the metal lady's chest, but she must have been annoyed. She marched towards him, raising her barbed-wire laurel wreath.
"Oops." Leo ducked as the metal circlet spun over his head. The wreath hit a wall behind him, punching a hole straight through the bricks, then arced backwards through the air like a boomerang.

As the Nikette raised her hand to catch it, I ran up behind her with my dagger raised, fists clenched tightly around it and my eyes clamped closed. I couldn't do it. I'm not meant to be the person who hurts people, I'm meant to help. That's my job. The healer's heart is kind and pure. I grunted and turned around. Leo yelled out in anger, or maybe it was a warning sign because the wreath plummeted right towards me. I dodged me but rebounded from the ground back at the Nikette, cutting her in half at the waist with the momentum.

"Foul!" the victory goddess cried. The walls shifted and Leo saw her barrelling towards them in her chariot. "You don't attack the Nikai unless you wish to die!"
We ran for cover as Frank the grizzly bear jumped from the top of a wall and flattened another Nikette. Two Bronze Butts down, two more to go. Reassuring. We stayed catching our breath.
"What the hell was that?" Leo panted, seething. I didn't want to cry because frankly, I have been through way too much to hold it together. In fact, what would Nike do if I curled up into a ball? Since the beginning, I haven't even known what I'm meant to do to help save the entire universe, let alone—

"No!" Nike screamed in outrage. Okay... I'll just finish the thought later. Fine with me. "No, no, no! Your lives are forfeit! Nikai, attack!"
I couldn't pull myself together and gain my balance but that was all Hazel, who was causing the terrain to shift around us – opening new trenches, changing the slope of the land, throwing up new walls and columns. With luck, she would make it harder for the Nikettes to find us. Travelling just twenty feet might take them several minutes.