You'll Learn to Love Me (Leo Valdez x OC)

Chapter 15: To the Wolf House

Changing it up a bit, gonna be having updates Monday-Friday at least for the month of June. I've written so far ahead that 3 days a week seems to little when we can just do 5 days a week lmao

Piper needed only a few words through Leo's improvised bullhorn to convince the pilot to land on the mountain. The Park Service copter was big enough for medical evacuations or search and rescue, and when Piper told the very nice ranger pilot lady that it would be a great idea to fly them to the Oakland Airport, she readily agreed.

"No," her dad muttered. "Piper, what—there were monsters—there were monsters—"

Laylana felt bad as she helped Piper hold onto her dad as Leo and Gleeson gathered their supplies. Fortunately, the satyr had put his pants and shoes back on.

"It'll be okay, Dad," Piper said, making her voice as soothing as possible. "These people are my friends. We're going to help you. You're safe now."

He blinked, looking at Laylana for a moment as she forced a friendly smile on her face, and then looked up at helicopter rotors. "Blades. They had a machine with so many blades. They had six arms..."

When they got him to the bay doors, the pilot came over to help. "What's wrong with him?"

"Smoke inhalation," Laylana suggested. "Or heat exhaustion."

"We should get him to a hospital," the pilot said.

"It's okay," Piper said. "The airport is good."

"Yeah, the airport is good," the pilot agreed immediately. Then she frowned, as if uncertain why she'd changed her mind. "Isn't he Tristan McLean, the movie star?"

"No," Piper said. "He only looks like him. Forget it."

"Yeah... Only looks like him. I—" She blinked, confused. "I forgot what I was saying. Let's get going."

Jason raised his eyebrows at Piper, but the girl didn't notice. She looked awful. Laylana laid a comforting hand on her shoulder as they got in the helicopter with her dad. The pilot kept getting questions over the radio, but she ignored them. They veered away from the burning mountain and headed toward the Berkeley Hills. 

"Piper." Her dad grasped her hand. "It's you? They told me—they told me you would die. They said... horrible things would happen."

"It's me, Dad." Piper croaked. "Everything's going to be okay."

"They were monsters," he said. "Real monsters. Earth spirits, right out of Grandpa Tom's stories—and the Earth Mother was angry with me. And the giant, Tsul'kälû, breathing fire—They said you were a demigod. Your mother was..."

"Aphrodite," Piper said. "Goddess of love."

"I—I—" He took a shaky breath, then seemed to forget how to exhale.

Laylana averted her gaze after that, scooting closer to Leo, watching as the boy fiddled with a lug nut from his tool belt. At one point he put the lug nut away and pulled some gauze out of his toolbelt. Laylana pulled some nectar out of her bag, their last bottle of it, and poured a tad on the burn that covered her shoulder. Leo carefully wrapped it, and secured it with a few safety pins. Jason gazed at the valley below and didn't speak either. Gleeson chewed on the stub of his carnation, and for once the satyr didn't look in the mood to yell or boast. She smiled at Piper encouragingly as she began to talk about their adventures so far; how she met the boys, how she met Laylana at camp, what they did along the way. As they passed over the hills into the East Bay, Jason tensed. 

He pointed. "What is that?"

Laylana looked down. She didn't really see anything out of  the ordinary, just roads.