Anti-Hero || Leo Valdez

40 - Leo Becomes a Swiftie

"Oh, my gods," Via breathed.

"Vee!" Pat, who'd shot the arrow, jumped out of his truck bed and ran over. "Are you okay? What the fuck was that? And before you say 'a snake,' I know that and I mean what the fuck is going on with the snake."

Via tried to calm her heart, which seemed to be beating at a million miles an hour, and looked up at Pat. "I'm fine. As for the snake... It's one of Lamia's."

Pat's face went pale. He turned to look at the snake, then slowly approached it. He prodded it with his bow, probably to make sure it was truly dead, then knelt over it.

"Via?" Leo gently grabbed her hands. "Are you —"

"Don't touch me!" Via instinctively jerked her hand away. "I'll burn... you. Oh." She slumped into his chest as she trailed off. Her panic quelled a bit, but she could still feel her heart beating and her adrenaline racing from the fight or flight.

"Yeah, I don't burn so easily," Leo said softly, wrapping his arms around her.

"This is definitely Lamia's," Pat said. "It's got her purple scale pattern." He stood up and turned around to look at Via. He rolled his eyes when he saw the two of them hugging, but didn't say anything about it. "What happened, Vee?"

As Via explained her dream — Artemis, Lamia, and all — Pat's face darkened. When she finished, nobody spoke for a while. Via sat curled up in Leo's arms, where she couldn't see his expression but could feel his worry in the air. Pat stood in front of them, frowning at the dirt between his corgi socks like he expected it to give him an answer. Via doubted dirt would ever give anyone an answer ever again after Leo had blown Gaea up.

"If Janissss is waiting for us in D.C., then Artemis is right," Leo finally said. "We should go back to the Waystation, throw her off our scent."

Pat looked up at him indignantly.

"Are you kidding?" He demanded. "I don't care if Lamia herself is waiting for us. They don't have the right to invade Nina's space and use her house to try to capture us. I say we march down there and drive 'em out. The only thing they had on us was the element of surprise, and now they don't even have that."

"I guess that would work too," Leo said. "We beat them before when it was just me and your ghost, Via. I'm sure we could take 'em."

"No." Via shook her head. "You were right the first time, Leo. Janissss underestimated us once. She won't do it again, especially not with Lamia breathing down her neck and threatening her. We should be cautious and change course. Once they realize we're not going to D.C., they'll leave Nina's house."

Pat sighed deeply and stared at the same patch of dirt between his feet. Via didn't understand how it didn't feel weird for him to be standing in the dirt in just his socks. Via would've rather been barefoot than in socks. Pat began cracking his knuckles, one finger at a time with his thumbs, which Via knew was a sign that he was thinking. Finally he groaned and said, "Ugh, fine. But you do know this is gonna add a whole 'nother day to our trip, right? And that's if we don't stay at the Waystation for longer than, like, twelve hours."

"I know," Via said. "I don't like it, but you know what they say: better late than dead."

"Unless you're Mom, who'll think late equals dead."

"Don't be dramatic," she told him, though he had a point. Their mom would definitely get worried and begin to assume the worst if they didn't show up when Pat told her they would.

"Okay, well, if it's decided, then we'd better leave," Pat said. He kicked the dirt with his socked feet, which made Via cringe, and began walking back to his truck. "If that snake found us already, its friends are probably not far behind. Let's pack it up!"