You'll Learn to Love Me

Chapter 25: Reconcile

Laylana knew that was their queue to run, sheathing her daggers in preparation. Leo grabbed a flask of oil and splashed it in an arc in front of him, dousing the Maenads. Laylana prepared herself mentally as he summoned fire into his hands and set the oil ablaze. A wall of flames engulfed the nymphs. They all did a one-eighty and ran, Laylana grabbing Leo's hand and dragging him with them. She expected to hear screaming from the Maenads. Instead, she heard laughter. She glanced back and saw the Maenads dancing through the flames in their bare feet. Their dresses were smoldering, but the Maenads didn't seem to care. They leaped through the fire like they were playing in a sprinkler.

"Thank you, unbeliever!" Babette laughed. "Our frenzy makes us immune to fire, but it does tickle! Trixie, send the unbelievers a thank-you gift!"

Trixie skipped over to the pile of boulders. She grasped a rock the size of a refrigerator and lifted it over her head.

"Run!" Piper said.

"We are running!" Jason picked up the speed.

"Run better!" Leo shouted, his hand clenching onto Laylana's in a death grip. They reached the edge of the clearing when a shadow passed overhead.

"Veer left!" Laylana cried out as they dove into the trees as the boulder slammed next to them with a jaw-rattling thud, missing Leo by a few inches. They skidded down a ravine until Leo lost his footing. He plowed into Laylana, who slammed into Jason and Piper so they ended up rolling downhill like a demigod snowball. They crashed into Brooke's stream at the bottom. Leo, still holding onto Laylana's hand pulled her up, making sure the others were okay, and stumbled deeper into the woods.

Behind them, Laylana heard the Maenads laughing and shouting, urging Leo to comeback so they could rip him to shreds. Laylana was not about to let that happen. Jason pulled them behind a massive oak tree, where they stood gasping for breath. Piper's elbow was scraped up pretty badly, Jason's left pants leg had ripped almost completely off, so it looked like his leg was wearing a denim cape, and Laylana had a couple scrapes scattering her body. Somehow, they'd all made it down the hill without killing themselves with their own weapons, which was a miracle.

"How do we beat them?" Jason demanded. "They're immune to fire. They're super strong."

"We can't kill them," Piper said.

"There has to be a way," Leo said.

"No. We can't kill them," Laylana rolled her shoulders. "Anyone who kills a Maenad is cursed by Dionysus. It's gruesome... People who kill his followers go crazy or get morphed into animals or... the list goes on. I don't want to get into it."

"Are they worse than letting the Maenads rip us to shreds?" Jason asked.

"Yes, Grace. They are." Laylana snapped.

"That's just great," Jason said. "So we have to stop them without killing them. Anyone got a really big piece of flypaper?"

"We're outnumbered four to one. Plus..." Piper grabbed Leo's wrist and checked his watch. "We have twenty minutes until Bunker Nine explodes."

"It's impossible," Jason summed up."We're dead,"

Laylana didn't want to believe that yet. She looked at Leo, the two of them glancing between one another as an idea seemed to click together at once.

"I've got it," Leo and Laylana said in unison.

"Jason, you'll have to find Buford. You know which way he went. Circle back and find him, then bring him to the bunker, quick! Once you're far enough from the Maenads, maybe you can control the winds again. Then you can fly." Leo explained. "Lana, can you still use your powers?"