𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

x ━━ i'm dancing in my dress in the sun

02. chapter ten

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

( camille carras and the dancing disaster:
camille's pov )

THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN WERE slightly confusing, but they had nothing on the living, ever-changing underground web created by one of the greatest minds ever to have lived. i would know a lot about that, having spent seventy-six years trying to escape the endless maze.

also, manhattan had pretty stores with windows full of mannequins in dresses, cafes that smelled really good even from outside, and beautiful architecture. the labyrinth could never compare. the dirt, wood, and dangerous monsters could never compare to the charming cityscape of manhattan.

i wasn't exactly sure if leo wanted to hold my hand or if it was just a quick, comforting gesture, but i gripped his hand like my life depended on it. he didn't try to let go, probably for his own good.

we nearly got ran over by a taxi when crossing the road. that almost ended in me shadow traveling the two of us out of the city, but we somehow managed to survive the debacle without fleeing the city through shadows.

i couldn't believe leo and i's luck. how we had managed to land quests two days in a row was beyond me. we barely managed to trap the maenads with our lives yesterday, and then we had to retrieve a water clock from a goddess of dance. it was kind of outlandish if you really thought about it.

i was suddenly in much better of a mood when leo started talking about cars, which apparently was a big interest of his. a car that looked strangely like the one my grandparents had when i was a kid passed by (i was really shocked that even eighty years later, they still had cars from my childhood on the streets) and i pointed it out to leo. that's when he started talking about how much more energy efficient and quiet modern cars are. i didn't understand anything he was talking about, but it didn't really matter. don't tell leo i said this, but i could listen to him making stupid car jokes for the rest of my life and die happily.

leo may say he's bad with people or organic life forms or whatever, but i disagreed. he probably didn't know it, but his presence made me feel at ease. he reminded me i had a friend, someone who cared about me, even when he wasn't trying.

i saw the dance studio from across the street. i stopped leo and dropped his hand to point at the building.

it was two stories and made of pastel pink bricks, though there weren't many of them because the building was primarily windows, including the door. above the doorway was a sign, surrounded by shining lights, that read 'ENCORE!'. the pink building was connected to a strip of other city buildings, a corner store to it's right and a jewelry shop to the left.

"there it is," i told leo. i adjusted my mittens.

leo and i quickly crossed the street (when the meter told us it was safe to cross without being hit by a car) and found ourselves weaving in and out of groups of mortal pedestrians. leo nearly trampled a chihuahua which had me laughing at him.

we stopped in front of the windowed doors of the studio. there weren't any lights on from what i could see of the receptionist room inside. nobody was at the receptionist desk.

leo turned to me and grinned. "you ready to waltz on in there?"

i rolled my eyes, but couldn't help my smile. "you're terrible."