madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-peace out-

TWO chapters??? guys I think I'm possessed. probably by the spirit of Sabrina Carpenter have you heard the album ? ? ? 

<3

"Try poking her," Jason said. "That might work."

"Aren't you a sweetheart," Teqi grumbled, stepping over rocks and fallen tree branches. She tried not to think about how easy it would be for Gaea to swallow her up as they trekked to the top of the hill.

Bugs buzzed around her face, probably blood sucking ones, and she waved them away. The sky was dim now, colourful clouds faded to greys and dark blues. Jason was poking her side because of course he didn't bring a torch and planned on using her glowing eyes instead.

She slapped him back, tripping over something that got caught on her undone shoelaces.

"I could jump off one of the cliffs," Leo offered, gesturing vaguely to the edges of the island around them.

Wind whistled. Whistled is a pleasant word, though, compared to the sounds scratching at Teqi's ears. Her heart and lungs and gut had been left up on ground level. The spot of light above her blinked out and she falling in complete darkness. 

Teqi narrowed her eyes at his glowing skull. He lit up a lot more in the dark. Unfortunately, he didn't light up the path. "Why would that-"

"Well then you'd have to use your vines and your pine trees to catch me, therefore using your powers, therefore we'd stop face planting, cause we can actually see what's in front of us," Leo explained, all sassy and nerdy. "It would wo-"

"Don't jump off cliffs," Teqi snapped, and walked ahead. She shoved her hands in the pockets of the hoodie she was wearing, someone's SPQR one with a hole over her rib cage.

The steep hill made her calves burn. She needed to start working out again. She'd nearly pulled a muscle climbing onto the bathroom counter to find a pad earlier.

She avoided a ditch that was washed in purple light coming from her eyes, and came up behind Hazel, who was hugging Nico tight enough he looked ready to burst. "You have to IM me every day, even if your in the middle of a battle, and you have to send me a postcard because I've never got one before and I want one, I don't care if you're somewhere boring, and you have to-"

"Yes, yes, I will," Nico said, hugging her back and looking a bit confused.

Teqi watched them. It was incredibly fucking obvious that she was, since there was a bright purple spotlight on their faces. He looked vaguely not miserable, back in his aviator jacket, so that was something.

The statue stood tall, disappearing into the night sky and blocking a portion of the stars. Rope tied into harnesses hung from Athena's ankles, where Coach Hedge, Reyna, and Nico would attach themselves. Athen was also wearing toe rings made of first aid kits and lunch boxes.

Wind whistled around them all, making it hard to hear everyone's farewell conversations.

Hair got blown into her face. She tucked it all inside the back of the borrowed hoodie, unsticking it from her chapped lips, and stamped her feet against the cold.

A minute later, Reyna and Coach Hedge arrived in full armour, weapons galore. Reyna looked grim and ready for combat, her Pegasus tail plait blowing every which way where it had come undone from her braid. Coach Hedge grinned like he was expecting a surprise party, tapping his hooves together.

Reyna gave Annabeth a side hug. Annabeth had been the one to do her hair. "We will succeed," she promised.

"I know you will," Annabeth said confidently.

Teqi was glad she wasn't in charge of moral support. She wanted to go back to bed. 

At least then her avoidance of Nico wouldn't be quite so obvious. Her breath turned to fog in the night air. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and wished that the readers hadn't been waiting for this incredibly built-up interaction meaning it had to happen now since Nico was disappearing again.

She turned to Nico.

He blinked up at her. "... Good luck?"

I talk about the past like I talk about you

I leave out every little thing that I don't like rememberingI miss you more than I say I doYou had to follow all your dreams, move to New York away from me

"Thanks," she drawled.

He nodded grimly and moved past her. His hair was messed up by the weather too. It was longer than it had been before, almost at his shoulders. It made her feel some sort of sad inside. Ugh.

"Did you pack the map?" Jason asked, hurrying around Frank, who was trying not to get hit by Coach's wild baseball bat themed happy dance. "What about sunscreen? And-"

"Yes, I packed everything," Nico said, sounding more like a teenager then he ever had before. He motioned to the packs tied around the statue with raised eyebrows. "You packed everything."

She watched her friend reach out for a goodbye hug, as someone else started crying, or perhaps laughing at whatever it was Coach was doing now as he tried to fit his baseball bat into his harness too, and then falter. "Right. But don't forget-"

His pale face turned lavender as Teqi sent him her best death glare. She still hadn't got the hang of figuring out if her damaged eye still moved normally. The nerve endings were a bit fried.

Nico stared at her over Jason's shoulder, made some weird face scrunch he'd probably inherited from her, and then shuffled forwards and hugged him.

Teqi silently slow clapped him.

THEY GROW UP SO FAST

YOU DON'T

KYS

Then she turned, giving them a moment of privacy, and weaved through what was now a little crowd. 

The long grass reached her knees up here. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them. The shaking hadn't stopped. Leo was doing an elaborate three-person handshake with Frank and Hazel, both of whom looked puzzled but very pleased. She stopped when she reached Reyna's side. 

And then she fixed her posture, feeling very shrimp-shaped next to the tall and stern praetor.

Reyna glanced down at her. "...Thank you, for-"

"Don't worry about it," Teqi said with a smile. She could still smell that scent of poison and dead Pegasus when she thought about it too long. She looked up the statue looming above them, squinting to see the top. As if this hunk of marble was supposed to save the brewing war between demigods. "Actually, I do have a favour to ask."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Don't let Octavian touch my camp."

"All right," said Nico, once he'd reached his best shadow travelling position. As if they weren't entirely in shadows. He gritted his teeth. "Grab the ropes, please. Here we go."

Reyna and Hedge took hold, the former giving Teqi one last long look that of course she couldn't read. The air darkened. The Athena Parthenos collapsed into its own shadow and disappeared, along with its three escorts.

Who would trade that hum of night?
For sunlight, sunlight, sunlight