Anti-Hero || Leo Valdez

45 - Artemis Is The Ultimate Girls' Girl

just a quick TW: panic attack (marked with four "~" characters before and after so you can skip at your discretion)

It took around twenty minutes for them to get up in the air.

Fortunately, they hadn't unpacked anything from the truck. That probably saved them the most time out of anything. What took so long was pulling Festus out of suitcase mode and him grumpily stomping around the courtyard and refusing to let Leo climb on his back for making him stay cramped in a tiny form for so long. Via and Pat ended up going back into the Waystation to change out of their pajamas into actual clothes and brush their teeth, and when they came back, Festus was still stomping around the courtyard.

"Leo, you have to grow a backbone," Via said. Then she called in a high-pitched voice, "Festus! Come here, Cuddle-Bug!" She didn't miss the bewildered look Leo gave her in response. But Via's method did the trick; Festus went over to Via and started headbutting her for pets as usual. "Come on, Bubba, we need to leave now."

Festus huffed, but finally, he hunkered down so the three of them could climb on.

Leo climbed onto the front of the dragon, and Via followed suit, accepting his offered hand. She wasn't used to climbing onto Festus -- when she was a ghost she could just float onto his back.

"Grow a backbone," Leo repeated.

Via settled herself behind him. "All thirty-three vertebrae."

"Nerd," Pat commented from the ground.

"Aren't you coming up here?"

"And third-wheel you lovebirds? No, thank you, I'm staying in my truck and listening to Ride the Cyclone."

"Great, we'll make sure to fling you around a little," Leo said.

"Shut the fuck up."

"You first."

"No."

"I will literally turn this dragon around," Leo said.

"We haven't even lifted off yet."

"Irregardless —"

"Can we please go?" Via interrupted. She sounded a bit snappish, but she didn't really care. Sure, it was great that Leo and Pat were getting along, but her mother was in imminent danger. They could save it.

"Sorry," the boys said, and Pat rushed off to his truck. Within minutes they were up in the air.

Via felt like her heart was beating a million miles a minute. She wasn't sure how fast they were going, but it didn't feel fast enough. She couldn't do anything to help that, though, no one could, but that wasn't much consolation. Okay, maybe forming a plan would help. When they got to the old silo where Lamia had rebuilt her lair, they needed to know what to do.

But how were they supposed to navigate that maze? She and Pat had only gone through it once (twice if you counted Via's dream featuring Artemis). Via hadn't memorized the layout, and she was willing to bet Pat hadn't, either. What were they supposed to to, go stumbling into Lamia's lair like a pack of headless chickens?

~~~~

Her hands felt numb. She couldn't breathe. She felt like she was a ghost again, barely tethered to the world around her. Who was she kidding? She couldn't even save Georgie from Commodus; how was she supposed to save her mother from a manipulative, hateful snake woman?