Burning Passion: A Leo Valdez Love Story

Chapter 11

"I try not to think. It interferes with being nuts."

{LOUISE}


I heard Naia cry out and spun around to face her.

Over the course of a half minute, she was grabbed by someone I couldn't see clearly, blindfolded, and stuffed into a bag. Then her and her captors sunk into the ground. All before Leo or I could do anything about it. I'm not sure I realized quite what was happening, either.

I was too shell-shocked to speak. Then, when it sunk in, I looked at Leo.

"She... What... Am I..."

"She's gone," he said, staring at the ground where they'd disappeared.

"Who were they?" I asked.

"I have no idea. But I bet they live in the Labyrinth," he said.

"Well, obviously," I snapped. Then I put my hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Leo, I shouldn't have attacked you like that. It's just..." Then, naturally, I started to cry.

Leo pulled me to him and I slobbered into his shoulder for a bit.

"It's alright. I'm sure she's fine," he comforted me.

"But what if she's not? She just got pulled under the earth, by things that I don't even know what they are!" I said, a tear slipping down my cheek.

"Louise, it's okay," he whispered, holding me tight. I noticed that, as usual, he didn't call me Lou, liked I'd asked him to a while ago. I wish he would; I feel like we're still just "friendly acquaintances", as Naia used to say, by the way he addresses me in that unfamiliar tone.

Naia. Just thinking about her made my chest hurt. I refused to believe that she was gone forever... no, she definitely couldn't be. She was just kidnapped, right? Nothing to worry about.

"It's not okay!" I hissed, pulling away. "We have to go find her! She could die soon!"

"Calm down, Louise," he said, his brown eyes warm, yet troubled. "We'll find her. Let's try to find out how they went through the earth. There's gotta be a way."

I nodded, and blinked to get the tears out of my eyes.

We looked around for about an hour, but we found nothing. Not a single trace of them. They'd left no evidence of ever being there.

"This is hopeless," I said. "We'll never find her this way."

"Don't talk like that," Leo ordered me. "We will find her," he added vehemently. His eyes were slightly red, so he must have been crying, like me. But he was doing a better job of hiding his emotions than me.

Well, I never was very good at it. Naia could always tell what I was thinking when I was little.

She'd always been the smarter one of us, the more talented. I love her more than I would a sister, maybe even more than I do my brother, but sometimes I... I hated her, almost. She was always better in everything. Apart from practical stuff. She was never good at things like that. And even though she was rich, and her mom was famous, I'd always had more friends. Most people had called me prettier than her; but I knew that was a lie. She was beautiful. The thing was, she didn't dress or act like everyone else, and I think that she scared them with it, like if you were any different from the others then you were a freak. But I'd always worn the regular clothing, and my bubbly personality made me easy to like and relate to, when Naia's more serious, less friendly was kinda... unnerving, for some people.

I missed her like crazy already, an she had only been gone for a few hours. I sniffed, and plucked a flower off a bush. It had pinkish-orange petals, the same color as a shirt I bought this year. I'd worn it the day before yesterday, I realized.

The centre of the flower was a deep purple, though, like grapes-and like Naia's eyes. I took a deep breath.

"It looks just like her eyes," Leo said, looking over my shoulder. "In fact, I'd say it was the exact same shade."

Weird. But probably just a coincidence.

Leo patted my shoulder and then walked on a bit.

"Hey, Louise!" he called a minute later. "There are more of these flowers here."

I walked over to see what he was talking about. "Yeah... they almost look as if they're forming a trail," I said in amazement.

"I wonder if this has anything to do with... you know," I said, not wanting to say her name aloud, because I didn't trust my voice enough not to crack.

"Maybe... should we follow it?" Leo looked down the hallway doubtfully.

"We might as well," I said, walking ahead. I was trying to look confident- more confident than I felt, anyway.

The flower trail led on, for how long I don't know, but we walked for a while, until we stopped at a dead end.

"Well, isn't this just great," I said bitterly. "We walk for ages and then we come to a freaking DEAD END! Damn it!" I cursed loudly.

"Wait, maybe there's a passageway like before," Leo suggested. "Can I look?" He was staying surprisingly calm throughout all this; but he'd probably faced worse.

I rolled my eyes angrily, but nodded anyway.

He felt along the wall, until I saw his fingers trail along it less smoothly than before. He wiped away the centuries-old moss and I could see a few faint symbols etched into the wall, the purple (at least, I think that's what it was originally) paint a ghostly reminder of what it may have been.

"What does it say?" I asked, coming closer. I now could see that they were Ancient Greek letters: Διόνυσος, or, in English, Dionysus.

"Okayyyy..." I said uncertainly. "So, do we like put one of our hands on this symbol too, like with the delta?"

"I guess..." Leo said, and did that.

Nothing happened.

"It didn't work," I whispered to him.

"I get that," he replied irritably.

"Okay then, try something else," I suggested.

"Like what, Miss Intelligence?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"How should I know?" I retorted. Then I sighed. "We're not going to get anything done if we keep arguing."

"Nope. Besides, you're my girlfriend; you're not supposed to argue with me." Leo grinned teasingly, the first smile either of us had done since Naia had... Disappeared.

"No, I'm supposed to order you around and you're supposed to listen," I told him, and kissed him on the cheek.

Leo was so sweet. I was so lucky to have a boyfriend like him.

"Okay, Louise, back to business," Leo reminded me.

I felt awful all of a sudden. Here I was, joking and flirting with my amazing boyfriend, and she was captured by who knows what, and who knew what they were doing to her. I shuddered.

"You're right, Leo," I said, and ran my fingers along the markings.

"Dionysus," I murmured. "What would he do if he was keeping somewhere hidden?"

"Grape leaves? Wine? Parties? Drunkenness?" Leo suggested.

I pursed my lips. "Maybe, or..."

I looked at the letters for a moment, thinking. Then I stared at him, hit by a sudden inspiration.

"Leo! Do you have any wine? Or something?"

"Uh, no..." he replied, puzzled.

"Damn." I looked around. "What about grapes or grape juice?"

He reached into his tool belt and pulled out a juice box. "Well, what do you know? I can summon grape juice from it, too." He handed the drink to me and I squirted it onto the letters via the straw.

The purple paint seemed to fix itself, becoming brighter and brighter. Then, the wall opened to reveal an old, dusty wine cellar.

"Aha!" I said triumphantly, and stepped inside cautiously.

Nothing happened, so I motioned for Leo to follow.

"I told you that would work," I murmured to him.

"You were right, as usual." he grinned slightly.

Now we had to find Naia. And fast.

We walked down the corridor, listening for anything that may lead to her. But we heard nothing.

"This must be some kind of shrine to Dionysus," Leo said, quite unnecessarily in my opinion. "But why keep it hidden?"

"Maybe it's some weird sect of his followers, or something," I suggested.

"Maybe..." He looked around a corner at a spider. "It looks pretty abandoned, though, don't you think? Maybe it's just something that whoever... kidnapped Naia decided to hide in."

"In a temple or whatever to Dionysus? Pretty coincidental, don't you think? And we're demigods. Nothing's a coincidence for us."

"No," he agreed.

I picked up one of the old wine chalices. It was cobweb-encrusted, but I could tell that it had once been pretty fancy. Whoever had owned it must have been pretty rich. It was mostly gold, and studded with rubies around the rim, similar in combination to my necklace. It was quite pretty, even I could tell. And I'm NOT an alcoholic! Or whatever...

"So who d'you think lived here?" I asked.

"Hopefully not Midas," Leo replied, grimacing.

"Why Midas?" I asked absently.

"Long, unhappy story. Maybe I'll tell you some other time."

I nodded, not saying anything.

Then I heard a peal of laughter.

"Where did that come from?" Leo asked.

"That hallway. I'm sure of it," I told him, and set off running.

***

When I got to the end of the hall, I found a door, and barged inside before making a plan. Not very child-of-Athena-like. Of course, I wasn't positive that I was her daughter. But everyone seemed to think that.

A girl dressed in a frothy party dress stared at me. She had a glass of some liquid (alcohol?) in her hand, and she jumped from surprise and spilled some of it down her front.

"What in the name of Zeus's calves do you think you're doing?" she exclaimed.

Zeus's calves....? I thought, confused. Then I answered, "I'm looking for my friend. She was taken, and me and my other friend think she's here. Who are you?"

"I am Adonia, the senior maenad here, and if you have one friend still with you, why do you need the other?" she asked sadly. "I have no one. All I have is the god Dionysus and his wine."

She looked so sad that I forgot about my mission for a while. I tentatively reached out and patted her shoulder.

Then Leo came in, fire in his palm, and I remembered what I'd come for.

"So, have you seem her?" I asked more forcefully.

"Yes. My sisters brought her here as a sacrifice."

I gasped, and Leo made a sort of choking noise behind me.

"May we see her before she's gone!" I asked sweetly.

"I suppose I could take you to her..." she replied uncertainly.

I smiled hopefully, and then she got up.

"Very well. Follow me," she ordered. Leo and I did.

We stopped in front of a cage, where Naia was shackled, dressed in a fluffy purple and red robe. She was wearing makeup, and lots of jewellery... including the necklace I'd seen her wear for the past few days. I guess they thought it was just a regular one. I wonder why she hadn't used it to her advantage.

"Naia," I whispered. "We'll get you out. Don't worry."

She didn't seem to notice me. I looked closer at her, and noticed she was unconscious.

"What did you do to her?" I asked.

"Nothing! All we did was hit on the head-she put up a good fight, too, but there was no way she could have beat my sisters; it was six against one," the girl explained, twirling a shiny red strand of hair around her fingers.

I was starting to get frantic now.

"Naia?" I muttered, putting my head close to the bars.

She stirred, and then her fingers moved across her leg. I smiled, knowing that I'd woken her. She'd used our signal.

Years ago, when we were little, we used to pretend that we were spies. And if someone caught us, our secret signal or something was to just brush your fingers along whatever body part your hand was closest too. Dumb, I know. I never thought I'd need to use it until now.

Now all we needed was a plan. But this shouldn't be too hard; it was only maenads we had to look out for.

"Alright. Thank you for letting us visit her. Are you sure she has to be sacrificed?" I asked, willing a tear to drip from my eye.

"I'm sorry, but she must be sacrificed. One of us displeased the master, and he must be appeased."

"By sacrificing his own daughter?!?" I exclaimed. "I don't believe you! You're just as bad as the titans!"

I grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him away.

"We need to make a plan," I told him once we were out of earshot.

"Okay... but, Louise, the maenads are dangerous. I've had to deal with them before, and they're not as harmless as you think they'd be. They're crazy, and it's like you can't hurt them. I watched them tear apart a drakon once. Not a pretty sight. We'll have to be careful," Leo warned, sitting down on the ground next to me.

I nodded.

"So, what we're going to do is this: one of us will make a distraction, okay, and then the other one busts Naia out of the cage. We should try to find her possessions, 'cause that dress won't hold up for long..." I frowned. "But it is pretty. Anyway! That's all. Simple, right?"

Leo looked at me and blinked. "Umm, yeah... So, let's go, then."

I nodded. "Who wants to create the distraction?"

"You're pretty distracting." Leo winked. "And I don't think Naia likes me very much." He grinned ruefully.

"Well, she should start to get used to you, because you're my boyfriend," I said seriously. "Plus, I look more like the maenads than you. You should go and get her."

"Okay," he replied.

I smiled at him. "Time to go!"

"Do I get a good luck kiss?" he asked, grinning.

As an answer, I kissed his cheek for the second time that day. Then I stood up. "Let's go," I said.

"Wait, Louise, shouldn't you dress as a maenad?" Leo pointed out.

"Oh yeah... okay." I ran to what I guessed was a bedroom, shut the door, and rifled through the owner's closet. I found a red and purple chiton, and pulled it on, then finished off the look with a wreath of grape leaves and vines. I glanced into a mirror.

I look good, I thought. Then I ran to the room where the maenad girl had told us was where they stayed most of the time. I figured Leo headed to Naia, but I didn't see him.

I screamed loudly, bursting through the door.

"There's someone... trying to get in here!" I cried. "He... he almost killed me!"

The maenads stared at me. "What are you talking about? Babette, she must be fooling us!"

"Let her speak, Candy," Babette ordered calmly. "Well then, Muffy, what is it?

"It's like I said... a man has invaded our sacred place!" I exclaimed, waving my arms. I wished I was as good an actor as Naia, but I had different strengths.

Like fighting. And strategizing.

"I see... Bambi, Trixie, Fifi, go with her," Babette ordered.

They nodded.

"But... but..." I protested, "he's dangerous...! And I think he's got friends! It'll take all of us to vanquish him!"

Babette sighed. "Fine," she snapped, obviously annoyed. "Let us go."

I led them as far away from Leo and Naia as I could.

"Okay... I saw him just around here," I informed them. "He's probably-" I tried to shudder on command- "hiding around a corner somewhere..." My eyes widened, hopefully convincing them of my "terror".

"Where are you, little man?" Babette called. "I bet you will taste very good with wine..."

I grimaced. Eeeeewww... But I tried to look like I was agreeing with her.

"Where is he?" one of them cried. "I will rip his lungs apart!"

I hoped they wouldn't realize I was lying to them too soon. I wondered how much time it would take Leo and Naia to get out.

Hurry up, Leo, I thought, trying to talk to him telepathically.

Of course that probably wouldn't work.

"Where did you see this man last?" Fifi demanded, waving her goblet in my face.

I leaned away. "Umm... around here..." I gestured vaguely.

"Where is "here"?" she said, frowning. She drank a swig of whatever it was from her cup.

"What is that?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Don't you know? It's Kool-Aid!" she announced, drinking some more. "Only Adonia is allowed real wine, because she's twenty-one. As you surely know already," she added, peering at me suspiciously.

"Of course! Why did you tell me that?" I asked hurriedly. "I'm a maenad, just like you, I know these things."

She glared at me again, and then walked away.

Phew. I'd managed to avoid her question.

But how much longer could I keep this up?

Then I saw Leo run out of the room. I glanced around, checking if the maenads had seen.

They had.

"Who is that boy and what is he doing with our sacrifice?" Babette hiss/shrieked. She marched up to them, and gasped when she saw their faces. "You! The annoying boy who captured me!"

"Babette," Leo said. "Great."


******

Leo quote from xxCopyCatxx (like I said, she's given me millions) and since she gives me loads of feedback, unlike the rest of y'all *pouts*, and she's awesome, she gets another deddie! :D

Yeah, about the Maenads... did I do alright with them?

Okay, so Lou got to narrate.

This will probably be the only time she does, though. I'm testing it out.

SO IF YOU DO COMMENT, TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF HER!!!!!