Burning Passion: A Leo Valdez Love Story

Chapter 18

"I figure the world is basically a machine. I don't know who made it, if it was the Fates, or the gods, or the capital-G god or whatever. But it chugs along the way it's supposed to most of the time. Sure, little pieces break off and stuff goes haywire once in a while, but mostly... things happen for a reason."

{LEO}

After maybe a day of walking, we were close enough to see individual landmarks on the volcano.

It was weird that there was a volcano in the Labyrinth, which was supposed to be underground, right? But we had bigger problems, so I didn't pay it much attention.

This whole 'adventure' had brought back memories of the multiple quests leading up to the war that I'd gone on with the rest of the Seven. When the war had ended, I thought my job as The Incredible Repair Boy was over.

Apparently it wasn't.

The annoying thing was, the gods still had their stupid schizophrenia thing, and so us demigods were left to figure things out. Again. Except for a few-Dionysus, Apollo, apparently, and Aphrodite and Nemesis, last I'd checked. None of them were exactly helpful. You'd think gods would be, but not these ones!

I turned to Naia. She was walking, looking straight ahead, not talking. I reached out to touch her arm. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine."

I knew she was lying it, but still, what could I do?

I missed Lou like hell. If she was alive, she'd be cheering us all up, and we wouldn't be walking around like depressed zombies. But if she was here, we wouldn't be depressed zombies.

I thought about the events of the day before yesterday. I'd kissed Naia... kind of. It had been more like an accidental lip-brush, but... it still felt special. And she'd pulled away. Maybe it was too soon... nah, it was definitely too soon. She was probably disgusted with me. I didn't blame her.

We walked a while more. I was sick of walking in silence all of the time.

"Leo," Naia said finally. "I just realized, we need supplies."

"You're right. Where can we go for that?"

"Well, I'm sure there's an exit around here somewhere. But do you think we should go to the volcano and go find the smart dude first, or...?"

I thought about it. Wasn't there the possibility of getting lost if we left the Labyrinth? But if we didn't get food soon, we'd starve, and there's not much you can do without fuel... that much I know.

"Maybe we should try to find an exit close to here, but not go too far?" I suggested, shrugging. I fished around in my tool belt and fiddled with a few paperclips. I needed something to keep my hands busy with.

"That could work." Naia nodded. "Alright, where do you think you'd find a door?"

"Maybe... uh, in a hole in a tree?" I said.

"Might as well try it." She laughed, and took my hand and pulled me off the path.
Her touch sent an electric shock up my entire arm.

We looked around the trees, but found nothing that actually worked. I wished I could make a door, but you probably needed some sort of magical power over the Labyrinth for that.

"Leo," Naia called from a few feet away. "How'd the Labyrinth come back? You said it vanished along with Daedalus."

I walked over to her. "Pasiphaë brought it back."

"Oh. Right." She tapped the tree she was crouched next to, and then stood up.

"What's that you're making?" she asked, peering curiously at my hands.