Shattered |Leo Valdez|

Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Erikka's P.o.v.

"Well, I wanted to sit by Nico anyway." Anna said, her grin growing as she plopped down in Leo's seat. We quickly released each other, both of our cheeks burning: Leo was literally burning. He didn't even notice, so I did the first thing that popped into my head: I touched his cheeks.

Just like that, the fire disappeared. "Rikki! What are you doing?" Leo asked, swatting my hands away. I cringed, realizing that it was probably a weird thing to do, but at least the flames were gone.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I replied, "Well, your cheeks were on fire. I was afraid someone might see them-"

"You touched my cheek while I was flaming?" He interrupted, his eyes wide. Quickly, he grabbed both of my wrist to look at my hands. "Why aren't they burnt?" Leo asked, confusion replacing the last hints of anger.

I pulled my hands away from him in order to inspect them myself. "I don't know. It was warm for a second, but then they were just gone, you know?" Leo looks at me before shaking his head.

"No. I really don't know." My lips pursed at his response. Was this not normal for a demigod? Why did I always seem to be the one that didn't fit in?

"Maybe she was just looking for a reason to touch you." Anna added, waggling her eyebrows at us. I shot her a glare before turning to Leo.

"Ignore her. I do." He laughed at my comment while Anna sat back with a pout. "Well, I'm going to try and sleep. If I'm, um, having nightmares, could you maybe wake me up, or something?" Leo gave me one of his crooked grins after my very choppy sentence.

When he nodded, I curled up and leaned against the window. With each breath that brought me closer to the land of dreams, I prayed for the nightmares to stay at bay. However, they seemed to have been waiting to attack at the edge of my consciousness.

Suddenly the fire was back, but this time I wasn't tied to anything. I jerked around in the flames, a groan coming from me. I wouldn't be able to fight it again. I whimpered as the flames licked up my body, scorching every inch.

But when it lapped over my arm, a feather light touch engulfed me. The touch knocked all of the flames from my body, and I latched onto it before it could disappear. My pillow became softer and warmer, but my dream was fading. Slowly my heart rate calmed and at last the gods granted me what I'd begged for: a dreamless sleep.

XxXxXxX

My body lurched and my pillow seemed to disappear. Suddenly I was tumbling off of a cliff, the fire reaching up to catch me in it's torturous embrace. The walls were red with the flickering shadows and it reminded me a lot of what Christians thought of as Hell. If that was truly what it was, then what had I done to deserve it?

The impact of landing and the pain jerked me awake, the laugh of the Abyss following me into reality. With a quick look I could tell that Nico and Anna were asleep, while Leo was who knows where; I was willing to bet that he was cashing in that 'later' he had promised the flight attendant. Either way, I had to pee. So I got up and walked to the on board bathroom. The door was shut and no one was around the back so I leaned against the bathroom door, my thoughts running though my head like a stampede of horses.

Something had definitely stopped my nightmares from taking me, and then something had made them return. Why? What? And what did all of the fire and voices mean? I was really starting to hate sleeping.

So submersed in my thoughts, I didn't notice the click of a lock and the door opened before I could steady myself. I toppled into the small bathroom, right on top of whomever was in there.