Starlight and Repair boy (Leo Valdez x OC)

Chapter 23

Leo

"I've been to shady places, but nothing like this!"

We were off, again. White, fluffy clouds surrounded us, making it feel like we were in a dream. The strong winds blew my hair all over the place, making it difficult to see. The land down below could barely be seen, it was all grey and misty.

During this flight, I was able to recollect my thoughts. I did know Caitlyn would occasionally pass out, but I didn't know they were visions. But why keep it from us? Seeing glimpses of the future? That's awesome. They're incredibly useful for pretty much any quest.

But hold on, she must've seen some really dark stuff in the future for her to keep it from us. What if she saw one of us die? What if it's so bad like monsters taking over the human race by poisoning their tacos? Stop it, Leo, you're overthinking it.

Caitlyn groaned in her deep sleep. I couldn't help but smile at her fondly, she was slumped at Festus's neck, her arms delicately wrapped around herself. Her lips were slightly parted and her breathes were soft, like a soft breeze. I realised what I thought and mentally slapped myself. I will not get distracted, I will not- 

Her eyes snapped open without warning and she scrambled to get up. She slowly started sliding down Festus's neck so I had to pull her back up and dodge her flailing arms. "Whoa, whoa! Chill out!" I held out my hand before she could slide down again. She let out a sigh as regained her balance.

"Nightmare, huh?" I asked. She nodded and started observing her surroundings. "I must be dreaming, I'm mean, we're literally in the sky... How long have I been out? " She frowned. I let out a nervous chuckle realising she might not like the answer, "You don't wanna know,"

She pressed her hands together and pouted at me, pleading with me. I could feel the blood rush up my face so I quickly gave in, "Okay, fine. You've been out for 60-" 

"60 DAYS? DID I SERIOUSLY MISS OUT ON A WHOLE QUEST?" 

"Let me finish, will ya? You've been out for 60 hours, Sleeping Beauty. By the way, we still got to finish the damn quest."

"You mean dam," Caitlyn inwardly smiled before she slumped in confusion and started calculating in her head. After a few minutes, she groaned, "I've been out for 3 days, haven't I? You tell me, I can't do maths."

I nodded, confirming her answer. She held her head in her hands and started whispering to herself, "I'm the worst, why? Why did the Fates decide to trust me with visions?" She looked back up, looking tired.

"Hey, when did they start?" I asked her. She put her chin into her hands and thought hard. 

Caitlyn's eyes widened when she thought of the answer, "Ohhh, they started when I left the Hunters of Artemis! Artemis warned me about some punishment for leaving them, I think this is it! But hold up, Artemis doesn't control this kind of stuff, my dad does. So... Yeah, I'm officially out of ideas." She wondered out loud.

"But isn't seeing the future a gift?" I furrowed my eyebrows together. Caitlyn rolled her eyes, "That was what I was afraid of. Seeing the future may cause you to see stuff you never would want to see, which makes you fear the future. Life isn't worth living if you're afraid of living it." She stared intensely into my eyes, trying to make a point.

Right. The journey passed in a flash. I remember laughing a few times along with Caitlyn and well, I hate to say this but I also found myself staring at her. I still don't get why sweaty hands had to be invented to go along with having a crush.

Ugh, why do I always have to lose my cool around her? I miss my macho self.

Festus let out a creak to tell us we were ready to land. I repeated the message for everyone and we all braced ourselves for landing. Soon enough, we were on the ground, without a scratch on us.

"Good job buddy! First proper landing!" I patted Festus's back and turned to see the place we were going to meet some grannies.

We were standing in front of the iron gates that led into the cemetery. The iron looked so rusted it looked as if no one had put oil on it in centuries. The cross on the top, for some reason, made the whole thing seem spookier.

The white paint on the sides was peeling off. I looked down to realise that all the grass stretched along the path until the entrance, even the grass was spooked.

I cleared my throat and turned to the crew, "So, what's the plan? Let's just get this over and done with. Then we can run away from this place and never return." Everyone started talking except for Caitlyn. She kept peering inside the gates as if she was trying to find something.

"Caitlyn?" I asked, "Are you going to say something? You brought us here after all." Caitlyn snapped out of her thoughts and apologized. I could tell something was bothering her. I decided to shrug it off and focus myself in the present.

We came up with nothing. So I guess the idea was to get in there and try not to get killed. That was the plan all the time.

"Okay, let us go in." Piper unsheathed her dagger, Katropis. I pushed open the gates, the sound it made almost made me deaf. I expected to see zombies pop out of their graves to chase us. Or, some bats to crowd us and shred us into bits.

But all was silent when we walked in. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Connor turned to Caitlyn. She nodded, "I know it is, I can feel it. Ugh, this place is giving me the shivers." Caitlyn cuddled herself.

I wanted to comfort her, wrap an arm around her. But luckily, I managed to keep my arms to myself.

We walked on, taking cautious steps. Nothing came out to attack us, which struck me as weird. I would jump every time someone would step on a twig, hey, it's not my fault that I was so jumpy.

"We should split up," Piper suggested. I wasn't sure about that idea but I didn't want to look like a coward so I agreed.

I walked in one direction while Caitlyn, Piper and Connor walked off in their ways. The unease in my stomach was growing but I swallowed it back down. But all I was seeing was lines of graves. Nothing to see.

I was going to yell out that the Algea were bluffing and that they weren't going to do anything to us when I heard a shriek from behind me. I darted off in the direction of the shriek and only barely managed to not trip over the gravestones.

In the distance, I could see someone sinking into the earth. Someone with wavy brown hair and a Camp Half-blood. Caitlyn.

I willed my legs to go faster and I could see Piper and Connor dashing for her too. When I was 100m away from her, I stumbled. There was something white wrapped around her leg, a skeleton hand.

It managed to get Caitlyn sprawled on the ground. She frantically tried to reach for something but all she could grab was dirt. I was so close to her now.

I threw myself forward when Caitlyn got sucked up completely into the ground. I stared at the spot where Caitlyn had disappeared, not caring that dirt was completely covering my face. My chest was puffing after the run, but I only managed to fall over doing that.

Something cold and hard was felt on my wrist, I thought it was a leaf but I turned around to find the face of a skeleton looking back at me. I looked down at my hand to find with a bony hand gripping it. I tried to scramble away but it cackled, its soulless eyes unnerving me. It happened so fast, within seconds, all I could taste was dirt.