Of Demigods and Monsters (Leo Valdez x Reader)

XXIX

Jason

Jason was afraid they'd lose their target. The ventus moved like ... well, like the wind.

"Speed up!" he urged.

"Bro," Leo said, "I'm trying. These things are crazy fast."

"Slow down!" Piper yelped.

The storm spirit dove into the grid of downtown streets. Festus tried to follow, but his wingspan was way too wide. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Leo pulled up.

"Get above the buildings," Jason suggested. "We'll track them from there."

"You want to drive this thing?" Leo grumbled, but he did what Jason asked.

After a few minutes, Jason spotted the storm spirit again that had Y/n. zipping through the streets in a blur of a grey and what looked like (h/c) hair—blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve. At this rate, they were going to lose her.

"Watch out!" Piper yelled.

Another Ventura swerved past them on the dragon, causing Festus to rear and nearly crash into one of the buildings.

Jason scanned the city below them, but Y/n seemed to be gone.

"Where did she go? She was there just a moment ago!" Leo cried out, desperately searching the city.

"There!" Jason said, pointing at the storm wind that had just interfered them. Y/n wasn't with that one, but it was bound to lead them to where she was.

"Those guys do not need any more caffeine," Leo said.

"I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Piper said. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds."

"More than a couple," Jason said. "Look."

The dragon circled over a wide avenue next to a lake-side park. Storm spirits were converging—at least a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.

"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo asked. "I wanna throw something at him."

But Jason focused on the art installation. The closer they got to it, the faster his heart beat. It was just a public fountain, but it was unpleasantly familiar. Two five-story monoliths rose from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it looked like a high-tech, super-size version of that ruined reflecting pool he'd seen in his dreams, with those two dark masses jutting from either end. As Jason watched, the image on the screens changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.

"Leo ..." he said nervously.

"I see her," Leo said. "I don't like her, but I see her."

Then the screens went dark. The venti swirled together into a single funnel cloud and skittered across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off a drain cover, and disappeared underground.

"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper asked. "How are we supposed to follow them?"

"Y/n's got to be down there somewhere. Even though we should beware the earth, I think our friendship is more important."

Jason also had a pretty bad vibe about the whole beware the earth thing, but they didn't have a choice. Y/n was down there and in danger. If any of them were in danger, he was sure she would risk her life for them. Added to the fact that she knows more than any of them. He himself didn't know what she knew, but information in the wrong hands could be seriously dangerous.