Updating again because I'm bored
To RandomFanAuthor- Nah man, I'd take the ghosties! And in response to your review on Love is Boundless- she said 'if' to piss him off more. Not out of character, just trying to see what would really grate on Percy, you know, as younger siblings do ^_^
"Right, straight on from this, we're going home." Leo declared.
"That's if you don't get us lost again." Calypso remarked. Louisa snickered.
"We weren't lost!" He protested.
"Oh, we so were."
"Only a little bit!"
"It took us two months to get out of Italy alone!"
"Yeah, Leo. We've been flyin' 'bout for, like, four months now or somethin'. I'm really losin' track of time here."
"Well, I know we've been down here for ten years." Calypso shrugged. Leo sighed.
"We're not lost."
"We're very lost."
"Aphrodite said it was this way."
"Like Cloacina said the hydras' nest was this way. And that way. And then back this way. And then that way again. And possibly through a secret door if she can find it. Oh, wait, it's a trap. Prepare to die and have your corpses sold to the highest bidder."
"You get snarky underground." Leo raised a brow.
"She does." Louisa agreed. "Quite like it." She smiled appraisingly at Calypso. Leo took two steps back and fell in line between them.
"You," he said, leaning to the right to be nose-to-nose with Louisa, "stop stealing people's girlfriends."
"Make me."
"I will lose you down here." Leo warned. Louisa blew a raspberry at him, almost a dozen Louisa's echoing back.
They had left the tour group they had used to get in maybe an hour, hour and a half ago, winding deeper into the catacombs. Leo had walked ahead, with his fire, but even that didn't extend beyond ten feet before them. It was cold, damp and creepy. The tunnels were constructed from skulls, their eye sockets flickering in his flames. Their gaze seemed to follow them, crawling over their backs.
"I don't like this." Calypso whined, tucking her hand in Leo's elbow.
"Not on my bucket list either, Callie." Louisa chimed, grimacing at a cracked skull. "I have a question though." The other two looked at her expectantly. "What's a girdle?"
"Not sure," Leo said, "but I don't want to touch it with my bare hands."
"It's a little bit like a corset." Calypso explained kindly. "But more for your bum and up, rather than shrinking your waist."
"Yeah, I ain't touchin' it either."
"Better question- why would Aphrodite wear a girdle down here?" Leo made a face at their surroundings. "It's not exactly… a romantic place to… anything, really."
"I'd rather not think about it, if it's alright with you." Louisa said. "Let's just find the butt corset 'n' leave."
"Scared, Lou?"
"Ninety-nine percent sure a ghost has latched itself onta me."
"Oh, don't." Calypso reached behind Leo and smacked her arm. "This place is going to give me nightmares as it is, don't you dare make it worse."
They really were lost. And Louisa had made it worse.
"No, no, fuck off! Fuck off, holy shit!"
"Swearing makes them angrier, stop swearing!"
"They're throwin' shit at me, I'm gonna swear!" Louisa ducked, a fist-sized rock sailing over her head. It clattered away into the shadows. Calypso screamed, clutching at Leo, practically scaling him to get off the floor.
"Something grabbed my foot, something grabbed my foot!"
"Cal!" Leo protested, over-balancing. Louisa threw her arms out to try and catch them, but they still landed in a heap on the cold floor. Leo felt scuttling on the back of his hand, yanking it away with a yelp. "Off the floor, off the floor!"
"Can't move! Ya'll on my legs!"
"Ow! That's my hair!"
"Go that way!" Leo helped Calypso up, pushing her in the back to usher her on. Louisa grabbed his arm for leverage, and they hurried after Calypso. Leo set both hands on fire, the girls staying close to his sides. "Leave us alone!" He commanded. "We're here peacefully!" Calypso squealed, hopping about, hands scrabbling down the back of her shirt.
"What is that, what is that, get it out, get it out!" Louisa quickly checked her, frantically patting her down.
"There's nothin' there!"
"There's something on my back!"
"There's not!" Louisa insisted. Calypso made to protest, end of her braid lifting of her own accord. She lurched to one side, something unseen yanking on her hair. "Leave her alone!" Louisa ordered, drawing her sword. The bronze-gold glow joined Leo's flames, but did little to abate the restless spirits tormenting them.
"Keep going!" Leo urged. "We've got to find that thing!"
"Girdle!"
"Butt-corset!"
"Stop calling it that! Get out of my hair!" Calypso wailed. Louisa swore under her breath, ducking another rock.
"I can't fight ghosts!" She complained. "Go away!"
"Do we have to get the girdle? I just want to go back to bed!"
"I know, Cal, we all do."
"FIGHT ME!"
"Stop challenging the ghosts!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TA DO!"
"Left!" Leo instructed, pulling on Louisa's elbow. With supplies from his belt, he had cobbled together a device to lead them through the tunnels. The spirits still harassed them, throwing stones and bones, pulling their hair and clothes, trying to take Louisa's sword and wafting through Leo's fire.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Calypso ducked a rock. Louisa caught it before it hit her face. With a defiant yell, she hurled it back whence it came. Leo shook his fiery hand, cursing under his breath in Spanish.
"Aphrodite's girdle is a magical item, right?"
"Yes."
"If I've programmed this right, it should be tracking magical items."
"What if we find something that's not the girdle?"
"Dibs." Louisa said, swiping fruitlessly with her blade.
"Left again." Leo said. "Then a quick right."
"I am never going in the sewers or caves or anything after this, no way, won't do it." Calypso shook her head stubbornly.
Leeeooooo Vaaaalldeeezzzz…
"Oh, great, it knows my name." Leo sighed. "Here, go right."
Leeeeooooooo Vaaaallddeeeezzzzz…
"Leeeeeoooo Vaallldeeezzz can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the tone." Leo poked at his invention.
"Um. What tone?"
"Wait." He advised. They waited. Even the ghosts seemed to wait, offering a brief respite from their incessant badgering. Leo smiled, directing them forward and then to the left again.
Leeeeoooo…
Leo stopped then. His legs conspired against him, the rebellion rising through his body. His fire sputtered out. The only light came from Louisa's sword. The girls huddled around him, shaking his shoulder, calling him. Weights had piled in his lungs. He could only focus on a section of the path, couple of metres ahead. Numbness bristled through his nerves, simultaneous to every inch of his being seemingly electrified. Is this what Jason felt like when he used lightning? Ooh, he didn't like this.
"Leo!" Louisa went to slap him. Calypso caught her by the wrist, pale and shivering. She pointed where Leo was staring. "What?" Louisa asked, stepping in front of Leo. She did not see anything. Calypso pulled on his arm, hugged him around the shoulders when he did not respond.
You defeeeeaateeed my brothers, Leeeeoooo Vaaaldeeezzz. Today, I will retuuurrrn the faaavoouurrr…
