After what could only be described as the best shower of my life thus far, Leo and I were snuggled in the bed, wearing nothing but plush cotton robes embroidered with the hotel's logo.
The two of us had just finished chowing down on some bomb burgers that Leo had cooked using his fiery palms. I had no idea that he was able to summon food from his magical tool belt, let alone be able to grill so well— on his hands no less! It seemed that he was just full of pleasant surprises. We had enjoyed our meal on the spacious terrace underneath the stars, watching the fluorescent lights in the huge pool below change colors hypnotically.
Now, laying my head on his chest while listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, my own heart felt as full as my belly. Leo's body was so warm and toasty, like my own personal heater. I leaned into him even more, practically purring like a kitten. A gentle breeze blew in from the open patio door, wafting the hotel room in a sweet and salty scent that aroused my senses. It was hard to believe that something so mundane could make me feel so happy, so content. I supposed that after battling countless monsters and worrying so much about our quest, this moment of normalcy was exactly what I needed.
"I haven't watched mortal TV in so long," Leo mused as he flipped through the channels. "News, sports, news, sports. Ugh, whatever happened to the good shows? Bring back The Golden Girls, you cowards!"
I chuckled to myself and rubbed his chest soothingly. The TV clicked again, switching channels, and high tempo Spanish music filled the hotel room. Leo practically threw me off of him in his haste to get up and move.
"Oi!" I complained.
"This is one of my favorite songs!" He exclaimed, twisting his hips and moving his feet to the salsa music with the biggest grin on his face.
His smile was utterly infectious, so I couldn't stay mad at him even though he moved me from my comfortable position. He held his hand out to me, sporting a crooked grin.
"Come on, Peri! Dance with me."
My eyes darted around the room for an excuse. "Oh, Leo, baby, we just ate."
"Good, we can burn it off with some salsa~!" He exclaimed, dancing around excitedly.
I sighed. I supposed it was time I confessed. "I... don't know how to salsa."
Leo looked a bit taken aback but recovered quickly. "Well then, today's the day you learn!"
The son of Hephaestus tried to pull me off of the bed despite my adamant protests. He started tickling my sides, quickly finding the sensitive areas that made me squirm and writhe with laughter.
"Okay, okay!" I managed through giggles. "Okay, you win! I'm up, I'm up."
Leo grinned brightly as I rose to my feet, clearly pleased with himself. His soft brown eyes sparkled in the dimly illuminated room as he took my hands in his own, placing one on his shoulder. He placed his free hand onto my waist and pulled me in closer to him. My eyes drunk in the sight of him, joyful and free just as he should be.
"Now just listen to the music," he said passionately. "Feel it burn inside of you like the heat of a spicy jalapeño pepper!"
I raised my brows and grinned. "I feel something burning inside, but I think it's just indigestion from that burger— oi!"
Leo dug his fingers into my waist, his eyes deathly serious. "Hey! Salsa is no joking matter."
"Hai, hai, kyaputen!" I said quickly. "You're the boss."
Leo's eyelids lowered, and I noticed his pupils dilate. "That's right," he replied before shaking his curly mop of hair. "Okay, focus."
I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or reminding himself. The song changed, another fast paced bop.
"Alright, I'm the man, so I'll lead."
"Psh," I rolled my eyes, but Leo continued unfazed.
"Alright we'll start off by marching to the beat. One, two, three, hold four, then back on five. Six, seven, hold eight. There you go, mamí!"
My heart swelled impossibly larger. I beamed like a strobe light from his praise, happy to be getting the basics down.
"Now, put your hips into it," Leo said. "Oh yeah, you're getting it."
"Hey, this is kinda fun," I laughed, switching my hips back and forth. "One, two, three, salsa!"
"Yeah, you're salsa-ing! You ready for something harder?"
I waggled my eyebrows suggestively and grinned. "Is that an innuendo?"
Leo frowned. "What'd I tell you about making jokes about salsa?"
"Ah, gomen. Force of habit."
Leo taught me some fancy twirls and dips and before long, we were salsa dancing together like we'd done it a hundred times before. For the first time ever, I understood the appeal of couples dances. It was intimate and exciting, full of heated glances, lingering touches, wandering hands. Our bodies moved in sync, spinning around and moving to the fast paced Latin beats. I'm not sure how many songs we danced to, but by the time we flopped back onto the bed, we were both a little winded but smiling happily.
"Now you can tell everyone that you learned how to salsa from the greatest teacher ever," Leo said breathily.
I was probably grinning like an idiot, but I didn't care. "Yeah, I've truly got the spirit of a jalapeño pepper inside of me now!"
My eyes traveled to the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was 12:40AM Malta time, and we decided to settle into bed for the night. Leo fell asleep first, snoozing softly into the crook of my neck. I watched a silly cartoon about a teenage superhero group with a funny little green guy and a hilarious cybernetic dude that kept me laughing until my eyelids grew too heavy to keep them open.
Today was absolutely amazing, full of smiles and laughter and new memories that I made with the love of my life. It was utterly perfect.
I should've known that it came with a price. When you're a demigod, everything does.
I blinked my eyes open and immediately knew something was wrong, very, very wrong. Darkness. Darkness all around me, but it was completely abnormal. This wasn't the sort of darkness that welcomed you home after a long evening as you fumbled for the light switch, laughing as you reminisce over the good times you had that night. It wasn't comfortable or familiar. No, this darkness was lurking and vengeful. It moved and shifted out of the corners of my eyes, too quickly for me to catch it directly, but enough for me to know that it was there, that it was watching.
My instincts screamed at me to get out of there. But where is here?
I tried to run, but it was difficult like I was stuck in a thick pool of mud. I trudged through the blanket of darkness despite this unknown resistance until I hit a wall. My hands roamed the bumpy surface for any sort of door or window or anything that I could use to escape. Nothing. I turned the opposite direction and plodded onwards, doing my best to ignore the strange shadows that moved in my peripheral vision. My mind told me it was better not to look— just focus on finding an exit.
My pulse was rapid, blood rushing in my ears. I was so paranoid that I ran face first into another wall. My hands ran over the barrier frantically, searching for a way out of this nightmare, but my fingers only felt more crumbly lumps and knobs, the texture remnant of earth or clay. The other two walls were the same. It seemed that I was trapped in some sort of dirt box.
Then the cackling started, the wicked laughter bouncing around in the black void. It was so familiar to me at this point that I didn't even flinch when it began.
The slumbering hysterics of an evil primordial goddess.
My, my, what a stupid, selfish little harlot you are, Gaea chastised. Pity that you appear to have learned nothing after all those years spent at Charm School.
"Screw you, dirt bomb!" I spat, trying to pinpoint her location in the darkness. "Why don't you woman up and face me instead of lurking in the shadows like a total creep?"
Foolish, girl! I am the earth, I am EVERYWHERE!
There was a flash of blinding light, and when it dissipated I could see just what she meant. No matter where I looked, I was met with Gaea's hideous, sleeping mug. All four walls, the ceiling, even the floor was covered with her stretched out face like some sort of horrific green screen as she laughed at me. The sound was deafening. I tried to cover my ears, but it was a fruitless effort. Her cackling echoed in the deepest recesses of my mind.
Do you feel that, child? That is the power of the earth, burying you alive from the inside out. I've told you before, I am inescapable.
"What do you want from me?" I demanded.
You're too late, Omega-Blood, Gaea said with a falsely apologetic tone. The time for negotiation is over. I gave you chance after chance. I told you to give up on this pointless quest, and yet you persevered. I warned you to stay away from the son of Hephaestus, and you disobeyed. I even cursed you on Ogygia with the help of Phthonos in hopes that you would kill Calypso and take her place— and you ruined my plans once again!
"What?!" I cried in disbelief. "That was you? You're the one who sent Calypso and me into a murderous rage? What is wrong with you?!"
Gaea's eyes seemed to roll behind her closed lids. I am Mother Earth. I am perfect. It is you who is wrong. It is you who must be culled. I tried to spare you the pain, I tried to be nice—
"This is you being nice?!"
I see that I have no choice but to kill you, Gaea continued with a sneer. Enjoy your last few hours on my planet, Omega scum. My minions will ensure that you don't live to see the Doors of Death. Your selfishness will kill all of your little friends as well. I hope your frolicking with the Valdez boy was worth him dying for.
Gaea's cruel, wicked laughter was everywhere. I screamed as loudly as I could, banging my fists on the walls and floors, but it did nothing to drown out the horrible sound of her cackling. It was hopeless.
My friends, Leo... suffering because of me? Dying because of me? But how? Why? Ever since I found out about my powers, my responsibility, I've tried to do my duty as the Omega-Blood but it wasn't enough. I wasn't enough, never enough! And now they were all going to pay the ultimate price for my inadequacy, my shortcomings. This was too much for me to handle. I curled up into a ball, covering my ears and sobbing as the Earth Mother's voice ricocheted around in my head.
"Peri! Peri, wake up!"
I heard the voice before I could see who was speaking. My eyes took their sweet old time adjusting to the bright light in the room, only further reminding me of the blinding light from my dream, only further displacing me from reality. Someone, something was holding me down, and I thrashed violently against them.
"Hey, hey! Stop, Peri, it's just me."
Leo.
I stopped fighting, and Leo instantly pulled me into his body, which was so warm, so comforting. He wiped the hot tears from my cheeks, but my face only burned more in humiliation. Crying, even in front of only him, was something that I despised.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled into his chest. "I-I had a nightmare."
"I know," he chuckled softly. "You socked me in the face real good in your sleep."
"Gods, I-I'm so sorry—"
"Hush," he said, rubbing my hair. "It's okay. Do you want to talk about it?"
I hated it, but more salty tears poured from my eyes. I was grateful that my face was shielded in the cotton of his robe.
"I— Gaea, she was there, she was everywhere. She kept saying that she's going to kill me and you and all of our friends and it's going to be all my fault and, and, and—"
"Oh, baby," Leo squeezed me even tighter. "Gaea is a liar, okay? I won't let anything happen to you—"
"You can't promise that!" I pushed him back so that I could look into his eyes. "You don't see her in your dreams every damn night like I do. She said that if I don't give up on the quest, then all of you... Piper, Frank, Hazel, you, all of you will die. Because of me!"
"She's just trying to get in your head—"
"She is in my head!" I cried. "She literally is. She's the reason Calypso and I..."
Sweet, gentle, beautiful Calypso.
"Gaea's the reason for everything bad!" I grit my teeth and clenched my fists tightly. "She's cursed me. I-I have to get away from you or something bad is going to happen. I-I can't be the reason that you die."
"Peri, stop it," Leo demanded, shaking my shoulders roughly. "This is what she does. She plants seeds of lies so that we doubt ourselves, doubt each other. She wants you to give up on the quest because she's scared. She's terrified. We're so close to ending her plans, and she knows you're one of the most valuable members of the crew."
I shook my head. "You don't understand. Why won't you believe me? You're not safe when I'm around. None of you are. You're better off leaving me here in Gozo."
Leo sighed and dragged his hands down his face exasperatedly. "You're right, I don't understand. You're speaking straight nonsense right now. Why don't we just go back to bed?"
"No, Leo, I've gotta go— as far away as possible. It's for your own good. For all of you."
I tried to get out of bed, but Leo held my wrists fast in a tight grip.
"Stop it! You can't just leave me alone, Peri. Be reasonable."
"You be reasonable!" I replied stubbornly, trying to twist my wrists free. "I'm trying to save your freaking life here."
"It's better for us to stay together," Leo insisted. "You know that!"
We rolled back and forth on the bed wrestling, his warm breath on my face, his strong arms trying to hold me down. Any other time, I would've found this pleasurable and exhilarating. But right now, it was just confounding and exhausting. Leo managed to pin me down underneath him, but I struggled against him like a caged animal. It was only a matter of time before I would be able to break free from his hold.
A pained sob racked through me. Why didn't he understand? I was cursed. I was just trying to save him, I'm always just trying to save him from me. I'm poison. My gram. My mom. My dad. They all knew that it was better to stay far, far away from me. This blood that flowed through my body came with great power and equally great heartache.
"Why, Peri?" Leo asked with red, watery eyes. "Why are you always trying to run away from me? After being separated all that time on Ogygia... and after only a day together— one of the happiest days of my life, and you're already trying to leave me again. Why are you doing this to me? I love you."
"I love you more," I choked out. "That's why. If something happens to you... because of me? I can't handle it, Leo. I just can't."
"You wouldn't hurt me," Leo said, a tear rolling down his tanned cheek. "I don't care what Gaea said. I know you wouldn't."
My heart tore into pieces. I understood the fear of abandonment that he felt all too well. It was the same gut wrenching sensation that ate me up inside on Ogygia, and here I was doing the exact same thing to him. How could I forget so quickly the pain and heartache that had overtook me, allowing me to succumb to Phthonos, the god of jealousy?
But Gaea... she was wearing on my psyche. The fearless mask that I had donned all those years ago as a young girl being thrown into a den of wolves, so to speak, at St. Mary's with all those angry, hateful delinquents. That mask had been crumbling, slowly but surely, for weeks now since realizing my status as the Omega-Blood. Now, all that was left was... me.
That terrified me to my core.
"Leo, I'm scared," I whispered, the admittance only bringing more tears to the surface. "I'm not scared of Titans or giants or Gaea— I'm scared of me. I'm scared of what I might do."
Leo's hold on my wrists softened, the rough pad of his thumb rolling over my soft skin gently. His brown eyes clouded like he was recalling a painful memory.
"I know what that's like," he sniffled. "My tía made me feel like a ticking time bomb after what happened with my mom. She called me el Diablo. So trust me, I know how you feel. But isolating yourself from the people who care about you, isolating yourself from me... that's exactly what Gaea wants."
"I..." I nodded reluctantly. "You're right."
"You must think I forgot about the promise we made to each other. I won't let you do anything you'll regret. You trust me?"
"With my life," I said, and I meant it wholeheartedly.
He smiled despite his bleary red eyes. "Likewise. So no more running. We face everything together from now on. Deal?"
"Deal."
He wiped the tears from my cheeks lovingly, and I wondered what sort of karmic service I had done in a past life to deserve Leo in this one. My heart thrummed in my chest. That's right. As much as Gaea tried to make me feel like a little girl again, all alone— that wasn't the case. I had friends now. I had Leo now. And we promised to take care of each other.
An oath to keep with a final breath.
"Thanks, Leo." An uncharacteristically timid smile spread across my face. "I'm sorry for being so... crazy."
He laughed and laid his head on my chest. "I knew you were a loon when I first met you. That didn't stop me from falling for you, and it's way too late for you to get rid of me now!"
It was my turn to chuckle as I played in his soft curls. "Wouldn't dream of it... Wait, if I'm a loon then what does that make you?"
Leo opened his mouth to respond, but a thunderous clattering of metal against tile startled us both. We sat up quickly, and I scanned the hotel room to find the source of the noise. My sword, which had been propped up against the wall in the corner, had fallen over and now laid still on the floor. There was nothing but an empty chair beside the weapon, nothing that should've, could've caused it to tip over.
My blood ran cold.
Leo clutched his chest. "That scared the tar outta me!"
He stood and rose to shut the patio door, but I stopped him. "Something's wrong."
"It was probably just the wind, babe," Leo said dismissively.
The pet name almost relaxed me. Almost. "Swords don't just fall over on their own, Leo."
I couldn't explain it, but I had a bad feeling in my gut. Learning to listen to that feeling has kept me alive this far. It'd be silly to start ignoring it now.
Leo got up and closed the patio door with a loud schhkk.
"Shh!" I hushed him with a scowl and crept to the room's main entrance, putting my ear to the cool wood to listen.
"Come back to bed, Peri!" Leo called. "You're being paranoid—"
"And you're being too comfortable," I hissed. "Did you forget that we're demigods?"
"Come onnnn," he whined cutely. "Cuddle meee~!"
"Boy, if you don't shut—"
Knock, knock, knock.
Three quick raps on the door made me jump out of my skin. Even Leo sat up from his spot on the bed. Our eyes darted to the alarm clock on the nightstand. 4:20AM.
"Housekeeping!" sang a cheery voice from the other side of the door.
Leo and I locked eyes. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as me: no way in Hades was that a maid at this time of night.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Three jarring bangs on the door this time. I took a cautionary step back.
"Housekeeping, I said!"
"Uh, no thank you!" Leo called. "We don't need any fresh towels!"
The door handle began to tremble and shake violently as the entity on the other side tried to force their way in.
"Open this door, you insufferable little demigod brats!" It snarled.
My heart raced as it beat against the door, so quickly and harshly that it had to be multiple creatures— or perhaps worse, one creature with multiple fists. A bone chilling thought struck me: It could be a Hundred-Hander.
"Vacation's over," I said and scrambled for my sword. "Time to bounce."
Leo leapt from the bed and ran around the room like a chicken with its head cut off, scooping up our abandoned shoes and tossing his tool belt over his shoulder.
"Shit!" he said suddenly. "Our clothes!"
"I got it," I said, rushing into the bathroom and slipping on a puddle of water. "Ack! We're gonna have to jump from the patio."
"Are you crazy? It's like a thirty foot drop!"
The hotel's room door began to splinter under the abuse. It was only a matter of seconds before whoever or whatever was on the other side broke through. This room was much too small to sword fight in, especially if there were multiple attackers. If Leo were to flame up, this whole building would erupt in fire and smoke, killing me along with any mortals unfortunate enough to be sleeping in the same hotel as a couple of troublemaking demigods. We had no other options. It was either jump or die.
I snatched up our clothes from the bathroom and rushed to the patio door where Leo was standing, looking down at the drop with horrified eyes. Thirty feet was being generous.
"Better aim for the pool then," I said and tossed our clothes over the railing, the fabric fluttering down to the poolside below.
Goldie seemed to get the message and soared down to ground level, waiting patiently by the pool. From this distance, my sword looked more like a golden toothpick, and I shivered. Leo and I clambered over the railing and held onto the iron spokes tightly, our bathrobes flapping in the wind.
I spared a glance down and immediately wished I hadn't, my stomach churning like the ocean waves in the background. The Olympic sized pool resembled a bathtub at this height. I tried to ignore the fact that even if we didn't go kersplat once we hit the water, one crucial fact remains.
I can't swim.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No," Leo said and held out his hand for me to take. "On three?"
I nodded and grasped his hand firmly. "One—"
The door to the hotel room shattered to pieces. A series of horrible gnashing and snarling could be heard just a few feet behind us. I turned around to see half a dozen monsters tripping and falling over one another as they spilled through the threshold, desperate to get to us, the tasty demigods.
"Get off of me, you morons!" cried an empousa being trampled by a Cyclops and an Earthborn. "Get them! GET THEM!"
"Three!" I shouted.
We jumped.