A/N: Good Gods guys- I am so sorry about how absurdly late this is. I have a mountain of reasons why it wasn't updated, the first of which is university and my impending future, followed closely by the fact that this chapter did not want to be written and at least a dozen more. There's a better version of this apology on my profile if you care to read it but essentially, the important part is:
GUYS, YOUR SUPPORT IS UTTERLY UNREAL AND I APOLOGISE PROFUSELY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT SO LONG. THAT BEING SAID, I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MAGNIFICENTLY AWESOME YOU ALL ARE AND HOW PATIENT AND SUPPORTIVE YOU CONTINUE TO BE.
All that being said, here's the new chapter. I'm not joking, it refused to let me write it for a really long time and to be quite honest, I'm still on the fence with how I feel about it but I hope you enjoy it and that the next one will be easier to write at least.
Much love and thanks,
Shy
PS. ON THE SUBJECT OF ANSWERING REVIEWS- it's gonna take me a while to get through the messages you guys have left but I'm gonna try like hell to get to all of them. If I miss some, I AM SO SORRY and if I send you a response to a really old review, ALSO I AM SORRY but I will try and thank all of you for all the love and support :)
PPS. I told you I didn't kill him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The first time Leo actually hated pizza, it was for a good reason. The pizza had literally attacked him first after all: the ultimate betrayal if ever there was one. Not to mention he'd spent a good two hours trying to pick mozzarella out of his hair and he didn't even get to eat a slice.
That all came after he was swallowed up into a pile of melted cheese, of course.
"Leo!" Michael exclaimed in shock as the demigod toppled over the counter, the gurgling laughter suddenly filling the air alongside the smell. In a second, they were alone- Leo gone without a word.
A wobbling form began to rise from the puddle in the kitchen, expanding until it practically filled the space with its trembling body. The monster was at least ten feet tall and dripping in cheese that fell to the floor in sticky, thin ropes. A pair of fat arms and a gaping mouth formed out of the rancid yellow goo, reaching out towards them and there, where Daisy assumed its stomach might be- a cloven hoof thrashed violently, sticking out from the middle of the creature.
"Coach Hedge?" Daisy called out, shocked and suddenly filled with panic at the sight. What the hell kind of freak show was this?
"I'm hungry, half bloods…" the mouth suddenly bellowed as more of the goo spread out from the kitchen, overflowing across the counter and into the restaurant. Where it met the floor, feet appeared, wobbly pillars of melted mozzarella that staggered toward them. "I've been waiting years for a good, hearty meal like this…"
The shock suddenly gave way to utter panic, Daisy's adrenaline surging freely through her whole body. She grabbed Mickey's arm and yanked him towards the door but more of the pulsing goo was dripping down the sides of the doorway, drenching it in hot boiling cheese and blocking their exit.
"This way!" Michael shouted, pointing to the only available door, back to the kitchens which they careened through unsteadily, nearly tumbling headfirst into the cheese still covering the ground. The kitchen was a big, industrialised looking space with shiny metal counters, wide sinks and industrial, heavy-duty hose-faucets, a brick oven in the back corner and square drains set into the floor for drainage. It was also covered in splatters of bubbling yellow goo.
"We're being attacked by cheese." Daisy found herself whimpering, frantically looking for a back exit that wasn't engulfed with yellow goo. "By a pizza-"
"Daisy, shut up!" Michael snapped, equally terrified as he watched the creature slowly ooze towards them, languid and unhurried. Coach's hoof still thrashed from the monster's side, joined by a familiar hand that flickered weakly with flames. Leo.
The thing laughed in an oily kind of voice. "They are too weak to escape, godlings but they make a decent snack…" It told them, gurgling. "I hope you two taste even better…"
"What the hell are you?!" Michael nearly wailed, thoroughly hysteric at the sight of a walking pizza-monster.
"They used to call me the Rypos Daimonas!" it grunted, nostalgically. If it had had a proper face, Daisy would've suspected it was pouting. "The scourge of cities! The menace of all filth and decay!"
"Oh my god," Daisy coughed, her nose burning from the awful stench. She pinched her nostrils shut with her fingers, wincing. "What is that smell?"
"Daisy, maybe we should focus on the pizza monster?!" Michael hissed back, although his face was screwed up in a grimace as well.
The monster didn't seem to care, continuing on with its bellyaching. "Now I live in drains and sewers and mortals don't even pay tribute!"
"Tha-that's horrible?" Michael gulped, grimacing, both children suddenly plastered to the wall as the smell grew toxic. "We-we'll definitely be paying er…tribute tonight…"
He elbowed Daisy in the ribs hard. "Y-yeah," she choked, panicked. "Lots of, er, food?"
"Tonnes of food!" Michael hurried to add. "A-and all sorts of, er, good…tribute type…things, but look, we can't do that if we're dead, er…Ripper-?"
"RYPOS!" it snarled, angrily and then made a noise like a pissed off garbage disposal. "You may simply call me your death." It told them, menacingly as the bubbles on its skin began to pop like overripe zits out of anger. Behind it, the garbage disposal suddenly churned malevolently, a fountain of debris and slime erupting from its depths and splattering the walls. Where the toxic slime hit, it ate through the wall paint like acid until Daisy could see the brick underneath.
When one of the floor drains near them exploded next with the same black-brown gloop, Daisy nearly screamed as she pushed herself and Michael away to avoid the same treatment as the walls.
"It's a pizza!" Daisy stammered disbelievingly. If the thing wasn't gurgling murderously and slugging toward her on its fat wobbly pizza legs, she might have laughed but the ridiculousness of the situation evaded her. A pizza monster made out of filth and trash that made hot, toxic, acid sewerage explode through the drains- it shouldn't been absurd and she should be laughing.
With Rypos heading towards her and Michael trembling beside her, Leo lost inside the thing's belly, Daisy felt about as far away from laughing as was possible. Instead, cold, trembling fear filled her instead as she watched Coach Hedge's hoof twitch uselessly within the folds of the creature's belly. Her hands scrambled around her for something to protect herself with but the smooth metal counter pressed into her spine was mostly empty until her fingers suddenly wrapped a long pole. She grabbed it unthinkingly and held it out before her.
"You think you can fight me off?" Rypos chuckled, its gaping revolting mouth spread wide. The inside of its mouth was a black cavernous hole but even without the sharp gleaming teeth she usually associated with danger, Daisy could suddenly "With such…mortal tools?"
He spat the word out, like 'mortal' was a dirty word.
Daisy glanced down at the 'weapon' and grimaced- a long handle ending in a rather harmless looking pizza paddle, used to slide the pizza in and out of the wood-fire oven on the other side of the space. Not sharp or pointy from any angle but she swung it like a baseball bat nevertheless. She had had about enough of this 'mortal' rubbish.
Rypos shot a pair of thick boiling gooey ropes toward the pair of them, one wrapped around Michael's arm, the other around Daisy's wrist. They looked like the strands of cheese connecting a slice to the pizza once you remove it but much hotter and way more painful. Michael yelped as the ropes tightened and yanked them forward, searing hot against their flesh but Daisy dug her heels into the linoleum floor. She refused to be the first demigod to be eaten by a pizza with a superiority complex.
Heaving with every muscle she had, Daisy swung the paddle through the air in front of her, slicing through the attachments with gritted teeth until she and Mickey were free. She held the paddle out like it was a sword, an axe, like it was every bit as dangerous as a proper weapon.
Her mother used to tell her that the best weapons only look harmless.
"Leo can you hear me?" Michael shouted, pressed against the counter alongside Daisy. There was a second steel island counter between them but neither of them had much confidence it would slow the thing down.
The monster gurgled another laugh. "Nice try halflings but you'll be joining your allies soon enough."
Before their eyes, Rypos staggered forth on its fat legs until it hit the second island and suddenly huge waves of slow oozing cheese began to erupt from its form, seeping over the countertop with the same ominous speed as molten lava from a volcano. The cheese began to take on a dirty mustard colour as more lumps and filth became visible It gushed off the edge, spilling across the linoleum until it began to take shape, reforming into Rypos itself, as though the creature had simply materialised.
Michael felt like he was about to puke but one look at Daisy and he knew it wouldn't be appreciated. With a heave, she flung the flat of the paddle into the side of Rypos' lumpy, bulbous head which concaved and slowly reformed as though nothing had touched it. But she couldn't just let it eat her- she tried again, this time beating it around the head and wobbling shoulders with a scream, wishing it didn't feel like she was hitting a bouncy castle.
"…Filth is resilient, Halfling." Rypos said, pleasantly as it let loose another flood of goo, this time from its gaping mouth.
"Up on the counter!" Mickey howled, grabbing his friend's arm and tugging her up onto the counter top to escape the sizzling goo flooding around them. They crawled atop the counter even as several more strings shot towards them, missing them by inches.
"Run, run, run…" Rypos sighed. "I have all the time in the world."
Michael had the sinking suspicion the creature was right- exits blocked, no weapons, their friends trapped and possibly dead. What did they have to use anyway? "Daisy, what do we do?" he panicked, hands shaking and his chest heaving like his lungs were constricted.
He'd always trusted Daisy to keep them safe. He didn't feel any qualms about it- Daisy was simply a better fighter, braver, bolder, healthier, stronger. Michael was the one who got them out of trouble when she ran her mouth and she kept them safe from everything else. It was how their relationship worked.
And yet looking at Daisy now, Michael couldn't help but realise she was just as out of her depth as he was. Gritted teeth, disbelieving eyes and terrified but hard expression aside, Daisy Bronston did not have a way out.
Nothing had ever scared him more.
Leo had to admit: being swallowed by an egocentric pizza crust was on the list of the top ten worst things a monster had ever done to him, physically at least. It was least at number 8. Maybe even higher. The smell alone was enough to qualify.
It happened so quickly, Leo barely had time to hold his breath before his vision was filled with a sea of dirty yellow-mustard goo that wrapped around him from head to toe, seeping between his fingers and down his shirt. When he escaped, he was going to take a dozen showers with bleach just to feel clean again.
He tried taking stock of himself and his weapons but he couldn't even see his toolbelt and his whole body kind of hurt from being sucked into a cheese vortex. He could breathe at least, a little and the heat didn't bother him too much- it felt mildly uncomfortable even though he knew the molten goo surrounding him was enough to seriously burn a regular demigod. Or a satyr.
He struggled to look around him, to see if he could find Hedge but the fumes made his eyes water and the sludge was suffocating around him. It felt like getting caught underneath a rolling wave as it crashed onto the beach, like he was tumbling around and around with the slightest hint of where up and down might be. He found .he could shuffle around but trying to extend his limbs seemed impossible
He could dimly hear Michael yelling his name but he couldn't figure out a direction. When he struck out a hand, trying to puncture the creature's side, the thing's stomach seemed endless. He couldn't even guess where Coach Hedge was, tangled up same as him in this foul-smelling puddle of puke-yellow sludge.
"M-Michael?" he tried to call back but opening his mouth too far made him nearly swallow the gloop and it turned his stomach to fathom the idea.
Think, think, think, he tried to concentrate, struggling to lift his hand through the slush embracing his body. He thought about his hand exploding, about his fingers being wreathed in red hot crackling flames that would burn and tear through the revolting prison but he was weak and exhausted- his fingers sputtered feebly but no more than a spark.
"Heh, that tickles…" he could hear the monster snickering somewhere from around him.
It infuriated him but there was little he could do. He could hear Daisy yelling from outside and every now and then, his gelatinous prison would tremble like someone had taken a whack at it. He hoped Daisy was giving it hell because if Leo had to have Fought Ketos, mélisses, eidolons and Gaea herself, but was brought down by a Pizza Crust engraved on his headstone, he was going to haunt the hell out of this damn pizzeria.
He was busily thinking of all the ways his death could be explained to Calypso back home when a strange red light caught his eye. Wincing, Leo blinked and tried to keep his chin in the small pocket of air not contaminated with the sludge, glaring towards the red light which shifted as the creature moved and belly-laughed. It seemed to be shining through the creature's thick but semi-translucent skin, just close enough for him to see it from inside the belly.
Leo tried to calm himself down, forcing himself to breathe through his nose and steady his hands which were shaking with battle nerves. He changed tactics from struggling against the gooey creature's gut and instead began reaching toward the crimson glow, something in his chest recognising the warm shine of an open fire. An oven, he realised, squinting through the goo again. An open flame.
Without even meaning to, Leo began to grin.
Oh yes, this had potential.
Daisy wielded the pizza paddle like a battle axe but even she grew tired of the relentless attacks Rypos launched at them. The sink embedded in the counter beside them had started to ooze dark black and brown sludge that turned her stomach but she fought off the nausea. Instead, she grabbed Mickey's hand and yanked him out of the way when the ooze suddenly exploded with violence, hot and burning where flecks of it caught her skin.
Desperately, she flipped the paddle around and plunged the pole end through Rypos' chest cavity but even as she watched, the monster laughed and the paddle began to turn to mush, absorbed into the thing's enormous form.
"I am decay and rot, Halfling…" it told her, pointedly. "I cannot be stopped."
She let go of the paddle immediately and searched for another but the only one her frantic gaze could spot was on the opposite side of the room, hanging beside a crackling brick oven.
"Years…I have been waiting years for this kind of thing." Rypos sighed, the noise sounding more like water boiling than anything else. Its skin had began to turn darker and more solid- less like cheesy goo and more like caked mud. Daisy instinctively wondered if it was a sign the thing was getting stronger and then tried to hide her fear at the idea. "I never thought anyone would be stupid enough. I cannot tell you how happy I am you're here, little godlings."
"Can't say I feel the same." Michael squeaked, as another floor drained exploded, the splatter catching him right in the face and leaving bright red welts from chin to hairline on the left side of his face.
"MICKEY!" Daisy screamed, tightening her grip on him as he winced and clutched his face from the pain. "Leave us alone!"
"Silly little godlings, too far from home…I-" Rypos began, maliciously only to pause when his belly suddenly jolted violently to the right.
"Leo?" Daisy called out, hope fluttering in her chest that he might be still alive. She'd had her doubts about this strange 'demigod' boy who was so fond of irritating her but Daisy desperately wanted someone with an advantage on her side at that point. Even if he was trapped inside a pizza monster belly.
"Stop that!" Rypos demanded, looking down at his gut which rocked to the side again at the sound of Daisy's voice. Bulging out like it did, the creature looked almost pregnant, like it was scolding a turning fetus as it flipped over.
Daisy used the distraction to her advantage, taking her eyes off the horrible creature for a moment to look for some other way out, some other defence-
He-llo.
"Mickey, do you remember that time at the diner?" she asked in a whisper.
"The diner-?" Michael echoed, uncomprehendingly but she didn't have time to explain it. Darting around Michael's shaking form, Daisy sprinted across the counter, headed to the big tub-like sink at the end of it.
Michael connected the dots quicker than she gave him credit for- the moment Rypos returned his attention to the pair, the green eyed demigod grabbed the first thing he laid eyes on and threw it as hard as his skinny body was able.
The tomato paste jar exploded upon contact and though it didn't appear to be doing any damage, it certainly grabbed the demon's attention. "I'd forgotten how damn irritating you godlings are." It grunted, grouchily. "Stop that and accept death!"
"How about no?" Michael yelled back, taking the next item off the counter, a half-empty tub of anchovies and throwing that as well.
Rypos was not amused. The drain nearest to Michael exploded again but this time, Mickey ducked left, avoiding the burning sludge by the skin of his teeth. "Cut that out!"
"Go back to the sewer!" Michael rebutted, shaking all over as he tried to buy Daisy more time. But the moment he let his gaze flit to her, at the opposite end of the countertop, he felt something hot and oozy latch onto his wrist and nearly yank him off the counter entirely.
He latched on to the metal edge with a grip as tight as claws as Rypos tried to reel him in with a long brown rope of rotted goo, like a reluctant fish being drawn in by a crazy filthy fisherman. "Struggling is useless!" Rypos announced, irritably. "Once I've digested the others-"
The words horrified him and he couldn't stop from calling out. "Leo! Hedge!"
"Silence!" Rypos roared, even as his belly suddenly twitched to the right yet again. "Stop fidgeting!"
With the adrenaline thrumming through him, all Michael could think to say was: "Obviously, you've never met Leo."
Before the creature could utter another word, a loud buzzing noise suddenly rose through the air and moments later, a huge jet of water exploded across the room, hitting Rypos right in the gut where Hedge's hoof still struggled. The slime-ropes retracted from trying to tear Mikey off the bunch immediately and he scrambled toward Daisy the moment he was free.
The monster let out a bellow of rage and pain as the water washed away some of that muddy outer skin, revealing more of the coach's furry leg. Daisy stood on the other side of the faucet, holding the industrial sink hose in her hands like a veteran firefighter as she let it loose on the creature.
"Let go of him!" She demanded, angrily.
Within moments, the Coach's slimed body became visible once more, the satyr slipping from the creature's belly as the dishwashing hose scoured away the dirt just as it was intended to do. While the satyr crawled away, gasping for breath and looking wide eyed, Daisy aimed for the other bulge in the creature's belly but with another gurgling yell, the clean, pure water suddenly turned green and dirty, weakening until it ceased entirely.
"No! No, no, no, c'mon." Daisy muttered, frantically as she hit the hose against the side of the sink but it only spluttered more filthy water, the pipes apparently blocked by the filth demon.
"I'm going to enjoy chewing you up…" Rypos bellowed, furiously as it staggered towards them with renewed vengeance, the hole in its belly slowly repairing itself.
"Run…" Hedge coughed up, still struggling to his feet, club in hand but there was nowhere to run to. The exits were still blocked, Daisy's brilliant weapon had been rendered useless and Leo was-
Moving?
Rypos looked positively enraged by now. "Would you stop just moving?" he bellowed at his gut as the bulge Daisy thought was Leo began to jostle to the right yet again.
But this time, Rypos staggered along with the force of it and as Leo continued to push to the right, Rypos continued to stumble in the same direction, unable to resist the movement.
It was only when the monster brushed against the square shaped opening to the wood fire pizza-oven that Daisy realised the plan.
"Leo, wait-!" she found herself yelling.
But out of the corner of her eyes, Daisy spotted Coach's club flying through the air and before she could so much as blink, the blow hit Rypos' head at precisely the same moment as Leo rolled again- the combined force sent Rypos- belly and all- toppling through the opening, straight onto the open fire.
Michael screamed. She thought she might have too.
She knew for certain the monster howled.
The flames ate through the creature greedily, releasing even more awful smelling smoke into the air until the black fumes clouded the ceiling. Rypos screeched and the noise was so terrible, Daisy clutched her ears, horrified by the scene as the creature burned, turning from muddy sludge, to melted slime and then to the same strange golden ash she'd seen at the Bearmont shelter.
She didn't even realise Hedge was in front of her until Michael jerked away, calling her attention to the haggard satyr.
"Filth demons," the half-goat muttered, repulsed. "Delusions of grandeur and an insatiable appetite in one disgusting package that lives in the sewers."
"Get away from us!" Michael yelped, horrified when Coach drew near.
"C'mon kids, I don't have time for this." The coach croaked, his voice rough.
"You just threw Leo into an oven." Daisy whispered, taking the goat-man with new eyes. Perhaps Leo had been wrong- maybe satyrs were just as evil as any other monster they'd come across. The kitchen looked like a battleground, which she supposed it was, but it felt like a graveyard. Leo was dead. He was dead and coach did not seem to care.
Coach merely rolled his eyes. "We have a train to catch and this little snack break nearly got us killed so no more pit stops, you got me?"
She may not have known him for long but Leo had protected them, told them about the gods, she thought Hedge and he were friends and now he was dead. Coach had just tossed him in alongside Rypos without a second thought. It was hardly the kind of person Daisy wanted to be following. "We are not going anywhere with you-" Daisy began hotly but Coach was hardly even looking at her.
Instead his attention was directed toward the pizza oven, where thick plumes of smoke still spewed into the air. "You hear me?" he called, grumpily. "That goes double for you."
"He's gone nuts." Michael told her out of the corner of his mouth and she could only nod in agreement, backing away slowly.
Coach headed for the now unblocked door back to the restaurant, club slung over his shoulder and limping, pausing only to tilt his head back to the oven with a scowl. "You comin' Valdez?" he shouted.
Daisy was seconds away from trying to bolt from the insane satyr with Mickey in hand when a weak cough from the oven caught her attention.
When she turned, she couldn't decide if she was relieved or amazed or furious at the sight of Leo's madly curly hair poking through the square opening, his cheeks coated in yellow cheese and soot, eyes blinking, wearily.
Daisy quickly settled on a mix of all three emotions when Leo's eyes found the Coach. "But I didn't even get my pizza!" the demigod whined.
"Suck it up, cupcake." Coach grunted, wiping leftover dirt from his shirt but he was covered in a fine layer of filth and the action was pretty useless.
"He's- he's actually-" Michael stuttered, his green eyes huge and astonished in his paling face.
"You jerk!" Daisy screeched, charging toward Leo as he climbed out of the oven, completely unburnt and very much alive. "You absolute prick!"
He tilted his head and grinned at her in a way that was so damn infuriating Daisy wished she still had her pizza paddle so she could smack him around the head. "Aw, munchkin, did you miss me?" he snickered and flinched when Daisy punched his arm as hard as she could.
"You were dead, what the hell- you- argh!" she shrieked, unintelligible but angry and relieved and astonished. She punched him again.
"Would you stop hitting me?" Leo snapped, absently batting the smouldering holes in his shirt until they were extinguished. "Did you actually think I was dead?"
"You tossed yourself into an open fire, what were we meant to think?" Michael suddenly found his voice.
"Oh come on," Leo complained. "I'm questionably sane not suicidal."
"Are you actually offended we thought you were dead?" Daisy interrogated as Hedge tapped his hoof impatiently.
"I'm offended you didn't think I had a plan." Leo countered, testily. "That's just rude."
"Your last plan was to charge through swarms of crazy monster bugs without any kind of protection." Daisy deadpanned.
"That was an exception." Leo muttered, following Coach through the door, plucking at the sticky mozzarella tangled in his curls as he did.
Daisy just stared, awed at the nonchalance evident in his voice, like he hadn't just been eaten and burned by a monstrous pizza. Then she punched him again.
"Daisy, cut it out." Leo snapped, rubbing his arm. For someone the same size as a hobbit, Daisy Bronston packed some power behind her blows.
"Don't do that again." She ordered, rolling her eyes and pushing past.
"I'm glad I'm alive too." Leo added, concealing his tiny smirk as he followed after them. Their packs were still inside the booth they'd first sat down in, thankfully unsullied. Leo grabbed a rag out of his and scrubbed at his face with a grimace.
"…what happened to the other guy?" Michael asked in a small voice, casting a glance back to the kitchen. "The waiter guy."
"That thing was the other guy." Leo told him with a grimace. "The Mist just covered it up. Can't believe I fell for it."
"Bastard." Coach Hedge snarled. "He snuck up behind me."
"Coach!" Leo said, mock-reproachfully with a meaningful glance to the kids. "Little ears."
"Oh shut it, Valdez." The satyr bleated. "I wouldn't be soaking wet and covered in dirt if it wasn't for you and your stupid meaty-murderous pizza-"
"Which I didn't even get to eat, by the way." Leo cut in yet again although his eyes glittered with barely restrained humour. The coach turned a colour normally reserved for tomatoes when he added: "Besides, aren't you glad Daisy saved you before we went into the oven? You're not as fireproof as me Coach. Good choice of weapon by the way, midget."
Daisy and Michael exchanged a glance, both of them cast back to when they were six and had gotten a week's worth of clean up duty for messing around with the communal industrial faucet in the kitchens of her mom's diner. "…it was a lucky guess." Daisy muttered, concealing a tiny nostalgic smile at the memory.
"Alright hurry it up pipsqueaks," Coach growled. "We have to report back to camp before we get on that train."
"If they even let us on." Leo pointed out, nose wrinkling as he continued combing through his hair. "This is gross- oh ew, it's everywhere. We look like we crawled out of a trash can, Coach."
"You kind of did." Michael added, pointedly.
"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it." Leo replied as cheerfully as he was able while also tearing strands of cheese out of his scalp. "But I wanna talk to Chiron when we phone home."
"Do I even want to know why?" Coach sighed, pained.
"I'm complaining to Chiron," Leo grouched, still tugging at his curls. "Dionysus was trying to kill me by sending me here but he's crossed a line now. I'm never gonna be able to eat pizza again and it's all his fault. I demand compensation for my lost love."
"Don't let Calypso hear you say that." Coach told him, covertly with a suffering expression. "If she's as touchy as Mellie-"
"I don't think anyone is as touchy as your wife right now." Leo interrupted, bemused by the Coach's attempt at love advice.
"Valdez-" Hedge began, testily.
"Wait, there's a Mrs Coach Hedge?" Michael cut in, stunned. "Like a girl-goat?"
"She's not a goat." Hedge countered. "She's – look, it doesn't matter-"
"She's a breeze." Leo replied to Michael, absently. "Well, a wind nymph."
"A breeze. You're married to air." Daisy said, flatly as Hedge hustled them out of the abandoned pizzeria.
"Does that mean she's not actually real?" Michael wondered aloud.
"Get a move on, people." Hedge finally bellowed and with a final amused glance to the satyr, Leo reluctantly exited the pizzeria with unsteady feet, still untangling the cheese from his head.
A/N: ….I regret nothing.
Rypos Daimonas in Greek, literally translates as 'filth demon' and it is COMPLETELY FAKE. Honestly, there is no mythological background here, I just really wanted a pizza-monster and this was the only way I could do it.
I should have a better idea of a future updating schedule next chapter but I'll try to get the next one out ASAP. Until then, THANKYOU FOR READING, REVIEWING, SUPPORTING, FAVOURITING AND FOLLOWING THIS STORY AND HAVE A DELIGHTFUL WEEKEND!
Shy
REVIEWS:
Gabrial: HELLO! Firstly, thankyou for leaving such a crazy long message and secondly: NAW THANKYOU FOR LEAVING SUCH SWEET COMMENTS THAT MAKE ME ALL WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE . I'm so, so glad you're enjoying it and that all the characters are in character and that the balance between humour and drama is okay (I really worry about that when I write so thanks)! As for the proposal, I'm afraid I am a one-woman show but thankyou AND I HOPE YOU LIKE THE NEW CHAPTER :D
Asdf: Thankyou very much for reviewing and yes, everything is going well for me. I'm just coping with my third (and possibly final) year of university and it's become a lot more tangled than I thought it would be. That being said, I APOLOGISE for the cliffhanger but I hope you like the new chapter ;) Thanks for reading!
Bunny: I know right? Here Lies Leo Valdez: Fought Gaea, Mother of Titans and Giants- Death By Cheese would be horrifically embarrassing. That being said, it would suit him, right? Ugh, I have to stop talking about my Leo baby dying, it'll make me sad. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you like the new chapter!
Guest: WELL SPOTTED MY ASTUTE FRIEND! Indeed, this is the scenario Rachel painted way back in chapter 27, nearly ten chapters ago so WELL DONE, I haven't had a single other person comment on it. Enjoy the new chapter!
HedwigPotter: I'm SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO PULL AN UNCLE RICK and yet I did, I apologise. I did tell you I didn't kill him off though, that has to count for something right? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new chapter and thanks for reading ;)
Starry: Thanks! I kind of wanted to emphasize how dangerous Chicago is for demigods in the winter, like Chiron said and I'm still considering a third and final monster but that's a whole different decision. Anyway, I'm thrilled you enjoyed Leo's backstory, I know it's not canon but I liked building on what was already there and thankyou very much for being so patient about the late updates ;) I hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks for reviewing and being so very supportive!
Guest: I'm sorry, don't die, here, have some more Leo kicking ass- enjoy the new chapter!
Hope Garrit: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter! To answer your question: I am 20 years old and attending my third year of university, hence why these chapters have gotten so late. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter and thanks for reviewing, I wish waffles and blue cookies for you also!
Kebab: That, my friend, is a filth demon that has been living in the drains of a pizzeria and has thus become a pizza monster. I wrote it, purely because I wanted a monster made of pizza and for it to eat Leo. I regret nothing and yet, now I cannot look at pizza the same way which is disappointing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new chapter and thanks very much for being patient!
Different: Naw thankyou, that is such a wonderful compliment . As for the new chapters, unfortunately, third year university courses are kicking my ass at the moment so that's the reason for the delay. That being said, I sincerely hope you enjoy the new chapter and thankyou very much for being patient :)
Wert: Aw thanks! I can assure you, I'm not Uncle Rick but if I was- damn, Calypso would get a prequel and I'd have, like, an entire series on Nico's POV. As for the update-delay, I am so sorry about the lateness and thankyou so much for those kind words. My family has its own version of that saying: This too shall pass and it was lovely to hear similar words coming from one of my readers. Thankyou very much for being so supportive and kind and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
TVA tyka: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy it and here's the new chapter! Hope you like it :)
Hannah: Sorry about the wait!
Nana: Man, I wish this was in BOO, if only because then everyone would live and Calypso would be free and all my demigod babies would be alive and well and happy which is what I really need from the next book. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter!
Airanger78: I AM SO GLAD YOU ENJOY IT THANKYOU FOR REVIEWING!
Jacin: I have been late in updating mainly because my third year of university has turned out far more complicated and difficult than I thought it would be and I am still piecing everything together which means, this story, regrettably, has taken a backseat for the time being. I probably won't have the same two-chapters-per-week schedule I did while I was on break but I'm hoping the next chapter won't take a month to write. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter and I REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE IT!
Hiwani: Naw thanks! I'm trying to keep to Riordan's style as much as possible and it's been really fun so far :D I'm also THRILLED that the 'little quips' as you put it, are funny and in character, mainly because I worry about that when I write new chapters. Anyway, thankyou for reading and enjoy the new chapter!
Guest: I apologise for the cliffhangers (except not really, sorry), here is another chapter and I hope you like it :D
Andi Francis: I have had a case of writer's block where this chapter was concerned because it did not want to be written but I've hopefully gotten through it. I am also still alive, I promise and still adjusting to my third year uni classes which is the main reason for the delay. I'm sorry about the lack of author's note, but I hate writing them and posting them as chapters because people get all excited for a new chapter and then they turn out to be these super disappointing paragraph of reasoning and excuses so I admit I've been waiting to finish this chapter so I could post the reasoning in the AN above it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new chapter and thankyou for reading!
Fran: Have not given up, promise! Enjoy the new chapter :)
RandomDemigod: I admit, I created the whole monster just because I wanted to write a scene where Leo got eaten by cheese. I regret nothing but I can never look at pizza the same way and I'm kind of ambivalent about this chapter. I hope you enjoy it though and thanks for reading!
WAtchingDAllas: Naw, sorry about the lateness, university is killing me slowly- enjoy the new chapter and thanks for waiting!
TheFireSpitter: Thanks, enjoy the new chapter! :D
Frandique: Thankyou for waiting! I admit the reason I haven't updated it university which has been way more difficult than I first thought and I kind of refuse to post ANs as chapters because everyone gets all excited for a chapter and I hate to think of you guys being disappointed because of it. I'm absolutely thrilled you're enjoying Firsts so far and I hope the new chapter cheers you up! Thanks for reading!
Eelanor: I promise I'm not dead! Enjoy the new chapter :D
ANIMIa: I NEED THEM TO AND THANKYOU FOR WAITING, HERE IS SOME LEO AND DAISY AND MICHAEL AND HEDGE!
Red: Hi! I'm glad you're enjoying reading Leo and relating to him- I feel like he's a really great character to write and read because he has that element of outcast and being different that's really important to a lot of people. I'm really really thrilled that my version of him cheers you up :) As for ANs, I hate posting them because I feel like everyone gets excited for a new chapter and then it's such a disappointment, so I have been waiting to post my reasoning with this new chapter, which I sincerely hope cheers you up. Have a wonderful week and thankyou for being so patient :)
Tex: Give up on all you lovely reviewers? I would never dream of it ;) Enjoy!
Alright guys, that's all and for everyone else who reviewed, I'm hoping to spend some time tomorrow answering the reviews so there might be some delay but THANKYOU TO EVERYONE AND I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW DELIGHTFUL YOU ALL ARE!
Shy
PS. By the way, does anyone else watch Teen Wolf? If so, what were your thoughts on the finale? And would you care to read a TW-fanfiction? I've been toying with the idea.