𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 leo valdez

xxii. A FREAKY ASS WEATHER MAN

LEO.

——-     The central area of Aeolus' fortress was jaw-dropping. It was the size of a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment randomly floated through the air; cameras, potted plants, set pieces, spotlights.

Oh, and there also was no floor. Leo had absentmindedly began walking and almost slipped into the chasm before Y/n grabbed the collar of his sweater and pulled him back.

"Holy — !" Leo exclaimed, "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time!" Y/n patted his back once he was stable again as if to say "You're good now," and retracted her left hand back to her side.

The chasm he had almost been swallowed by was an enormous circular pit that plunged half a mile deep into the heart of the mountain. It was honeycombed with caves, and Leo assumed that some of the tunnels must have led straight outside.

Leo recalled the winds blasting out from them when he looked at the fortress from the top of Pikes Peak. It looked like other caves had been sealed with some sort of glistening material, like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled with aurai, harpies, and paper airplanes. For someone who couldn't fly, like Leo, it would've been a very long, fatal fall.

Leo considered thanking Y/n again, but felt like a broken record from the number of times he'd thanked her after she'd saved his life with her supernatural reflexes. He felt embarrassed that he hadn't had his shining knight moment for her yet.

"Oh, my," Mellie gasped, "I'm so sorry."

She reached into her robes and I clipped a walkie-talkie and spoke into it: "Hello, sets? Is that Nuggets? Hi, Nuggets. Could we get a floor in the main studio, please? Yes, a solid one, thanks."

An army of harpies rose from the pit a few seconds later; three dozen or so of the chicken ladies all carried various squares of building material. They quickly got to work hammering and gluing pieces together and using large amounts of duct tape. Leo's eye twitched as he watched it all unfold — the safety concerns were up in the millions.

In no time there was a makeshift for snaking around the pit made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod, and just about anything else. There were no real supports and it gave Leo a stomach ache.

"That can't be safe," Jason worried.

"Oh, it is!" Mellie assured him, "The harpies are very
good."

She said, drifting away without touching the floor. Easy for you to say, Leo thought. He watch as Jason took the first step, probably since he could fly, and the floor amazingly held. But could it hold four teenagers was the question.

Piper gripped his hand and followed him, "If I fall, you're catching me."

"Uh, sure," Jason said nervously.

Leo stepped out next, "You're catching me too, Superman. But I ain't holding your hand."

"Knowing you I'll be the one to catch you," Y/n quipped as she followed.

Mellie led them all toward the center of the chamber, where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens hovered around a sort of control center. A man floated inside, reading paper airplane messages and checking monitors. He paid no attention to Leo and his friends as Mellie brought them closer. She pushed a forty-two-inch Sony out of their way and led them into the control area.

Leo whistled, "I got to get a room like this."

Y/n grinned, "You wanna be my guy in the chair?"

"I'd love to be your guy in the chair."