Solangelo 4

Part 30

WILL

I'm able to fix Leo's ankle in moments. He complains a lot but I tune him out.
'How does it feel?' I ask when I finish.
'Good as new. Thanks a bunch.' He says, twisting his ankle round.
'No problem.' I say as I stand up, 'I can't see Nico and Annabeth.'
'They're probably still dancing.' He says.
'They're not.' I insists, continuing to look about for them.
'We were only gone for like a minute, they can't have gone...' He trails off and I turn to him.
'What?'
'Act normal.' He says.
'What?'
'Act. Normal.' He says again. I've never seen Leo act serious and it makes me uncomfortable, but I do what he says.
'What's wrong?' I ask, picking up a drink from the refreshment table.
'Empousa. I count three.' He says.
'They're the vampire ones, right?' I ask. I've never been good at mythology. It just didn't come as naturally to me as other things did.
'Half vampire, half donkey, and so on.' He says, doing a weirdly good job of taking charge.
'What do we do? How do we kill them?' I ask, unable to stop a slight panic take over me.
'Hey, doc, chill, I got this. Just keep natural. They can't smell us cause we're not A-list demigods.' He explains, while pointing himself a drink, 'They're main power is that they can charm-speak. Sort of like Piper, but in a more siren like way.'
'I'm gay though.' I say, 'will it still work?'
'I actually have no idea. Let's try not to find out.' He says, 'Percy and Nico could take them, but I don't know how many I'd be able to handle. And we don't even have much of an element of surprise. They're clearly looking for us. They must know we're here.'
'Comforting.' I say, 'do you think the others are okay?'
'Can't go down that path. We need to get ourselves out of this mess first.' Leo says.
'How do we do that?'
'Not fully sure. I know the only time Percy's gotten away from them is by turning them on each other. And Piper used her own charm-speak. You got any siren qualities you've been keeping a secret?' He asks, hopeful.
'Not that I know of.'
'Figures.' He says, 'we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way then.'
'What's that?'
'I'm going to have to pull out the old Leo charm and flirt my way out of this.' He says.
'I cannot stress enough how bad of a plan that is.' I say, slowly and carefully, 'they'll realise you're a demigod.'
'Not if I flatter them enough. They love that.' He says.
'Leo, you can't be serious.'
'Deadly.' He says.
'You're going to get yourself killed. We should just wait for Nico or Percy.'
'Will. Look at me. This isn't the first time I've flirted my way out of death and I promise you it won't be the last.' He grins, 'stay out of trouble, okay?'
He pats me on the shoulder before heading off into the crowd, leaving me alone by the refreshments, staying out of trouble.