"After all those years on the streets, I finally feel like I'm home"
"You're lying" Leo didn't even have to look up, he knew her better than anyone.
"You're right, I was always at home with you"
In which there's an unlikely friendship (... and ma...
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Leo and Alex spent the time chatting and joking like they used to before they met Piper or Jason, in a way it felt good to go back to familiar habits. Both kept blushing frequently though and had no idea how to talk about their unfamiliar feelings for one another.
Soon Leo succeeded in freeing Coach Hedge and his yells woke Jason and Piper.
"Coach is awake," Leo said, which was kind of unnecessary. Hedge was capering around on his furry hindquarters, swinging his club and yelling, "Die!" as he smashed the tea set, whacked the sofas, and charged at the throne.
"Coach!" Jason yelled.
Hedge turned, breathing hard. The satyr was still wearing his orange polo shirt and his coach's whistle, but his horns were clearly visible above his curly hair, and his beefy hindquarters were definitely all goat.
"You're the new kid," Hedge said, lowering his club. "Jason." He looked at Leo, Alex and them Piper.
"Valdez, Jackson, McLean," the coach said. "What's going on? We were at the Grand Canyon. The anemoi thuellai were attacking and-" He zeroed in on the storm spirit cage, and his eyes went back to DEFCON 1. "Die!"
"Whoa, Coach!" Leo stepped in his path, which was pretty brave, even though Hedge was six inches shorter. "It's okay. They're locked up. We just sprang you from the other cage."
"Cage? Cage? What's going on? Just because I'm a satyr doesn't mean I can't have you doing plank push-ups, Valdez!"
Jason cleared his throat. "Coach-Gleeson-um, whatever you want us to call you. You saved us at the Grand Canyon. You were totally brave."
The four explained what had happened and Hedge added insults to Medea to keep things interesting.
"So, this is the witch's lair, eh? Why is everything gold?"
"Gold?" Jason looked around. No one had noticed it.
The room was full of gold-the statues, the tea set Hedge had smashed, the chair that was definitely a throne. Even the curtains-which seemed to have opened by themselves at daybreak-appeared to be woven of gold fiber.
"Nice," Leo said. "No wonder they got so much security."
"This isn't-" Piper stammered. "This isn't Medea's place, Coach. It's some rich person's mansion in Omaha. We got away from Medea and crash-landed here."
"It's destiny, cupcakes!" Hedge insisted. "I'm meant to protect you. What's the quest?"
Before Alex could explain, a door opened at the far end of the room.
A pudgy man in a white bathrobe stepped out with a golden toothbrush in his mouth. He had a white beard and one of those long, old-fashioned sleeping caps pressed down over his white hair. He froze when he saw them, and the toothbrush fell out of his mouth.
