BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

09.

After Eden and Leo went around and took a shower ( Eden stole a shit ton of clothes; no one would miss them anyway ) and taking free food from unsuspecting waiters and waitresses, they took their food to the entry hall, where they rebooted Festus and sat on him as they ate and talked to Beefy. He sounded like he was breaking down all the time since he could only say words with three syllables at a time, but it was fine. Everything was fine.

Eden and Leo were talking about the pros and cons of high school ( spoiler, there were no pros ) when she heard footsteps and tensed, looking behind her. Leo followed her gaze to the ice princess hot girl.

Eden hated how much she looked like Silena. The fact was enough to deter her from the hotness radiating from the girl. Even if Silena was warm and the girl was cold.

At the bottom step, the hot girl turned to Kaleidoscope. "You have fooled my father, girl. But you have not fooled me. We are not done. And you, Jason Grace, I will see you as a statue in the throne room soon enough."

"Boreas is right," Perfect Jason said. "You're a spoiled kid. See you around, ice princess."

Who the fuck was Boreas again? Eden shrugged. She didn't want to know. She ate the last of her and Leo's pasta samples.

The snow girl's eyes flared pure white. She seemed at a loss for words. She stormed back up the stairs — literally. Halfway up, she turned into a blizzard and disappeared. That was hot.

"Be careful," Ugliest warned. "She never forgets an insult."

Beefy grunted in agreement. "Bad sister."

"She's the goddess of snow," Perfect Jason said. "What's she going to do, throw snowballs at us?"

She was immortal, she could do a lot of things. Eden knew personally. Look at her.

Leo looked devastated. "What happened up there? You made her mad? Is she mad at me too? Guys, that was my prom date!"

Eden snorted. "I told you, prom and high school are stupid. You don't need to go to that frilly hellhole." She bit off of a cake pop a lot harder than she should've.

"We'll explain later," Pretty Girl promised, glancing at Perfect Jason as if asking for his permission. God, what a loser.

Perfect Jason looked away from Pretty Girl. "Yeah," he agreed, "we'll explain later."

"Be careful, pretty girls," Ugliest said. "The winds between here and Chicago are bad-tempered. Many other evil things are stirring. I am sorry you will not be staying. You would make a lovely ice statue, in which I could check my reflection."

Eden gagged. "How about no."

"Yeah, thanks," Pretty Girl said. "But I'd sooner play hockey with Cal."

"Hockey?" Beefy's eyes lit up.

"Joking," Kaleidoscope said. "And the storm winds aren't our worst problem, are they?"

"Oh, no," Ugliest agreed. "Something else. Something worse."

"Worse," Beefy echoed.

"Can you tell me?" Pretty Girl gave them a smile.

This time, the charm didn't work. The purple-winged Boreads shook their heads in unison. The hangar doors opened onto a freezing starry night, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet, anxious to fly.

"Ask Aeolus what is worse," Ugliest said darkly. "He knows. Good luck."

He almost sounded like he cared what happened to them, even though a few minutes ago he'd wanted to make Eden and Kaleidoscope into ice sculptures, which is disgusting in itself. Eden would not look pretty as ice.