BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

17.

EDEN WOULD'VE DIED fifty times on the way to the front door if not for Fire Boy.

First it was the motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, then the lasers on the steps, then the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and of course the exploding doorbell.

Fire Boy deactivated all of them. It was like he could smell the traps, and he picked just the right tool out of his belt to disable them.

"You're amazing, man," Perfect Jason said.

Fire Boy scowled as he examined the front door lock. "Yeah, amazing," he said. "Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing."

"Hey, that wasn't your—"

"Front door's already unlocked," he announced.

Eden snorted in disbelief. "It is? All those traps, and the door's unlocked?"

Fire Boy turned the knob. The door swung open easily. He stepped inside without hesitation. Eden rolled her eyes and quickly followed behind.

Her first impression of the house: Dark.

From the echo of her footsteps she could tell the entry hall was enormous, even bigger than Boreas's penthouse; but the only illumination came from the yard lights outside. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains. The windows rose about ten feet tall. Spaced between them along the walls were life-size metal statues. As Eden's eyes adjusted, she saw sofas arranged in a U in the middle of the room, with a central coffee table and one large chair at the far end. A massive chandelier glinted overhead. Along the back wall stood a row of closed doors.

"Where's the light switch?" Perfect Jason's voice echoed alarmingly through the room.

"Don't see one," Fire Boy said quietly.

"Fire?" Kaleidoscope suggested.

Fire Boy held out his hand, but nothing happened. "It's not working."

"Your fire is out? Why?" Kaleidoscope asked.

"Well, if I knew that—"

"Okay, okay," she said. "What do we do — explore?"

Eden shook her head. "After all those traps outside? Bad idea. Also, y'all be quiet. Voices echo, and so do footsteps. Light also wouldn't have been a good idea, especially not that much light from fire — someone could easily see us."

"Eden's right," Perfect Jason said, lowering his voice. "We're not separating again — not like in Detroit."

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes." Kaleidoscope's voice quavered. "I needed that."

"It's a few hours until dawn," Perfect Jason guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do."

Nobody offered a better idea, so they rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits, then settled in. Thankfully, Fire Boy didn't find any poison throw pillows or electric whoopee cushions on the sofas.

He didn't seem in the mood to make more tacos. Besides, they had no fire, so they settled for cold rations.

As Eden ate, she studied the metal statues along the walls. They looked like Greek gods or heroes. Maybe they were used for target practice. On the coffee table sat a tea service and a stack of glossy brochures, but she couldn't make out the words. She was dyslexic, anyway. The big chair at the other end of the table looked like a throne. None of them tried to sit in it. Not even Eden, and she was practically the queen of the world. It just seemed off to her.

The canary cages didn't make the place any less creepy. The venti kept churning in their prison, hissing and spinning.

As for Gleeson Hedge, he was still frozen mid-shout, his cudgel raised. Fire Boy was working on the cage, trying to open it with various tools, but the lock seemed to be giving him a hard time. Eden was sitting close to him, and she desperately hoped that the coach wouldn't hit her. Even if he did, she was Eden Fairchild, after all.

Pretty Girl had already curled up on the other sofa. Eden wondered if she was really asleep or dodging a conversation about her dad. Whatever Medea had meant in Chicago, about Kaleidoscope getting her dad back if she cooperated — it didn't sound good. If she had risked her own dad to save them, that made Eden feel weird, because she got the feeling that Kaleidoscope didn't like her. Which was a shame, because she was pretty.

But also, she was too much like Silena to ignore.

"Get some sleep," Fire Boy said, still working on the locked cage. Eden barely heard him. "It's your turn."

Perfect Jason took a deep breath. "Leo, I'm sorry about that stuff I said in Chicago. That wasn't me. You're not annoying and you do take stuff seriously — especially your work. I wish I could do half the things you can do."

"I try very hard to be annoying," Fire Boy said, sighing as if he was fuming. "Don't insult my ability to annoy. And how am I supposed to resent you if you go apologizing? I'm a lowly mechanic. You're like the prince of the sky, son of the Lord of the Universe. I'm supposed to resent you."

"Lord of the Universe?"

"Sure, you're all — bam! Lightning man. And 'Watch me fly. I am the eagle that soars—'"

"Shut up, Valdez."

Fire Boy managed a little smile. "Yeah, see. I do annoy you."

"I apologize for apologizing."

"Thank you." He went back to work. Eden got out her phone and pulled the brightness down before playing games because she was bored.

"Go to sleep, Jason," Fire Boy ordered. "It's gonna take a few hours to get this goat man free. Then I still got to figure out how to make the winds a smaller holding cell, 'cause I am not lugging that canary cage to California."

"You did fix Festus, you know," Perfect Jason said. "You gave him a purpose again. I think this quest was the high point of his life."

Eden stiffened at that, tentatively going back to her game playing.

Fire Boy just sighed.

"I hope," he said. "Now, sleep, man. I want some time without you organic life forms."

"Excuse me?" Eden scoffed as soon as Muscle Boy fell asleep. "What are you, your dad?"

Fire Boy snorted. "No," he said. "How do you know?"

"Met him awhile back," Eden won the game she was playing. Booyah, bitches. "He was nice till he sent us into Mount St. Helens."

"Say what now?"

Eden snickered. "It's a long story. Percy got blasted and landed on Calypso's island."

"Who's Calypso?" Fire Boy asked her.

"Titaness," Eden said. "But one of the good ones, I guess, even though she's Atlas's daughter. Nasty man, Atlas. Fucking aged fifty years looking at him. Anyway, she got sent to an island, god knows why. Cursed to never get off. To fall in love with every man that goes there and they never come back. The usual."

She didn't see a reaction from him, but also she just got into this really sick game, so she couldn't see what he was doing. "That's cruel."

"All myths are," she sighed. "And soon, you'll be one of them too. Saving Hera's Princess Peach's ass will ensure you a cruel myth."

Fire Boy snickered. "Bold of you to assume we'll save her."

"God, if we do, I'll fucking kiss a girl," Eden groaned. "A pretty one, while I'm at it."

"Good luck finding one," Fire Boy smirked.

"Would kiss Pretty Girl, but she's fucking falling in Tartarus for Muscle Boy over there." Eden cocked her head over to the sleeping idiots. "I'll probably kiss her sister."

"Do you hear how messed up you are?"

"Shut the fuck up, I think I'm dying."