BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

18.

SO, IN FACT, Eden had not died.

At least, until she'd heard the,

"Ahhhggggggh!"

"Coach is awake," Fire Boy said, which was kind of unnecessary. Gleeson 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!" Perfect Jason yelled.

Hedge turned, breathing hard. His eyes were so wild, Eden was afraid he might attack. The satyr was wearing a orange polo shirt and a whistle, but his horns were clearly visible above his curly hair.

"You're the new kid," Hedge said, lowering his club. "Jason." He looked at Fire Boy, then Kaleidoscope, who'd apparently also just woken up. Her hair looked like it had become a nest for a friendly hamster. How lovely.

"Valdez, 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!"

"Cut it out!" Eden snapped, and the satyr turned toward her and his eyes widened. "You're the Fairchild girl. The one who can kill monsters in a second."

"That's me," she put her hand away from her weapons. "Listen. They're locked up. We just sprang you from the other cage."

"Cage? Cage? What's going on, Fairchild?"

Perfect 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."

"Of course I was!"

"The extraction team came and took us to Camp Half-Blood. We thought we'd lost you. Then we got word the storm spirits had taken you back to their — um, operator, Medea."

"That witch! Wait — that's impossible. She's mortal. She's dead."

"Yeah, well," Fire Boy said, "somehow she got not dead anymore."

Hedge nodded, his eyes narrowing. "So! You were sent on a dangerous quest to rescue me. Excellent!"

"Um." Kaleidoscope got to her feet, holding out her hands so Coach Hedge wouldn't attack her. "Actually, Glee — can I still call you Coach Hedge? Gleeson seems wrong. We're on a quest for something else. We kind of found you by accident."

"Oh." The coach's spirits seemed to deflate, but only for a second. Then his eyes lit up again. "But there are no accidents! Not on quests. This was meant to happen! So, this is the witch's lair, eh? Why is everything gold?"

"Gold?" Eden looked around. From the way the others caught their breath, she guessed they hadn't noticed yet either. What losers.

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," Fire Boy said. "No wonder they got so much security."

"This isn't—" Kaleidoscope 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 Eden could decide if she wanted to explain or just shove Coach Hedge back into his cage, probably the latter, 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.