BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

25.

EDEN STILL WASN'T over Silena.

The girl was in everything she did — every outfit she put on, every smile she put on, every thought she had.

Every nightmare Eden had every time she closed her eyes.

It was colors changing. She was blonde at one point, with some of the bluest eyes that Eden had ever seen ( she'd been told about hers, but still ). She'd had black hair and dark brown eyes at one point. She'd had black hair and blue eyes when she died. And then she was black for Eden. Black and red. Blood and nothing. Bloodshed and love.

So when she'd been forced asleep by Mellie and her blast, she'd been transported back to the past.

Eden stared up again at the two-hundred-foot-long serpent, which was as thick as a school bus slithering down the side of a building, its yellow eyes like searchlights and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants. The thing that had killed Silena.

No, she wanted to scream. She saw this nightmare too much. Not again.

But the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue, and Eden could feel the fear in her veins, the power dripping out for once.

She jolted as she heard her brother yell: "I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON! Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"

She almost forgot that Percy was alive. Well, he was missing right now, so they really didn't know, but still.

Annabeth stood next to her and Percy. She had pulled her owl helmet low over her face, but Eden could tell her eyes were red.

"Will you help me?" Percy asked.

"That's what I do," she said miserably. "I help my friends."

"Go invisible," Percy said. "Look for weak links in its armor while Eden and I keep it busy. Just be careful."

"Wonderful," Eden had muttered in that time, and oh boy, was she in for a fucking treat.

Percy whistled. "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!"

"ROOOF!" His hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave him a nasty kiss.

Percy drew his sword and they charged the monster.

The drakon was three stories above them, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up their forces. Wherever it looked, centaurs froze in fear.

Eden remembered being scared of that thing. Then she'd died, and suddenly this was a Barbie doll compared to what had happened.

From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies, and their lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before Eden could even get close.

Mrs. O'Leary launched herself through the air — a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws. Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon, Mrs. O'Leary looked like a child's night-night doll. Those things were terrifying. Not that Eden had ever had one in her life.

The hellhound's claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat but couldn't make a dent. Her weight, however, was enough to knock the drakon off the side of the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk, hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing. The drakon tried to bite Mrs. O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs. O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting.

"YAAAH!" Percy plunged Riptide deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but he rolled aside.