BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

31.

AT FIRST, EDEN thought rocks were pelting the windshield, and she was scared to death that it could break through it and hit her right in the face and ruin her hair. Then she realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out her view. Ice wasn't that bad. It was frozen water. Eden liked water enough.

"An ice storm?" Kaleidoscope shouted over the engine and the wind. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?"

"Is it supposed to snow in California?" Eden snapped, rolling her eyes. Jesus fucking christ. When she was here a couple winters before, there hadn't been any snow. Motherfuckers.

Perfect Jason woke up quickly. He crawled forward, grabbing Eden's seat for balance. Ugh. Man hands. "We've got to be getting close."

Fire Boy was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply. Suddenly ithey were falling, and Eden gripped tighter to the armrests.

Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Fire Boy yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.

"There!" Perfect Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Fire Boy aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around them were flashes of light that reminded Eden of the tracer fire at Old Bathrobe's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere.

Fire Boy set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. Eden was about to relax when she heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling toward them out of the mist.

"Out!" Eden screamed.

They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Eden off her feet and splattering ice all over her.

She got up shakily and saw that the world's largest snowball — a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a fucking garage — had completely flattened the helicopter. Thank the gods.

"You all right?" Perfect Jason ran up to her and Fire Boy, Kaleidoscope at his side. They both looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

"Yeah." Fire Boy shivered. "Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter."

Kaleidoscope pointed south. "Fighting's over there." Then she frowned. "No . . . it's all around us."

She was right. The sounds of combat rang across the valley. The snow and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House.

Behind them loomed Jack London's dream home — a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. Eden could imagine how it had looked before it burned down — a combination log cabin and castle, like a billionaire lumberjack might build. But in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely, haunted feel. She could totally believe the ruins were cursed.

"Eden! Jason!" a girl's voice called.

Pinecone Face's appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow. Her bow was in her hand, and her quiver was almost empty. She ran toward them, but made it only a few steps before a six-armed ogre — one of the Earthborn — burst out of the storm behind her, a raised club in each hand.

"Behind!" Eden called, quickly getting out a throwing knife and yeeting it at the Earthborn. It crumbled into mud immediately and she smirked triumphantly. They'd rushed over to Lia, who retrieved Eden's knife and threw it back to her.