BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

67.

AFTER A SERIES of disasters over the past three days, there was another one.

It all started when Eden went to breakfast for once.

She hadn't been able to catch a break. Fighting continuously was getting a little bit annoying. Of course, she was killing every monster because she's the best fighter in the crew, but still.

Anyway, then she'd realized that yesterday was the fucking Fourth of July, which was a shame. Eden had wanted to kiss Piper under the fireworks instead of looking at them.

And also, she wished that Travis, Connor, and Drew had a good time. After fake dating, Drew and Eden had become very good friends, and especially after epically ruining a rich person party person using the power of gayness, sarcasm, and pretty privilege. There might have been arson involved.

"So," Perfect Jason said, "now that we're here . . ."

He sat at the head of the table, kind of by default. Since they'd lost Annabeth, Perfect Jason had done his best to act as the group's leader. Having been praetor back at Camp Jupiter, he was probably used to that; but Eden could tell he was stressed, because of his horrible skincare. Then again, it was horrible before. His eyes were more sunken than usual. His blond hair was uncharacteristically messy, like he'd forgotten to comb it.

Eden glanced at the others around the table. Leo looked tired. Though what he was doing with his life, she didn't know. He'd probably been staying up experimenting with his machines, as per usual. Ever since he, Hazel, and Frank had been down in that lab thing, he'd been reading scrolls and messing with a sphere.

Speaking of Hazel, she was bleary-eyed, too, but of course she'd been up all night guiding the ship through the mountains. Her curly cinnamon-colored hair was tied back in a bandana, which gave her a commando look.

Next to her sat her boyfriend Frank Zhang, dressed in black workout pants and a Roman tourist T-shirt that said CIAO! ( was that even a word? ) Frank's old centurion badge was pinned to his shirt, despite the fact that the demigods of the Argo II were now Public Enemies Numbers 1 through 8 back at Camp Jupiter. His grim expression just reinforced his unfortunate resemblance to a sumo wrestler.

Then there was Hazel's half brother, Nico di Angelo. He sat back in his leather aviator jacket, his black T-shirt and jeans, that wicked silver skull ring on his finger, and the Stygian sword at his side. His tufts of black hair stuck up in curls like baby bat wings. His eyes were sad and kind of empty, and he totally reminded Eden of herself.

The only absent demigod was Piper, who was taking her turn at the helm with Coach Hedge, their satyr chaperone. Which was a shame. Eden wanted her here so she could hold her hand, kiss it absentmindedly, trace shapes on it which were usually just the words that bound them the most; the call of the void, l'appel du vide, and I love you.

Eden had zoned out so badly she didn't realize Perfect Jason was still droning on. At this rate, he'd sound like Chiron trying to berate her.

"—the House of Hades," he was saying. "Nico?"

Nico sat forward. "I communed with the dead last night."

Eden snorted. "Charming."

"I was able to learn more about what we'll face," Nico continued, sending a glare at her. "In ancient times, the House of Hades was a major site for Greek pilgrims. They would come to speak with the dead and honor their ancestors."

Fire Boy frowned. "Sounds like Día de los Muertos. My Aunt Rosa took that stuff seriously."

Frank grunted. "Chinese have that, too — ancestor worship, sweeping the graves in the springtime." He glanced at Leo. "Your Aunt Rosa would've gotten along with my grandmother."