BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

68.

EDEN WAS VAGUELY aware of Hazel shouting, "Go! I'll take care of Nico!"

As if she was going to turn back. Sure, she hoped the kid was okay, but Eden's girlfriend was fucking tied to the helm. With Coach Hedge.

Eden bounded up the steps with Fire Boy, Perfect Jason, and Frank.

The situation on deck was even worse than she'd feared.

Coach Hedge and Piper were struggling against their duct tape bonds while one of the demon monkey dwarfs danced around the deck, picking up whatever wasn't tied down and sticking it in his bag. He was maybe four feet tall, even shorter than Coach Hedge, with bowed legs and chimp-like feet, his clothes so loud they gave Eden vertigo. His green-plaid pants were pinned at the cuffs, and held up with bright-red suspenders over a striped pink-and-black woman's blouse. He wore half a dozen gold watches on each arm, and a zebra-patterned cowboy hat with a price tag dangling from the brim. His skin was covered with patches of scraggly red fur, though ninety percent of his body hair seemed to be concentrated in his magnificent eyebrows.

Eden was just forming the thought Where's the other dwarf? when she heard a click behind her and yelped, jumping up in the air.

It wasn't her proudest moment, but at least it wasn't an actual bomb. It sounded a lot like Apollo's music, which just sucked, honestly. It didn't kill, but it left Eden feeling like she'd just gotten airsick.

Her vision blurred, until it focused in on the ugliest outfit Eden had ever seen. And she'd seen some ugly shit.

The brown-furred dwarf was dressed even worse than his friend, in a green bowler hat like a leprechaun's, dangly diamond earrings, and a white-and-black referee's shirt. He showed off the prize he'd just stolen — Leo's tool belt — then danced away from Leo's lying body, who tried to grab him.

The dwarf frolicked over to the nearest ballista, which his red-furred friend was priming to launch.

The brown-furred dwarf jumped onto the projectile like it was a skateboard, and his friend shot him into the sky.

Red Fur pranced over to Coach Hedge. He gave the satyr a big smack on the cheek, then skipped to the rail. He bowed to Leo, doffing his zebra cowboy hat, and did a backflip over the side.

Leo managed to get up. Perfect Jason was already on his feet, stumbling and running into things. Frank had turned into a silverback gorilla (why, Eden wasn't sure; maybe to commune with the monkey dwarfs?) but the flash grenade had hit him hard. He was sprawled on the deck with his tongue hanging out and his gorilla eyes rolled up in his head.

"Piper!" Eden suddenly remembered, hopping down to the helm and carefully pulled the gag out of her mouth.

"Don't waste your time on me!" Kaleidoscope said. "Go after them!"

At the mast, Coach Hedge mumbled, "HHHmmmmm-hmmm!"

Eden figured that meant: "KILL THEM!" Easy translation, since most of the coach's sentences involved the word kill.

Fire Boy turned to Perfect Jason. "You feeling good enough to control the winds? I need a lift."

Perfect Jason frowned. "Sure, but—"

"Good," Leo said. "We've got some monkey dudes to catch. C'mon, Water Girl."

Eden, Perfect Jason, and Leo touched down in a big piazza lined with white marble government buildings and outdoor cafés. Bikes and Vespas clogged the surrounding streets, but the square itself was empty except for pigeons and a few old men drinking espresso.

None of the locals seemed to notice the huge Greek warship hovering over the piazza, or the fact that they had just flown down, Eden with a dagger, Perfect Jason wielding a gold sword, and Leo . . . well, pretty much empty-handed.