BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

78.

EDEN LOVED FIGHTING MONSTERS.

"Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals," she snarled, before pulling the trigger with her gun. Pew! Pew! Pew! She loved pew pewing. It was so much fun.

Occasionally, she'd accidentally hit a ghost. Which was a mistake, she knew, but they literally did nothing.

They clawed their way out of the pit, then milled about aimlessly, chest-bumping each other for no apparent reason, pushing one another back into the chasm, shooting arrows into the air as if trying to kill flies, and occasionally, out of sheer luck, throwing a javelin, a sword, or an ally in the direction of the enemy.

"Eden!" Someone called, and she didn't look, until someone called her name again, and it was Piper's voice. "Yeah, princess?" Eden yelled, shooting Greek fire in the air and then turning to throw a sword through a jumping monster. She hated those things. Anyway, that sword would come back later.

"Can you try and control the ghosts?" Piper asked, and Eden frowned at her, grabbing throwing knives and yeeting them like frisbees. "What makes them think that I'd be able to control them?"

She looked sideways, seeing that Nico was swinging his black sword with one hand, holding the scepter of Diocletian aloft with the other. He kept shouting orders at the legionnaires, but they paid him no attention.

Perfect Jason and Piper stood at his back. Perfect Jason summoned gusts of wind to blast aside javelins and arrows. He deflected a vial of Greek fire right up the throat of a gryphon, which burst into flames and spiraled into the pit. Piper put her new sword to good use, while spraying food from the cornucopia in her other hand — using hams, chickens, apples, and oranges as interceptor missiles. The air above the chasm turned into a fireworks show of flaming projectiles, exploding rocks, and fresh produce.

Perfect Jason's face was already beaded with sweat. He kept shouting in Latin but the ghosts wouldn't listen to him, either. Some of the zombies were helpful just by standing in the way, blocking monsters and taking fire. If they kept getting mowed down, though, there wouldn't be enough of them left to organize.

"I don't know!" Piper screamed, and Eden deflected a rock coming at her, and it caught on a gryphon too. Sick. "Something about you and Achilles and . . ."

"Damn you, Achilles," Eden swore, before nodding. "Yeah, just give me a second to—"

"Make way!" Frank shouted suddenly. To Eden's surprise, the dead parted for him. The closest ones turned and stared at him with blank eyes, as if waiting for further orders.

"Oh, great . . ." he mumbled. Eden snorted. At least she didn't have to pull Achilles's leadership role out of her ass.

Well, Frank made it over to them, except he brought cyclopses with him, which he fought on his own. Eden didn't really care. She just shot across the void. Perfect Jason was nearby, deflecting the incoming missiles with wind; Piper was right next to her, yelling charmspeak commands — encouraging the monsters to attack each other or take a refreshing jump into the chasm.

"It'll be fun!" she promised.

A few listened, but across the pit, the empousai were countering her orders. Eden hated it here. She got out another sword and started stabbing and slashing.

"Stupid ghosts!" Nico shouted.

"They won't listen!" Perfect Jason agreed.

Frank yelled, "Cohorts — lock shields!"

The zombies around him stirred. They lined up in front of Frank, putting their shields together in a ragged defensive formation. But they were moving too slowly, like sleepwalkers, and only a few had responded to his voice.