BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

90.

GETTING SLAPPED ACROSS the world was not something that Eden had liked.

She guessed that that was her punishment for demanding at her dad to teleport the stuff in her and Piper's room back to Eden's cabin.

"You will do it," Eden had said to her father as the rest of the crew hopped on the ship, preparing to get slapped across the world. Literally. "You owe me that. It's not even close to the shit you owe me."

Poseidon stared at her, but she looked up to where Piper was getting helped up on the ship. "I love her with every cell of my being. I would go to Tartarus and back for her." Eden looked back over at her father. "I don't care about the stuff that Luke had told me anymore — getting revenge, killing you all. I just want her, and for her to be safe. Can't you do this one thing for me? For your fucking daughter?"

"Eden, love!" Piper called, draping herself over the railing. "Can you come up here? You need to hear the plan. And get the door open."

"I'll be up in a second, baby," Eden couldn't stop herself from grinning at her. "Love you!"

She smiled up at Piper's "love you too!" before turning back to her father. "Don't forget that this is the smallest of favors that you owe me, father. And if you can't even follow up on that? God forbid."

She ran to the ship, jumping up on it and running over to Piper. "So, what door d'ya need opening?"

Which was why Eden had shoved her entire body against the door as soon as they landed, because the others were hopeless in opening the hatch. Frank and Hazel stumbled through, pulling on the guide rope they'd attached to the mast. Eden, Piper, Annabeth and Percy followed, all of them looking as disoriented as Eden felt.

"Go!" Leo yelled, who had been attached onto the ship with Perfect Jason. "Go, go, go!"

For once, Leo's tone was deadly serious.

They'd talked through their evacuation plan, but that slap across the world had made Eden's mind sluggish. Judging from the others' expressions, they weren't in much better shape.

Buford the table saved them. He clattered across the deck with his holographic Hedge blaring, "LET'S GO! MOVE IT! CUT THAT OUT!"

Then his tabletop split into helicopter blades and Buford buzzed away.

Frank changed form. Instead of a dazed demigod, he was now a dazed grey dragon. Hazel climbed onto his neck. Frank grabbed Percy and Annabeth in his front claws, then spread his wings and soared away.

Perfect Jason held Eden and Piper, but Eden made the mistake of glancing down. The view was a spinning kaleidoscope of sky, earth, sky, earth. The ground was getting awfully close.

"Leo, you won't make it!" Perfect Jason shouted. "Come with us!"

"No! Get out of here!"

"Leo!" Piper tried. "Please –"

"Save your charmspeak, Pipes! I told you, I've got a plan. Now shoo!"

Eden took a last look at the splintering ship.

The Argo II had been their home for so long. Now they were abandoning it for good – and leaving Leo behind.

Perfect Jason, Piper, and Eden shot into the sky.

The ground wasn't much less chaotic.

As they plummeted, Eden saw a vast army of monsters spread across the hills – two-headed men, wild centaurs, ogres and others she couldn't even name – surrounding two tiny islands of demigods. At the crest of Half-Blood Hill, gathered at the feet of the Athena Parthenos, was the main force of Camp Half-Blood along with some Romans, rallied around the golden eagle of the legion. The other Romans were in a defensive formation several hundred yards away and seemed to be taking the brunt of the attack.