BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

02.

The campers muttered.

Another girl stepped forward—tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Drew. Eden never liked that chick, but she acted like Eden was some kind of superhuman. Sure, they were demigods, and she was, but still. At least the girl was pretty.

"Well," Drew said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."

Horse Boy Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"You can't act like everyone's a dog, Drew," Eden muttered under her breath, and he snorted again from beside her.

"No kidding," Perfect Jason — Annabeth's son strikes again — said. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

"Jason," Annabeth said, not in a loving way like a mother would, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew" — she frowned at the dog owner — "all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," Dream Girl said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."

Eden agreed with her. She only stayed here because her friends enjoyed arson.

Miss Gucci sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Dream Girl stepped forward, ready to smack her, but Eden interjected boredly, "Piper, stop."

Dead Badger Hair looked sideways at Eden. Eden raised her eyebrows, putting an arm on Leo's shoulder. Piper did stop though.

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Miss Gucci. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Dream Girl asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. Eden turned sideways and gaped.

Floating over her bestie's head was a blazing holographic image —a fiery hammer.

"That," Eden said smartly, "is claiming."

Fire and water. No wonder why they were so compatible. Platonically. Hello, Eden Gaychild here.

"What'd I do?" Bob the Builder backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head. Eden snickered at him, hiding her mouth with her hand. She didn't bother using her powers because he wasn't actually on fire.

"This can't be good," Bitch muttered. "The curse—"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said, and Eden thought that it sounded weird coming out of Annabeth's mouth. Eden would much rather say that twenty four seven. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a god," Perfect Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him. He probably felt creeped out. Good. Eden almost felt bad for him, before realizing that she didn't like him much. And the fact that he was quoting fucking Star Trek.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Bob the Builder demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

Eden snickered.

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth explained in her 'I'm the smartest at everything' voice. "The god of blacksmiths and fire."

The fiery hammer faded, but Bob the Builder kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of what? Who?"

Annabeth turned to Cloudy Boy. "Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine."

"Sure, Annabeth. Hey, Eden, if you're still out and awake, you should come by later. Kayla wants to see you for something."

Eden nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Sunny D."

"What's Cabin Nine?" Bob the Builder asked, looking at Eden pleadingly, who shrugged. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Cloudy Boy put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.

Eden made better nicknames, and hers were absolutely horrible.

Annabeth turned her attention back to Perfect Jason. She studied him like he was a complicated blueprint, which didn't fit right with Eden, as you should probably know his features considering the two of you looked very alike. Finally she said, "Hold out your arm."

Eden saw what she was looking at, and her eyes widened like a fish and her mouth fell open for the sixty ninth millionth time.

Perfect Jason had taken off his jacket thing after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. It was darkly etched, impossible to miss: a dozen straight lines like a bar code, and over that an eagle with the letters spqr. Eden didn't like the look of it. She would've liked a smaller tattoo. Butterflies and skulls and roses would be nice.

"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said, and that was saying something. "Where did you get them?"

Perfect Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Perfect Jason's tattoo.

"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.

"They were," Perfect Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching or something.  Probably needs an aspirin. Eden needed one too. "I mean ... I think so. I don't remember."

No one said anything.

"He needs to go straight to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Drew, would you—"

"Absolutely." Drew laced her arm through Perfect Jason's. "This way, sweetie. I'll introduce you to our director. He's ... an interesting guy." She led Perfect Jason toward the big blue house on the hill.

The crowd began to disperse, until only Eden, Annabeth, and Dream Girl were left.

"Who's Chiron?" Dead Badger asked. "Is Jason in some kind of trouble?"

Annabeth hesitated. "Good question, Piper. Come on, I'll give you a tour. We need to talk."

Dead Badger looked at Eden. "Can you...um, come with?"

Eden frowned. "Why?"

The girl was easy on the eyes, but she was obviously a daughter of Aphrodite. Eden didn't break her rules for any old girl.

"We need to talk," Dream Girl said obviously, and Eden could see Annabeth out of the corner of her eye frown at them.

Eden bit her lip, looking at where the Apollo cabin was, and decided that she didn't want to talk to Kayla right now, and she didn't know if Clarisse was here.

"Fine," Eden decided. "Come on. Try not to enjoy the tour."