BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

57.

"Eden—" her brother started.

Eden stared down at her reflection, at her gold tears coming down her face. "I don't want to hear your apologies." She said. "I don't want to be you anymore. I don't want to be a hero. I just want to be safe with my girlfriend. To live a peaceful life. That's all I ever wanted, ever since you came. Even with her."

"When you say her, who are you talking about?" She could sense his frown, his confusion.

"It was always her, that I did everything for before August happened," Eden breathed out. "Are you really that dumb, that you didn't notice?"

"Tell me who."

Eden laughed bitterly. Loud enough that someone below could've heard. Or above, because Perfect Jason was still scouting. "I was in love with Silena Beauregard for years."

Percy froze. "You—"

"Don't act so surprised, or like you care," anger rose inside of her. "You never did. just dragged me along, without a care in the world. You would've died without me. And you didn't care at all. When the one person I loved the most died, you didn't even notice. You didn't notice that I was in love with her. Everyone noticed, except for her. And Beckendorf."

He flinched at the name.

"Everyone knew. Everyone knew that was the reason why I stayed, and frankly, you should be thanking me. Connor and Travis wouldn't have been with you. I could've easily convinced Clarisse. and Rachel. and Thalia. God, Percy, I could've convinced them all to not be on your side. All because of her. You get that, don't you? You'd do the same with Annabeth?"

"I do." he said automatically.

"You can't ask me to be loyal to the gods, ever again," Eden swallowed her anger down. "You can't ask me to do anything. Only Piper can, because she is everything to me. I'd kill everyone in this world if she wanted me to. I'd count every page in every book just for her. I'd deny immortality for her."

Percy stared at her. He knew, that she'd wanted immortality more than anything. It'd been her desire, besides for love. Luke had told them all. He hadn't told them at all about Silena.

"I want that feeling of peace," Eden said quietly. "It was in immortality for me. That was what Luke wanted. He wanted revenge on the gods, because they made everything so much worse. He wasn't a good person, Percy, but his views are right. They ruined a lot of lives, including my own. If I gave them my anger tenfold, they'd die from the amount. Even our father, who never cared about me like he did you. Barely said passing words to me. I just wanted you to know that."

As the last word spilled from her mouth, the door opened, and Coach Hedge came out with Annabeth. Eden immediately dashed down to go and get some coffee — or alcohol, whichever one came first.

When she felt a tug in her gut, she dashed outside, coffee in hand, not dropping it because of practice. She looked over the edge and saw Piper in the water with Leo, Frank, and Hazel.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Eden called down.

"Shut up!" Piper yelled. "Just get us out!"

Eden sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, before snapping her fingers and a wave pulled Piper close enough to where she could pull her up.

Once they got on board and changed into dry clothes ( poor Frank had to borrow a pair of too-small pants from Perfect Jason ) the crew all gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast — except for Coach Hedge, who grumbled that the atmosphere was getting too cuddly for his tastes and went below to hammer out some dents in the hull. While Leo fussed over his helm controls, Hazel and Frank related the story of the fish-centaurs and their training camp.