EDEN DIDN'T HAVE a great view sitting in the chariot that was about waist, chest high? She didn't know. She just didn't want to be flying.
She hated flying. She knew it was because of Zeus, because she could be on pegasi just fine. She liked horsies. But there was something about literally any other mode of air transportation, like this chariot, that made her just want to puke out the back.
Course, she couldn't do that. Big football player Jason, apparently his name was, not sock guy, which was really a shame, was basically taking up the entire back, and Eden guessed that he wouldn't like being thrown up on. That made her want to do it more.
Eden shivered. The scrawny guy — Leo — looked down at her. "Will I fall off if I sit down?"
"Not with Football Player over there." Eden cocked her head over at Perfect Jason. "You'll be fine."
He hesitated for just a second before sitting down next to her. He was warm. Really, really warm. "Holy shit, how are you so warm?" Eden decided to wrap herself around him. He stiffened, and she leaned in to whisper. "I'm mega fucking gay."
"Oh." Leo nodded. "Same. Ish."
Eden clung onto the really warm dude tighter. Thank the gods. She needed someone else to gush to. Clarisse, Connor, and Travis didn't get it. Straight people. My god.
Dream Girl looked down at her and frowned. "Are you two okay down there?"
"No, but we're gay, so we're never okay," Eden said just as a pegasus feather flew into Leo's mouth and he started coughing violently. "See?"
Leo coughed out the last of the feather in his mouth. "Where are we going?" He asked. "Do they have cough drops where we're going?"
"We're going to the only safe place for people like us," Annabeth said as if she was reading it off of a clipboard — which Eden remembered her doing at times. "Camp Half-Blood."
"Half-Blood?" Dream Girl let out a mocking laugh. "Is that your idea of a sick joke?"
"She means we're demigods," Perfect Jason corrected. "Half mortal, half god."
Half mortal, half god, they were. Eden always felt as if she was more of a god than a mortal. But she would never be one or the other, unless she did some real heroic shit to be a god. Or some real bad shit to be turned into a mortal.
Annabeth looked back at Perfect Jason, who now to think of it, looked a hella lot like Annabeth. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Eden's the daughter of Poseidon, god of the sea. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."
Leo choked again as if he'd swallowed another feather. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"
"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.
"No, no," Leo said. "Rainbows. Very macho."
Eden was snickering, hiding it in Leo's shoulder.
"Butch is our best equestrian," Annabeth said. "He gets along great with the pegasi. Eden would, if she tried."
"I'm perfectly fine with my ability to hear these horsies in my head," Eden rolled her eyes. "I don't need to have a business partner relationship with horsies."
"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered, turning to Eden, who snickered louder. "Why don't you want to be a gay horse person?"
"Can't steal people's titles now, can I?" Eden rested her chin on his shoulder. "Especially little bitch boy's."
"I'm gonna toss you both off this chariot," Bitch warned.
"You wouldn't," Eden looked up at Bitch, smirking. "I'm the greatest swordsman alive. I could easily toss you off this chariot in less than a second."
"Demigods," Dream Girl said, looking at Eden weirdly. "You mean you think you're ... you think we're—"
Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Perfect Jason yelled, "Left wheel's on fire!"
Eden looked back and her mouth dropped. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot.
The wind roared. Eden glanced behind them and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot.
Dream Girl started to say, "Why are they—"
"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on. This is going to get rough."
"Excuse me?" Eden screamed, almost throwing up.
Bitch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. Eden blacked out for a moment, because when she opened her eyes again, she was in water, and she felt alive again suddenly. Did she really forget about water waking her up? Yes she did.
Then again, she never really used her powers. Why rely on your power, which'll sap away your energy more quicker than fighting with a sword and a gun?
Eden saw something down in the water and swam down to pick it up.
It was Dream Girl's fucking jacket. Lovely. Eden didn't want to have to talk to her, but also she really wanted to wear this jacket, and the favor that the girl would owe her would be to wear this.
Don't blame Eden, it looked cute and would go with an all black ensemble. A disguise for breaking into banks with Travis and Connor, perhaps?
Eden shivered. She was cold. She called for the water to warm her up, then realized that she probably should go to the surface, only for arson and makeup. She let herself propel toward the edge and then resurfaced.
"Hey," she said casually, putting the jacket on the ground before pulling herself up. "This fell in the water. Here you go," she pointed to it, and the water shot out of the jacket and formed a heart, and she fumed and dumped it back in the water, handing the dry jacket to Dream Girl.
"How—" Piper started, taking back her jacket. She didn't have words after that — probably stunned by Eden's natural beauty, because after all, Eden suddenly felt awake again because of that dip — so she answered.
"Daughter of Poseidon, remember?" She smirked, waving at the crowd. "Hey, Trav, Con! I got out of bed today! Anyway, one thing dad's good for is that he blesses me with the power of feeling and looking better in the water. What's up, Sunshine Boy? Why do you look like you're about to scream at Annabeth? More like Cloudy Boy. Please do."
"Will was telling me off about the broken chariot," Annabeth quickly turned to Cloudy Boy. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."
Cloudy Boy scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up Dream Girl, Not Gay Bestie, and Perfect Jason. Eden personally attested that Not Gay Bestie was the best out of those three. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"
"Claimed?" Leo asked, and Eden let out a snicker and opened her mouth to explain that being claimed was like being an alpha or whatever in fanfiction.
Before she could explain though, Cloudy Boy asked, "Any sign of Percy?"
"No," Annabeth admitted.
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."