EDEN HAD ALWAYS adored staring up at the moon. At least after Zoë died, she'd always made an effort to look at her constellation at least every month — if not every week.
As a probably future Hunter, after all, she needed to appreciate nature. And why not start with the stars and the moon? It was the one part of the sky that she liked. She liked pretty sights. Sunrises and sunsets, although the former was a low blow if she was still awake during one.
Eden hated the air, but she could appreciate the pretty sights.
"You see that constellation?" She pointed up at the sky, where it was clearly there.
"Yeah . . ." Kaleidoscope trailed off. "I've never known the name to that one. I remember seeing it in the Wilderness School, with Jason, before . . ." she stopped there.
Eden grimaced. "Well, yeah, it was made two years ago." She stared up at it. "I told you when Bianca died. Well, someone else had died on that quest."
"I'm so sorry," said Kaleidoscope immediately. "Was she . . . important?"
"One of the Hesperides," Eden said wistfully, containing to stare up at it. "Casted out because she helped Hercules, who didn't credit her for her work, joined the Hunters and was the leader for . . . oh, a good three thousand years or something. She told me that she lived longer than Artemis."
Kaleidoscope turned to look at her. "Really?"
"Artemis was born after the gods had defeated Kronos for the first time," Eden said, reciting what Zoë had told her. "She'd been born before then. So, yeah, she was older. She was so, so brave. I want to be her when I grow up."
"She'd be proud of you," Kaleidoscope said to her. "Look at you."
Eden looked at her for a second in disbelief, before clearing her throat. "Thanks."
They sat in a strangely comfortable silence, and Eden closed her eyes and breathed in and out. It'd been a while since she'd done this with anyone but Connor. Even by herself, it seemed redundant to not do it just from her window.
The last time? Probably Rachel, before she'd gone off to Clarion for the first time. Maybe Thals. Eden didn't remember that far back.
"You're good with relationships, right?" Kaleidoscope cleared her throat.
"Good? God, no." Eden burst out into laughter, until they died down. "Why?"
"I don't know how to tell Jason," Kaleidoscope said to her. "About wanting to date him."
Eden grimaced. Why did it feel like a blow to her chest? Something that had never happened to her, and something that she hoped nothing did. "Ah. You're probably better asking Annabeth. Or literally anyone else than me."
"But you've been in relationships,"
"Me and Lia? That was for a couple months, and then we'd mutually broken up." Eden rolled her eyes, stunned at the stupidity of the girl next to her. "Once or twice, me and Rachel snuck behind Percy's back while he was there. And don't even get me started on Silena." She looked over at Kaleidoscope. "My advice? Just get him alone, like me and you now. Somewhere that seems . . . romantic. Then just tell him. He's obviously in love with you. It's sickening. So cliche."
Kaleidoscope frowned. "Really?"
"Sure."
She chuckled. "You're reassuring."
"That's me," Eden sighed. "I made so many speeches back then about being reassuring and shit."
It was nice, actually. Sitting there. Small talk every few minutes or so, staring at the stars.
Eden almost wished that it could last forever.
* * *
Eden got too used to Pretty Girl being there. Which was horrible for her.
She wasn't scared half to death anymore when the love child came up behind her when she was sitting at tables. She didn't mind teaching her long ranged weapons. And, well, if she said that she minded her coming to her cabin to talk about her dreams and shit, she'd be lying.
Which is something that Eden did often. But still.
It was a cool winter day ( she never got cold, but she was always cold in the winter, fuck that stupid season ) and she'd lost herself in her conversation with Connor ( mostly about which makeup brands were shit ) when she felt hands behind her, and for once she didn't flinch.
"Piper," Eden said coolly, looking up and seeing the familiar sight of the brunette's head above her. "How's it feel to be taller than me?"
"We're the same height," Kaleidoscope said, resting her forearms on Eden's head like she always did. "Every time you call me Piper like that, I feel like I'm in trouble."
Eden rolled her eyes. "Because you keep scaring me like that, my god."
Pretty Girl winced. "Yeah, sorry. I feel your shoulders get all tense and stuff." Eden felt the apology in her words, but in her eyes, there was that familiar we'll talk later look. "Anyway, I have some news for you."
"And?" Eden prompted, looking at Connor with that oh, boy look.
"I'd forgotten about the powers Clovis had," Kaleidoscope said, and Eden's blood literally froze. If she'd been turned into ice by Khione, she certainly would've felt like it now. "Jason told me about that. We could give you that—"
"I've already tried it, Piper," Eden drawled, mixing the disguised coffee she was drinking with her straw, as if the love child couldn't see it from above. "It didn't work like it intended to."
Kaleidoscope took away her coffee, sadly. "How many times have I told you to not drink it after nine am?" She looked down at Eden, and she felt like she was in trouble. "What do you mean, like it intended to?"
"Got addicted to the feeling," Eden sighed, not wanting the flashbacks. "Too addicted, like I am to coffee, give me that shit back."
She reached for the coffee, only to have Pretty Girl lift it to the sky, nearly dropping it and getting coffee in Eden's hair. She indulged her in her fantasy that she could take the coffee away from her, only because she was too lazy to get up. Yeah. That was the only reason.
"Eden . . ." Kaleidoscope said slowly.
They stared at each other before Eden sighed. "It was bad, alright? One day, I couldn't wake up. I found Rachel in one of my dreams god knows when, and it took two days to get me to wake up. The Apollo cabin said themselves, I can't try that again."
Cabin 7 didn't say that, but if Eden said they did, Pretty Girl would rest off her case. And she did, wincing, and apologizing a lot under her breath.
"Anyway," Eden turned to Connor, who looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Shut it. When'dya think we could start enacting the heist?"
"The heist?" Pretty Girl asked, before muttering her disapproval under her breath.
"We were just gonna try and steal from that company," Connor said after a nod from Eden. "The Blackthorn one. Or was it the Morgenstern one?"
Eden scrunched up her nose. "Why do they have such complicated last names? I don't know. Apparently the Blackthorn CEO is actually nice. Did you know she's, like, seventeen? That shit's sick. The Morgenstern dude's such a dick. But one of his daughters is pretty. And okay. So probably Morgenstern."
She looked up at Kaleidoscope. "I mean, as long as it's alright with you. Just one night."
Pretty Girl stared at her. "As long as I come with," she said. "I met the Morgenstern heirs one year — Mia was nice. Sophia was a total bitch, though."
Eden scoffed. "Man, Kaleidoscope, you really need to tell me this shit! Then we wouldn't have spent so much time debating on who to break in." She turned to Connor, winking. "So, after whatever you have, meet up in mine?"
"Deal," Connor nodded to her. "We have to ride pegasi, as if you aren't the horse whisperer and I haven't rode one before."
"Ride that bitch," Eden snickered. "Sadly, I have to teach a lesson. Something about flaming arrows? I hate fire, maybe I'll get the javelins. Or drag Leo out from the depths of Bunker Nine."
"You won't be able to do that," Pretty Girl piped in, and Eden had thought that she left or something. "Dragging Leo out of his work is nearly impossible if you're not one of the three of us," she said three of us so casually, as if Eden actually wanted to do anything with Perfect Jason, the other person implied in the three. She didn't care enough about him to see him willingly, and when Thalia was over, she was with him most of the time, which was fine, because Eden was either out with Travis, Connor, and or Clarisse, so it worked.
And besides, something about the way Perfect Jason and Kaleidoscope danced on eggshells around each other . . . Eden didn't want to see that shit.
"You're teaching Chiron's archery lesson, right?" Pretty Girl asked Eden.
She sighed. "Sadly."
"You're teaching my siblings," Pretty Girl said, almost excitedly. "I can help with the flaming arrows."
Eden raised an eyebrow. "You barely know how to shoot a bow."
"So?" Pretty Girl raised an eyebrow at her.
"Fine," Eden sighed. "If anyone gets set on fire, I'm blaming you."
And if Eden lied about the fact that the flaming arrows were the reason why she was red when she was adjusting Pretty Girl's aim, it wasn't a lie.
* * *
"Eden, Eden, Eden!"
The heist plans were going well; in public they were figuring out the plans with Kaleidoscope in them, and in secret, when it was just Eden, Travis, and Connor, they did the one with just the three of them. Because as convincing as Pretty Girl is, Eden didn't want to put her in the life of crime again.
Because once you were in, it was really hard to get out.
Anyway, Eden turned from where her and Clarisse were talking about some stuff — Connor had left to go talk to Drew, and Clarisse had sat at the Poseidon table, skipping out from a fighting lesson that she definitely didn't need. Eden had always thought that she was better than Perfect Jason anyway, who was teaching that class because Chiron enjoyed making them teach lessons for him.
"What is it with you and needing to talk to me every time I'm in a conversation?" Eden rolled her eyes, not bothering to look at the girl she knew was behind her.
"I'm sorry you're just so popular," Pretty Girl snorted from behind her, sitting down next to her, very close. Too close.
Clarisse raised her eyebrows at her. Eden opted to ignore her.
"The gifts of being the former prophecy kid." The bitterness flew from her words as she turned her body to face the love child, ignoring how much it seemed like the past — her and Clarisse and Silena. "What's up?"
"Thanks to your advice, I'm dating Jason!" Kaleidoscope squealed, and she seemed way too excited for that.
Eden raised an eyebrow. "Alright, so?"
Kaleidoscope frowned. "I thought you'd have a bigger reaction."
"You two have literally been dancing around for the entire time we've been back, and even before then." Eden rolled her eyes, before realizing what the love child had said. "Congrats? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Why do you sound so bitter?"
"I'm not. Just staying the obvious."
Eden glanced at Clarisse before grabbing one of those cups that the camp had, wishing for alcohol and downing it.
She felt Kaleidoscope's gaze on her, before she sighed. "So, see you later?"
"Yeah," Eden said hollowly. "See you tomorrow."
"What'd you mean, I'm still coming to your room?"
"But you literally have a boyfriend,"
"So? He'll let me come over."
God, what was this girl doing? Was she out of her mind? That girl really was that stupid, thinking that her boyfriend would literally let her sleep at a girl's place.
Then again, Perfect Jason was out of his mind, too.
Eden turned so her and her body faced Clarisse again. "Fine, see you tonight, whatever."
She couldn't see her leave, but Clarisse certainly did. "You're falling for her." She simply said.
"There's no way," Eden laughed bitterly. "You saw what happened with Silena. You saw the vow I made. There's no way that I could ever fall in love with her. She literally has a boyfriend."
"That hasn't stopped you before," Clarisse noted.
"Fuck you," Eden groaned, hitting her head on the table, her mind racing.
bye i've been on a graphic spree but look at the collage i made im fhweiofjweiofj i also made another one or three but y'all will see that ,,, in a long time from now.
also i lied i have to make a chapter 43 fuck me i just want to go to mark of athena
xoxo maybel