| girls —girl in red |
—Leo was lying on his back, when they found him, his face covered in soot and his clothes charred. He was covered in mud, snow and grease and even had a bit of grass in his mouth.
Camilla was so happy she might have let out a small sob, but she'd rather jump off a cliff than admit how much Leo meant to her.
"No, no, no, no" Jason chanted as they touched down and all three of them stumbled to their friend. Piper dropped to the ground next to the boy, trying to shake him awake.
"Wake up, Leo" She tried. "Wake up!"
This time she put charmspeak in her voice and it seemed to work.
He spit a clump of frozen grass out of his mouth.
"Where—"
"Lie still." Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when—when Festus—"
At the mention of Festus, Leo's eyes became focused. "Where is he?" he sat up,
"Seriously, Valdez," Camilla said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't—"
Leo pushed himself to his feet. Then he saw the wreckage. Festus had dropped the big canary cages as he came over the fence, they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged.
Festus hadn't been so lucky.
The dragon had disintegrated. Camilla watched it happen. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the mansion's yard before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rosebushes like a pillow.
"No," Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon's head and stroked its snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.
"You can't go," Leo pleaded. "You're the best thing I ever fixed."
The dragon's head whirred its gears, as if it were purring. Jason, Camilla and Piper stood next to him, but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the dragon.
"It's not fair," he said.
It broke Camilla's heart seeing her best friend like this. Festus had been their ride but he was so much more than that. He was Leo's pride and joy.
The dragon clicked. Long creak. Two short clicks. Creak. Creak. Almost like a pattern...
"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise."
Camilla exchanged looks with Piper, but the other girl seemed to have no idea either.
The dragon's eyes went dark. Festus was gone.
Leo cried and Camilla hated that there was nothing she could do about it. They all patted him on his back and whispered comforting things but it didn't seem to help much.
Finally Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"
Leo sniffled. He opened the dragon's head panel, the control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair.
"Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused."
"Your dad talked to you?" Camilla asked. "When was this?"
Leo didn't answer. He worked at the dragon's neck hinges until the head was detached. It must have weighed about a hundred pounds, but Leo managed to hold it in his arms. He looked up at the starry sky and said, "Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything."
The wind picked up, and the dragon's head floated out of Leo's arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.
Piper looked at him in amazement. "He answered you?"
"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later."
He looked around. Camilla wished there was something she could do to help, but Leo was very much like her in that regard. She didn't like to talk about feelings or have people see her when she was vulnerable. It made her feel weak and useless.
So she focused on what Leo was focusing on. The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter.
"Where are we?" he asked. "I mean, what city?"
"Omaha, Nebraska," Piper said. "I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don't know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like—I don't know—"
"Lasers," Leo said. He picked up a piece of dragon wreckage and threw it toward the top of the fence. Immediately a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ashes.
Jason whistled. "Some defense system. How are we even alive?"
"Festus," Leo said miserably. "He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you. I led him into a death trap."
"You couldn't have known," Piper said. "He saved our lives again."
"But what now?" Jason said. "The main gates are locked, and I'm guessing I can't fly us out of here without getting shot down."
Leo looked up the walkway at the big white mansion. "Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in."
—Camilla would've died five times on the way to the front door if not for Leo.
First it was the motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, then the lasers on the steps, then the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and of course the exploding doorbell.
Leo deactivated all of them. It was like he could smell the traps, and he picked just the right tool out of his belt to disable them.
"You're amazing, man," Jason said.
Leo scowled as he examined the front door lock. "Yeah, amazing," he said. "Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing."
"Hey, that wasn't your—"
"Front door's already unlocked," Leo announced.
Piper stared at the door in disbelief. "It is? All those traps, and the door's unlocked?"
Leo turned the knob. The door swung open easily. He stepped inside without hesitation.
Before Jason could follow, Camilla caught his arm. "He's going to need some time to get over Festus. Don't take it personally."
"Yeah," Jason said. "Yeah, okay."
But she knew what Jason must have been thinking of— Medea's store and more specifically the stuff he said to Leo and the way he almost tried to skewer his friend.
If it hadn't been for Piper, they'd all be dead. And Piper hadn't gotten out of that encounter easily, either.
"Piper," Jason said as Camilla moved past him and tried to go in, "I know I was in a daze back in Chicago, but that stuff about your dad—if he's in trouble, I want to help. I don't care if it's a trap or not."
"Jason, you don't know what you're saying. Please—don't make me feel worse. Come on. We should stick together."
She ducked inside, just behind Camilla, urging the girl to walk ahead.
"Together," Camilla heard Jason say to himself. "Yeah, we're doing great with that."
Her first impression of the house: Dark.
From the echo of her footsteps she could tell the entry hall was enormous, even bigger than Boreas's penthouse; but the only illumination came from the yard lights outside. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains. The windows rose about ten feet tall. Spaced between them along the walls were life-size metal statues. As Camilla's eyes adjusted, she saw sofas arranged in a U in the middle of the room, with a central coffee table and one large chair at the far end. A massive chandelier glinted overhead. Along the back wall stood a row of closed doors.
"Where's the light switch?" Her voice echoed alarmingly through the room.
"Don't see one," Leo said.
"Fire?" Piper suggested.
Leo held out his hand, but nothing happened. "It's not working."
"Your fire is out? Why?" Piper asked.
"Well, if I knew that—"
"Okay, okay," she said. "What do we do—explore?"
Leo shook his head. "After all those traps outside? Bad idea."
Camilla's skin tingled. She hated being a demigod. Looking around, she didn't see a comfortable room to hang out in. She imagined vicious storm spirits lurking in the curtains, dragons under the carpet, a chandelier made of lethal ice shards, ready to impale them.
"Leo's right," she said. "We're not separating again—not like in Detroit."
"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes." Piper's voice quavered. "I needed that."
"It's a few hours until dawn," Jason guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do."
Nobody offered a better idea, so they rolled in the cages with Coach Hedge and the storm spirits, then settled in. Thankfully, Leo didn't find any poison throw pillows or electric whoopee cushions on the sofas.
Leo didn't seem in the mood to make more tacos. Besides, they had no fire, so they settled for cold rations.
As Camilla ate, she studied the metal statues along the walls. She had the strange urge to steal them. They looked like Greek gods or heroes. Maybe that was a good sign. Or maybe they were used for target practice. On the coffee table sat a tea service and a stack of glossy brochures, but Camilla couldn't make out the words. The big chair at the other end of the table looked like a throne. None of them tried to sit in it.
The canary cages didn't make the place any less creepy. The venti kept churning in their prison, hissing and spinning.
As for Coach Hedge, he was still frozen mid-shout, his cudgel raised. Leo was working on the cage, trying to open it with various tools, but the lock seemed to be giving him a hard time. Camilla decided not to sit next to him in case Hedge suddenly unfroze and went into ninja goat mode.
Despite how wired she felt, once her stomach was full, Camilla started to nod off. The couches were a little too comfortable —a lot better than a dragon's back—and she'd taken the last watch with Jason while Piper and Leo slept. She was tired.
Piper had already curled up on the other sofa. It wasn't very wide but if they wanted to, they could share. Camilla debated hanging with the guys and sleeping next to Leo on the floor or Jason on the sofa, but in the end, she trudged over to Piper.
She had been wondering if Piper was really asleep or dodging a conversation about her dad. For better or for worse, the two of them were in it together.
"Hey" She said softly, "You awake?"
"No" Piper said, her voice muffled since she was facing away and burying her face into the pillows.
"Ah, of course" Camilla struggled not to laugh. "Scooch, preziosa, make some room for me"
Reluctantly, Piper did in fact scooch and they threw down a few pillows from the sofa so the two of them could sleep side by side. Briefly, Camilla wondered if Piper would want her to sleep the opposite upside down way, but then she decided she did not want feet near her face.
They were face to face, barely a few inches between them. Piper was still facing away from Jason and the others, she was on the edge of the sofa which Camilla felt a little bad for.
"Hey" She tried softly. Piper was pretending to sleep, at least she had her eyes closed, but her breathing was off.
Her eye's fluttered open and Camilla swore Piper's eyelashes were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. She really hoped Piper didn't catch the way her breath hitched of the way her stomach flopped.
Cam knew she probably looked like dog shit. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were rumpled and dirty and she also probably smelled really bad. Next to Piper, she was downright hideous. Jealousy. She decided.
That's what it was.
Camilla liked women, she had never been in denial of that. But she didn't like Piper. She was jealous. She didn't like the way Piper's hair looked perfect no matter what she did, she didn't like the way Piper's lashes were long and beautiful, she didn't like the way Piper's eyes were color changing but usually brown, she didn't like the way Piper's lips looked full and soft, she didn't like the way Piper's legs were literally gorgeous, she didn't like the way Piper's voice was like honey.
She didn't.
Because she was jealous.
Piper on the other hand, was definitely not jealous.
Camilla was weird, most of the time. She was loud and unapologetic about being herself. She wore a leather jacket that Piper was currently wearing, and she had a resting bitch face. But she cared so deeply.
She fell for every woman she met and she was downright stupid at some times. But she was funny and her eyes went all squinty when she laughed and she wore killer eyeliner and... and... and...
"Hey" Piper said back to her after what felt like hours.
"Thought you fell back asleep with your eyes open" Camilla grinned. Piper had never noticed it before, but one of her canines was a little crooked. Her cheeks were dusted by faded freckles and Piper thought they'd look pretty in the summer. Piper knew her eyes were hazel, but it was hard to tell in the dark.
"I'm worried about Leo" Camilla confessed, "He was so proud of Festus, it's really not fair"
They were far enough from the boys that their conversation wouldn't be overheard, especially since they were whispering.
"Me too"
"I'm worried about you too" Camilla said softly, and she bumped noses with Piper, giggling as she did so.
Piper wasn't sure why the warmth of Camilla's breath on her lips made her want to fall off the sofa. Her chest heaved and she really hoped Camilla wouldn't be able to tell how fast and loud her heart was beating.
When Camilla moved back, a strand of black hair fell on her face. Unlike Piper's relatively short hair, Camilla's was longer. Piper desperately wanted to do her hair so at least it would stop hitting Piper in the face all the time.
Without meaning to, she raised her hand with shaky fingers, pushing Camilla's hair behind her ear. Despite the hell they had just gone through, her hair was surprisingly soft, though a little knotted in some places.
Her nose, like Piper's, wasn't traditionally small and upturned. Piper had always wished for a button nose when she was younger, because the kids in her class made fun of her nose. But she had slowly gotten fond of her natural features.
Camilla's nose was classically Roman, it was slightly downturned and had a small bump where she had probably broken it before. It was similar to Piper's grandfather Tom's and she couldn't help but smile a little.
She didn't miss the way Camilla blinked furiously and swallowed. Piper tended to have that effect on people, Camilla was nothing new.
"Our dads" Camilla said suddenly, a little louder than needed, "What are we going to do about our dads?"
"I'm not giving up on mine" Piper said firmly.
"Me either, of course. But I'm not betraying my friends either"
"What does that leave us with?"
"I don't know" Camilla sighed. "But I'm glad I'm not doing this shit alone. Does that make me a selfish person? To say I'm glad your dad's also been taken hostage?"
"A little, but I get it" Because Piper did. She was so fricking glad she wasn't alone, that she had someone who understood the worry and anxiety.
Piper shifted and her heart lurched for a second when she thought she might fall off the sofa. Gods, it really wasn't meant for two people but she wasn't going to refuse Camilla's offer to share.
Camilla seemed to catch the irrational fear in her eyes and caught Piper before she fell, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer on the sofa.
Piper didn't hate Camilla, far from it actually. She might be one of her only best friends. But she couldn't completely erase the nagging voice at the back of her head. She had heard people be called lesbians as an insult and it was almost always a sexual connotation. It made her feel weird and gross, just the word. Bisexual? She had heard that a few times. The people around her said if a girl was bisexual, she was probably just experimenting and would end up with a guy anyway.
But like everything else, when it came to Camilla, Piper lost all sensibility and everything everyone else had ever said vanished from her mind.
Piper was taller than her, but while sleeping, they were the same height so when Camilla pulled her closer, they bumped noses again.
"Matching noses" Piper blurted stupidly. Gods, Camilla's stupidity must have been rubbing off on her.
The other girl just grinned, "I know right? I used to hate mine so much. And then you came along"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
They were close. So fucking close.
Girls did that. Piper told herself.
Girls had sleepovers and they cuddled each other. Piper hadn't been to many sleepovers with her dad being who he was, but she knew girls did that. They painted nails and talked about boys or that might just be a stereotype that she wasn't aware of.
Girls kissed sometimes too.
Right?
To experiment or to practice for kissing boys.
Piper wanted to practice with Camilla.
"I mean..." Camilla went on, "I used to hate my nose because people said it was ugly and that I should get plastic surgery and then I met you at the Wilderness School and you were badass. Practically half the school had a crush on you"
"No way"
"They did!" Camilla insisted, "And you have a nose like mine and I've never seen anyone call it beautiful until everyone started crushing on you. It was so relieving, sometimes annoying, but also relieving. It was always— Have you seen Piper's side profile? She looks so good in that t-shirt, how does she look good in a sports uniform, her eyes are so pretty, her eyebrows are so pretty, her—"
Piper was giggling too now. She knew as a child of Aphrodite people crushed on her, but Camilla had to be exaggerating.
"I'm seriously not kidding" She sounded sincere, "I know girls from that school that had their queer awakening because of you"
"Did you date any of them?" Piper wasn't sure why she was asking.
"One" Camilla shrugged, "But we never even kissed cause I have performance anxiety and I was happy to hold hands. Don't blame me though, it was nerve racking. Kissing is so weird and I didn't want to disappoint her."
"When was this and why didn't I know about it?"
"Last term, you weren't here yet. It was only a couple months, but she still broke my heart" Camilla sighed dramatically, "Boys being idiots and breaking up with me, I can handle, but girls? That shit alters your brain chemistry"
"You're really dramatic, has anyone ever told you that?"
"You and my dad, constantly" She grinned.
Piper's eyes were drooping now again. So she let Camilla bury her face in her shoulder and with her hand on Piper's waist, they both slipped into deep sleep.