SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

17 - boo shopping :(

BRIAR WANTED TO run for the elevator.

Her second choice: attack the weird princess now, because she was sure a fight was coming. The way the lady's face glowed when she'd heard Jason's name had been bad enough. Now Her Highness was smiling like nothing had happened, and Jason and Leo didn't seem to think anything was wrong.

The princess gestured toward the cosmetics counter. "Shall we start with the potions?"

"Cool," Jason said.

"Guys," Briar interrupted, "we're here to get the storm spirits and Coach Hedge. If this — princess — is really our friend—"

"Oh, I'm better than a friend, my dear," Her Highness said. "I'm a saleswoman." Her diamonds sparkled, and her eyes glittered like a snake's — cold and dark. "Don't worry. We'll work our way down to the first floor, eh?"

Leo nodded eagerly. "Sure, yeah! That sounds okay. Right, Briar?"

Briar did her best to glare daggers at him: No, it is not okay!

"Of course it's okay." Her Highness put her hands on Leo's and Jason's shoulders and steered them toward the cosmetics. "Come along, boys."

Briar didn't have much choice except to follow.

She should've been thrilled to be going shopping. She knew that she loved shopping, and shopping usually had a lot of fashion woven into it. But for some reason, she felt dread to be in a department store. Probably because it was run by a crazy princess who glowed in the dark.

"And here," the princess said, "is the finest assortment of magical mixtures anywhere."

The counter was crammed with bubbling beakers and smoking vials on tripods. Lining the display shelves were crystal flasks — some shaped like swans or honey bear dispensers. The liquids inside were every color, from glowing white to polka-dotted. And the smells — ugh! Some were pleasant, like fresh-baked cookies or roses, but they were mixed with the scents of burning tires, skunk spray, and gym lockers.

The princess pointed to a blood red vial — a simple test tube with a cork stopper. It made Briar want to puke, and her head spun. "This one will heal any disease."

"Even cancer?" Leo asked. "Leprosy? Hangnails?"

"Any disease, sweet boy. And this vial"—she pointed to a swan-shaped container with blue liquid inside—"will kill you very painfully."

"Awesome," Jason said. His voice sounded dazed and sleepy.

"Jason," Briar said. "We've got a job to do. Remember?" She tried to put power into her words, to snap him out of his trance with charmspeak, but her voice sounded shaky even to her. This princess woman scared her too much, and she felt sick from the sight of red, even if it was a potion and not blood.

"Job to do," Jason muttered. "Sure. But shopping first, okay?"

The princess beamed at him. "Then we have potions for resisting fire—"

"Got that covered," Leo said.

"Indeed?" The princess studied Leo's face more closely. "You don't appear to be wearing my trademark sunscreen . . . but no matter. We also have potions that cause blindness, insanity, sleep, or—"

"Wait." Briar realized something, staring at the red vial. "Could that potion cure lost memory?"

The princess narrowed her eyes. "Possibly. Yes. Quite possibly. Why, my dear? Have you forgotten something important?"

Briar tried to keep her expression neutral, but if that vial could cure her memory . . .

"How much?" She asked.

The princess got a faraway look in her eyes. "Well, now . . . The price is always tricky. I love helping people. Honestly, I do. And I always keep my bargains, but sometimes people try to cheat me." Her gaze drifted to Jason. "Once, for instance, I met a handsome young man who wanted a treasure from my father's kingdom. We made a bargain, and I promised to help him steal it."

"From your own dad?" Jason still looked half in a trance, but the idea seemed to bother him.

"Oh, don't worry," the princess said. "I demanded a high price. The young man had to take me away with him. He was quite good-looking, dashing, strong . . ." She looked at Briar. "I'm sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him."

Briar found the princess's story disturbingly familiar. Pieces of old myths she'd read sometime in the past started coming together, but this woman couldn't be the one she was thinking of.

"Not really," she said. "I'm a lesbian, but maybe for a heroine I would."

The princess looked at Briar for a second before huffing, but she didn't say anything.

"At any rate," Her Highness continued, "my hero had to do many impossible tasks, and I'm not bragging when I say he couldn't have done them without me. I betrayed my own family to win the hero his prize. And still he cheated me of my payment."

"Cheated?" Jason frowned, as if trying to remember something important.

"That's messed up," Leo said.

Her Highness patted his cheek affectionately. "I'm sure you don't need to worry, Leo. You seem honest. You would always pay a fair price, wouldn't you?"

Leo nodded. "What were we buying again? I'll take two."

Briar broke in: "So, the vial, Your Highness — how much?"

The princess assessed Briar's clothes, her face, her posture, as if putting a price tag on one slightly used demigod.

"Would you give anything for it, my dear?" the princess asked. "I sense that you would."

The words washed over Briar as powerfully as a strong perfume. The force of the suggestion nearly lifted her off her feet. She wanted to pay any price. She wanted to say yes.

Then her stomach twisted. Briar realized she was being charmspoken. She'd sensed something like it before, when Drew spoke at the campfire, but this was a thousand times more potent. No wonder her friends were dazed. Was this was what people felt when Briar used charmspeak? Oh well, she'd keep using it.

"No, I won't pay any price. But a fair price, maybe. After that, we need to leave. Right, guys?" Briar smiled winningly.

Just for a moment, her words seemed to have some effect. The boys looked confused.

"Leave?" Jason said.

"You mean . . . after shopping?" Leo asked.

Briar wanted to scream, but the princess tilted her head, examining Briar with newfound respect.

"Impressive," the princess said. "Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you a child of Aphrodite, my dear? Ah, yes — I should have seen it. No matter. Perhaps we should shop a while longer before you decide what to buy, eh?"

"But the vial—"

"Now, boys." She turned to Jason and Leo. Her voice was so much more powerful than Briar's, so full of confidence, Briar didn't stand a chance. "Would you like to see more?"

"Sure," Jason said.

"Okay," Leo said.

"Excellent," the princess said. "You'll need all the help you can get if you're to make it to the Bay Area."

Briar's hand moved to one of her daggers. She thought about her dream of the mountaintop — the scene Enceladus had shown her, a place she knew, where she was supposed to betray her friends in two days.

"The Bay Area?" Briar said. "Why the Bay Area?"

The princess smiled. "Well, that's where they'll die, isn't it?"

Then she led them toward the escalators, Jason and Leo still looking excited to shop.

guys family line by conan gray and emails i can't send by sabrina carpenter but it's briar

<3 maybel