SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

89 - ponytails

BRIAR WAS TIRED.

Yet she dragged her feet along to the engine room, because she needed to get Leo and they needed to strategize. Then, hopefully, she could take a break.

"Leo!" Briar called as soon as she entered the engine room. "We need you."

Leo's voice came from below. "Talk to the pants, Briar! 'Cause the hands are busy!"

Briar looked down to only see Leo's legs visible, and she sighed in exasperation. "I am not talking to the pants. Meeting in the mess hall. We're almost at Olympia."

"Yeah, fine. I'll be there in a sec."

"Uh huh. Jay wants to see you, by the way."

"In a second, Briar Rose!" Leo repeated.

"Fine." Briar turned on her heel to leave, when she heard Leo's voice say, "are you okay, Briar?"

"I'm fine, Leo," she said, feeling like a robot, but she was too tired for this. "Work faster. I hate hearing Jason whining for you. He sounds like a child."

She left the engine room, going up the stairs and to the mess hall. She glanced over at Percy and Annabeth arguing about Percy's blue pancakes and Hazel and Frank looking over a map of Greece.

But Briar's eyes were at the head of the table, where Jason sat uncomfortably with his T-shirt rolled up to his ribcage as Reyna changed his bandages.

"I told you I could do it," Briar said as she walked past them, grabbing a cup and collapsing onto the chair between Reyna and Annabeth.

"You were taking too long," Jason joked, though he hissed when Reyna took off the last layer of bandages.

"S'not my fault that your boyfriend refuses to get out of the engine room when he gets in it," Briar downed half of her cup of Sprite, the bitter cold waking her up more.

"You were the one who told him to take a break," Reyna said, her eyes still on Jason's wound as she put the used bandages on the table.

At the sight of the blood, Briar immediately curled up into a ball on her chair, closing her eyes tightly. During this trip, she'd gotten somewhat used to the sight of blood. But that didn't mean that she didn't get creeped out by it. She'd basically had a panic attack in her room after they'd brought Jason back to the ship from Ithaca.

But she was getting better. Even if it was just small steps.

"Fuck me," she muttered, settling into this position. It was kind of comfy, actually.

"What's up, guys?" Leo's voice suddenly appeared. "Aw, yes to brownies!"

The intercom crackled. Hedge's voice yelled over the speakers, "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

Briar flinched. When she curled out of her cocoon, Hazel was up five feet away from Frank, Percy had spilled syrup in his orange juice, Jason was awkwardly wriggling back into his T-shirt, and Frank was a bulldog.

She turned to glare at Leo. "I thought you were getting rid of that stupid hologram."

"Hey, Buford's just saying good morning. He loves his hologram! Besides, we all miss the coach. And Frank makes a cute bulldog."

Frank morphed back into a burly, grumpy Chinese Canadian dude. "Just sit down, Leo. We've got stuff to talk about."

Leo took Briar's spot. She went to sit in the chair between Percy and Frank, propping her compact mirror on her cup so she could start to do her hair.

"So . . ." Jason winced as he leaned forward. "We're going to stay airborne and drop anchor as close as we can to Olympia. It's further inland than I'd like – about five miles – but we don't have much choice. According to Juno, we have to find the goddess of victory and, um . . . subdue her."