Arsonist's Lullabye ──── Leo Valdez

𝟐𝟏: 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬

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

"Cool," Vincent said.

"Guys," Piper 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, Piper?"

The rest of the trip was very foggy. Vincent remembered seeing a room full of potions of various uses. The Princess showed them two vials full of something. One could cure any disease while the other would kill the person that drank it in a gruesome and painful way. But none of it sounded wrong to Vincent. He didn't even hesitate to agree with whatever the princess said, just like Leo and Jason.

Occasionally though he had conflicted feelings whenever the princess said something disturbing.

"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 asked, the idea seemed to bother him too.

"Oh, don't worry."

That was all the confirmation Vincent needed, he went back to his glazed eyes and half awake smile.

 "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 Piper. "I'm sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero, and want to help him."

Vincent glanced at Piper and suggestively wiggled his eyebrows. She pushed his face away and hung her head like she couldn't believe she was stuck with these idiots. 

"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?" This story was starting to sound eerily similar to something Vincent knew at the back of his mind. But for some reason, like always, the answer remained stubbornly out of his reach.

"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."

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

The princess assessed Piper'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 Vincent as powerfully as a surfing wave. The force of the suggestion nearly lifted him off his feet. He wanted Piper to say yes, pay any price the Princess wanted.

But Piper shook her head like she was trying to get rid of some nasty thought. "No, I won't pay any price. But a fair price, maybe. After that, we need to leave. Right, guys?" Piper's words found Vincent through the fog of his mind.