"Ahhhhggggggh!"
I jump to my feet, disoriented. The previously dark room is full of sunlight, and it's incredibly bright, and Coach Hedge is screaming.
"Coach is awake." Leo announces, quite unnecessarily.
I rub my eyes, everything looks weird. They feel puffy and sore from crying. Coach Hedge is bouncing around, swinging his club, and yelling "Die!"
"Coach!" Jason yells.
Hedge turns, his wild eyes darting around. He settles on Jason and lowers his club. "You're the new kid. Jason." He looks around more. "Valdez, McLean," He sees me. "Bah!" He jumps back. "What are you guys doing with her? What's going on? I mean, we were at the Grand Canyon. The anemoi thuellai were attacking and-" He spots the cage with the storm spirits and goes back to attack mode. "Die!"
"Woah, Coach!" Leo steps in his way, which is pretty brave all things considered. "It's okay. They're locked up. We just sprang you from the other cage."
"Cage? Cage? What's going on? Just because I'm a satyr doesn't mean I can't have you doing plank push-ups, Valdez!"
Jason clears his throat. "Coach- Gleeson- um, whatever you want us to call you. You saved us at the Grand Canyon. You were totally brave."
"Of course I was!"
"The extraction team came and took us to Camp Half-Blood. We thought we'd lost you. Then we got word the storm spirits had taken you back to their, um, operator, Medea."
"That witch! Wait, that's impossible. She's mortal. She's dead."
"Yeah, well," Leo says. "somehow she got not-dead anymore."
Coach Hedge nods. "So, you were sent on a dangerous quest to rescue me! Excellent!"
"Um," Piper carefully gets to her feet, as to not startle him. "Actually, Glee- can I still call you Coach Hedge? Gleeson seems wrong. We're on a quest for something else. We kind of found you by accident."
"Oh," Gleeson seems disappointed for a moment before his eyes light up again. "But there are no accidents! Not on quests. This was meant to happen! So, this is the witch's lair, eh? Why is everything gold?"
"Gold?" We all look around. I guess I'm not the only one who didn't notice. It does explain why rubbing my eyes didn't help with how weird everything looks. Everything is gold. The sunlight reflects off of everything, Even the curtains and couch seem to be made of woven gold thread.
"Nice." Leo says. "No wonder they got so much security."
"This isn't-" Piper stammers, shocked. "This isn't Medea's place, Coach. It's some rich person's mansion in Omaha. We got away from Medea and crash-landed here."
"It's destiny, cupcakes!" Hedge insists. "I'm meant to protect you. What's the quest? Why is this one here?" He scowls at me.
"What do you have against Theo?" Piper asks.
"She's dangerous." Hedge insists.
"No she's not. Well, yeah, she is." Leo tries. "But not for us."
"You kids don't understand." Hedge tries. Before he can finish his thought, a pudgy man in a white bathrobe steps out with a golden toothbrush in his mouth. He has a white beard and one of those old-fashioned sleeping hats with the long tail. The kind you'd see in a cartoon. He sees us and freezes, his toothbrush falling out of his mouth. He glances into the room behind him. "Son? Lit, come out here please. There are strange people in the throne room."
Very helpfully, Gleeson raises his club. "Die!" He tries to go after the pajama man.
We all grab him and hold him back.
