~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Eidolons

{Piper}

Percy and Jason climbed on their respective horses. Piper had never been comfortable with Tempest. Riding full gallop on a beast that could vaporize at any moment made her a bit nervous. Nevertheless, she accepted Jason's hand and climbed on.

   Tempest raced down the road with Blackjack soaring overhead. Fortunately, they didn't pass any cars, or they might have caused a wreck. In no time, they arrived at the thirty-two-mile marker, which looked exactly as Piper had seen it in her vision.

   Blackjack landed. Both horses pawed the asphalt. Neither looked pleased to have stopped so suddenly, just when they'd found their stride. Blackjack whinnied.

   "You're right," Percy said. "No sign of the wine dude."

   "I beg your pardon?" said a voice from the fields.

   Tempest turned so quickly, Piper almost fell off.

   The wheat parted, and the man from her vision stepped into view. He wore a wide-brimmed hat wreathed in grapevines, a purple short-sleeved shirt, khaki shorts, and Birkenstocks with white socks. He looked maybe thirty, with a slight potbelly, like a frat boy who hadn't yet realized college was over.

   "Did someone just call me the wine dude?" he asked in a lazy drawl. "It's Bacchus, please. Or Mr. Bacchus. Or Lord Bacchus. Or, sometimes, Oh-My-Gods-Please-Don't-Kill-Me, Lord Bacchus."

   Percy urged Blackjack forward, though the pegasus didn't seem happy about it.

   "You look different," Percy told the god. "Skinnier. Your hair is longer. And your shirt isn't so loud."

   The wine god squinted up at him. "What in blazes are you talking about? Who are you, and where is Ceres?"

   "Uh... what series?"

   "I think he means Ceres," Jason said. "The goddess of agriculture. You'd call her Demeter." He nodded respectfully to the god. "Lord Bacchus, do you remember me? I helped you with that missing leopard in Sonoma."

   Bacchus scratched his stubbly chin. "Ah... yes. John Green."

   "Jason Grace."

   "Whatever," the god said. "Did Ceres send you, then?"

   "No, Lord Bacchus," Jason said. "Were you expecting to meet her here?"

   The god snorted. "Well, I didn't come to Kansas to party, my boy. Ceres asked me here for a council of war. What with Gaea rising, the crops are withering. Droughts are spreading. The karpoi are in revolt. Even my grapes aren't safe. Ceres wanted a united front in the plant war."

   "The plant war," Percy said. "You're going to arm all the little grapes with tiny assault rifles?"

   The god narrowed his eyes. "Have we met?"

   "At Camp Half-Blood," Percy said, "I know you as Mr. D—Dionysus."

   "Agh!" Bacchus winced and pressed his hands to his temples. For a moment, his image flickered. Piper saw a different person—fatter, dumpier, in a much louder, leopard-patterned shirt. Then Bacchus returned to being Bacchus.

   "Stop that!" he demanded. "Stop thinking about me in Greek!"

   Percy blinked. "Uh, but—"

   "Do you have any idea how hard it is to stay focused? Splitting headaches all the time! I never know what I'm doing or where I'm going! Constantly grumpy!"

   "That sounds pretty normal for you," Percy said.

   The god's nostrils flared. One of the grape leaves on his hat burst into flame. "If we know each other from that other camp, it's a wonder I haven't already turned you into a dolphin."