The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 12--The Receptionist Hands Us an Atomic Bomb

There are a few things to know before you use a teleporter:

1) Chills go up and down your body like spiders—so if your mom is Athena, beware.

2) Your eyes are open, but you see nothing but darkness for a few moments—and if you're me, you'd start feeling bad about blinding Ol' Polyphemus with your sword all those years ago.

3) And finally, you don't always land on your feet. In fact, be prepared for the most embarrassing situation.

Condition number three hit me the hardest. Literally.

 I dropped out of the sky and kissed grass with my face, I was only displeased. "Ow," I groaned, rubbing my nose in pain.

That's when Liam landed on me, bouncing my face off the ground once more. I was so dazed that I didn't realize the girl had appeared until my entire head was forced underground.

We all lay there in a pile of groans until the girl pulled herself up to her feet. Liam ignored her hand and stood up, stumbling a few steps away as he complained about a headache.

Black Eyes just rolled her eyes. "When are you going to get used to it? I doubt this is your first time using a teleporter."

Liam's only defense was, "At least I'm faring better than Percy."

I groaned one last time, then picked my head up and squinted in the sunlight. I rolled over onto my back, dirt rolling off the arches of my cheeks. My stomach felt as though it had been minced into pieces. "Why was I at the bottom? I was the last person to step in."

Just thinking about the situation back at Chaos' castle made me wince. End started laughing in my head—unfortunately, the teleporting hadn't affected her at all. That's the first time I've seen my sister so shocked.

Second time, Order quietly corrected, but he didn't elaborate any further.

"You were the squad leader," the girl explained. "It was waiting for you to choose a location. But I have to ask . . . where exactly are we?"

As Liam gently guided me to standing, I caught sight of the mansion in front of us. It towered over us, with long vines snaking up the gray brick to join the grass growing on every inch of the roof. If houses needed to photosynthesize to live, I'd imagine that even Esterhaven would look like this—albeit a bit bigger.

"I love that we're safe and all," Liam drawled, "But why did you choose my house?"

I looked down. A worm crawled over my shoe. "It was the first place I could think of."

Liam punched me lightly on the shoulder and grinned. "No need to look so down; I'm joking. You're always welcome here. Why don't we go inside and have some food?"

~~~

If you're a picky eater, try being chased by the creator of a universe for a bit. 

Even though the loaf of bread in front of me wasn't blue, I scarfed down half of it in an instant. Food had never tasted so good before—it almost made me forget about how the servants had shot me patronizing glances as I'd made my way into Liam's house thirty minutes ago.

On the opposite side of the dining table, Liam frowned. He had opted for something that looked startlingly similar to a crepe, but it was as red as the inside of a watermelon. "You want some butter with your bread?"

Instead of responding, I inhaled the rest of the loaf. Before Liam could scold me further, Black Eyes snatched the pack of butter from his hand. "Thanks. I really needed it." She'd cut her loaf into neat little slices and now proceeded to spread the butter over them.