Bloody Lover | Piper McLean

CHAPTER 18 : What do we do when we're falling from the sky ? We panic !

PIPER

Piper only relaxed once the lights of Quebec City were swallowed by the night.

"You were amazing back there !" Jason told her.

Earlana turned slightly, allowing him to see a small smirk. "Much more than just amazing."

The compliments should have filled her, but Piper couldn't help but think of the troubles ahead. "Evil creatures are stirring," Zethes had warned. She knew all too well. The closer they got to the solstice, the less time she had to make her decision.

She answered to the two amnesiacs in French : Si vous connaissiez la vérité sur moi, vous ne me trouveriez plus si formidable.

"What are you talking about ?"

"I just said I spoke to Borée. Nothing extraordinary about it."

She didn't turn to Jason, but she imagined he was smiling.

"Hey, you saved us from ending up in Kione's collection of frozen guys, that's something !"

"You spared us a certain death, Pipes," added the Latina.

That, Piper thought, was really not difficult. She was not going to let Jason, or Earlana, fall into the clutches of that ice witch. What concerned her even more was the reason Boreas had let them go. It was related to the past of the two amnesiacs and the tattoos they had on their arms. Boreas had assumed that Jason and Earlana were Romans, but Romans and Greeks were not supposed to get along. She was waiting for one of them to provide an explanation, but neither of them seemed willing to address the issue.

Until now, Piper had found arguments to contradict the impression that the blond and the Latina had of being intruders at Camp Half-Blood. Obviously, they were demigods ; as such, they belonged at camp. But now she wondered... What if they were different ? What if they were actually enemies ? This idea was just as repugnant to her as Kione.

Leo handed them sandwiches that he took from his backpack. He had been silent since they told him what had happened in the throne room.

"I still can't believe it," he said. "Kione seemed so nice."

"Believe me, buddy," Jason reassured him. "Snow might look pretty, but up close, it's cold and unpleasant. We'll find you another fiancée."

"You don't really have good taste in women, Valdez," Earlana chuckled.

Piper smiled, but Leo didn't look happy. He hadn't talked to them about his time at the palace with Cal, or why the Boreads had told him he smelled like fire. Piper felt like he was hiding something. But was she in a position to push the issue ? All four of them seemed to be keeping things back. Whatever it was, Leo's mood seemed to affect Festus, who grumbled and spewed steam in an attempt to warm up in the Canadian chill. Happy Dragon wasn't so happy anymore.

They ate their sandwiches in flight. Piper wondered how Leo managed to bring all the provisions, and he even remembered that she was vegetarian. The avocado-cheese sandwich was amazing.

They all fell silent. They didn't know what they would find in Chicago, but they were well aware that Boreas had let them go because he believed they were on a suicide mission.

The moon rose. Piper felt her eyelids grow heavy. The encounter with Boreas and his children had scared her more than she wanted to admit. Now that her stomach was full, the adrenaline was wearing off.

Take it like a champ, cupcake ! Coach Hedge would have shouted at her. Don't be a wimp !

Since Boreas revealed that Coach Hedge was still alive, Piper had been thinking about him. She had never liked him, but he had jumped off a cliff to save Leo and sacrificed himself to protect them on the Grand Canyon catwalk. Piper now realized that every time Coach Hedge had pushed her to do more, whether at school, shouting at her to run faster, do more push-ups, or even the times he had let her defend herself when the bullies in class bothered her, the old goat-man had been trying, in his annoying way, to help her and prepare her for her demigod life.