Daughter of Pluto | Wattys2017

IV

AS SOON AS AIMEE SAW THE HOUSE, She knew she was going to be in for a lot of shit.

"Here we are!" Drew said cheerfully. "The Big House, camp headquarters."

It didn't look threatening, just a four-story manor painted baby blue with white trim. The wraparound porch had lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. Wind chimes shaped like nymphs turned into trees as they spun. Aimee could imagine old people coming here for summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watched the sunset. Still, the windows seemed to glare down at her like angry eyes. The wide-open doorway looked ready to swallow her. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and pointed straight in her direction, as if telling her to turn around.

Every molecule in Aimee's body told her she was on enemy ground.

"I am not supposed to be here," Jason said feeling the same why that Aimee did.

Drew circled her arm through his. "Oh, please. You're perfect here, sweetie. Believe me, I've seen a lot of heroes."

Drew smelled like Christmas—a strange combination of pine and nutmeg. Aimee wondered if she always smelled like that, or if it was some kind of special perfume for the holidays. Her pink eyeliner was really distracting. Every time she blinked, Aimee felt compelled to punch her. Maybe that was the point, to show off her warm brown eyes. She was pretty by clown standards in Aimee's opinion. But she made Aimee feel uncomfortable and like she wanted to kill something.
Jason slipped his arm away as gently as he could grabbing hold of Aimee hand. "Look, I appreciate—"

"Is it that girl or this little creep here?" Drew pouted. "Oh, please, tell me you are not dating the Dumpster Queen or Emo."

"You mean Piper and Aimee? Um ..."

Jason wasn't sure how to answer.Aimee was his best friend and he didn't think he'd ever seen Piper before today, but he felt strangely guilty about it. He knew him and Aimee shouldn't be in this place. They shouldn't befriend these people, and certainly they shouldn't date one of them. Still ... Piper had been holding his hand when he woke up on that bus. She believed she was his girlfriend,Leo believing that Aimee was his girlfriend. She'd been brave on the skywalk, fighting those venti, and when Jason had caught her in midair and they'd held each other face-to-face, he couldn't pretend he wasn't a little tempted to kiss her. But that wasn't right. He didn't even know his own story. He couldn't play with her emotions like that.

Aimee squeezed his hand staying silent as she gave Drew her most deadly glare. Jason knew that if Drew kept provoking Aimee,and soon Aimee wouldn't be able to control herself.

Drew rolled her eyes. "Let me help you decide, sweetie. You can do better. A guy with your looks and obvious talent?"

She wasn't looking at him, though. She was staring at a spot right above his head,her eyes flickering over the the area above Aimee's head too.

"You're waiting for the signs," he guessed. "Like what popped over Leo's head."

"What? No! Well ... yes. I mean, from what I heard, you're pretty powerful, right? You're going to be important at camp, so I figure your parent will claim you right away. And I'd love to see that. I wanna be with you every step of the way! So is your dad or mom the god? Please tell me it's not your mom. I would hate it if you were an Aphrodite kid."

"Why?"

"Then you'd be my half brother, silly. You can't date somebody from your own cabin. Yuck!"

"But aren't all the gods related?" Jason asked,Aimee hid muffled her laugh in her sleeve already knowing the answer to the question. "So isn't everyone here your cousin or something?"