afraid ツ l. valdez

9. eden is afraid of gods

For a minute, Jason and Thalia faced each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushed forward and hugged him.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped Jason's face and seemed to be examining everything about it. "Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip—you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!"

Leo laughed. "Seriously?"

Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers—excellent source of iron."

"W-wait," Jason stammered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"

At the cave entrance, one of the white wolves barked. Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, but she kept her hands on Jason's face, like she was afraid he might vanish. "My wolf is telling me I don't have much time, and she's right. But we have to talk. Let's sit."

Piper did better than that. She collapsed. She would've cracked her head on the cave floor if Hedge hadn't caught her.

Thalia rushed over. "What's wrong with her? Ah—never mind. I see. Hypothermia. Ankle." She frowned at the satyr. "Don't you know nature healing?"

Hedge scoffed. "Why do you think she looks this good? Can't you smell the Gatorade?"

Eden sniffed the air. She could not smell Gatorade. 

Thalia glared at Leo but softened her gaze at Eden. "You and the satyr," Thalia ordered to Leo, "take this girl to my friend at the entrance. Phoebe's an excellent healer."

"It's cold out there!" Hedge said. "I'll freeze my horns off." 

"Come on, Hedge. These two need time to talk." Leo said.

"Humph. Fine," the satyr muttered. "Didn't even get to brain anybody." 

Despite Leo being ordered, Eden grabbed Piper's legs and helped Hedge carry her to the temporary camp. She didn't notice Leo staying.

Immediately they were offered a new set of clothes, but Eden politely declined and kept her turtleneck and sweatpants. She did, however, take the camo pants and stuff them into her bag for future use. 

Eden had to mentally prepare herself for whatever was going to happen with Aeolus. It would be her first time confronting a god, and really her first time even in the presence of one. If she didn't watch her words, Eden could end up leaving has a small rodent, or worse, not leave at all. Gods were extremely arrogant beings; everyone knew that. 

Her admiration for Percy Jackson could only increase. He had been facing the gods since the mere age of twelve, doing their dirty work and facing death countless times. Eden had secretly hoping they could find him during their journey and he could help lead them. He probably would've known exactly where to go, what to do and how to act. 

But instead she was stuck with an amnesiac who kind of knew what he was doing but got knocked out a lot, a violent satyr whose first instinct was to kill anything that crossed his path, a lovesick girl that only cared about Jason and sometimes Leo, and a goofy guy that seriously doubted himself and had dangerous powers. Oh, and she couldn't forget herself, who knew what she was doing but was too scared, whose instinct was to be mean to anything that tried to get close, who only really cared about herself and who had dangerous powers.