~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Leo's Dragon

{Piper}

The stunned silence was gratifying for a few seconds, but Piper felt ashamed of herself. Everybody turned and looked at The Poster, her dad flexing his muscles for the whole world to see.

   "Oh my gods!" half the girls screamed at once.

   "Sweet!" a guy said. "The dude with the sword who killed that other dude in that movie?"

   "He is so hot for an old guy," a girl said, and then she blushed. "I mean I'm sorry. I know he's your dad. That's so weird!"

   "It's weird, all right," Piper agreed.

   "Do you think you could get me his autograph?" another girl asked.

   Piper forced a smile. She couldn't say, If my dad survives... "Yeah, no problem," she managed.

   The girl squealed in excitement, and more kids surged forward, asking a dozen questions at once.

   "Have you ever been on the set?"

   "Do you live in a mansion?"

   "Do you have lunch with movie stars?"

   "Have you had your rite of passage?"

   That one caught Piper off guard. "Rite of what?" she asked.

   The girls and guys giggled and shoved each other around like this was an embarrassing topic.

   "The rite of passage for an Aphrodite child," one explained. "You get someone to fall in love with you. Then you break their heart. Dump them. Once you do that, you've proven yourself worthy of Aphrodite."

   Piper stared at the crowd to see if they were joking. "Break someone's heart on purpose? That's terrible!"

   The others looked confused.

   "Why?" a guy asked.

   "Oh my gods!" a girl said. "I bet Aphrodite broke your dad's heart! I bet he never loved anyone again, did he? That's so romantic! When you have your rite of passage, you can be just like Mom!"

   "Forget it!" Piper yelled, a little louder than she'd intended. The other kids backed away. "I'm not breaking somebody's heart just for a stupid rite of passage!"

   Which of course gave Drew a chance to take back control. "Well, there you go!" she cut in. "Silena said the same thing. She broke the tradition, fell in love with that Beckendorf boy, and stayed in love. If you ask me, that's why things ended tragically for her."

   "That's not true!" Lacy squeaked, but Drew glared at her, and she immediately melted back into the crowd.

   "Hardly matters," Drew continued, "because, Piper, hon, you couldn't break anyone's heart anyway. And this nonsense about your dad being Tristan McLean—that's so begging for attention."

   Several of the kids blinked uncertainly.

   "You mean he's not her dad?" one asked.

   Drew rolled her eyes. "Please. Now, it's time for breakfast, people, and Piper here has to start that little quest. So let's get her packed and get her out of here!"

   Drew broke up the crowd and got everyone moving. She called them "hon" and "dear," but her tone made it clear she expected to be obeyed.

   Mitchell and Lacy helped Piper pack. They even guarded the bathroom while Piper went in and changed into a better traveling outfit. The hand-me- downs weren't fancy—thank god—just well-worn jeans, a T-shirt, a comfortable winter coat, and hiking boots that fit perfectly. She strapped her dagger, Katoptris, to her belt.