Daughter of Wine

Piper

Air traffic control doesn't want to let an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland Airport, until I get on the radio. Then it turns out to be no problem.

We unload on the tarmac, and everyone looks at me.

"What now?" Jason asks me.

I feel uncomfortable. I don't want to be in charge, but for my dad's sake, I have to appear confident. He flew into Oakland, so his privat ejet should still be here.

"First thing.: I say, "I-I have to get my dad home. I'm sorry, guys."

Their faces fall.

"Oh," Leo says. "I mean, absolutely. He needs you right now. We can take it from here.:"

"Pipes, no." My dad had been sitting in the helicopter door with a blanket around his shoulders. But he stumbles to his feet. "You have a mission. A quest. I can't-"

"I'll stay and take care of him." Calli offers, though she looks bummed. "I wasn't a part of your quest, guys. It's meant to be you three."

"No." Hedge huffs. "There are no accidents on quests. I'll take care of him."

I stare at him. The satyr is the last person I expected to offer. "You?"

"I'm a protector." He insists. "That's my job, not fighting." He sounds a little crestfallen, and I realize that maybe I shouldn't have recounted how he got knocked unconscious in the last battle. Then he straightens and sets his jaw. "Of course, I'm good at fighting too." He glares at us all, daring us to argue.

"Yes." Jason says.

Calli nods her head very aggressively.

"Terrifying." Leo agrees.

The coach grunts. "But I'm a protector, and I can do this. Your dad's right, Piper. You need to carry on with the quest."

"But..." My eyes sting. "Dad..."

He holds out his arms, and I hug him. He feels frail. He's trembling so much it scares me.

"Let's give them a minute." Jason says, and they take the pilot a few yards away on the tarmac.

"I can't believe it." My dad says. "I failed you."

"No, Dad!"

"The things they did, Piper, the visions they showed me..."

"Dad, listen." I look at Calli, who is stretching her ribcage tentatively. "My friend there, Calli, she's a daughter of Dionysus. She can make you forget everything that happened these past few days. It'll make it like none of this ever happened."

He gazes at me, as if translating my words from a foreign language. "But you're a hero. I would forget that?"

"Yes." I whisper. I force an assuring tone into my voice. "Yes, you would. It'll be like... like before."

He closess his eyes and takes a shaky breath. "I love you, Piper. I always have. I-I sent you away because I didn't want you exposed to my life. Not the way I grew up, the poverty, the hopelessness. Not the Hollywood insanity either. I thought... I thought I was protecting you." He manages a brittle laugh. "As if your life without me was better, or safer."

I take his hand. I'd heard him talk about protecting me before, but I'd never believed it. I always thought he was just rationalizing. He seems so confident and easygoing, like his life is a joyride. How could he claim I needed protecting from that? But finally I understand he'd been acting for my benefit, trying not to show how scared and insecure he was. He really had been trying to protect me. And now his ability to cope has been destroyed.