The Demigod Diaries (The Heroes of Olympus)(31)

“Hello!” The girl in the blood-red dress beamed at Leo. “Are you Dionysus?”

There was only one answer to that.

“Yes!” Leo yelped. “Absolutely. I am Dionysus.”

He got to his feet and tried to match the girl’s smile.

The nymph clapped her hands in delight. “Wonderful! My lord Dionysus? Really?”

Jason and Piper rose, weapons ready, but Leo hoped it didn’t come to a fight. He’d seen how fast these nymphs could move. If they decided to go into food-processor mode, Leo doubted he and his friends would stand a chance.

The Maenads giggled and danced and pushed each other around. Several fell off the rocks and landed hard on the ground. That didn’t seem to bother them. They just got up and kept frolicking.

Piper nudged Leo in the ribs. “Um, Lord Dionysus, what are you doing?”

“Everything’s cool.” Leo looked at his friends like, Everything’s really, really not cool. “The Maenads are my attendants. I love these guys.”

The Maenads cheered and twirled around him. Several produced goblets from thin air and began to chug…whatever was inside.

The girl in red looked uncertainly at Piper and Jason. “Lord Dionysus, are these two sacrifices for the party? Should we rip them to pieces?”

“No, no!” Leo said. “Great offer, but, um, you know, maybe we should start small. With, like, introductions.”

The girl narrowed her eyes. “Surely you remember me, my lord. I am Babette.”

“Um, right!” Leo said. “Babette! Of course.”

“And these are Buffy, Muffy, Bambi, Candy—” Babette rattled off a bunch more names that all kind of blended together. Leo glanced at Piper, wondering if this was some sort of Aphrodite joke. These nymphs could’ve totally fit in with Piper’s cabin. But Piper looked like she was trying not to scream. That might’ve been because two of the Maenads were running their hands over Jason’s shoulders and giggling.

Babette stepped closer to Leo. She smelled like pine needles. Her curly dark hair spilled over her shoulders and freckles splashed across her nose. A wreath of coral snakes writhed across her forehead.

Nature spirits usually had a greenish tinge to their skin from chlorophyll, but these Maenads looked like their blood was cherry Kool-Aid. Their eyes were severely bloodshot. Their lips were redder than normal. Their skin was webbed with bright capillaries.

“An interesting form you’ve chosen, my lord.” Babette inspected Leo’s face and hair. “Youthful. Cute, I suppose. Yet…somewhat scrawny and short.”

“Scrawny and short?” Leo bit back a few choice replies. “Well, you know. I was going for cute, mostly.”

The other Maenads circled Leo, smiling and humming. Under normal circumstances, being surrounded by hot girls would’ve been totally okay with Leo, but not this time. He couldn’t forget how the Maenads’ teeth and nails had grown just before they tore the drakon to shreds.

“So, my lord.” Babette ran her fingers down Leo’s arm. “Where have you been? We’ve searched for so long!”

“Where have I—?” Leo thought furiously. He knew Dionysus used to work as the director of Camp Half-Blood before Leo’s time. Then the god had been recalled to Mount Olympus to help deal with the giants. But where did Dionysus hang out these days? Leo had no idea. “Oh, you know. I’ve been doing, um, wine stuff. Yeah. Red wine. White wine. All those other kinds of wine. Love that wine. I’ve been so busy working—”

“Work!” Muffy the Maenad shrieked, pressing her hands over her ears.

“Work!” Buffy wiped her tongue as if trying to scrub away the horrible word.

The other Maenads dropped their goblets and ran in circles, yelling, “Work! Sacrilege! Kill work!” Some began to grow long claws. Other slammed their heads against the boulders, which seemed to hurt the boulders more than their heads.

“He means partying!” Piper shouted. “Partying! Lord Dionysus has been busy partying all over the world.”

Slowly, the Maenads began to calm down.

“Party?” Bambi asked cautiously.

“Party!” Candy sighed with relief.

“Yeah!” Leo wiped the sweat off his hands. He shot Piper a grateful look. “Ha-ha. Partying. Right. I’ve been so busy partying.”

Babette kept smiling, but not in such a friendly way. She fixed her gaze on Piper. “Who is this one, my lord? A recruit for the Maenads, perhaps?”

“Oh,” Leo said. “She’s my, uh, party planner.”

“Party!” yelled another Maenad, possibly Trixie.

“What a shame.” Babette’s fingernails began to grow. “We can’t allow mortals to witness our sacred revels.”

“But I could be a recruit!” Piper said quickly. “Do you guys have a website? Or a list of requirements? Er, do you have to be drunk all the time?”

“Drunk!” Babette said. “Don’t be silly. We’re underage Maenads. We haven’t graduated to wine yet. What would our parents think?”

“You have parents?” Jason shrugged the Maenads’ hands off his shoulders.

“Not drunk!” Candy yelled. She turned in a dizzy circle and fell down, spilling white frothy liquid from her goblet.