Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE ICE thawed after Kronos was defeated, and Anya was left shivering in a puddle of water. Her arm was so numb from the pain and frost that she couldn't even feel it anymore.
"Anya!" Katie found her. She looked equally as shitty as Anya felt. Around her shoulders were two quilted blanket, one of which she wrapped around Anya's shoulders and back as she helped the trembling girl off the ground. Her clothes were clinging to her body and her skin was dripping cold droplets of rain to the concrete. "Sit down, okay? We're bringing everyone to camp, and we'll take care of you all there. In the meantime, here." She started unwrapping some ambrosia squares, and gestured for Anya to open her mouth.
All she could muster was a nod, joints too stiff for her to talk— and a second later, Anya pushed her jaw open, for Katie to drop the square in, where she let it dissolve on her tongue. It tasted like cheesecake. The girl smiled despite her cheeks almost lighting on fire from the pain it took for that simple action. Warmth spread to her limbs and her heart inflamed with a small rush of joy that ambrosia never failed to deliver.
Anya cuddled into the blanket, ducking her chin into the warmth and safety of the wrap she had fashioned herself into.
Katie guided Anya into the back of a chariot, layering her blanket over hers generously, tucking the ends into the shaking girl's palm.
"Y-you d-don't have to do th-that," Anya protested, but hugged the blankets firmly against her body, appreciating her sister.
"You need it more than I do," Katie said sternly, and sat down next to her, keeping a watchful eye at her sister, as if she was worried she might suddenly turn into an ice cube again.
An Apollo camper joined them in the chariot and they were off, back in the sky once again.
Anya hated breaking that comforting promise she had made during the battle when returning from— She choked back that memory, pushing it away as hot tears stung her eyeballs.
She blinked them back and tried not to think once again about how high they were.
Why did it have to be a chariot?
—•—
Anya was a bit warmer by the time they'd landed in camp; the blanket and ambrosia helped. But nothing could be better than boiling in a steaming hot shower and changing into dry clothes.
Afterwards, she barely made it out of her cabin when a camper yanked her and dragged her off to the Apollo cabin, where all the injured were being taken care of.
Anya wasn't seriously injured. It's not like she got stabbed or had a potentially life threatening of a wound. But she did have a shattered arm that would not heal easy and also made training and her life in general a lot harder.
Will took off the bandages on her arm and cleaned the skin before replacing the cast with a new one. "You're going to need a lot more rounds of ambrosia, bandages, and just waiting in general before you can hope to be able to use your arm for normal stuff again. But for now, keep it in a cast, and come to me if you need help changing the bandages, since we're gonna need to change them regularly. Okay?"
