𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

mmm, wood

ERITH JAY
ERITH WOKE UP cold.

Her whole body shook. She was sitting in a cave. Leo was squatting opposite her, lighting a fire with his hands. Jason had his arms wrapped around her, his chin on her head. Hedge was leaning over Piper with a bottle of Gatorade in his hand.

She coughed weakly. Jason pulled away slightly. "Oh, good. You're awake."

"What happened?" she asked, her voice trembling. Her teeth chattered.

"I'll explain when Piper wakes up. It's... kind of a long story. And I want to wait."

"Okay." She snuggled up into him, too cold to really be embarrassed. He smelled nice, actually, for being on the run for so long. She realized there was a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

The fire blared to life and Jason and her scooted closer to it. Leo went to sit by them. He didn't look too good, but he didn't look too bad, either. His curls were matted to his head. He was also wrapped in a blanket.

Erith cleared her throat. "I'm going to try something. Someone help me up."

"Erith, you really shouldn't―" Jason started, but she shoved herself away from him and got to her feet, anyway.

She almost stumbled. She focused on all of the warmth she could feel and channeled it into her body.

She stopped shivering. Her teeth stopped chattering. She collapsed, and Jason and Leo caught her.

"Woah, you're... glowing," Leo said. She looked down at her hands. Sure enough, she was glowing a faint golden color.

"Well, at least I'm warm now," she muttered.

But it was still freezing cold in the cave, so she gratefully took back the blanket Jason had wrapped around her. The campfire turned the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell.

Storms. Not Erith's thing.

Before she could suggest something, Piper said, "Oh, god." Erith could hear her teeth chattering. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now," Jason said, sounding relieved. He leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her.

Piper blinked, turning her head and observing their surroundings. After a few seconds, she said, "L-L-Leo? E-Erith?"

"Present and un-gold-ified," Leo said. "I got the precious metal treatment too. But I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but... it's really, really cold."

"I'm here, too," Erith said. "I think I came out of it the fastest, but I passed out. Cold isn't my thing. I got turned into gold, too, though."

"You've got hypothermia, Pipes," Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic―"

"Sports medicine." The coach leaned over Piper. "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably."