The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

eighteen

PROPHECIES

The plague spread.

That was the price of our victory: a massive outbreak of hay fever. By nightfall, most of the campers were dizzy, groggy and heavily congested, Ariana being one of them.

Will Solace and Apollo spent the evening caring for the wounded. Will had placed Ariana on bed rest, something which the girl was not happy with.

"Ariana." Will glared at her from the edge of the bed she sat on. "You haven't properly slept in days."

"I have!" Ariana protested.

Will sighed. "Passing out does not count, please do us all a favour and remain in that bed until I say otherwise."

Sherman Yang graciously agreed not to kill Nico for tossing him out of his chariot, or for damaging it, though I had the feeling the son of Ares was keeping his options open for later.

Chiron provided healing poultices for the most extreme cases of hay fever. This included Chiara Benvenuti, whose good luck had, for once, abandoned her.

Strangely enough, Damien White got sick right after he learned that Chiara was sick.

The two had beds next to each other in the infirmary, which Ariana found a little suspicious, even though they kept sniping at each other whenever they knew they were being watched.

Percy Jackson spent several hours recruiting whales and hippocampi to help him haul away the Colossus.

He decided it would be easiest to tow it underwater to Poseidons palace, where it could be repurposed as garden statuary.

Ariana was not sure how she felt about that.

Thanks to Will's healing and a hot dinner, the demigods they had rescued from the woods quickly got back to full strength. (Paolo claimed it was because he waved a Brazilian-flag bandanna over them, and Ariana was not about to argue.)

As for the camp itself, the damage might have been much worse. The canoe dock could be rebuilt.

The Colossus's footstep craters could be repurposed as convenient foxholes or koi ponds.
The dining pavilion was a total loss, but Nyssa and Harley were confident that Annabeth Chase could redesign the place next time she was here.

With luck, it would be rebuilt in time for the summer.

The only other major damage was to the Demeter cabin. Ariana had not realized it during the battle, but the Colossus had managed to step on it before turning around for the beach.

In retrospect, its path of destruction appeared almost purposeful, as if the automaton had waded ashore, stomped Cabin Four and headed back out to sea.

Miranda Gardiner and Billie Ng were given temporary bunks in the Hermes cabin, but for a long time that night they sat stunned among the smashed ruins as daisies popped up all around them from the cold winter ground.

That night, Ariana slept soundly and although the nightmares reoccurred it wasn't something she wasn't used to.

In the morning, Percy visited her bringing her a bunch of treats that he had brought from his home.

"My mom wanted to give you these." He told her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Ariana smiled, placing them on the side table. "I'll make sure to thank her when I see her next. Have you spoken to Annie?"

Percy shook his head. "She's still doing some family business, hopefully she's back for school on Monday."

Ariana nodded, the pair both knew how much Annabeth loved school.