THE HEALER| Heroes of Olympus

four

"One more time," Annabeth said. "Exactly what happened?"

Leo slumped against the mast. He looked very scared of her right now. All around him, his beautiful new ship was in shambles. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling. The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the onboard Internet and TV was blown to bits, which had really made Coach Hedge mad. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball, and I could tell from the groaning sounds on the port side that some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment or broken off completely, which explained why the ship was listing and shuddering as it flew, the engine wheezing like an asthmatic steam train.

He choked back a sob. "I don't know. It's fuzzy."

Annabeth crossed her arms. "You mean you don't remember?"

"I..." Leo looked like he was trying to swallow a marble. "I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."

Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. 

"Look, kid," Hedge said, "you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match."

"Coach," Annabeth said, "why don't you make sure all the fires are out?"

"But I already did that."

"Do it again."

The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Even Hedge wasn't crazy enough to defy Annabeth.

She knelt next to Leo. Her gray eyes were as steely as ball bearings. Her blond hair fell loose around her shoulders. 

"Leo," she said calmly, "did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or—"

"No." Leo said. "The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."

The new kid, Frank, scowled. "On purpose?"

"No!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes...I mean, I didn't want to. But at the same time, I felt like I wanted to. Something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling inside me—"

"A cold feeling." Annabeth's tone changed. She sounded almost...scared.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Why?"

"Maybe we should cut him a break." I offered, trying to help the poor kid out. "When he headed up to the Argo II I saw something different in his eyes..like it wasn't really him. It could be possible that he was controlled somehow."  

From belowdecks, Percy called up, "Eliana, we need you."

I made my way down below. Jasper followed me. He had been following me around the ship since we left. I asked him why, and his explanation was that I had gotten him into this mess and that he didn't really know what else to do. 

Jason was laying on a couch with Piper and Percy surrounding him. 

"Give him some room." I said,  and they both immediately stepped back. I placed my hands on Jason's face and a small green light glowed from them. Both Percy and Piper had already seen my healing abilities before but Jasper watched in amazement. 

The cut on Jason's face started to heal over until it was no more. Jason relaxed in his sleep. 

"He'll be okay, he just needs to finish resting." I said when I finished healing him. Piper said she would stay and watch over Jason so the rest of us headed back upstairs. 

"Is Jason—?" Leo immediately asked. 

"He's resting," I said. "Piper's keeping an eye on him, but he should be fine."