𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕣||HoO

𝐗𝐕

MAISIE DIDN'T remember much after the explosion. There were two gold dragons. The ceiling had exploded. Something burning. Festus had come. There was a point when they were falling. That's about it.

When she did wake up, her entire body felt like it was on fire. She felt like her veins were filled with lava, instead of blood. Her head felt like a monster was trying to claw it's way out of her brain. If she had anything in her stomach she would have thrown up.

Usually seeing the sunlight would have delighted her, but it only made her pounding headache worse.

Maisie tried to sit up, but felt too nauseous. 

"Ahhhgggggggh!"

The sound of someone screaming pierced her ears like a million daggers. She wished she could have just been asleep.

Whatever Maisie was laying on shook as people jumped up.

"Coach is awake," Leo's voice said.

Maisie was confused. Where were they? Last she remembered they were in a sewer in Chicago. No, wait, they were at a princess' department store. Everything slowly came back to Maisie.

She covered her ears to block out the sound of the Coach shouting "Die!" and the  shattering glass.

"Coach!" someone yelled, but Maisie was pressing her hands into her ears too hard to notice who it was.

She curled into a ball, trying to block out all noise and light. It didn't work very well. She could still hear the muffled talking and light still came through her eyelids.

After a few moments of excruciating pain, someone put their hand on Maisie's shoulder. She didn't respond. She knew she was going to die soon, and she just wanted to be left alone.

The person was able to pull Maisie's hands off her ear, and she heard, Piper's voice, "Maisie? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

The daughter of Aphrodite was speaking softly, but it sounded so loud to Maisie.

The daughter of Apollo shook her head, "No."

"Please, Maisie," Piper pleaded. "You need ambrosia and nectar."

Maisie hesitantly opened her eyes, and was met with blinding light. The entire room seemed to be reflecting the sunlight into Maisie's eyes. She blinked a few times, and realized it was. The entire room was covered in gold. The couch she was laying on, the floor, the table, the statues across the room, the walls, the curtains.

"Why is everything gold?" she asked, although her voice came out as a croak, and her throat felt like it was on fire.

"We're still trying to figure that out," Piper admitted, handing Maisie a small square of ambrosia.

She chewed it and swallowed it, although it felt like she was swallowing glass.

"More," Maisie croaked.

"No, you'll burn-" Piper protested.

"I need more, Piper," Maisie insisted. "Please."

The daughter of Aphrodite relented, handing her another square.

The ambrosia didn't do much except dull her headache, but at least she could keep her eyes open without it feeling like she was going to explode.

Piper was about to ask Maisie something, when a door opened at the far end of the room.

A pudge man in a white bathrobe stepped out with a golden toothbrush in his mouth. He had a white beard and one of those long, old-fashioned sleeping caps pressed down over his white hair. He froze when he saw them, and the toothbrush fell out of his mouth.