𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕣||HoO

𝐗𝐕𝐈

MAISIE GRUNTED in pain as Jason bandaged her side. She was keeping her eyes averted from both her hands and side so she wouldn't throw up again. She had thrown up three times since they had gotten to the cave.

"Okay, all done," he took a step away from Maisie. 

"Thanks," she forced a smile.

"How did that-" before he had finished the question, Piper woke up.

"Oh, god," her teeth chattered. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now," Jason leaned over and tacked a warm blanket around her.

Piper looked around, trying to figure out where they were. Maisie wasn't really sure where they were. She was only half-conscious after Jason summoned the storm spirt. It wasn't until she had eaten some nectar about an hour ago that she had become fully awake.

"L-L-Leo?" Piper barely managed to ask through her shivering.

"Present and un-gold-ified," Leo said. He was wrapped in blanket too, but he was doing much better than Piper was. "I got the precious metal treatment too," he said. "But I came out 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."

That was a pretty accurate description of the whether. Outside the sky was thick with clouds, and the snow was blowing sideways from the wind.

"You've got hypothermia," Jason told Piper. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic-"

"Sports medicine," the coach corrected. "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. Which is more than I can say for Maisie."

"What?" Piper sat up, looking over at Maisie.

Maisie glared at the satyr. She didn't want to alarm Piper more than she had to. "I'm fine-," she tried to assure her.

"No, you're not," Jason cut her off. "You almost died, and you weren't even turned to gold. What happened Maisie? Did something happened at Medea's?"

Maisie shook her head, "No. This happened a while ago. Like, about an hour after I got to camp."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Piper asked.

"Because this quest was already going to be hard enough without me dying again," Maisie snapped.

Everyone fell silent, looking a bit guilty.

"Sorry," Maisie sighed. "I just didn't want you to worry. I hate being a burden. I knew this quest already had high stakes, and I didn't need you guys to stress how I'm going to die if we don't get to Hera in time."

The room went silent, then Leo asked, "How did you get hurt? I mean, you seemed fine at the Grand Canyon."

Maisie swallowed, "I was. Uhm, after we got to camp, I passed out. I had a dream about Hera. She told me if I didn't save her by the solstice I would die again. When I woke up the cut on my side was back."

Piper hesitated, then asked, "Is that- Is that how you, you know, died?"

Maisie nodded, "Yeah. Poison dagger during the Battle of Manhattan."

The room, or cave, fell silent, and the only noise was the sound of snow hitting the stone, and the wind rushing by.

Jason put his hand on Piper's forehead and checked her temperature, "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

"On it," Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and threw it into the campfire.

"Do I look that bad?" Piper shivered.