Melancholy Kaleidescope | PJO

Ch. 15: Going Home

The ride to the trailer park where they touched down was a blur for the most part. The only thing Jinora could really focus on was the throbbing pain in her arm and holding onto Jepson so she didn't fall off and plummet to her death. Though, at least if she were dead her arm wouldn't be bothering her anymore.

Chiron helped ease Jinora off of Jepson's back and led her over to a log by a fire pit. It reminded her of the fire pit at camp.

She almost sighed in relief. Her home was so close, she could only hope Mr. D wouldn't actually send her into exile for leaving camp.

"It's a dislocation. We'll have to set it before the joint starts healing incorrectly," Chiron told her with a grim look. Jinora gulped and took Annabeth's hand, who knelt in front of her.

In one smooth motion, Chiron reset her arm. It had been her elbow, torn from its socket when she tried to get away from Oerius. Jinora let out another scream and dropped her forehead against Annabeth's shoulder as Chiron yelled at one of his relatives to get a sling and something to wrap her arm in.

Jinora breathed heavily against Annabeth, struggling through her shaky breaths as pain surged up her arm again. She didn't remember him wrapping up her arm, and she could barely focus when she had to lift her head up for the strap of the sling to go over her head.

"We'll have to get you checked out in the infirmary when we get back to camp," Chiron said with a weary look in his eyes. "Will or Lee will need to take a look at your arm. Until then, try not to move it too much. This is just a temporary fix."

Jinora nodded and leaned against Annabeth again, who had moved to her left. Chiron moved to tend to Percy's wounds from his fight with Luke. She closed her eyes in the hopes that the world would stop spinning.

"Chiron," Percy said after a couple of minutes, still stunned that the old Centaur had come to their rescue. "You saved us."

"Well now, I couldn't very well let you die. Especially since you have cleared my name."

"But how did you know where we were," Annabeth asked.

"Advanced planning, my dear," Chiron answered. Jinora opened her eyes to find the world still spinning, albeit slower. "I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami."

"Gee," Grover mumbled. "Thanks."

"No, no," Chiron moved to correct himself. "I didn't mean...Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."

Jinora decided to keep her gaze on the campfire as the world slowly found its stillness. There were three blurry party ponies teaching a blurry Tyson how to operate a paintball gun. Jinora only hoped they knew what they were getting into.

"So what now?" Percy asked. "We just let Luke sail away? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway."

Chiron moved to the deep gash in Percy's thigh that had nearly got him skewered. "I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won."

"But we got the Fleece," Annabeth pointed out. "Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now!"

Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. "You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you."