Hypnotised (Piper McLean x OC)

Thank you

*Piper's POV*

Piper woke up cold and shivering.

"Oh god." She muttered. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now." Jason leaned over and tucked a warm blanket around her. It felt strange. A few days ago, she possibly would've turned into a tomato or maybe even passed out at this action but now it felt the same as if Leo had done it. Just a friendly gesture.

She blinked, trying to figure out where they were. Next to her a campfire blazed, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against the rock walls. They were in a shallow cave but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled, snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night, the storm made it too dark to tell.

"L- Leo?" Piper managed.

"Present and un-gold-ified." Leo was also wrapped in blankets. He didn't look great but better than Piper felt. "I got the precious metal treatment as well, seems the only one who didn't was Lottie. Me and Jason came out of it faster than you, dunno why, we had to dunk you in the river. Tried to dry you off but it's really, really cold."

"You've got hypothermia." Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could, Hedge tried some nature magic."

"Sports medicine." The Coach's face loomed over her. "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell of mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably."

"Thanks." Piper muttered. "Where's Lottie? How did you escape Midas?"

Jason looked hesitant. "Lottie's... well I don't know really. I was fighting Lit and he managed to trip me. I remember Midas turning me to gold while Lit was attacking Lottie and then it was all black for a while. But then..." Jason trailed off.

"Then what?" Piper asked, stumbling to her feet. "What happened to Lottie?"

Jason sighed. "I woke up and Lit was dragging me away from the river. I thought he was going to kill me but then I saw his eyes. It was like he wasn't really seeing what he was looking at, he was just... blank, there was nothing there. His eyes were blue, the same as Lottie's were when she summoned her bag."

"So... what? What did he do?" Piper asked impatiently.

"Pipes... Lottie was controlling him. Lit took me back inside and she was just lying there, flickering with a sword through her chest. Then she stood up, she was saying something to Midas. I swear I've never seen someone look as afraid as he did. Then I went over to Lottie and she just said 'electricity' before passing out."

"But what happened?" Piper growled, growing exasperated.

Jason frowned. "I summoned lightning, the statues came back to life and attacked Midas. Lit went back to normal as soon as Lottie passed out but with that many people it didn't really matter. Then Hedge ran in and we dragged you outside. I used the storm spirits to bring us here after turning you and Leo back to normal."

"But what happened to Lottie?" Piper yelled.

Jason took an involuntary step back. Leo was staring at her. "You feeling alright, Pipes?"

"Don't call me that." She snapped.

"Why are you getting so annoyed?" Jason asked.

Piper took a deep breath. "Look I'm sorry, I'm just worried about her. I promised I'd get her back to her friends and I don't intend to break that promise. Just tell me where Lottie is." She sighed.

"You're not going to like it." Leo said.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked quickly.

"We don't understand how she's alive, we don't know what kind of magic is causing her to be able to function and we definitely don't understand how the revival is impacting her physically, mentally or psychologically." Jason said, standing up slowly, looking at Piper warily. "Something's happening to her after what she did to Lit. I don't know how she managed to do something like that after telling us she's a healer but whatever she did to control him, it's done something to her."