The Blazing Fate

Chapter Seventeen

Astrid was the first one to wake up. She was cold and shivering but with a couple blankets and some inside heat she was able to feel a little bit better. Hedge had wrapped up her bloody arm.

She didn't know what time of day it was. The storm outside made it too dark to know. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. Astrid was colder than she had ever been before.

'Damn it,' Astrid mumbled. 'I really didn't want to get goldified.'

'You did good,' Jason said. 'Thanks for the support.'

Astrid nodded. 'Where are we?'

'Pikes Peak,' Jason said. 'Colorado.'

Astrid narrowed her eyes. 'Why? What's here?'

Before Astrid got any answers, she was helping Leo try and warm up. She explained to him what had happened and requested he start a fire. He asked Jason the same question: Why are we here?

It took a lot to get Piper completely ungoldified. Astrid tried to help keep her temperature down, but she was injured herself. It was harder to heal when you're already in pain, but she tried.

Piper still ended up with hypothermia. Hedge tried to make some nature magic, but it didn't cure her. Just brought up her temperature enough to not be totally concerning. It took her a bit more time to wake up.

'Oh, god,' Piper said, her teeth chattering. 'He turned me into gold!'

'You're okay now,' Jason said, tucking a warm blanket around her.

'L-L-Leo? A-Astrid?' Piper managed.

'Both present and un-gold-ified,' Leo said. 'We both got the precious metal treatment too. But we came out of it 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.'

'You've got hypothermia,' Astrid said. 'We risked as much nectar as we could. I tried to help but I'm too hurt, myself. Hedge did a little nature magic—'

'Sports medicine,' Hedge said. '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.'

'Thanks,' Piper said weakly. 'How did you best Midas?'

Jason told her the story, blaming most of it on luck.

Hedge snorted. 'Kids being modest. You should've seen him. Hu-yah! Slice. Boom with the lightning!'

'Coach, you didn't even see it,' Jason said. 'You were outside eating the lawn.'

But the satyr was just warming up. 'Then I came in with my club, and we demonized that room. Afterward, I told him, "Kid, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength"—'

'Coach,' Jason said.

'Yeah?'

'Shut up, please.'

'Sure.' Hedge sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel.

Astrid put her hand on Piper's forehead and almost jumped back. She hated being cold, feeling cold, anything that has to do with winter. And at that moment Piper was freezing. 'Leo, can you stoke the fire?'

'On it.' Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire.

'Do I look that bad?' Piper shivered.

'Nah,' Jason said.

'You're a terrible liar,' she said. 'Where are we?'

'Pikes Peak,' Jason said. 'Colorado.'