The Blazing Fate

Chapter Twenty-Six

'Jason!'

Piper kept calling his name as she held him. He's been unconscious for two minutes now. Astrid knew he was alive, but his body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. His heart was slow, and his breathing was almost nonexistent. Astrid was subtly touching Jason's arm to get his vitals. She was trying to figure out if there was anything she could.

'It's no use, child.' Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.

Astrid hadn't seen Hera turn into her true form, she knows better, but the aftereffects were everywhere. Every vestige of winter was fried from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before—still ruins, but with no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres.

Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Piper's side, her hand on Jason's forehead.

Thalia glared up at the goddess. 'This is your fault. Do something!'

'Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—'

'Fix him!'

Hera's eyes flickered with power. 'I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was too be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form.'

'Um...' Leo frowned. 'True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?'

'I unleashed my power to help you, fool!' Hera cried. 'I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice.'

'He's breathing,' Astrid said suddenly. She couldn't stand to see her friend in more pain.

'Impossible,' Hera said. 'I wish it were true, child, but no mortal—'

'Be quiet,' Astrid snapped.

She knelt down and replaced Thalia's hand with her own. She focused on his slow breaths. His beating heart. Everything was faint but it was there.

'Piper, when I say now, tell him to wake up,' Astrid said.

She focused her energy towards Jason. For a moment she could feel his pain. The blistering heat, the burning of his eyes. She pushed through.

'Now!'

'Jason,' Piper said with an insane amount of force. 'Wake up.'

At the same time Astrid prayed to her dad. Asked him to help her heal Jason. Astrid opened her eyes just in time to see yellow in his veins.

He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a second, they were golden until they returned to his electric blue. 'What—what happened?'

'Impossible!' Hera said.

Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, 'Crushing me.'

'Sorry,' she said, laughing while wiping a tear from her eye.

Thalia gripped her brother's hand. 'How do you feel?'

'Hot,' he muttered. 'Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible.'

'That was Hera,' Thalia grumbled. 'Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon.'

'That's it, Thalia Grace,' said the goddess. 'I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—'

'Stop it, you two,' Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.

Astrid and Piper helped Jason to his feet and gave him the last nectar from their supplies.