𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐔𝐌 • Heroes of Olympus

XXV

𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏 hurt more than it should've. Or maybe it was because someone was shaking Andy like she was a faulty salt shaker.

She let out a moan. The shaking halted.

"Oh, Valkyrie!" Leo screamed, and then she was being crushed against his chest. "Don't scare me like that again."

Andy groaned into his shirt and he pulled back, letting her have some sweet air at last.

There was a faint glow to their surrounding. A singed smell remained from Hera unleashing her true form. Every vestige of winter was gone 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.

Then, Andy's eyes landed on something that stole her breath. Jason was laying on his back in the middle of the pool, unmoving. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. She couldn’t tell if he was even breathing. Hera stood beside him in her simple black robes and shawl, eyes wide.

Andy heard Leo gasp behind her. He was at Jason's side before she could blink. Andy shot to her feet, but the abrupt movement sent her toppling. She landed hard on all fours, grazing her palms and knees. Grimacing, she crawled over to Jason's limp form. Leo was checking for his breath, his pulse.

"No," he mumbled, his voice barely leaving his lips. Then, loudly, "No! Jason!"

Andy couldn't process anything. Her mind refused to cooperate. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move. Jason couldn't be— There was no way he was—

Leo kept shaking Jason, as though the salt shaker treatment would work on Jason too. 

"It's no use, child," said Hera, something like sadness on her face.

The newly defrosted Hunters made a loose semicircle around them, heads respectfully bowed. Thalia knelt by Leo’s side, her hand on Jason’s forehead, features twisted with pain. All around her, people were mourning Jason. And yet, kneeling there on her shaky limbs, Andy couldn't accept it. Jason couldn't die now. Not here, not like this. He had to live. She glared at his gradually paling form. Any minute now, he'd get up.

“This is your fault." Thalia glared up at Hera. "Do something!”

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

“Fix him!”

“I did warn him," Andy heard Hera say through the storm raging in her head. "I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form.”

“Um…” Leo frowned. He was breathing too quick. “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.”

“But mortals can’t look upon you in that form!” Thalia shouted. “You’ve killed him!”

Leo shook his head in dismay. “That’s what our prophecy meant. Death unleash, through Hera’s rage. Come on, lady. You’re a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back.”

Jason breathed.

Andy fell back in shock, head spinning. Blinked once. Twice. Jason's chest rose and fell. Rose again. Fell. Andy scrambled closer to him.

"He's breathing," she declared.

“Impossible,” Hera said. “I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—”