𝕺𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖊𝖘 𝕬𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙 - 𝕱𝖊𝖒𝕺𝕮 𝖃 𝕷𝖊𝖔 𝖁𝖆𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖟

Kiera

I ate shit the moment Leo let go of me.

He had his arm around me, supporting my entire body weight. My knees had given up the moment I was dropped, yet I insisted on walking by myself.

"I'm fine," I said, pushing his arm off me.

Leo raised an eyebrow as he let his arm fall. I took a step towards Piper, and I stumbled forward. With a pop, my right knee completely fell and I tried to step with my left foot, but that gave out the moment I fell.

Leo grabbed me by my hips and put his arm around me again. "You're fine?"

My face burned in embarrassment and I looked down. He handed me a few pieces from his tool belt, and I started working on the other half of his bullhorn.

Jason looked between Leo and I, from my hand holding onto his shoulder, to Leo's hand that had since dipped under the fabric of my tank-top, tapping patterns that I recognized were lyrics from Epic.

"There's something going on between you," Jason said. "And I genuinely can't tell what it is."

I shrugged. "Just friends."

Jason nodded to Leo's hand on me and crossed his arms. "Just friends? I'm pretty sure friends don't put their hands under their friend's shirt—"

"Well, when you say it like that, it doesn't sound the same," Leo frowned, putting the final piece on the machine.

Piper only needed a few words through Leo's bullhorn to convince the pilot to land on the mountain. The Park Service copter was big enough for medical evacuations or search and rescue, and when Pipe told the very nice ranger lady that it would be a great idea to fly us to the Oakland Airport, she agreed.

"No," her dad muttered, as we picked him up off the ground. Leo handed me off to Piper, who took the same stance. "Piper, what—there were monsters—there were monsters—"

Hedge gathered our supplies as I tried to imagine what would help. I couldn't give him ambrosia or nectar, I had only bandages, and he had trauma I couldn't get rid of.

Something near the bottom of the helicopter shifted and I squinted my eyes. A human shape seemed to be waving from the shadows.

I frowned. 

It moved, and I saw it had long hair. So it's either a girl, or a guy with really nice hair.

The shadow person waved again, but more insistently.

Piper wasn't paying attention to it, so I patted her shoulder and started to get her arms off me.

"What are you doing?" Piper asked.

"I can stand." I said.

"Last time you said that, you almost fell face first into the dirt."

I spread my arms. "That was right after the fight!"

She hesitated but let me go. Luckily, my knees supported my weight and I stuck my tongue out at her. Piper grinned before jokingly biting at me. . . Well, I can never be too sure with Piper, she was either joking, or not, knowing her. There were a few times where we debating having a friendly make out session. Or at least, I debated it.

My foot caught on a rock and I yelped before landing on my arms.

Leo and Piper immediately whirled to see if I was okay.

I held up a thumb. "Just a rock, legs are fine!"

Leo glared at Piper and said something to her, to which she responded by jutting her hip out and crossing her arms. My eyes may have betrayed me and wandered down.