Too Many Memories

A Goddess Sets Me On Fire

A Goddess Sets Me On Fire

"When will she wake up? She will wake up, right?" Percy's concerned voice broke through the serene darkness.

"Patience, she will heal." A somewhat familiar voice replied.

I groaned and opened my eyes, feeling my right leg and left arm encased in some kind of plaster. The same treetops as before greeted me when my eyesight adjusted. I twisted my head from side to side until I saw Percy.

His face filled with relief when he saw me looking at him and he crouched next to me. "Annabeth? How do you feel?" He helped me sit up and I saw the other person he had been talking to.

It was Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. She smiled at me when she saw me looking at her. "Are you all right?"

I studied my body and found that my broken limbs had in fact been encased in plaster, like casts. The blood had been cleaned off of my body and I was dressed in fresh clothes. A soft T-shirt and comfy sweatpants, so as not to hurt my body further. My chest was sore.

"You have few broken ribs, a broken ankle, a broken arm, and quite a few bruises. Nothing some rest can't heal. I helped with your cuts and stopping the flow of blood, but I am not Apollo and can't do much for your broken bones but ease the pain."

"Thank you." I lifted my arm to rub my head but accidentally used my left, and pain shot through it. I winced and held it closer.

"Hold out your arm." I did as Hestia instructed. She pointed at it and my arm erupted in fire. I screamed and Percy almost attacked the goddess.

"What the Hades are you doing?" I demanded while waving my flaming forearm in the air. Hestia gestured for Percy to calm and he grabbed my arm, summoning water to put the fire out.

"Stop, that was to dull the pain. I'll show you, just don't freak out again." She glared pointedly at Percy. He reluctantly nodded while glancing at Hestia warily.

I cautiously held out my arm again and it burst into flames. I grimaced and tried to resist the urge to run screaming for water. And then I realized something.

"It's not hurting. I'm not burning. It's . . . soothing." I brought my arm closer and saw that it was, in fact, perfectly fine. No charred skin anywhere, the plaster on the cast wasn't burning up either. As my arm glowed with fire, the pain from moving it faded until it was a mild ache.

"Wow." Percy whistled in appreciation. "Do you think you could . . ?" She grinned and my broken leg lit on fire as well, the pain slowly decreasing. "Thank you, Hestia. We are most grateful." The goddess nodded in acknowledgement and started to glow gold. I closed my eyes and turned away, not wanting to burn up for real.

When I opened my eyes again, Hestia was gone and so were the flames. Thankfully, the pain hadn't come back yet. Percy was sitting next to me. "We should get back to Camp, everyone will be happy to see you and you need some Apollo campers to look at you."

I agreed and started to get up, but Percy whisked me into his arms before I could lift one foot. I protested while he just chuckled and tightened his grip on me. I grumbled and growled but he didn't relent and I gave up, letting him carry me.

He walked for hours, seemingly nowhere. Nothing looked familiar, but he walked with purpose, so I assumed he knew where we were going.

After a few more hours of going nowhere, I spoke up. "Where are we? And why don't you just flash us there?"

"I don't want to risk hurting you more. And don't worry, I know where we are. Just a few more minutes and we'll be back at Camp Half-Blood." He grinned and kept walking. "Oh! I almost forgot." He shifted me in his arms and dug his hand into his pocket. He put his hand in front of my face and opened it. Sitting on his palm, was the necklace he had given me. Gaea had taken it the first day she had me captive.

"You found it. Thank you." I gently took the orb and fastened it around my neck, relieved at the familiar feel of it resting at my throat.

As Percy had said, we walked for about five more minutes and emerged from the forest in Camp Half-Blood. Campers and nymphs shrieked when they saw us and pulled out their weapons, but quickly put them away when they realized who we are. Two sons of Apollo raced over to us and took me from Percy, carrying me to the infirmary. Percy obediently followed behind them.

They got right to work as soon as I was set down on one of the beds. The campers bustled around the infirmary, grabbing bandages and pain relievers alike. When they had gathered everything they needed, they checked my casts and limbs, and found my broken ribs. They wrapped my chest to help my ribs heal and gave me a few more pain killers, before ordering me to rest.

Me being me, I didn't listen. Percy stayed by my side the whole time. "Percy, could you get Hylla, Tammy, and Tansy for me? And Thalia?"

"Sure." He got up and walked out of the infirmary to bring my friends. Chiron rolled in.

"Hello, Annabeth. I'm so happy you're back here safe, and not just because Percy was about to destroy the camp. All of us were so worried." He rolled his wheelchair over to the side of my bed.

Percy ducked through the door, the people I had requested trailing after him. Tansy and Tammy saw me and rushed over to both sides of my bed and hugged me.

"You were gone for two weeks!" Tammy sobbed.

"We had almost thought the worst had happened!" Tansy clutched me tighter.

I laughed. "It's okay, I'm back now." I turned to Hylla. "The Amazons weren't too hard to control, were they?"

Hylla beamed. "I don't think they'll try anything again."

"You're smile is scaring me." She beamed wider. "Okay, then. Hey, Thalia. How's life been without me?"

"Boring." She dismissed my absence lightly but I could tell from her face that she had been very worried.

"Annabeth, it's time to be serious. We know someone from camp took you. Do you have any idea who?" Percy looked straight into my eyes.

My breath caught. "I . . . yeah. I know who did it. But they're not at fault. They wanted to save their sister. That's the only reason why. Gaea had their sister and threatened to kill her if they didn't bring me to her. I will tell you their names, as long as you swear on the River Styx not to harm them in any way. They do not deserve to be punished."

"Fine," Percy sighed, "I believe you." The others reluctantly agreed and they all swore. "Now, who are they?"

"Travis and Connor Stoll."

"I noticed they were acting a little strangely after you disappeared. They have a sister?" Thalia tilted her head to one side.

"Yeah. A little half sister named Chelsea. She's not a demigod." I smiled at the memory. "I'd like to rest, please. Remember, don't hurt them. You can talk to them, but please, no hurting, yelling or making a scene."

They slowly trickled out, Percy being the last one. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and snapped his fingers. It didn't seem to do anything, but Percy looked satisfied so I didn't question him. He started to walk away and whispered, "Sweet dreams."

Then I fell asleep into peaceful slumber.