The Heroes' Downfall

Chapter Thirteen

**Frank Zhang**

Percy and Hazel had been the first people to get transported to the infirmary, considering they had had the worst wounds. Jason was soon to follow, his body limp as some of the Ares campers dragged his unconscious self there. The rest of the seven and I were all waiting to visit them, sitting with Nico as he bounced up and down anxiously.

Will walked out of where he had been taking care of the two of them, taking a deep breath as he sat down beside Nico. The two boys shared a small hug, while the rest of us stared at Will expectantly. Were the two of them okay?

"Percy is stable," he muttered.

Nico broke down, and I knew the son of Hades was feeling something with his powers that the rest of us weren't. Hazel probably wouldn't make it. I pursed my lips as I looked at Will.

"Can we go visit them?"

"I suppose," Will muttered, and soon all of us were walking in the direction of Percy and my girlfriend.

**Percy Jackson**

I barely noticed when I started to wake up, too busy trying to ignore the pain that was flaring up in my stomach. The feeling of despair the goddess had caused wasn't as strong as before, but it was still there. I tried to figure out why that was, because last I had checked, my father had taken her back to Olympus with some of the other gods.

"Percy?"

The sound of Annabeth's voice caused me to push my eyes open. The look on everyone's face was one of worry, but I could still see the relief they had as they saw me wake up. I glanced over to the bed beside me, frowning when I saw Hazel.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked slowly.

"We don't know," Will admitted. "Her injury was more serious than yours was. She had multiple open wounds and it became infected when she fell on them."

I looked up at Frank to see his reaction, but he was doing pretty good at not showing any emotion. It made me confused. Was I the only one still being affected by the goddess's magic?

"Percy, what is it?"

"You guys aren't being affected by her anymore," I said confusedly.

"You are?" Leo asked, tilting his head. "You shouldn't be. The gods took her back to Olympus."

I took a deep breath and tried to block out the feelings that were flying around my head. I looked at each of my friends. I didn't see Jason, causing me to blink in confusion.

"Where is Grace?"

"He's in his cabin," Piper said softly. "Nico knocked him out when Hazel got injured."

Nico looked sheepish as he glanced between Hazel and me. He sat beside his sister, running a hand through her hair as if he was trying to reassure her or something. I took a deep breath as I nodded at them all.

It was about then that everything went to Hades. Nico suddenly jolted up, screaming Hazel's name. He dragged Will to her side, demanding he do something to make her heart beat again. I sat up quickly despite the wound in my side, holding my breath as if breathing would take away the air Hazel so desperately needed.

I curled into Annabeth as we all watched Will do his work, and soon Nico collapsed on the bed beside Hazel. He buried his head in her shoulder. Frank had a frown on a face as he tried to figure out if Nico was freaking out from relief or devastation.

"She's fine," Will promised. "She's stabilizing."

Frank gave a sigh of relief as he did the same thing Nico was doing on Hazel's other side. I gave a weak smile as relief flooded through me, too. The others in the room looked happy that the young girl in our group was going to be okay.

**Hazel Levesque**

The first time you feel your heart stop, it's terrifying.

The second time it happens, it's absolutely dreadful.

I opened my eyes a little, slowly raising both my hands and running my fingers through my brother and boyfriend's hair. They both looked up at me with small smiles, and I couldn't help but notice that Frank was grinning. He hadn't even been able to muster a convincing smile just before I had been injured.

"You look happy," I said softly, playing with his hair some more.

"And you don't," Leo commented. "Did the spell not wear off for you either?"

I frowned in confusion. "Spell?"

Percy quietly explained what had happened just a little, noticing he looked like he was out of it, too. His posture was deflated and he clung to Annabeth as though his life depended on it. I pursed my lips as I tried to figure out the aspect of a goddess that barely anyone had heard of had done something like this just to cause a war (that apparently didn't last long).

"You both were unconscious around the time that the goddess was taken back to Olympus," Annabeth said quietly. "Maybe that is why the spell hasn't worn off on you."

"Which means Jason is still gonna be affected, too." 

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