MELANCHOLY [1]

NINETEEN

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nineteen
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VIA WOKE UP, feeling horribly nauseous.

"Oh, fuck," she shivered. "He turned me to gold, didn't he?"

Jason handed her a blanket. "You'll be fine."

She turned around, trying to figure out where they were. In front of her, a campfire blazed, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against the rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection from the cold. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell. Via tightly wrapped her blanket around her.

"H-how you f-feeling?" Leo asked, teeth chattering.

As if in reply to his question, nausea washed over her. Via rushed to the far corner of the cave and hurled. Leo came up behind her and held her hair up, preventing it from falling in her face.

She coughed violently, and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Gods, that was disgusting.

"Sorry," she murmured weakly.

"Don't worry about it," Leo said, "It was totally my plan to look at Livvy puke today."

Via didn't laugh. "Shut up."

She sat down in her seat.

Piper woke up next, shivering.

"Oh, gods," Her teeth chattered. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now." Jason tucked a warm blanket around her.

"L-L-Leo? V-Via?" Piper managed.

"Present and un-gold-ified." Leo raised his hand. "We got the precious metal treatment too, but we came out of it faster. Dunno why. Livvy's just feeling the side effects of the gold. She puked just now, so be glad you weren't awake for that—"

"Leo?" Via said.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be quiet?"

"Anyways," Jason interrupted. "We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but...it's really, really cold."

Via looked at Piper. "She's got hypothermia."

Jason turned to Via in surprise. "How did you— Oh, right. Medic."

Via nodded. "Coach, did you—"

"I got it covered, cupcake." Coach said. "I gave her a bit of nectar, tried sports medicine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass." He told Piper.