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I 023. I
𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒆
❝ exchange ❞
"JASON!"
Piper kept calling his name as she held him. He'd been unconscious for two minutes. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. They county tell if he was even breathing.
"It's no use, child." Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.
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.
Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by a Piper's side, her hand on Jason's forehead.
Thalia glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"
"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—"
"Fix him!"
Hera's eyes flickered with power. "I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before o revealed my true form."
"Um..." Leo frowned. "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."
"We didn't need it," Ariadne said. "I had it under control. But you know mortals can't look upon you in that form! 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."
"He's breathing!" Piper announced.
"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal had ever—"
"Jason," Piper called, putting every bit of her willpower into his name. "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."
Nothing happened.
"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite," Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—"
"Jason," Piper said again, and she imagined her voice resonating through the earth, all the way down to the Underworld. "Wake up."
