SANITY; heroes of olympus

01.14

[act one; chapter fourteen     -     so it begins]

Getting the helicopter was the easy part. Getting Piper's dad on board was not.

The daughter of Aphrodite needed only a few words through Leo's improvised 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 Piper told the very nice ranger pilot lady that it would be a great idea to fly them to the Oakland Airport, she readily agreed.

"No," her dad muttered, as they picked him up off the ground. "Piper, what—there were monsters—there were monsters—"

She needed both Leo's and Jason's help to hold him, while Coach Hedge gathered their supplies. Fortunately Hedge had put his pants and shoes back on, so they didn't have to explain the goat legs.

Andromeda did what she could, doing her best to calm his mind and ease his memories. She was sitting in front of him, her hands on his head, trying to replace his now darkened memories with light ones, old ones from when his daughter was younger, when life was so much simpler.

"It'll be okay, Dad," Piper said, making her voice as soothing as possible. She didn't want to charmspeak her own father, but it seemed the only way. "These people are my friends. We're going to help you. You're safe now."

He blinked, and looked up at helicopter rotors. "Blades. They had a machine with so many blades. They had six arms..."

When they got him to the bay doors, the pilot came over to help. "What's wrong with him?" she asked.

"Smoke inhalation," Jason suggested. "Or heat exhaustion."

"We should get him to a hospital," the pilot said.