Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 9

"JASON!" Piper kept calling his name as she held him, though she'd almost lost hope. He'd been unconscious for two minutes now. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. She couldn't tell if he was even breathing.

"It's no use, child." Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.

Piper hadn't seen the goddess go nuclear. Thankfully she'd closed her eyes, but she could see the aftereffects. 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 Piper's side, her hand on Jason's forehead.

Thalia glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"

And while she argued with the goddess, Cressida knelt by Jason's side before she lowered her lips to his.

Piper was about to lose it. Yeah, this girl was powerful, and she'd fought a lot of wars blah, blah, blah, but who the hell was she to kiss her boyfriend?! Didn't she have one of her own?!

But her anger dissipated when she realised that Cressida's cheeks were puffing out before she lifted her mouth off Jason's and did it again. And then she laced her fingers together and she began pressing on his chest.

She was giving him CPR.

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."

"What else did the prophecy say, Leo Valdez?!" Hera spat back and the last lines occurred to him.

"The saviour is the daughter of wine. Without her, more than one will die," Leo finished and Piper announced,

"He's breathing!"

"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—"

"Shut up!" Cressida snapped. "We tried the normal way. Now we do it the magical way. Piper, want to give me a hand?"

She nodded eagerly as Cressida placed her hands on his cheeks and took a deep breath, preparing to use her powers.

"Jason," Piper called, putting every bit of her willpower into his name. She could not lose him. "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

"He's hanging on," Cressida informed them, her head tipped back and her eyes aflame. "But barely. Piper, give me your hand," she instructed as she held hers out. "I can amplify your power."

And their hands joined as Piper felt a burst of strength and energy surge through her, centring on her neck and on her vocal cords like a scream waiting to burst forth.

"That is impossible," Hera persisted. "Healing is not a power of Dionysus or Aphrodite. His mortal spirit -"

"Jason," the two girls said together, their voices full of power as it reached all the way down to the Underworld. "WAKE UP!"

He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded, and his eyes were normal again.

"What—what happened?"

"Impossible!" Hera said.

Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, "Crushing me."

"Sorry," she said, wiping tears from her eyes as Jason's lips tingled and he half wondered if her kiss had woken him up.