lightning in a bottle » jason grace

three

CLARION

   That's the thing, though.
   She didn't.
   Even her unconsciousness, she felt soft sand caress her, casing her in a protective layer as she touched the ground. Her eyes peeled open, her advanced healing kicking in. Two women of sand, desert nymphs, stood over her.
   "Apollo saved my child once, it's only fair that I do the same," the one to the right of her said.
   "We will keep you here until the danger is over, but you must play dead so that the anemoi don't come for you," the other said.
   Clarion winced at the pain in her head. She would be in no fighting condition. Still, even knowing that, she couldn't leave them with only the help of Coach, no matter how well he packed a slug with his club. Looking up at the skywalk, she realized that the fight was well past the beginning point.
   Clarion watched in horror as Piper too was pushed over the edge and as 'Dylan' grabbed a half-conscious Leo. She moved to get up, but they nymphs held her down. Jason hurled himself over the edge and Clarion fought back a scream. What was he doing?! Piper hurtled towards her, but Jason caught her a good hundred feet above the river she lay beside.
   The Park watched in awe as they shot up, yard by yard, not even noticing the girl lying in the sand. Hurt flashed through her, but Clarion brushed it off. They thought she was dead, and with the pain radiating through her body like heatwaves, she felt that she might be better off that way.
   'Dylan' disappeared with Coach, and that's when the nymphs beside her decided she could go back.
   "May you find good fortune, child of Apollo," the one on the right brushed her hand against Clarion's temple. Clarion chuckled darkly.
   "I'm a demigod, I don't think good fortune is possible, but thanks anyways." She closed her eyes as the nymphs raised her 4000 feet into the air and back onto the bridge. Jason was the first to her side. While her injuries had healed, she was cursed to feel the pain of them for at least a day. So, there she was, lying on the glass floor. Jason pressed his ear to her chest, stunned to find her heart beating like a hummingbird's wings.
   "Clary? Can you hear me?" The nickname took her by surprise, but she managed to open her eyes again. Piper and Leo gasped. How could she have possibly survived that fall?
   "I hate heights," she managed to wheeze out. For some reason, she'd been able to speak and move semi-easily in the presence of the nymphs. But now, in the presence of humans, she found it difficult to move at all. Jason chuckled, pulling her to his chest rather abruptly.
   She froze, but she noticed her natural heat return to her body. Despite being shocked, Clarion couldn't help but discover how nicely her body fit into his own. He seemed to realize what he was doing and pulled away and cleared his throat. The cracks on the skywalk began to widen.
   "We need to get off this thing," he said. "Maybe if we—"
   "Ohhhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."
   Clarion looked to the sky, and sure enough, two Pegasi were hauling the Apollo cabin chariot. The chariot drew closer and with each wing beat Clarion found it easier to breathe.
   "Reinforcements," Jason said. "Hedge told us an extraction team was coming for us."
   "Extraction squad?" Leo had been on the floor of the skywalk, too. He struggled to stand. "That sounds painful." Clarion snorted. Jason stood, lending her a hand. She slipped her hand into his and he hauled her to her feet with a little too much ease. She wobbled on her feet, leaning on Piper. She had had enough contact with Jason for it to be good for her. Piper was glad to steady her, despite the green envy that had bloomed in her chest when Jason hugged her. But Piper pushed it away. As bad as it sounded, Jason had jumped after her, not Clarion.
   "And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.
The best place on Earth, Clarion thought.
   The chariot landed on the far side of the skywalk, the Pegasi tittering nervously at the cracked glass. Annabeth came charging with her knife towards the group. Butch, with his shaved head and burly stature, calmed the horse. Why had he come with her instead of Percy?
   "Where is he?" The blonde girl demanded. Her gray eyes were much like the storm they had just encountered.
   "Where's who?" Jason asked.
   Annabeth frowned like he had chosen the wrong answer.
   "Beth, what's wrong? Why are you here?" The blonde's eyes snapped to Clarion before widening. The Park girl hobbled away from Piper and into the arms of one of her best friends. Annabeth was shaking in Clarion's arms.
   Annabeth pulled away from her, but kept an arm around her. "Where's Gleeson?"
   "He was taken by—" Leo interrupted her.
   "He got taken by some... tornado things."
   "Venti," Jason clarified. "Storm spirits." Clarion blinked. How did he know basically everything, but the Roman version?
   Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's that Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"
   Jason really did try his best to explain. Halfway through, Butch came over with his arms crossed and a glare on his face. Annabeth's arm tightened around Clarion when Jason mentioned how she had fallen and they thought she was dead. Butch shot her a disbelieving look to which she only shrugged. The look on her face said I'm a bad bitch, what do you expect?
   Annabeth was dissatisfied with his story. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I would find the answer."
   "Annabeth," Butch grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet. Clarion followed his guide and gasped. Jason's left shoe was missing and his foot looked like a chunk of charcoal, but he didn't seem to be in any pain. He watched her with wide, confused eyes. In the entire situation, she was the safest option in his book. Leo was crazy, Piper made him feel like the guiltiest person alive just by looking at her, and Annabeth looked like she would decapitate him for fun. There was no way in hell he would ever go to Butch for solace, either.
   "The guy with one shoe," the son of Iris continued. "He's the answer."
    "What answer?" Clarion asked, but Annabeth ignored her.
    "No, Butch, I was tricked," she insisted. Glaring at the sky like it had condemned her itself, which in all honesty it probably had, she screamed. "What do you want from me? What have you done with him?"
    The skywalk shuddered beneath them and the Pegasi whinnied nervously.
    "Annabeth," Butch said. "We gotta leave. Let's get these four back to camp and figure it out. Those storm spirits might come back."
    She fumed for a moment, scaring Clarion. Annabeth rarely got this type of angry. Only when it involved Percy.
   Wait a minute.
    "Fine." The blonde pinned Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later." She turned and marched to the chariot, leaving all but Butch confused. Clarion stumbled a bit at the sudden lack of support, but found that she could walk on her own.
    Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"
    "Seriously," Leo chimed in.
    Butch looked at all of them disapprovingly. "We have to get you out of here. I'll explain on the way." Clarion nodded in agreement. She just wanted to hug her siblings and take a nap, was that too much to ask for?
    "I'm not going anywhere with her," Jason gestured to the fuming blonde in the chariot. "She looks like she wants to kill me."
    "I won't let that happen," the words left Clarion's lips before she even had a chance to register what they were. Jason raised his eyebrows. Clarion cleared her throat. "To any of you. None of you are dying while I'm here."
    Piper scoffed. "Yeah, because you're such a great protector?" She crossed her arms, and it pissed Clarion off that she still managed to look like a runway model after battling anemoi. She probably looked like a sand covered, bloody rat. Enraged, Clarion inhaled for a count of fifteen and exhaled for a count of ten. While Apollo wasn't known for his anger issues, Nari sure was.
    Butch placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled the smaller girl behind his hulking frame. It was both to stop her from blowing up at Piper and to stop her from beginning to cry, which unfortunately she did when she was angry. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."
    "What problem?" Piper asked. Clarion bristled at her voice. She had been hoping to make a new friend in Piper, but after Piper's demeaning question, Clarion and her hurt pride decided that it was probably not a good idea.
    "She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Butch answered. Three days? Clarion left four days ago, so she had no clue who was missing. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."
    "Who?" Jason and Clarion asked at the same time. Clarion frowned from behind Butch's back, unable to see the identical expression on the blond boy's face.
    "Her boyfriend," Butch said, earning a gasp from Clarion. No! "A guy named Percy Jackson."