Where You Go ― Jason Grace

xvii. storytime with leo & hedge

OPHELIA COULD REALLY go for some hot chocolate right about now. 

After fleeing Midas's mansion, Jason had used the uncooperative storm spirits to take the group in the direction of the vapor trail only Jason could see. One long, bumpy, nausea-inducing flight later, they were huddled in a shallow cave, a snowstorm raging outside. The cave didn't provide much protection from the cold, but it was better than nothing. 

Piper was in rough shape. For some reason, it had taken them longer to get her de-gold-ified. They'd had to dunk her in the river just to get the last of the gold off of her, which would have been fine if it wasn't freezing outside. According to Hedge, she had a bad case of hypothermia, and she hadn't so much as moved in the past hour.

Leo wasn't that much better, but he was awake, which was more than they could say about Piper. He'd recovered from Midas's gold touch from just the rain Jason had summoned, and he was alert enough to poke at the fire with his bare hands—something Ophelia doubted she'd ever get used to seeing.

As Hedge hovered over Piper, performing some kind of nature magic, Ophelia leaned back against Jason's chest, feeling at home with his arms wrapped around her. Part of her said they needed to get moving, that hiding out in the cave wasn't getting them any closer to rescuing Hera and getting Ophelia's and Jason's memories back, but the larger part of her was grateful for the rest.  

It wasn't too long before Piper finally woke up. "Oh, god." Her teeth chattered audibly. "He turned me into gold!" 

"You're okay now," Jason reassured her, leaning over to tuck a blanket around her, but the daughter of Aphrodite continued to shiver.

Piper took in their surroundings for a moment. "L-L-Leo?" she managed, tightening the blanket around her.

"Present and un-gold-ifid," he said, huddled under his own blankets. "I got the precious metal treatment too, but I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but... it's really, really cold."

"You've got hypothermia," Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—"

"Sports medicine," the satyr corrected. "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably."

"Thanks," Piper said weakly. "How did you beat Midas?"

Jason recounted what had happened while Leo and Piper were statues and Coach Hedge was on a lunch break. He put most of it down to luck, which made Ophelia scoff.

The coach snorted. "Kid's being modest. You should've seen these two. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Coach, you didn't even see it," Ophelia said. "You were outside eating the lawn."

But Coach Hedge was just warming up. "Then I came in with my club, dominating that room. Afterward, I told Jason, 'Kid, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength—'"

Ophelia stifled a laugh as Jason said, "Coach."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, please."

"Sure." The coach sat down, chewing on his cudgel.

Jason reached over and checked Piper's temperature, frowning. "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

"On it." Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire.

"Do I look that bad?" Piper shivered.