A/N: I've yet to edit this chapter. If there are any mistakes, I apologize beforehand. /slumps, hobbles away

{10.}

"W-Wait!" Drew yelled at Aeolus's retreating back. "Our parents told you to tell us where Hera is, didn't they?! So where is she!"

Drew couldn't believe her ears, nor her mouth; how could she be so bald-faced, towards a god? But Aeolus didn't seem to be insulted by her arrogance. His head turned slightly, acknowledging her with the barest of tilts. "The son of Jupiter knows where she is," he said finally. "Though he does not realize it yet." A pause, and then, "Mellie."

"Y-Yes, sir."

They got a lot more than "escorted".

Mellie bowed her head, apologetic. "I apologize for this," she murmured. She snapped her fingers, and the winds came.

Jason grabbed Drew's wrist and Leo's bicep, pulling them close to him. "Don't let go-!" he snapped, only to be interrupted by the onslaught that rushed them.

Drew didn't know which way was up, and which way was down. All she knew was the clench of Jason's hand, cold and tight as they were spun around, sharp air whistling around them and blowing them away, as furious and as dizzying as a tornado.

The next thing she knew, they hit something- or more like Jason hit something, taking the blow, the vibration of impact dully ring through Drew and Leo as well- and then there was icy fire as they rolled, burning against Drew's cheeks and hands and head as they rolled, over ridges of ice and hard humps of snow-

They came to a stop, lying in a heap. For a few seconds, Drew lay there, breathless- literally unable to breathe. It reminded her of the panic attacks she used to have, sharp inhales with no air left to compensate for her body's desperate grasping of oxygen...

And then she was breathing once more, her chest heaving as she coughed. She got to her knees, hands and wrists still inches-deep in snow, but she ignored the bite of frost as she checked over the other two. "Are you okay?!" she gasped, licking flakes of white and something that tasted like blood from her lips and the skin around her mouth.

Leo sat up, dazed. "Fine," he said distantly, "I'm fine..."

Jason didn't respond. Quickly, Drew realized why.

"Jason?" she said softly, and then louder, "Jason!" She crawled over to him, fingers scrabbling over his ruined jacket as she reached for his neck, checking for a pulse.

For a moment, she felt nothing- and then the thrumming of a heartbeat under her index and middle finger. She pulled away and sat back on her haunches, sighing. "He's alive," she muttered, and smiled at Leo tiredly. "He'll be fine. I think."

She didn't look at him long enough to see his expression at her words, turning back to look at the castle of Aeolia instead; the doors were still open, wind and snow rushing through to the palace's gleaming interior. To say they'd been kicked out would be like saying demigods were only a little special...

Drew blamed her depth of thought as the reason why she didn't notice Festus creep up on them. The first thing she felt was a hot snort of steam, cooled down by the below-freezing temperatures- she barely restrained a scream, and only managed the beginnings of a glare as she whipped around to the dragon, still shaken.

Leo, on the other hand, welcomed the dragon with a delighted laugh and open arms. Literally. "Festus!" he yelled happily, running up to the dragon to hug it- (Her? He? Suddenly, it was becoming weird to think of Festus as nothing more than a hunk of metal)- around the snout. "I missed you, buddy."

It's only been an hour at most, Drew thought grumpily, but she didn't voice it. She stared down at Jason; his lips were turning blue, his eyelashes fluttering as he breathed shakily, as if pained. Drew felt a pang of alarm. She thought he'd been knocked out cold, but clearly unconsciousness was wearing off fast. Not to mention that it would be a bad idea to leave him lying in the snow like this. That was just asking for it.

"Drew...?" Jason muttered, eyes opening blearily.

"Yeah. It's me, gorgeous." She raised herself to a kneel, snaking her arm around his shoulder as she helped him into a sitting position, trying not to wince herself at the sharp inhale of breath he took. How injured was he? "Hate to burst your bubble, but you can't sleep here forever."

Jason laughed a little at that, then grimaced. It wasn't even a funny comment- he must have really been in pain.

She hesitated, then said, "Come on."

Drew wrapped her arm around his waist, attempting to pull him to his feet- she realized it was a mistake as soon as she did it.

A gasp escaped Jason, too quiet to be a scream, as he pushed away from her, collapsing back into the snow.

"Jason?! Shit!" She fell to her knees beside him, his eyes closed again as he panted. "Fuck. Shit. Fuck."

She practically ripped open his windbreaker, feeling around for a wound or the warm wet of blood that she must have missed- leave him exposed to the cold too long, and he could get pneumonia or hypothermia or frostbite, but that was not her most pressing concern. Damn him for always taking the blow.

What had triggered so much pain- right, when she'd squeezed his side...

Carefully, Drew lowered her hand there, trying to be as gentle as possible. Considering the crack she'd also heard when they had slammed into the doors, she now had a faint suspicion of just what his injury was.

Lightly, she pressed into his ribcage. It was enough to startle Jason's eyes open as he curled away from her. Bingo.

She couldn't help the tendril of guilt that writhed inside of her from hurting him. But Drew ignored it, zipping up his jacket and letting him fall back to a bed of soft snow, before standing up with a deep exhale, trying not to look at him. "Houston, we have a problem."

"Christ." Leo shambled up to her, his eyes flicking down to Jason. "Is he okay?"

Drew smiled crookedly, her worry cracking through the grin, as weak as it was. "I think flyboy's got a case of broken ribs. Bruising for sure. Maybe internal bleeding. And we're out of ambrosia and nectar."

"Shit." Leo inhaled sharply through his teeth. "That's bad. That's really, really bad."

"No kidding." Drew crossed her arms, the gusts of icy wind nothing more than a pushed back annoyance, for now. "Look, can you get Festus to... lift him up without hurting him, or something? We need to find shelter."

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that." Leo gestured Festus over.

Drew closed her eyes as she watched Leo command Festus's movements. Jason was lucky not to have ended up with a punctured lung, or worse... And how could they even treat him? With proper medical attention, for normal humans it took a month or two to heal- for demigods, to three days at most, with the help of ambrosia or nectar. But they didn't have those resources. And their time constraints-

If they didn't find a solution, and fast, they were screwed.

A hatch unlocked from Festus's chest, releasing a Celestial Bronze arm that stretched out and carefully cradled Jason in its hand. When Drew blinked at Leo, he shrugged, a small smile on his lips despite his worried eyes. "Before we left camp, I messed around with a Festus a little bit. I know him pretty much inside and out now."

"Huh. Well." After a second of silence, Drew pulled her hood over her head. "We're gonna have to do this on foot," she said. The less disturbance Jason's body received, the better; looking at the stormy sky above them, the winds would be too turbulent. "Come on."

The first obstacle proved to be the ice bridge, hanging haphazardly over a chasm. Drew hadn't given it much thought when they'd arrived, but now that she was supposed to cross it... "Fuck."

"Hey, you!" she said, whirling around to face the dragon. "Fly Jason to other side, okay?" She pointed to the mountaintop at the other end of the bridge for good measure. "And do it gently!"

The dragon's wings stretched out, beating in the air for a few moments, before it gained enough power to lift off the ground and glide through the winds at a low altitude- at the cost of blowing snow into Drew's face.

She spat out a chunk, wiping it off her face. It was going numb- she definitely deserved her title of "icy bitch" that some campers gave her now. Festus did that on purpose. He so did it on purpose.

"Alright." she said, once she could move her mouth again. "Just the two of us now. Let's go."

"Wait." Leo grabbed her arm, stopping her. He was staring at the bridge, but not really; his eyes seemed to be a million miles away. Drew could see the gears turning in his head, whatever he'd just realized coming to life in his eyes- remembering what he'd been thinking when they'd first stood here. "I think I know why Jason was sent to Camp Half-Blood."

"Leo, this isn't really the time-" Drew started, but Leo held up his hand, shaking his head.

"Just hear me out, okay?"

"What?" Drew said, exasperated, then she sighed. "Fine. Make it quick."

Leo's eyes lit up, and he flailed his hands excitedly, despite the cold that was most likely biting at his fingers. "Think of that bridge as a metaphor for Jason."

Drew raised her eyebrow. "I'm not following." And it would be preferable if they treated Jason before he froze to death...

"He's Roman. So let's say, there's probably a Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood, or something of the like for Roman demigods, right? I mean, that body we saw- it had to get the armour from somewhere."

Drew nodded, still somewhat lost, and Leo rambled on. "Hera's the one who switched Jason and Percy. If Jason went to Camp Half-Blood, then it's not too far off to say that Percy was sent to the Romans' safe haven, is it?"

"Yes, but I don't-"

"Jason and Percy are the bridge," Leo said, cutting her off. "Meant to bridge the gap between Greeks and Romans. Something happened to split them apart, but I'm guessing Hera is using Jason and Percy to bridge the gap."

The more she thought about it, the less far-fetched it seemed. "Huh. You are pretty smart."

For a second, she thought she saw his cheeks flush, the slightest bit- but then he turned around, and Drew wasn't sure of what she saw. "We gotta get a move on."

They made their way carefully across the bridge of ice. At one point, Leo slipped, almost tumbling over the side, and Drew had to grab him around the midsection to keep him from falling into the chasm.

"Thanks," Leo breathed, shaky as she steadied him.

Drew peered over his shoulder, into the black depths of the chasm. "Don't mention it. Really."

Soon, they'd made their way across the bridge to the other side. Then they were knee-deep in snow, wading somewhere. Anywhere. Up here, although it was morning and the sky was a light blue, the blizzard obscured pretty much everything. Any skin that Drew had left uncovered was unfeeling, even her covered parts burning. She'd become too numb to shiver. When she tried to move her mouth, it took a couple of tries. "We can't last like this. Our clothes- we need shelter."

"There's gotta be a cave, shelter somewhere!" Leo shouted back at her over the winds. "Come on, just a little further-"

A little further turned into time Drew couldn't keep track of. She wasn't sure if it was morning or afternoon, 9 am or even 5 pm- there was only winter, unmerciful and dizzying. Everything was white- Drew was sick of it. At the moment, she'd be perfectly fine with never seeing snow again.

Leo let out a victorious yell, pumping his fist in the air. Drew glanced at him sharply, startled, and he grinned back at her. "There's a cavern up ahead," he said.

Drew stared at where he was pointing, and blinked. All she saw was white and blue. "I really... don't see anything, Leo."

His features drooped with exasperation. "Come on, look."

She rolled her eyes, but did as he said. The truth was that Drew's eyesight wasn't good- never had been. One of the things she inherited from her father, her vision wasn't quite 20/20. Honestly, she probably should have been wearing glasses. But she squinted, looking through everything until she saw black; the entrance to a cave, like Leod said.

Drew restrained the grin threatening to pull her lips wide. "Shit, I see it."

Of course, that was when everything had to go to hell.

A howl split the air, piercing and loud. More howls followed, from all directions; Drew jumped, and whirled around, looking for the source. It was impossible. The blizzard obscured everything, making it impossible to tell north and south and east from west.

It didn't matter- she could still see the cave, and though it seemed miles away-

"Leo, run!"

They ran.

It was so futile. Running through the snow was like running through quicksand. It seeped through her clothes, dragged her feet down every time she took a step and tried to pull her down into its white depths, but Drew kept going, no matter how much her chest rattled and hurt whenever she took a breath.

She could hear snarls, now, and guttural breathing- the wolves, monsters or mortal, were gaining fast. Somewhere between the wild adrenaline and fear, Drew managed to think: I fucking hate wolves. The thought did her no good, as most of her thoughts did.

Before she could think anything else that was completely useless, a force slammed into Drew's back, knocking her down and giving her a mouthful of snow and her own blood- she'd almost bit her tongue off.

She flailed and kicked, but couldn't get the wolf off of her. Unnatural, golden eyes stared into hers. The wolf opened its mouth, its drool dribbling down onto her face as it growled.

Drew slammed her fist into the side of its head, and the wolf pitched to the side with a whine. She stumbled to her feet, limping away- her ankle, she must have twisted it on the way down- and ignored the scorching pain in her back, from the cuts the wolf had seared into her back with its claws.

At the corner of her eye, Drew could see fire- Leo, fending off a pack of wolves that had gone for him. He could fend for himself. Drew couldn't. She opened her mouth, and tried to speak- and nothing came. It hurt too much to even breathe, much less talk. She couldn't think of anything else other than the unbearable pain. There were no words. Just her human instinct telling her to escape. Further ahead, Festus roared, letting out a golden stream of flames at the wolves trying to get to Jason.

They were cornered from all sides.

These wolves weren't like the human-wolf hybrids of the sewers back in Chicago. They had no humanity holding them back, no heart to stop them from killing a few stupid kids. These weren't creatures she could plead with, beg with.

It was hopeless. All so, utterly hopeless.

The same wolf came for her again- this time, it didn't go for her back. It went for her left shoulder, fangs sinking in.

Drew screamed, and with an inhuman feat of strength that only half-bloods could have in the moments they needed them, threw the wolf off of her. Thank god it wasn't the size those kids had been- except for their eyes, these wolves could almost be mistaken for normal.

But it was impossible. None of them had any silver, the only thing that could kill lycanthropes. Even fire wouldn't work. Drew's foot collapsed from under her, and she fell, onto her haunches. When she looked up, there were three wolves loping towards her- predatory, a hunter going for its prey. A hunter that knew the hunted was on its last legs.

They were the things of nightmares. Every bad dream you had, every time you thought the bogeyman was hiding under your bed. And they were coming. For her.

Drew couldn't help the panic that overwhelmed her. "No," she sobbed. "No, no, no." She scrambled back, almost comical in her desperation. Blood flowed steadily from her shoulder and back, staining the layers of white with droplets of red. Tears froze almost instantly on her face.

This was impossible. This couldn't be happening.

They were on a quest. Sure, demigods died on quests, all the time, but that was- that was Before. Before Percy and Annabeth. Before they'd won the war. Nothing could touch them now, nothing- nothing wassupposed to touch them now, they were the new heroes, the legends of modern age-

And she could die. Drew was going to die.

It was funny, how hard that realization hit. When it came, it came.

Somewhere in the last few years, she'd forgotten just how easy it was for demigods to die. She'd assumed she'd never be one of them, not another statistic, another warning to children to make them scared, to give them caution. But she was. She'd never been different from the rest.

Her time had come.

Drew had always thought she'd be able to meet her death with neutrality, with acceptance.

All she felt was terror.

I don't want to die. Please. Don't let me die. Please.

She had no acceptance for this. None.

The wolf- the one she'd hurt- it was coming for her now. Despite their sheen, their colour, the eyes looked dead. Like it wasn't even alive. Except for a single, lone glint of hunger. Drew's mouth opened in a silent scream.

And then her saviour came in the form of an arrow, puncturing straight through the monster's heart.

-X-

Wolves were becoming golden dust, all around her.

Silver arrows whizzed through the air, breaking the whispering wail of the storm. The lycanthropes fell, left and right.

As for Drew- Drew was frozen in place. She should have felt- something, but the fear, or the sudden disappearance of it left her empty.

She was shaking.

The cold faded away into nothing more than a loving hand trailing across her skin, but it should have hurt. Her wounds became just that- wounds, as Drew's mind escaped to somewhere far, far away. Warm. Warm, she wanted to be- she wanted to be- she couldn't-

"Hey."

They were all dead, now.

"Hey, girl. Get up, just-"

She was still shaking.

And then an arm was snaking around her waist, pulling her to her feet. "Don't be so cold, Naomi," the voice at her ear said, stern. Drew recognized it. Phoebe, she was- the healer, right, the healer.

For a moment, Drew came back to herself. "My- the people I was with," she said, "You have to help them, they could be- they could be hurt-"

"Your friends will be fine," Phoebe said, and Drew didn't hear the rest of the response, fading away once more, except for a distant, "Shit, she's going into shock-"

Drew wasn't sure how long it'd been when she came back to herself.

When she opened her eyes, she was resting against fluffy pillows, a blanket around her shoulders. Slowly, Drew came back to herself. With aching limbs and muscles, she sat up, still blinking, and tried to stand up. Her lips were cracked, her mouth parched, and- her shoulder burst into pain, her back following it, and she couldn't stop the yelp that leapt from her mouth.

Phoebe, who'd been sitting a few feet away staring at the opening of the tent, lost in thought, jerked- her eyes found Drew and widened, and then she was rushing over, pushing Drew back down and against the pillows gently, blabbering all the while. "You can't get up yet, it's too soon, your stitches-"

Drew held up a hand. "Stop." After a short pause, she croaked, "Please."

Phoebe blinked. Then she fell back on her haunches, smiling in apology and relaxing from her tense position. "Sorry. That was-" She rubbed the back of her neck. "Too much at once, huh."

Drew licked her lips. "Yeah." She shook her head, grimacing at the hurt in her body, a hurt that probably wouldn't go away for a while, and asked, "My companions, they're- they're okay, right?"

Phoebe reached out to pat her on her shoulder- the wrong one, and faltered, thinking better of it. Her smile turned reassuring. "Yeah, they're fine. We already treated their injuries. You got off the worst, I'm afraid."

"Oh," Drew said. It was meant to come off surprised, but it fell flat instead. She wasn't, not really.

"How long was I out?"

Phoebe got to her feet. "Only five hours. Don't worry, you still have a lot of time left. Your friends told me about your quest."

Drew opened her mouth, about to correct her, then exhaled softly instead. Wasn't worth the energy. She rubbed her hands together. As much as she was enjoying the tent, with the fire burning away in the middle, the soft pillows supporting her and a comfortable rest she hadn't received for what felt like forever- "When can I get back on my feet?"

"As soon as you have some nectar. I was waiting for you to wake up." Phoebe rummaged through her pack, before pulling out a canteen. As she pulled it out, she paused. "And a change of clothes. Sorry, your old ones..." She waved her hand, and Drew's gaze drifted to the direction it was flapping in. Her jacket and sweater lay in a pile, covered in blood that had dried till it looked almost black. A lost cause for sure.

"Eh. Not that big a deal."

"Oh, yeah." Phoebe blew out a breath between her lips. "Child of Aphrodite, right. You probably have lots of clothes at home."

Drew wanted to be annoyed, but she just shifted uncomfortably instead, looking down at her lap. "Yeah. I guess."

Phoebe walked over and crouched beside Drew, unscrewing the lid of the canteen. "Today was your lucky day, you know? Those wounds on your back and shoulder weren't deep enough to do major damage, but you bled enough to go into shock. If we hadn't been there-" she hesitated. "One of your companions was already out. The other doesn't know basic first aid. If we hadn't been there, even if you'd managed to get away from the wolves, you'd have probably..."

"Died." It sounded so crude, the way it came out of Drew's mouth.

"Yeah." Phoebe sighed. "Look, I'm just trying..." She ran a hand through her hair, annoyed. "Chiron shouldn't have let you guys go. Not in the state you're in. For something of this magnitude, you're not-"

"Enough." Drew's face twisted in a weak imitation of a smirk. "And he wouldn't have, but Hera seemed to think we were ready."

Phoebe didn't say anything, but it was clear in her eyes: of course. Again, she sighed. "Normally, there'd be more of us, but you know, with Percy going missing, well- we've kind of been chasing crumbs. Here." She handed the canteen into Drew's hands.

Resisting the urge to take a whiff of it, as it had been a habit of hers when she was younger, Drew took a sip. And she froze.

She knew what it was going to taste like, of course. This wasn't her first time having nectar. But it didn't happen often, and somehow the taste managed to shock Drew every time.

It was the hot chocolate her Dad used to boil on the stove, on cold winter days like this one- she could see it in her head. Her dad, standing at the stove, his back to her with a few wrinkles in his normally pressed white button-down. He'd be humming that stupid lullaby under his breath, the song my parents used to sing to me, Drew and then he'd sit down on the couch with her in his lap while he regaled her with stories of his childhood or folktales, that small smile so bright on his unusually young, tired face-

Drew wasn't sure if it was just the homesickness, or the leftovers of the fear from early, the frustration that had building up these past few days, or just the deep feeling of grief and loss that she'd held at bay for so, so long and came rushing back with the memory- but she started to cry.

Phoebe took the canteen carefully from her trembling fingers. She didn't ask why Drew was crying- she seemed to understand as her face grew somber, and she said, "Hey. Hey, it'll be okay now," and wrapped an arm around Drew's shoulders.

After she was done, Drew let herself tremble one more time before she forcefully stilled her body. She let her hands fall from her face. Most likely, she looked like a total and complete mess, her cheeks flushed and her eyes swollen, tracks dried on her face. "Sorry," she murmured.

Phoebe smiled, but it seemed fractured, somehow. "It's okay. It happens."

Now that she'd had her little waterfall session, there was a headache growing behind Drew's eyes. The tears had dehydrated her, the sobs had made her wounds ache, and she reached for the canteen. "Um, can I..."

"Yeah, you probably should."

Drew downed the rest of it without any more blues, thank the gods. "Whoo," she said, after she set it down. "I think I could do a couple of rounds with a bull."

Phoebe snorted. "Don't get ahead of yourself, now." She unwrapped Drew's bandages. "Well, there's no chance of infection. You still need the stitches, but you shouldn't require them for more than a week."

"Hey, as long as it's not bad news, it's music to my ears." She stood up, this time without the dramatics. Still a little achy, but she'd deal.

Drew changed into the gray parka and camo pants of the Hunters, as well as their boots. Though she was loathe to admit it, the clothes she'd been wearing before hadn't exactly been suitable. These, on the other hand, were warm and comfy, regardless of their ugliness.

Phoebe helped Drew restock her pack. They couldn't carry much, and the small group of Hunters didn't have a lot to share, but they made it work.

Phoebe sized Drew up. "Suits you," she said. "Well, your friends are waiting."

Drew tried not to be too disappointed as they stepped out of the tent into the cold weather of Pikes Peak. Phoebe lead her to the cave they'd seen before. "The winds dispersed the dust left by the lycanthropes," she said. "Only damn good thing about this storm."

Inside, a fire coloured the cavern walls gold. Somehow, Festus had managed to fit inside, and was curled up, softly snorting gray plumes of gas. Leo sat at its chest, knees curled up to his chest and staring dully at the hearth. When he saw Drew standing at the foot of the cave, his eyes lit up. "You're okay!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and running to her. Drew wasn't prepared when he flung his arms around her neck, stumbling a few steps back, but she managed to stay on her feet somehow.

He clung to her, the top of his head coming up to her chin as he settled back on his heels. Uncomfortable, she patted his curls. "Yeah, shorty," she mumbled. "I'm okay. Really. You can let go now."

Leo stepped back, but was still breathless as his eyes looked her up and down. "You gave us a real scare back there," he said, "When you, like, passed out and all. Thank you," he said, looking at Phoebe. "If you weren't there-"

"Ah, don't worry about it," the archer said.

Leo shot her a grateful grin, then looked back over his shoulder. "Jason! Drew's awake!"

Drew thought it was rather unnecessary, considering that Jason had been staring at them the whole time. But he smiled at Drew, a smile that said I'm glad you're okay. Drew felt even more embarrassed.

"Alright, enough fussing," Drew grumbled. But she couldn't stop thinking about how close she really had been to death, and her resulting freakout. Phoebe was right. They weren't ready for the quest in the slightest. They hadn't even had a full day's of preparation, and it hadn't shown more than it had now.

They walked over to where Jason and two other Hunters had been talking. "Is there- any way I can talk to her?" Jason was saying. He didn't sound like himself. He sounded- small.

With a pang, Drew realized, Thalia. Of course, talking to the Hunters of Artemis, he'd be asking about Thalia.

"I'm sorry," one of them said. Drew didn't recognize her. She must have been a recent addition to the hunt. "She's on... an errand. It's dangerous for her to contact anyone right now."

Drew almost expected Jason to bristle, not the "ok" that came out of his mouth, as his face smoothed out from pleading into a blank look. The way he said it, it was like he'd only be minorly inconvenienced, not denied the chance to talk to a sister he hadn't seen for who knows how long.

"That... that's not the most important thing right now. I shouldn't have asked." Jason said slowly. Drew wondered how he even managed to get the words out. Momentarily, his eyes looked pained, before he regained control of himself. "Do you have any information about Hera's whereabouts?"

The huntress who'd been talking earlier responded. "Oh. That?" Her dark forehead wrinkled into a frown, her black curls falling into her eyes as she tilted her head forwards, her lips twisted sourly. "Yeah, sorry. We have no idea where she could be."

Jason frowned. "You already knew?"

The huntress shrugged. "News travels fast in this community. You'd be surprised. And, well, Hera is the Queen of the Olympians. It'd kind of be impossible not to know." She sighed. "If Artemis had still been here, most likely we'd be the first ones sent to track her down. But all the gods are freezing us out, and, well..." Again, she shrugged.

"Actually, that's the thing," Jason said. "I think I might know where Hera is."

The huntress's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Well, well." Drew felt more confused than ever. Besides her, Leo didn't look much far off.

"Sorry," Drew said, stepping forward and staring blankly at Jason. "Have we... missed something?"

Jason scratched the back of his neck. "I was waiting for you to wake up," he said. "Listen-"

He was interrupted as an Iris Message fizzed to life in the musty cavern air.

The quality wasn't as good as it usually was- a little fuzzy at the edges, but that didn't make the face staring back at them any less recognizable. Thalia Grace's blue eyes were wide, a cut on her forehead bleeding red down the side of her face, streaked with dirt and golden dust, her hair gray with what might have been ash.

"Camilla?" She said, speaking to the dark-skinned huntress, and then glancing to the brunette, "Alexandra. I have a situation on my hands and I need-"

Her gaze drifted over to Jason, and she froze. Confusion twisted her features, but there was a twinge in her eyes- of recognition, but distant, like she was seeing a stranger she'd known a long time ago. Which wasn't far from the truth. "Who's this?"

Camilla and Alexandra glanced at each other. "Um, Thalia," Camilla began awkwardly, because Jason seemed too stunned to speak himself.

"Forget it," Thalia said. "Look, I need backup. ASAP. Shit hit the fan pretty fucking quickly, way faster than it was supposed to-"

A pale face popped up behind Thalia's shoulder. "What's going on?"

Drew's jaw dropped, as her thoughts scrambled to keep up. What the fuck-

Unlike her, Jason had no problem speaking. He choked out, "Piper?"

...

Piper fucking McLean.

Ending Note:

And that's the end of it! I am so sorry it took me this long- I got hit with writer's block. Badly. Not to mention the stress of school and everything else, but at least I managed to get this out. For anyone who's been keeping up with the story, sorry to keep you waiting.

R & R, please!