Hazel sighed. "After we defeated Echidna and her daughter the Chimera, Piper was on the verge of death and you had fallen unconscious. My father, Pluto, told me to go Red Wall Canyon. I didn't know why, but I trusted him and shadow-traveled there, taking you guys with me. Afterwards, I felt exhausted. To prevent myself from fainting, I put my hands on the ground and said, 'Help! Piper... poison... verge of death...' Khione, who was already with the guys, immediately froze Piper and put a snow cloud above her to keep her cool and prevent her from dying. Frank helped me up before I passed out from the exhaustion of shadow travel. Then Khione told Leo to stay away from the ice statue, to which he isolated himself. Afterwards, we just waited for you to wake up so that we could explain the situation."
I looked at Hazel, nodding to show that I understood her. "Okay... So what's the goddess of snow doing in the desert?"
"We were getting to that." Frank answered. "After we split up, I turned myself into a camel so that we could traverse the area at a faster pace. However, after about an hour, Jason suddenly stopped. He saw the ice goddess chained to a rock. She was chained with hot, semi-formed chains, like not even entirely metal kinda molten chains. Not only that, but she also had campfires on both sides of the rock. The hot chains, plus the desert heat, plus the fire, rendered her powerless. I turned back to normal and we rushed to her aid. Leo extinguished the fires while me and Jason handled the chains. Man, those took forever. If it was just metal, it would have been easier. We tried to ask her how she got there, but then Hazel appeared out of nowhere with two unconscious demigods."
I looked at him, baffled. "So, what happened?"
"Keto, an ancient sea goddess, came to my suite in Russia. She asked me if I wanted to join a faction of gods, titans and other creatures in a conquest for world domination. I refused. She tried tempting me with the promise of revenge on the Argo II Crew, but I refused again, telling her that they weren't so bad. She was under the assumption that I was one of your allies, which wasn't even entirely true. She called her husband, Phorcys, for backup, and the two of them ambushed me. They took me to the Death Valley desert and imprisoned me there. Since it's winter here, they believed the mild desert heat wouldn't be enough to neutralize my powers. So Phorcys got molten chains and Keto created a fire to further weaken me. I was stuck there for three days."
"Oh, that's just horrible. Not only did they imprison you, they indirectly tortured you as well." Jason commented.
"Gods are not easy to imprison, but it can be done." Khione said.
Jason looked at us. "So how are we going to save Piper?"
We looked at each other with blank stares. After a moment I answered with, "We would have to get a healer, have Khione unfreeze her at the right moment, and the healer would have to work very fast. Like, speed of sound fast."
"But where are we going to find a healer?" Frank asked.
"Let's see... Apollo, he's currently preoccupied, trying to find his sister." Hazel said. "According to one of my dreams."
"What about his children?" Leo asked.
"They're probably overworked due to the monster attacks. Which reminds me, I should probably check in with Malcolm." I said. "Assuming Camp-Half Blood hasn't fallen into pieces."
"You think they'll last long against the sorceress monster and her forces?" Hazel asked.
"I don't know. Lou Ellen's been holding the barrier for two days now, assuming she hasn't fainted." I said. "Anyway, back on topic. Asclepius and his children are too far away, Apollo and his children are preoccupied..."
"What about his Roman children and descendants?" Khione asked.
"He doesn't have too many children in his Roman form." Frank answered. "In fact, with Octavian's death, Nathan is the only descendant of Apollo at camp. Both direct and indirect. He's the last one."
"Even if Nathan does have healing powers, there's no way he can use them to heal Piper in his corrupted state of mind." Hazel said. Then she widened her eyes. "What about Will? Isn't he not at Camp Half-Blood?"
"He might be our only chance." Leo said.
Hazel formed a rainbow with the prism, and tossed in golden drachma. "Oh Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Will Solace."
Will was in a dark room. The only source of light was a lit candle.
"Oh hello Hazel." Will said. "Can I help you with something?"
"Where are you guys?" Leo asked.
He smirked. "We're taking a tour around the world. Last time we talked, we were in Hong Kong. Currently we're somewhere in India. Guess where we are. I'll give you a hint; it's one of the Delhi cities."
"Old Delhi. I can tell because I've seen a picture of the hotel room." I answered.
"Ding-ding-ding. We have a winner!" Will exclaimed. "So what's new?"
"We need your help. Piper's been hit with Chimera venom. Khione froze her to save her life, but we need someone to heal her. Can you help us?" Jason asked.
"I'd love to, but unfortunately, Nico just shadow-traveled here. He'll be out for hours. And even then, I don't think he'd appreciate having to break his vacation time." Will said. "Sorry I can't help."
"Don't worry, we'll find a way." I said.
Leo looked me skeptically. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Good night." I said.
Will smiled. "Good night and good luck."
He waved his hand through the rainbow, cutting off the connection. I fell to my knees in despair.
"What's wrong?" Khione asked.
"This is all my fault." I said.
"Annabeth, why are you blaming yourself?" Leo asked.
"It was my idea to split up the groups. If Leo had been with us, the Chimera would have been defeated earlier and Piper never would have been poisoned! This is my fault! Someone's been injured and on the verge of death, and I'm the one to blame!" I started crying again.
"Annabeth, don't say that!" Hazel said.
"Annabeth..." Jason began.
I wiped away my tears. "Just leave me alone."
"Now what?" Hazel asked.
"We should probably get out of the desert before we're all burned to a crisp." Frank answered. "We're out of sunscreen!"
"And although my snow cloud is keeping Piper cool, we should get her to a room temperature area where she won't be damaged." Khione answered.
"To Camp Jupiter, away!" Hazel exclaimed.
She shadow-traveled us to Camp Jupiter. Later, Khione, Jason and Frank helped to move Piper to the outside of Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
"Alright. Now that Piper is out of danger of melting, we need someone to guard her to make sure nobody touches her." I said.
Jason said, "I'll do it."
"It's about 5:55 right now, according to my watch. Man, this day has been terrible." Frank said.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Leo sarcastically remarked.
I sat down on the steps leading to the temple. This was all my fault. No one could convince me otherwise.
Why is it always my fault? First Calypso, and now Piper?! This is all my fault.
There was no hope for our friend. I feared that Piper would soon be in Hades's domain. And no one would save her.