Blood Of The Hero

Chapter 9

"Is he breathing?!"

"I don't know?!"

"How don't you know, you're a satyr! Meant to be 'one with life' and whatnot!"

"I could say the same about you, 'daughter of wisdom'!"

"Whatever! We should put him in the Heimlich, and begin CPR, now!"

"What's that?"

"Urgh! You're useless! Fine. I'll start CPR then."

"What, like, mouth-to-mouth?"

"What other way is there?! I'm not gonna let him die."

The voices got quiet, and I had no idea what was happening, my eyes and mouth seemingly fixed shut. I wanted to tell them I was conscious, but I couldn't bring myself to.

I felt small hands rest above my heart, and they began to press down vigorously, like it was life or death, and it probably was. They pumped three times, before stopping, and I could feel whoever was on top of me leaning in, their hair brushing on my face...

And that's when my eyes decided to jolt open.

I was met with the sight of Annabeth's soft lips about three inches above mine, her eyes closed and her falling around her face. She looked incredible. But this seemed like something that would only happen in a dream.

"He's fine!" Grover called out from the side, just as our lips were about to connect, and I glared at him with the corner of my eye subconsciously, and he grinned back.

Annabeth's eyes darted open and she fell back clumsily, her face flushed and avoiding my gaze. She seemed pretty embarassed.

"Thanks Grover." There seemed to be some passive-aggression in her words, but I couldn't, for the life of me, think why.

"Glad to help." He laughed to himself, and I sat up from the ground, dusting myself off and looking around. I was right next to the bed of the river, on the grass and stuff, and I could see the St. Louis Arch nearby, literally burning at the top as emergency services surrounded it.

"What the fuck happened here?" I murmured and Annabeth shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"That's what we wanted to ask you. All we know is you tricked us into deserting you, and by the time we reached the bottom, we saw you fall out of a hole at the top. But before you splattered everywhere, the river reached out to you, it was crazy. And for some reason, you're not a human donut anymore." She sounded bewildered, and honestly I felt the same.

"Yeah, but before you decided to jump off a building, there was a huge surge of energy. Like, it was massive. And even though it should be impossible, we think we know why." Grover began but I groaned, everything coming back to me now.

The fight with Achelous, my free-fall from the Arch, my meeting with Amphitrite. All of it.

Just to confirm though, I looked down at my hand, and sure enough, Maelstrom was still there, existing as a ring. I could feel the pouch of pearls in my pocket too, but something that was new was a pendant around my neck.

It fit the general theme of my other gifts, a silver chain connected to a deep, azure trident which had a glowing emerald in each of it's prongs. Tentatively, I opened up the pendant, and I felt some tears come back instantly.

It was a miniature, golden conch shell, barely as big as my fingernail, but with it came a small note. I opened and read it, but as quickly as I got it out, I put it away, not in the mood to be emotional in front of my friends.

It read:

"I'm proud of you, son."

I wiped away my tears quickly, with my sleeve, playing it off as something in my eye. Grover didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he didn't show it. But Annabeth seemed a little more suspicious, thankfully she didn't bring it up.