Daughter of Wine

Piper

I wake up cold and shivering. I'd had the worst dream about an old guy with donkey ears chasing me around and shouting "You're it!" 

"Oh god." My teeth chatter. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now." Jason leans over and tucks a warm blanket around me, but I still feel as cold as a Boread. 

I blink, trying to figure out where we are. Next to me, a campfire blazes, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickers against rock walls. We're in a shallow cave, but it doesn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howls. Snow blows sideways. It might of been day or night. The storm makes it too dark to tell. 

"L-L-Leo?" I manage. 

"Present and ungoldified." Leo is also wrapped in blankets. He doesn't look great, but better than I feel. "I got the precious metal treatment too."

"He came out of it faster." Calli speaks. Her arm is wrapped all the way up in bandages, and she looks pale. "Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but... if you can't tell, it's really, really cold." 

"You've got hypothermia." Jason tells me. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic-"

"Sports medicine." The coach's ugly face looms over me. "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." I tell him weakly. "How did you beat Midas?" 

Jason tells me the story. He and Calli fought Lit, and Calli convinced Midas to help him up. 

"I thought you said you didn't have charmspeak?" I ask her. 

"I don't." She insists. "I can be very persuasive, but I can't just talk people into anything. They have to already want to do it, or I have to convince them to change their mind. It's complicated."

Jason continues, explaining Midas and Calli's wrist, the lightning strike, resuscitating her. "Yeah, I'm sorry again for that, Calli. But I think you paid me back big time." 

"Huh?" Calli asks. 

Jason explains the feeling he got when she woke up, the images he saw. Thinking he was going insane. It sounds pretty terrifying. 

Calli's face turns red. "Sorry."

Jason shakes his head. "You're all good. I'm just glad I'm not on your bad side." He eyes her warily. "I have to say, I underestimated you. I didn't think a daughter of Dionysus could kick that much ass, but you held your own against the Cornhusker." 

She chuckles, rubbing the back of her neck. "We got lucky." 

Jason nods in agreement. "Very lucky." 

Hedge snorts. "They're being modest. You should've seen them. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!" 

"Gleeson, you didn't even see it." Calli tells him. "You were outside eating the lawn." 

But the satyr is just warming up. "Then I came in with my club and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told them, 'Kids, I'm proud of you! If you could both just work on your upper body strength-'"

"I don't know." Jason looks to Calli again. "You stopped Lit's sword mid swing with just a knife. I think you're set on upper body strength." 

"I don't know, I still can't really feel my arm." She lifts up the bandaged arm. "Do you think it'll leave a cool scar?" 

"Oh, definitely." Jason grins at her, and she grins back. 

Leo and I look at each other, as if feeling the same way. I don't think he likes how Calli and Jason are looking at each other any more than I do.