misplaced || l. valdez

37 || mari gets a nice bottle of dasani to the face

° ~ •. ♆ chapter thirty-seven ♆ .• ~ °
"mari gets a nice bottle of dasani to the face"

"Mari!"

She awoke with a scream, swinging her fists around like she was throwing a tantrum.

"Woah, woah, calm down." someone said. "You're ok."

Mari opened her eyes to to see Leo was kneeling next to her. He had her sword in his hands, but it looked fried and ashy, bent at a weird angle. "I can fix it when we get back to—"

"What happened?" she interrupted, worried out of her mind. "Did— did we do it? Did we win?"

Leo nodded, but the look on his face seemed to say otherwise. Mari sat up and looked around the courtyard to see the wreckage. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. There was no sign of battle either. The monsters had been vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before— absolute ruins. The only difference was that there was no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres.

Even the Hunters had been revived. A lot of them kept a distance from a cluster of people in the middle. Piper and Thalia were kneeling over something, while Hera loomed over them in some mix of pity and annoyance.

That's when it hit her.

"Jason." Mari whispered, and Leo looked down.

Mari got up and staggered over to where Piper and Thalia were. When she finally got there, she almost collapsed a second time. Jason was lying unconscious, his body steaming and his eyes rolled back in his head. She couldn't tell if he was even breathing.

"No, no..." Mari whimpered, kneeling down to where he lay. Piper held his hand and said his name, the hope in her voice dying away with every call.

One from the west will perish in victory...

"I killed him." Mari whispered. "I killed Jason."

"No you didn't!" Thalia protested. "You did everything you could. It's Hera's fault!"

"Jason." Piper pleaded desperately. "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite." Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit..."

Hera's voice faded into a light whisper. "Healing." Mari thought desperately. She thought back to when Phoebe had told her about the magical healer of Ancient Greece. She thought about how Poseidon told her she would find her solution in Chicago. She remembered the rest of the prophecy line; unless the healer's hand prevents utmost misery.

It was worth a shot.

Mari took her water skin and poured a couple drops of water into her hand— all that was left from her water-skin. She hoped it would be enough. She concentrated as the drops slowly flowed together to create a slightly larger orb the size of a bead. She slowly placed her palm on Jason's chest, the water soaking into his skin.

"Mari, what are you doing?" Piper asked.

Mari had barely heard Piper. Her voice sounded strange— almost distant, as if she were whispering. Mari chose to ignore it, her eyes closing as the water glowed slightly under Jason's skin.