𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄 - j. grace, ocxoc ¹ ✓

xx. starry night !

XX. KAORI OKAYAMA !
⋆ ★
starry night

When Kaori woke up, she was cold and shivering. She had had the worst dream about an old guy with donkey ears chasing her around and shouting, You're it!

"He turned us to gold!" She heard Piper's teeth as they chattered.

"You guys are okay now." Jason leaned over to Kaori and handed her a warm blanket, but she still felt as cold as a Boread.

She blinked, trying to figure out where they were. Next to her, a campfire blazed, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind howled. Snow blew sideways. It might've been day or night. The storm made it too dark to tell.

"L-L-Leo?" Piper managed.

"Present and un-gold-ified." Leo was also wrapped in blankets. He didn't look great, but better than Kaori felt. "I got the precious metal treatment too," he said. "But Kaen and I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you and Kaori twice to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but . . .  it was really, really cold."

"You've got hypothermia," Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—"

"Sports medicine." The coach's ugly face loomed over her. "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."

Kaori wasn't sure how much she trusted coach's medicine versus her own but she didn't bother saying anything of it.

"Thanks," Piper said weakly. "How did you beat Midas?"

Jason and Delilah told them the story, putting most of it down to luck. The coach snorted. "Kids are being modest. You should've seen them. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Coach, you didn't even see it," Jason said. "You were outside eating the lawn."

"Didn't even help us," Delilah pointed out.

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

"Coach," said Jason.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, please."

"Sure." The coach sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel.

Kaori let out a quiet laugh, her eyes crinkling as she smiled. She noticed Kaen and Delilah talking, whispering with each other but Kaori could hear them perfectly fine since they were next to her. Kaen said how he was proud of her, jokingly saying she replaced him with Jason. When Delilah said, "No one could replace you" a part of Kaori was so warm it could've healed her hyperthermia.

But Kaori had her own boy problems. Jason put his hand on Kaori's forehead and checked her temperature. She felt her cheeks regain color from nervousness. His face focused in on hers. Jason's blue eyes stared right at her and she couldn't help but smile. "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

"On it." Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire.

"Do I look bad?" Kaori shivered.

"Nah," Jason said.

"Bad liar," she pointed out. "So, where are we?"

"Pikes Peak," Jason said. "Colorado."