𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊.

―✧―

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒.

at the end of the hall, there was a door with a list of acronyms that went on and on and on. since i had no idea what most of them meant, and my dyslexia would probably make me misread them, i ignored them.

no one else wanted to do it, so i knocked, "dr asclepius?"

the door flew open. the man inside had a kindly smile, crinkles around his eyes, short salt-and pepper hair and a well-trimmed beard. he wore a white lab coat over a business suit and a stethoscope around his neck — your stereotypical doctor outfit, except for one thing: asclepius held a polished black staff with a live green python coiled around it.

i wasn't happy to see another snake. the python regarded me with pale yellow eyes.

"hello!" said asclepius.

"doctor," i spoke, using the 'stark' charm and my mother's charmspeak together for the first time.  "we'd be so grateful for your help. we need the physician's cure."

next to me, the boys twitched, even though they weren't the target of the charmspeak. i resisted the urge to smile to myself.

the heart and mind — when used together, were actually really powerful.

asclepius put his hand over his heart. "oh, my dear, i would be delighted to help."

"thank you so much," i flashed a charming smile.

"come in! come in!" asclepius ushered us into his office.

the guy was so nice that i figured his office would be full of torture devices, but it looked like... well, a doctor's office: a big maple desk, bookshelves stuffed with medical books, and some plastic organ models.

asclepius took the big comfy doctor's chair and laid his staff and serpent across his desk. "please, sit!"

jason and i took the two chairs on the patients' side. leo and theo remained standing, though the second i was eye-level with the snake, i was tempted to switch spots with them.

"so," asclepius leaned back. "i can't tell you how nice it is to actually talk with patients. the last few thousand years, the paperwork has got out of control. rush, rush, rush. fill in forms. deal with red tape. not to mention the giant alabaster guardian who kills everyone in the waiting room. it takes all the fun out of medicine!"

"yeah," leo said. "hygeia is kind of a downer."

asclepius grinned. "my real daughter hygeia isn't like that, i assure you. she's quite nice. at any rate, you did well reprogramming the statue. you have a surgeon's hands."

jason shuddered. "leo with a scalpel? don't encourage him."

the doctor god chuckled. "now, what seems to be the trouble?" he sat forward and peered at jason. "hmm... imperial gold sword wound, but that's healed nicely. no cancer, no heart problems. watch that mole on your left foot, but i'm sure it's benign."