ATLANTIS | j. grace

eleven

Elle laughed, despite her concern. "Are you okay? I think you hit the ground the hardest."

"I'm alright."

With Elle's help, he stood straight, squinting upward at the gigantic hole in the roof.

"That from us?"

The brunette took in the various chunks of wood surrounding them.

"I'd think so."

"Great. We can add 'destruction of property' to my list of felonies."

Elle raised her eyebrows at him. "You have a list of felonies?"

He grinned, his eyes gleaming. "You don't?"

"Hey, uh... guys?" Jason called down to them, leaning his head over the edge of the catwalk. "Either of you know how to set a foot?"

"Oh gods." Elle's eyes went wide. "It's that bad?"

Jason sent a worried glance to the right, as if double checking. "It's that bad."

Elle and Leo climbed the stairs with incredible speed for two people who'd just fallen from the sky. In seconds, the three stood by Piper's side, staring at her leg. Her entire foot pointed sharply to the left.

Elle felt herself gag as she looked away. The sight made her nauseous, but she figured neither boy knew where to start in helping Piper, seeing as they both stood there cluelessly. She didn't know for sure either, but her body moved on its own, taking her bag from Jason and beginning to dig through it.

"Can one of you go down and find a piece of wood? Preferably one that's flat and not too big."

When neither moved, she spun around in annoyance. Her complaint fell short as Leo handed her a perfectly flat piece of plywood, just the right size.

"How...? Where'd you get this?"

Leo nodded to the belt around his waist. "Magic," he explained simply. "I haven't figured it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff." He reached in and extracted a small metal tin. "Breath mint?"

Elle flashed him a smile, taking the wood gratefully. "Can you pull some first-aid supplies from there? I cannot believe I forgot that."

The boy dug around for a moment before passing her a gigantic roll of gauze.

She took it with another smile, but it faded the moment she turned away.

Dumbass, she cursed herself. How could you forget a first-aid kit? If it wasn't for Leo and his magic belt, they'd have no way to fix Piper's foot and it would be entirely Elle's fault.

Elle stared at Piper's foot, assessing the damage and planning her next step. Ambrosia first, she decided. Then I'll set the foot, then some nectar.

"Okay," she whispered to herself in an attempt to soothe her nerves. "You can do this. Stay calm."

She repeated the words in her head like a mantra as she unwound the gauze and aligned the wood with Piper's leg.

Elle fished the Ziploc of ambrosia from her bag, tossing it blindly behind her to the boys. "Jason, give her some ambrosia. Leo, hold her hand."

"Seriously?" Leo complained, although he moved immediately to his friend's side. "Jason gets to be helpful and I have to hold Beauty Queen's sweaty hand?"

Piper didn't answer until she'd finished chewing the small ambrosia pieces Jason had given her. She probably couldn't have answered through the pain anyway.