THE HEALER| Heroes of Olympus

t h i r t e e n

Finally Piper let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "If he were here right now, I would kill him. How was he planning to take the cure? He was alone!"

"Maybe he found a way," Percy said. "This is Leo we're talking about. He might come back any  minute. Then we can take turns strangling him."

Nico and Hazel exchanged looks. They both knew better, but they said nothing.

The next day, the second since the battle, Romans and Greeks worked side by side to clean up the war zone and tend the wounded. Blackjack the pegasus was recovering nicely from his arrow wound. Guido had decided to adopt Reyna as his human. Reluctantly, Lou Ellen had agreed to turn her new pet piglets back into Romans. 

I hadn't had the chance to talk with Will yet because he most of his time in the infirmary, but whenever U saw him running across camp to fetch more medical supplies, or make a house call on some wounded demigod, I made sure to remind him our conversation would not be delayed much longer. 

I helped out in the infirmary as much as I could but since I had recently just come back from the Underworld myself my body was very tired and couldn't handle healing many people in one day. Nico had agreed that what happened to me was strange but he seemed to be relieved that I had come back. 

The Romans bivouacked next to the strawberry fields, where they insisted on building their standard field camp. The Greeks pitched in to help them raise the earthen walls and dig the trenches.

I had never seen anything stranger or cooler. Dakota shared Kool-Aid with the kids from the Dionysus cabin. The children of Hermes and Mercury laughed and told stories and brazenly stole things from just about everyone. Reyna, Annabeth and Piper were inseparable, roaming the camp as a trio to check on the progress of the repairs. Chiron, escorted by Frank and Hazel, inspected the Roman troops and praised them for their bravery.

Honestly the weirdest part was when I met Jasper's sister. It was right after the battle. Jasper and I were walking making sure all the monsters were gone when a girl about 5'5 stormed up to him. 

"A-Arabelle?" Jasper had said completely shocked. 

"You complete idiot!" She yelled at him. She had dark brown wavy hair similar to Jasper's and they had similar face structures but the resemblance stopped there. She had deep blue eyes and wore a sneer that reminded me of Nike. Just looking at her you could tell she had never lost a fight. She was fit and tall for her age. She wore Roman armor and carried a spear on her back and sword on her belt. On her arm she had a SPQR tattoo with a laurel wreath. 

"How are you even here?" Jasper asked. "I thought -" 

She crossed her arms. "Octavian recruited about every demigod within miles of the camp. I joined and took your place as Centurion of the First Cohort." 

"Then...why are you mad?" 

"Because!" She yelled. "You became praetor before me!" 

I laughed. Her eyes stared me down and I quit laughing. 

"And who are you?" Her eyes scanned me up and down. "Greek, I assume." 

By this time Reyna, Nico and the nine had heard the commotion and were watching from a distance. 

"Arabelle, this is Eliana." Jasper introduced me. "She's the daughter of Apollo and my -"

Arabelle cut him off. "Tall and athletic..." She nodded approvingly. It felt like she was staring into my soul. "A good archer, never lost a competition. I guess she's pretty." she said with an eye roll. 

"Uh. thanks?" 

"She did defeat Gaia." Jasper's sister sighed. "I guess I approve." 

Jasper and I glanced at each other. He smiled. I was going to take this a win.