THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

TWENTY-NINE

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]

P I P E R
chapter twenty-nine: i confess my sins (though i was expecting far more rotten tomatoes)
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PIPER WOKE up cold, and shivering.

she had what she deemed the worse dream since she started the quest. it was kind of odd, and it involved an old man with donkey ears. he was chasing her around in circles upon circles, shouting you're it! over, and over again. piper assumed her subconscious must've thrown something together while she was out. then, the thought occurred, and she let out a bit of a gasp. "oh, god," the realization settling in her as her teeth chattered. she hugged herself tightly, trying to preserve her body warmth that seemed to be slipping away, and fast. "he turned me into gold."

"you're okay now," jason hurriedly assured her, his tone was soft, and smooth as the expensive silks her father bought her from around the globe. he tucked a thick, warm blanket around her shoulders, taking the time to make sure it was secured around her person. piper was a bit disappointed, the aphrodite girl had expected him to stay a bit, but he didn't. he didn't stick around to offer her additional warmth from his body heat, but instead reassumed a seat next to chandler. the girl didn't know if it was her condition, or the unintentional rejection from jason, but she still felt as cold as a boread.

the aphrodite girl blinked, a lump forming in her throat. she didn't even know why she felt so crushed, but quickly tried to focus on something else in that moment. the only thing she could focus on was the pure warmth from the campfire that blazed. it turned the air around them sharp with smoke, making her peer through squinted eyes. firelight flickered against the rock walls. they were in a shallow, echoing cave, but it didn't offer much protection. outside of their cave, but it didn't offer much protection. outside, the wind howled so harshly, snow blew sideways. it might've been day, or nighttime, but the storm made it much too dark for her to be completely sure in an answer.

"leo?" piper tried to call out to the hephaestus boy, though her voice was broken up, coming out a bit stuttered as she tried to say his name. "chandler?" the curly haired girl's name coming out more as an after thought, as she had recalled glancing at her when jason settled next to her. the aphrodite girl hoped the bitterness didn't show too much in her expression, and focused her gaze elsewhere, more as on leo, who answered first.

"present, and un-gold-ified," the hephaestus boy said, his tone sounding light, and joking, but there was an unrecognized darkness in his expression. he looked troubled by something, and he didn't want to say it aloud. it almost startled piper as she had never seen him that way. then, as if it were simply a mask he were wearing, it disappeared completely, as if it were never there in the first place. piper figured she must've been mistaken, and embarrassedly looked away from his face. she noted the way leo was wrapped in thick, wool blankets, just as she was. the curly haired boy just happened to appear much better than she looked after being put under midas' gold touch.

"i didn't," chandler said, a bit smugly if piper was being completely honest. she brushed her curls away from her face, seeming plenty ready to gloat. it was obvious to the aphrodite girl that it was because as the senior camper, and apparent frequent quest-goer, she had already determined they'd have to fight to get out of midas' mansion from the beginning. she even poutingly listened to piper, who had been so sure that they could go through the entire thing peacefully. but, the mclean girl couldn't even focus on how astonishingly wrong she'd been, and how chandler had every right to be annoyed that a new camper had tried to tell her what to do, and had been wrong, and almost gotten them killed. she also couldn't focus on the fact that she had been embarrassedly turned into gold by midas after determining he was no threat to them.