Free New Olympus Trilogy: Teenage Goddess Teenage Star Hell on Earth by May Burnett

now she’s doing it to you,” Christabel ranted, raking me up and down with hot eyes. “She’s poison, she has bewitched you. What has she got that I haven’t?”
    “Me,” Jason replied.
    Jason’s single word made Christabel lose all reason. With an inarticulate cry, she rushed down the few yards separating us and shoved at my chest with all her strength. I found myself tumbling backwards, searching in vain for a handhold on the steep slope, and then leaving the ground altogether, falling head first over the cliff towards the rocks in the pool. It happened so fast that I couldn’t summon any useful thought or even become scared, although I may have uttered a curse.
    I wish I could say I lost consciousness right away, but if I did, it only lasted a moment. Then all was brain-splitting pain. I had never felt anything even approaching such intensity. In contrast to the explosive pain of my head, I couldn’t feel most of my body. There was blood and water in my eyes and throat. I could not breathe properly. Feebly I tried to move my arms but couldn’t even tell if I was successful.
    Dimly, from far away, I heard Jason’s anguished cry, “Myra!”
    There was no air… my head felt as though an elephant’s foot had stepped on it. I knew I had to call on someone for help but couldn’t remember who, or how. Jason was close by…..Hell…? After an interval that felt endless but probably was not more than a minute or two, all went black.
    Was this death?
     
    25
     
    I awoke in my own bed in New Olympus, unhurt and whole. In fact, I felt better than I had for weeks. A quick check told me that my powers were restored.
    Although highly welcome, this change was disorienting in its suddenness. I went back over the last few minutes of my time in Colorado, and was surprised that I could remember every detail of the accident – attempted murder, rather. Or was it manslaughter, in the heat of passion? When I’d been helpless in that pool, I had believed that my human experiment would be the end of me. I hadn’t been in any condition to call on Pallas in Old Greek, as I should have, theoretically. The shock and hurt had been too strong, too sudden.
    So who or what had saved me? What happened to Jason and Christabel? Lovers affected by Eros could do stupid, irrevocable things if they suddenly lost their beloved. The historic Romeo was one famous example. I needed to make sure Jason was all right. And was Hell back home, too?
    I quickly threw on a fresh tunic and left my chambers, barefoot. From the hall I could hear a loud argument between my parents, behind the library’s tall doors. I pushed them open. Both of Zeus and Hera turned around and looked at me.
    “There, you see, she’s quite all right again,” Dad said to Mom, and to me, “Welcome back, Myra. You had quite an adventure.”
    Mom came and hugged me tightly. “She nearly died! I knew it was too dangerous to send her down to Earth without powers. I told you so.”
    “Who saved me? What’s happening down there?” I asked, hugging my mom back. She rarely is demonstrative. This hug showed how deeply my near-demise had affected her.
    “It took far too long- “ Mom said, scowling.
    “I’ll admit that much.” Dad was looking sombre. “Jason pulled you out of the water, at considerable risk, and then went for help.”
    “Did he leave me alone with Christabel?”
    “No, he dragged her along with him. That cost another few precious minutes.”
    “I’m surprised I was still alive. I didn’t feel my limbs in the water.”
    “You had broken both your skull and your back, and were bleeding heavily. There were also internal injuries. You would have died within thirty minutes at most.”
    That sounded almost optimistic, given what I remembered of my injuries. Now, immortal again, it was difficult to clearly recall the actual hurt. It felt as though I was talking about another person.
    “So, in effect, Christabel murdered me.”
    “She would have finished the