24. Make It Rain

I’d made it. I’d almost seized up and turned into a dead weight, but I’d held on. Now I just needed to breathe through the pain and give myself a chance to recover.

‘Tea,’ I called. ‘It”s all up to you now.’

‘Rest as long as you can,’ he instructed, ‘and I’ll see what I can do.’

I was still in my weird spiritual space, so it was easy to close my eyes and let my physical core relax while my magic side kept watch.

Annabeth kept after her last ant until she got the new magic attack to work again. This time it was even more powerful, and the red-eye died right away.

“You okay?” she asked, peering down at me.

“No,” I replied. I tried to shake my head, but I hurt too much.

“Stay here,” she instructed. “I’ll take care of the rest of them.”

I tried to smile in agreement, but it felt more like a grimace. She just nodded and used her echolocation to target the nearest ant going in a circle.

Two more red-eyes came down the tunnel and tried to crash the party, but my Flashers and Miners quickly took care of them. They joined the queue of enemies waiting for Annabeth to give them a little hammer time. She got better and better at doing her sonic strike, and soon it was triggering in the first couple tries.

When she was finished, she Bank Stamped the ants to claim our points and sat down beside me. For the first time, I felt like I could mentally relax as well. I still felt as though my body had been trampled on by an entire herd of horses, so I continued to push out my awareness into my Connections and my bubble of magic senses. Annabeth reached over and held my hand in support as she started humming. I saw the healing rune charms she’d made kick into action, so she must have been feeling rough too.

That made sense, as she’d also been part of the whiplash experience. Even if she hadn’t been the fulcrum, she still would have been tossed about and subjected to several G’s of force.

Since she’d given me access, I let my spiritual sight roam through her body looking for problems. I didn’t see anything majorly wrong, but that got me thinking about my own body.

This large spherical viewpoint allowed me to be outside myself and look at my body in a whole new way. I wasn’t sure I liked what I saw, as my body seemed to be very uneven.

I’d pretty much turned it over to Tea and his Grove and let them handle it. That wasn’t a mistake—they were pretty awesome—but as I looked, I realized I needed to become more in touch with my physical side.

The parts that had gotten badly injured in past adventures, like my back and feet, were filled with newer, more magical cells. They had the power of the Lagerel and the power of the Deep Earth in them, and I could sense they were stronger and more durable. Other parts of me, however, had much less magic and were just now feeling the touch of my Marks.

‘It seems like you need to get injured more often,’ my Analytical Side noted. ‘Or, at least, spread out your injuries a bit more. Maybe next time, you could cut off a leg or something.’

‘That would be a hard no,’ I replied firmly. ‘I just spent a month recovering from my battle with Karl. I’m not volunteering to do anything like that again.’

‘Then maybe you should go back to awakening your cells every night,’ he said primly, like he was a schoolmarm setting me straight.

Looking at my body, I had to agree he was right. When I’d gotten the crap kicked out of me by Isobel, I’d awakened my cells one at a time and healed lots of broken bones. After that, I’d taken time every night to awaken a new patch of cells, anticipating the day that I’d get hurt again.

Somewhere along the way, though, I’d stopped doing this, and it showed.

‘Tea, I know you can heal my cells, but can you actually awaken them with magic?’ I asked.

‘I’m afraid not,’ he replied. ‘I can heal injuries and encourage new cells to grow, but I can’t infuse existing ones with magic. That is something you have to do directly.’

‘Okay. Thank you,’ I replied.

Looks like I had some work to do. I wish I’d known that Tea couldn’t do everything, but I’d never thought to ask.

‘You need to give your body a good stir,’ my Analytical Side noted.

‘Huh?’ I replied intelligently.

‘It looks like when you add cream to your coffee,’ he explained. ‘You can see the cream slowly spreading out and mixing with the coffee, but it doesn’t really even out until you give it a good stir.’

‘Oh. Right,’ I agreed. ‘It does sort of look like that.’

‘Not that you can really stir all your cells around,’ he continued. ‘But you can spend the time to infuse the rest of your body with magic. That way it can recover faster as well.’

‘Speaking of recovery,’ I switched back to Tea. ‘I thought my bones and ligaments were now bendy instead of breakable. How come my spine is in such bad condition?’

‘Your bones are just fine,’ Tea said, surprised. ‘Your leg, your hips, and your back are in great shape.’

‘Really?’ I was shocked. ‘It sure doesn’t feel that way.’

‘See for yourself,’ he replied. So I did.

I zoomed into my spine, and sure enough, it looked healthy. I traced it all the way up to my skull, then back down again to my pelvis, and then through the bones in my leg. Everything looked perfect.

‘I think you should take a moment to appreciate just how sturdy your body has become,’ Tea continued. ‘If you took any normal adult male of your height and weight and slung them around by the leg—like what happened to you—they would be in terrible condition. They might even be dead. Their leg would have snapped for sure, and the centrifugal force might even have ripped off the whole limb. That would actually have been a lucky outcome for them. If their leg had stayed attached, it’s likely their spine would have separated and their head might have torn off.’

‘Really?’ I gulped. That sounded terrible.

‘Why do you think dogs shake their heads when they have a chew toy?’ my Analytical Side continued. ‘It’s their natural killer move if they lived in the wild. Actually, shaking one”s prey is a finishing move for a lot of predators. That ant was doing a lot more than trying to disorient you. It was trying to kill you.’

‘Ohhhh,’ I said softly. I was seeing our fight with the first three ants in a whole new light.

‘In your case,’ Tea continued, ‘not only did all your bones remain unbroken, but you were still in good enough condition to fight off multiple enemies for the next few minutes. Your muscles got stretched and damaged, which is what you”re feeling now, but the damage is in some of the most magical parts of your body. That means that instead of taking days to recover, I can get you back to full health in a matter of hours.’

Hours? I didn’t have hours to spare.

‘That is wonderful news.’ I tried to sound cheerful. ‘But I thought you said you could get me going again in a matter of minutes?’

‘I can get you patched up enough to walk in about thirty minutes,’ Tea said. ‘It’s going to take longer than that to get you ready to fight.’

‘Oh,’ I replied. ‘You know the time constraint we’re under, so do the best you can.’

‘I certainly will,’ Tea replied. ‘I know how important this is and that you need to be battle ready as soon as possible. Be assured that my Grove and I will do everything we can to make that happen.’

‘Thank you,’ I said sincerely and let him get back to work.

I was still in a lot of pain, so I expanded my consciousness back to the limit of my magic senses. That seemed to help. I hadn’t realized the red-eye’s attack had been so deadly. I needed to be more wary of any grabbing attempts like that in the future.

Two more ants came down the tunnel, but I didn’t move. My Miners and Flashers made both of them lopsided and disoriented as Annabeth got to her feet to take care of them. Her echolocation was getting a lot better, and she had almost no trouble making her way over to them. It still wasn’t fast enough or precise enough for Annabeth to truly fight. But with the two ants hardly being able to fight back, it was good enough to march over and give them the sonic boom.

Annabeth came back, sat down beside me, and started her healing humming again. My pain was subsiding, and I was actually feeling fairly peaceful. I thought about awakening some cells while I waited, but I wasn’t sure about starting such a big job in the middle of a quest. It was going to take weeks of effort to even out the magic absorbed by my physical side.

“Just so you know,” Annabeth paused her humming, “it’s taking a lot of my magic to knock out these ants. My sonic strikes are very effective, but they aren’t that efficient.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. I had thought she was doing fine. I checked out her pink magic matrix, and sure enough, it was looking faded.

“Some of us don’t have unlimited reserves of magic,” Annabeth said, and I thought I heard a note of sourness in her tone. “That’s why I enjoy working with weapons so much. I can do a lot of damage and not waste very much of my magic.”

“I don’t have unlimited magic,” I countered automatically. But then I realized from her perspective it probably seemed like I did. I had Penny’s capacity to tap into and even Eggy’s if I really tried. He was much farther away, so transferring magic was a lot harder, but since I was his Source, I could do it if I needed to.

“I’m also trying to heal,” Annabeth continued. “I don’t think I’m in as bad a shape as you are, but I’m a long way from perfect. What I’m trying to say is that I”m making this work for now, but I really need you to start taking out red-eyes as soon as you can.”

Her voice started to break, and for the first time, I understood how close she was to shutting down. She’d put up a brave front, but she needed me back on my feet as soon as possible.

‘Thank you for letting me know,’ I messaged her as I gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Since my awareness was primarily in my magic senses, I found it much easier to message than to physically speak. Plus, I could send her a quick status of exactly what I was feeling and what Tea had said.

She gave my hand a squeeze in return and settled back into her healing hum again. I kept an eye out for any approaching danger as I thought about what else I could do to help. Tea was right. Going from this level of pain and debility to being able to fight in several hours was a freakin’ miracle. I was very grateful to Tea and his Grove, but I felt like I should be able to do more.

I could spend my time repairing the cells myself, but that didn’t seem like it would make that much of a difference. Tea had already mapped out my body, and he was already hard at work repairing the injured cells. My soul creations were specialized for this type of work, so I felt like I should stay out of their way and let them do what they do best.

So, what could I do?

The healing rune was fully integrated into my Throne Room, which was the center for all my magic works. Plus, I had the healing rune imprinted on my Spark of Creation. That was the origin of who I was as a supernatural. The healing rune couldn’t get more integrated than that.

Tea had told me the healing rune was naturally working on me all the time. It was subtle, but it was there, and it made Tea’s job so much easier. This was wonderful for normal recovery, but I needed more. Maybe there was a way to actively use it?

While I was thinking, our friendly worker ant came over to us and seemed to stand guard. I’d thought she’d vanished down the tunnel to go do more ant stuff with her tribe. It was nice to see she was still here.

Bermuda finished playing with the flowers and also decided to come over. Of course, being a cat, he thought I’d make a lovely bed, and he crawled up on my chest to take a nap.

‘Cat! What are you doing!’ I snapped. ‘I’ve got a Broke back. I’m not your Mountain.’

Then I mentally chuckled at my movie pun. Even feeling the way I was, I couldn’t pass up a fine piece of humor. Miss Mountain would have been proud.

Bermuda just licked my chin and then ignored me. He tucked his paws in, rested his head on my chest, and started to purr.

I was afraid the vibrations would aggravate my condition, but instead, they were pure heaven. They seeped into my soul, and I felt a divine level of peace and love gently flow through me. I’d always loved when Bermuda snuggled up and purred for me. His gentle affection always made me feel so much better.

As I lay there, I realized it wasn’t just my soul that felt happy—my body felt better too. Maybe it was because I’d relaxed even more?

Annabeth’s humming and Bermuda’s purring seemed to merge. Their soft harmonic cadence filled the air around us. First the humming and then the purring seemed to wash over my senses like waves on a shore.

I could practically smell the healing, and I felt an idea starting to grow. My senses were still flung wide, so I could see the magic in the air. Faint pulses of magic appeared, like little fireflies, and I could see the same magic I saw in the healing rune. It wasn’t in the shape of the rune, but it was the essence of it.

What if a rune was more than a shape filled with magic? What if it was more than the lines and flow? I’d gotten so caught up in chasing the shape of runes and finding the perfect alignment, but what if they were more than that?

‘I like the thought,’ my Analytical Side chimed in. ‘It’s like seeing the word “love” on a page. It’s just lines of ink on paper until you read it and give it meaning.’

‘Exactly,’ I replied. ‘Although, I think a rune really does have power. I don’t think I could just write “healer” in English on my Spark of Creation and have the same impact.’

‘Probably not,’ my Analytical Side agreed thoughtfully, ‘Although it would be fun to experiment and see if a word in English makes a difference.’

‘Anyway,’ I continued, ‘let’s not get sidetracked. Back to the word “love.” What if, instead of just reading the word, the whole environment was the essence of the word? What if there was a soft love song playing in the background? What if the smell of roses or the scent of the person you loved wafted through the air? The whole concept of “love” would be enhanced way beyond a written word.

‘And what if I could do the same for healing? What if I could fully get in touch with healing in every way and push that through my body? Maybe that would enhance and support what Tea is doing, and I’d recover even faster.’

‘You’re basing this on Annabeth’s humming?’ my Analytical Side asked.

‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘and Bermuda’s purring. I think it’s more than just the physical sounds. I think it’s a song, with meaning, emotions, and feeling. I think Annabeth is using that to trigger and enhance her healing rune charms. And I think I can do the same.’

My Analytical Side wanted to chat about the idea a bit more, but I let his words wash over me as I was already getting to work. I painted the healing rune in the air in front of me and examined it for a moment. In the middle it had three columns, like the roman numeral III, which were then surrounded by two layers of petals. I was very familiar with this rune, as it was the basis for the flowers on Tea as well as the newest edition of my healing spores. I’d seen thousands and thousands of these flowers growing and healing inside me, and I’d always thought it was neat how Tea had taken the rune and made it so organic.

I felt like that had been the secret to my amazing health so far. I’d taken something that was just lines and given it flow––given it a natural shape. Now, I was going to take it even further. What was its essence? What was the flow of magic in the shape of that rune trying to actually say?

I filled the rune with magic and listened. I didn’t have long to wait before I heard what sounded like white noise—like it was one of those devices that sits by the bedside at night and helps people sleep.

I was surprised to hear that because I’d figured I’d hear something like music. When I’d first been experimenting with the healing rune, Annabeth had said it sounded like violins. She was always humming a tune when she activated her healing runes, so I expected to be serenaded by a string quartet. This was nothing like that.

I pulled back my magic, erased the healing rune, and started over. This time I made a point of centering myself in my forty-foot sphere of magical senses. I felt the space around me and listened to the murmurs of the rocks and the moss. I smelled the slight musty scent in the air and tasted everything around me.

There was so much to appreciate in the world, and I felt a tinge of sadness that I usually just passed it by. Life was busy. There were monsters to vanquish, tournaments to win, and a boyfriend to cuddle.

I was here, though, and at this moment, I could afford to take it all in. I lay there and existed. I breathed in the space and let it become a part of me while I became part of everything around me.

Thoughts appeared, as my mind wanted to pick apart pieces of the world around me. I simply noted the points of interest and then let them go.

I’d learned about meditation and how to do it from a book, but I’d never been successful before. My mind was always racing from one thing to the next, finding patterns and teasing out new avenues of study.

Now that I was outside my body and existing in such a bigger space, I found meditation to be much easier. Somehow, because there was more of me, my mind could settle down, and a feeling of tranquility swept over me.

I was centered.

I was content.

I let myself sit for a long minute and appreciate this new experience before finally turning to the matter at hand. This time I formed the healing rune inside my physical body—that’s what needed healing, after all—and filled the rune with magic.

This time, when I listened, I heard it clearly.

It was the sound of summer rain.

It wasn’t a hard rain—the kind that overflows rivers and washes trees away. This was a soft, soaking rain. It was the rain that blanketed the fields and forests. The rain that soaks into roots, creating an explosion of greenery and growth.

It was the type of rain that when it passes, leaves a rainbow in the sky and smells like the promise of a new beginning. Speaking of passing, the rain from the healing rune faded away, and I felt the warmth of the sun.

That was unexpected. Did the healing rune change over time? Did it have a cycle?

The warm sun stayed for a while, drying the land and providing energy for new growth. Then it faded, and I felt the healing rune settle into a cool night. Somehow I knew this was when the real change happened.

Then the morning arrived, and the soaking rain started again. It was a cycle, like a healing dishwasher.

Fascinating!

I stayed with the rune and went through the cycle again. This time I engaged even more of my senses. What did it taste like? What was its scent? The active meditation drew me in.

When I had it all together and I wasn’t gleaning any new insights, I gathered up the magic and pushed it out to my body.

‘What was that!?!?’ Tea exclaimed.

I didn’t want to lose my focus, so I didn’t reply right away. Instead, I expanded the rune, gathered the energy of the cycle, and pushed even more into my physical side.

‘Whatever you’re doing, keep it up!’ Tea said enthusiastically.

And that is what I did. I expanded the rune again so it filled me from head to toe and cycled again.

Then I realized I could go even farther. My body was already filled with healing flowers, courtesy of Tea and his Grove, and I could use them. I released the giant rune, and instead, mentally gathered up all the thousands and thousands of tiny organic runes.

I synced them up so all of them were raining, shining, and resting in the same cycle, and then pushed that out to my whole body.

It was glorious, like I’d invited a choir of angels inside me and they were singing in divine harmony.

‘Wow!’ Tea was freaking out. ‘Wow! Wow! Wow!’

Then I understood something else. I was treating the rune like it was an add-on, like the flowers were somehow different from me.

I was treating the healing energy like it was something to gather up and push out to the real part of me. But that wasn’t the case.

The healing rune was part of my Spark of Creation.

The healing rune was part of the fabric of my Throne Room.

I was the healing rune.

I didn’t need something else to start the cycle.

Iwas the cycle.

And with that, my whole body became the rain. Healing magic soaked my cells, and they drank it up like thirsty flowers in a field. They warmed with the sun and baked in all the new power. Then they rested in the cool night, giving them a moment to fully absorb the energy and acclimate to the new normal, before the cycles started again.

I was too far gone in the meditation to use my words, so I spoke to Tea with images and feelings. He replied the same way with images of just how powerful of a difference this had made on his end.

He was tapped into every cell of my body, and the level of detail he communicated was staggering. Of course, he was currently focused on the damage at the moment, and the Grove was treating the cells differently depending on how much magic was already contained in the cell.

Cells with my magic and the magic from my Marks recovered over ten times faster than my other cells. But even those cells were enhanced from those of a normal human. With Tea’s insight, I could see just how far I’d come.

Even without actively awakening cells, it was still happening as a background process. The magic from my matrix was spilling over to my physical side. Each time I’d upgraded my matrix, the process was happening faster and faster.

Basically, the magic was burning out old, weak cells and encouraging fresh growth. The new cells were stronger and held slightly more magic than the ones they’d replaced. They also picked up some of the magic from my Marks. It was exciting because it meant that every day I was getting stronger and quicker. Most importantly, I could heal faster.

It also confirmed why I was eating so much. My cells needed nourishment to grow, so my body was constantly telling me I was hungry. Tea had told me this before, but looking at my body this way, I understood it on a whole new level.

Now I had the base concept, Tea shared with me the difference he was seeing from my healing cycle. This new energy was giving my existing cells exactly what they needed to recover. If too damaged, the old cells were expiring faster, and new ones were appearing quicker.

It was like every cell had its own personal gardener looking out for it—giving it food, water, and exactly the right amount of energy it needed. With this level of attention, my body was recovering twice as fast as before. Maybe even faster.

I shared happy, excited thoughts with Tea as I continued working the healing cycle. More enemies showed up, but they were quickly distracted by my Flashers and Miners. Annabeth left to vanquish them and returned a few moments later.

She was trying to stay strong, but she groaned as she sat down and then sighed as she took my hand again. Before she resumed her own healing meditation, I started messaging all the insights I’d discovered.

‘You’re sending complex images and concepts,’ my Bank Crystal warned. ‘These are costing you much more than your regular update messages.’

‘Thanks for letting me know,’ I replied, ‘but if Annabeth can figure out how to use this cycle for herself, it will be well worth it.’

It took Annabeth several moments to absorb and understand what I’d sent, but then she got excited.

“Jason, this is a genuine breakthrough!” she exclaimed. “I’d thought that sometimes my healing runes felt different, but I just figured it was my imagination playing tricks on me. Now I know that it”s a cycle, I should be able to improve my healing a lot!”

She wasted no time using the new information, and I heard her humming shift as she attempted to follow the cycle. I could see her magic churning, and it seemed like she was having trouble feeling her way through the new process.

“Would you like me to try my new healing cycle on you?” I asked.

“That would be wonderful!” she replied. “You’re in awful shape, though. Are you sure you can spare the attention?”

I was deep in meditation, so I didn’t reply directly. Instead, I sent a quick message of affirmation, and then visualized a giant healing rune inside her. I filled it with her magic, kicked off the cycle, and pushed the energy into her body.

Annabeth immediately felt relief. She slumped forward and let her head fall into her hands. Then she moaned like she was getting a massage.

I just chuckled internally and kept going. I made several smaller healing runes, synced them up with the big one, and placed them all up her spine and down her legs. This seemed to work even better.

I tried pushing her to the final step, where she was the healing cycle, but she hadn’t introduced the healing rune to her Spark of Creation yet, so that didn’t work. I made a mental note to help her find her own Spark as soon as possible. It seemed as if we were always getting hurt, so she needed to be able to take her recovery to the highest level.

We had several golden minutes while we both recovered and Bermuda rested. He had worked hard playing with flowers after all. I’m sure he was wiped out.

Bermuda ignored the sarcasm in my thoughts and wholeheartedly agreed with me. He was ready for a nap. He stretched out on my chest, rested his head out flat, and gave me slow blinky eyes. I rubbed his head and told him he was the best boy in the whole wide world. Nobody could lie on me and purr like he could. My Bubu had mad skillz!

He gave a little sigh of agreement and closed his eyes in contentment. At that moment, three red-eyes showed up. Annabeth growled in aggravation and shifted to get to her feet.

‘I’ll take care of them,’ I messaged. ‘You stay here and keep cycling. I’ll be right back.’

She nodded gratefully and relaxed again.

“I gotta get up,” I told Bermuda and tapped him on the head. One eye opened, and he gave me a baleful stare. “I’m sorry, dude. It’s not me. It’s them.” I gestured towards the red-eyes. He shifted focus and glared at our advancing enemies. If looks could kill, they would have exploded with extreme prejudice.

He sighed again and then popped into my Throne Room. He curled up on the giant cat bed and ignored me and everything else going on.

‘Have a nice nap,’ I told him as I got to my feet. My Flashers and Miners had already unbalanced the red-eyes, and one was running into the wall and two were going around in circles. Since I had a moment, I pulled my awareness back into my body and gave a careful stretch.

I still ached a bit, but I no longer had the screaming pain of before. I wasn’t a hundred percent yet, but this was fantastic. At least I could move and fight. I limbered up a bit more, being careful not to pull any of my recently healed muscles, and then walked over to the first enemy. He was so focused on getting away from the Flasher, he didn’t pay attention to me. A quick Saber-Saw strike to the neck, and he was done. I Bank Stamped him and moved on.

The next two were a bit harder, but they soon fell to my Saber-Saw as well. I loved how well my Spikes cut. It really felt like I had short lightsabers coming out of my knuckles. They were so awesome!

When we’d stopped at the Whet’s Edge, I’d thought that nothing much would come from it. I’d thought the tests were a nice confidence booster and would help me get over being so badly injured. I never thought I’d end up with a whole new method of attack. I loved Spike and the Knuckle Crew in pierce mode, but I think I liked them in cutting mode even better.

Plus, I’d had a whole epiphany about being Connected, which led me to my healing cycle. Who knew one simple visit would help me grow so much?

I returned to Annabeth, sat down beside her, and took her hand. Once again, I pushed my awareness out to the full extent of my magic senses and entered a meditative state. I recreated the massive healing rune inside her as well as smaller, targeted runes anywhere I thought she might need help, including her eyes.

I synced them all up and started the healing cycle. I could see Annabeth had already figured out how to hum the cycle, so I made sure my cycles matched up with hers. Once I was sure we were good, I activated Tea and all the other healing flowers inside myself. I kept the entire system in sync and sank even deeper into meditation.

I found the cycle was more than just functional. It felt damn good too. I loved to sleep in a cool bed, and the night part of the cycle felt all snuggly like that. The day part felt like playing on the beach or riding my bike in the summer. The rain was the best part. It reminded me of curling up in a plump chair with a mug of hot chocolate and a nice book. Bermuda would be lying on my lap, and the patter of the rain would waft me away to a world of mental adventure.

Basically, the healing cycle was awesome in every way, and I soon discovered that all this syncing up was causing a resonance in the world around us. The moss we were resting on seemed greener and started growing. The flowers that Bermuda liked sprang up, and soon we were outlined in shades of orange and blue. Even our worker ant came over and snuggled up beside us.

I was glad she was there when a trail of black worker ants arrived. Our gal got to her five feet and touched antennae with several of them. There must have been at least thirty, but once they were assured we weren’t an enemy—or edible—they hurried on their way.

I never broke my meditation, and soon the worker ant was nestled beside us again. It sort of felt like we’d gained a pet horse. I could have stayed there for hours, but soon it was time to move on. Our time hadn’t been wasted, though, as both of us now felt in better shape than when we’d started this round.

“Ready to find out where all these red-eyes are coming from?” I asked.

Annabeth stretched, threw a few punches, then stretched a bit more.

“I sure am,” Annabeth replied brightly. “I can’t believe how good I feel. I know we rested longer than we probably should have, but I think it’s going to be worth it. We know what we’re fighting now, and we’re in much better shape to handle them. Plus, we still made some points.”

“For sure!” I agreed. I checked in with my Bank Crystal. “We’ve made four hundred and twenty points so far! That’s not bad.”

“Especially since the points came to us,” Annabeth nodded. “How many more points do we need to get back to zero?”

“Exactly seven thousand,” I replied after checking in again with my Bank Crystal. I tried to sound nonchalant and factual, but that seemed like a lot of points. I must have given away how I was feeling because Annabeth gave me a quick hug.

“We now know how to fight the ants,” she encouraged me. “Since we’re back on our feet, we should be able to put a big dent in that number. Don’t worry too much. I’m sure it will all work out.”

She gave me her trademark cheerful smile, and I did my best to return it. Between the healing and Annabeth”s relentless optimism, I was feeling ready to tackle the rest of this round. So with clear heads and light hearts, we headed down the tunnel to vanquish our enemies and gain some more points.