Imperial wound

The fight was going great - until he got stabbed. The remaining ghosts began to disappear on their own. Annabeth
cut down Hasdrubal the Carthaginian, and Jason made the mistake of sheathing his sword.
Pain flared in his lower back - so sharp and cold he thought Khione the snow goddess had touched him.
Next to his ear, Michael Varus snarled, ‘Born a Roman, die a Roman.’
The tip of a golden sword jutted through the front of Jason’s shirt, just below his ribcage.
Jason fell to his knees. Piper’s scream sounded miles away. He felt like he’d been immersed in salty water - his body weightless, his head swaying.
Piper charged towards him. He watched with detached emotion as her sword passed over his head and cut through Michael Varus ’s armour with a metallic ka-chunk.
A burst of cold parted Jason’s hair from behind. Dust settled around him, and an empty legionnaire’s helmet rolled across the stones. The evil demigod was gone - but he had made a lasting impression.
‘Jason!’ Piper grabbed his shoulders as he began to fall sideways. He gasped as she pulled the sword out of his back. Then she lowered him to the ground, propping his head against a stone.
Annabeth ran to their side. She had a nasty cut on the side of her neck.
‘Gods.’ Annabeth stared at the wound in Jason’s gut. ‘Oh, gods.’
‘Thanks,’ Jason groaned. ‘I was afraid it might be bad.’
His arms and legs started to tingle as his body went into crisis mode, sending all the blood to his chest. The pain was dull, which surprised him, but his shirt was soaked red. The wound was smoking. He was pretty sure sword wounds weren’t supposed to smoke.


Jason tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. His insides felt like they were being twirled on a giant spaghetti fork.
Piper kept him from falling over. ‘First things first,’ she said. ‘Jason is hurt. Heal him!’
The goddess knitted her eyebrows. Her form shimmered unsteadily.
‘Some things even the gods cannot heal,’ she said. ‘This wound touches your soul as well as your
body. You must fight it, Jason Grace . . . you must survive.’
‘Yeah, thanks,’ he said, his mouth dry. I’m trying.’

He looked at the smoke curling from his bandages. He had worse things to worry about than blood loss. Annabeth was right about Imperial gold. The stuff was deadly to demigods as well as monsters. The wound from Varus ’s blade would do its best to eat away at Jason’s life force.

BoO ch.1