Disclaimer: I am not a middle aged man who writes horrible cliffhangers in an awesome book series.
"AND DID IT, MY-OW!"
Chiron stamped his hoof in frustration. He knew that nothing good would come out of paperwork. Not even with Frank Sinatra hits playing in the background. He stared down at his now bleeding index figure. Great. A paper cut. I'm sure that I have some bandages here somewhere
Chiron stepped back, accidentally bumping into one of his cabinets, custom made by the Hephaestus kids. The bottom drawer sprung open, revealing his ever most prized possessions.
He turned crimson. 'Nope. Not that one!'
Chiron slammed it shut. At the same moment, the door swung open, and Dionysus strutted in, trying to balance a huge pile of papers and a straight face.
"Dearest centaur," he drawled "here are the strawberry delivery papers that you had asked for." He proceeded to dump the pile onto Chiron's desk. "and also, The Olympians have especially asked for you to sort out these other files."
This was Dionysus' way of saying: Do my homework, horsey!
Chiron would've opened his mouth to protest, if Dionysus hadn't opened his first.
The Wine god's blood-shot eyes were wide with terror, as he lifted up a shaky finger, and pointed at Chiron.
The centaur raised an eyebrow. "Mr. D, is any prob-" He stopped, and his eyes drifted to his finger. If he had been paying attention, Chiron would've seen a drop of blood, make its way down from his finger, and fall on the pile of papers. Schist.
Dionysus slowly backed away, toward the door. "Hives. Hives. I don't want hives." He muttered.
"Mr. D, just get me a bandage, or ambrosia, something!" As Chiron waved his hand, another drop of blood flew across the room and landed right in front of the already terrified god.
His screams affected everyone within 50 yards.
The Stolls snickered.
Travis spoke, "What did you do this time Conner?"
"Nothing!"
"Was it a fish in his toilet?"
"I Swear I didn't do anything! -Wait, is that-" A girlish scream tore across the camp. And this time it wasn't Dionysus.
"Is that the cry of your damsel in distress?"
His older brother blushed.
Meanwhile the Demeter cabin stared at the now blue strawberries. Apparently Dionysus' mood affected them too.
"Travis!" Katie Gardener yelled, "why are the strawberries BLUE?!"
She tried one. "Bleugh. They even taste blue. He is so dead."
Before she could confront her knight in shining armor, dark haired boy suddenly appeared. "Blue?" he asked.
"Yes, Jackson. They're blue! And if they don't turn red again-"
"I'll take the lot."
Katie's eyes sparkled mischievously as Percy handed over his savings and she the strawberries.
"Half a drachma for each," she mused as her customer wheel-barrowed away. "Not bad Katie. Not bad."
But let's get back to the one responsible for the blue fruits, or berries, whatever.
"Chiron tried to poison MEEE!" Dionysus shrieked to anyone and everyone.
Annabeth's ears pricked up. "Chiron?"
She called the running god, "What's wrong with him?!"
Dionysus didn't hear her. But the shouts of "HIVES! HIVES! I DON'T WANT HIVES!" were all Annabeth thought she needed to hear.
She sped down the lane going to the Big House. Her search for Percy could wait.
Chiron was sick, sick of everything going wrong that day. When Annabeth threw open the door she found the centaur rummaging through the drawers with one hand while clutching his other in a fist. A couple of Chiron's things were smoking. Including but not limited to, papers on his desk, the boom box, (he tried to turn it off) and a box of tissues. The remains of a first-aid kit lay on the floor.
"Chiron?" She took a step forward to help him.
He spun around, accidentally knocking over a lamp. "No! Child, don't!" He cried.
But it was too late. Annabeth stepped on the drop of blood that Mr. D had run away from earlier.
The centaur spoke quickly, "Child, I'm bleeding. I need you to take off your shoe right now. You just stepped on a drop of blood."
"Oh my gods!" Annabeth was pale as she lifted her leg, and cast her shoe aside. "Oh my gods!"
She sat at the doorway, examining her foot. The acid-like blood hadn't gone through her shoe, but she took off her sock just in case. She knew how deadly centaur blood was and her mind wanted nothing else but to runaway.
Annabeth glanced at her mentor.
Chiron looked relieved, and scared at the same time. Relieved that his dearest camper was fine, and scared that he could have killed her.
His voice was shaking as he told her to get one of the Apollo kids to bring a bandage.
"Oh, and warn them about the floor Annabeth."
"It's okay Chiron I'll get it myself." She slowly stood up.
"No child, find someone else."
"But I'm fine!" She protested.
Chiron shook his head, "No. Find a mirror and you'll see how pale you are. Go get someone else."
"Chiron," began Annabeth.
For once, he didn't meet her eyes. "I'm very sorry that I scared you." The centaur waved her away.
"Chiron, I'm fine." She tried to laugh. "I've been through way worse than this! You didn't think I was that scared did you?" She laughed again. "I'm only scared for my favorite centaur," she said, "are You alright Chiron?"
A faint smile played across Chiron's lips. And he laughed.
"It's just a paper cut, I'll be fine child." His face became serious again, "but you are not. Now go and look for someone else to get me a bandage!"
"Yes Chiron!" Annabeth knew him since she was seven, and she recognized that the familiar sternness in her mentor's voice was back As she strode away she knew he was going to be fine, "Now what about about that bandage?" She wondered.
Will Solace was upset. Of all the times his dad could have appeared to him. It had to be now.
He was already busy that day when the Ares cabin dragged in their pal Sherman. Clarisse yawned, "Fix the Squirt's leg."
Will wiped his hands on a towel. "What happened to him?" He asked.
But Clarisse was gone. Great.
He called the other Apollo kids and together they set Sherman in a bed.
"What happened to you?" He asked Sherman.
"Stoll brothers." He winced as Will cleaned his leg.
"I guess they lose their desert privileges." Will said absently, "By the way, you broke your Tibia."
Sherman stared at the son of Apollo.
"You fractured your leg. And you won't be up until a week at most."
Sherman relaxed. "Thank the gods."
"A week without Clarisse?" Will guessed.
His patient nodded.
The son of Apollo got ready to set his patient's leg straight.
"Cast ready?" He asked Austin.
"Cast ready." Austin replied.
"Be prepared to black out Sherman. This is going to hurt like Hades." Will warned.
Sherman sighed. "That's comforting."
"Comfort is my middle name, or rather my last." Replied Solace. "Austin," he said, "We do it on three."
"Okay," was the response.
Will planned to do the old skip-to-three technique. It hurt a lot less, even if the patients didn't think so.
"Okay, One. THR- DAD?!
Apollo stood on the other side of the bed. He smirked.
Sherman howled and Will snapped back to the present. He didn't set his patient's leg properly.
"You've got to be kidding me!" He scolded Apollo, "You're the worst dad ever! Of all the possible times-"
"Will?" Austin spoke up, "Who are you talking to?"
Will noticed that the entire infirmary was staring at him. He glared at his father. Apollo's finger was on his lips as the god put his other hand on Sherman and healed him.
"Nobody important," Will replied. "Give me a minute."
He followed Apollo outside of the infirmary. His father finally spoke.
"Hey kiddo."
Will was practically burning now. He hadn't seen his father since after the war with Kronos. And he was pretty sure it was Apollo's fault that the sun was in his eyes when he tried to shoot a target. He ended up having to tend to himself after Clarisse beat him up for almost shooting her.
He shook the thought out of his head.
"What do you want?" He wanted to sound bored so he yawned, "I'm kinda busy right now."
The god snapped his fingers and Will felt like his head was being split in half by a jackhammer.
"Stop it!" He pleaded.
"I'm a doctor, I know how to hurt people." Apollo snapped his fingers and the headache disappeared. Will almost collapsed but he steadied himself and managed to look his father in the eye. More politely he asked, "Why did you come?"
"I need you to deliver a special package to a friend of mine. Here it is." Apollo handed him a small envelope addressed to-
"Chiron?" Asked Will.
"Yes. Apparently my favorite centaur has gotten a paper cut and he needs these band-aids."
"But centaur blood will kill anyone who touches it! And will burn anything that it touches!"
"Observant boy," Apollo remarked, "That's why he needs MY special 'Apollo's Centaur Blood Resistant Band-Aids!' Now, would he like me to sign them?" The god snatched back the envelope and hastily scribbled on it.
When Will took back the paper, he wanted to laugh, but he also didn't want a splitting headache, so he kept quiet.
"Now stop standing there and deliver!" Cried Apollo.
"I'm quite sure that's not how the phrase goes." Will said.
His father stared at him queerly as if he was wondering whether or not he should reprimand him for that remark.
Hopefully he won't. Will thought. He held his breath.
Apollo finally spoke, "Your going to need some special equipment for this task." Will relaxed. "Go to the janitor's closet and you'll find that you need. Goodbye kiddo."
He reached out, ruffled his son's hair and he was gone.
Will strode off wondering, "Janitors closet? Hmm."
Annabeth made her way to the Apollo cabin. Even with only one shoe, she managed to make it there as fast as Percy would run towards blue food.
"Now where is that Seaweed Brain?" She wondered, "Never mind, Chiron first. But how can a regular Bandage help him? It would just burn." At that moment she heard a roar of laughter coming from the infirmary.
Will stormed out with a full janitor's costume. Complete with white latex gloves, a bee-keeper hat, and boots that bear could have worn.
She struggled to keep a straight face as Will the Janitor passed by, but failed.
"What happened to you?" She chuckled.
The son of Apollo glared at her. "Family issues." He turned towards the Big House.
"Wait!" Said Annabeth, "if your going that way, can you give Chiron a-"
"Band Aid?" He asked.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
Will, didn't answer her, but Annabeth's keen ears heard him mutter, "I hate my dad."
Will found a haiku attached to the costume in the janitor's closet that read,
You must respect me,
Because I am your father,
Wear all of this or die.
-Master of Poetry, Apollo.
He held up the hat and grimaced. "He's not even part of my life, and now he's trying to ruin it?!" The son of Apollo groaned.
Chiron was beginning to grow anxious. He tapped his hoof on the floor, glanced at the clock, and was even thinking about picking up the shattered lamp before he realized how dangerous that would be.
Can't risk another bleeding finger. He thought.
Chiron heard heavy footsteps on his porch and a knock on the door.
At least they won't see my office. Thought Chiron as he maneuvered through the mess. He opened the door.
The centaur was quite surprised to see a bee-keeping janitor holding up an envelope.
"Delivery." He said dully
"Will, my boy, who dared you to do this?" He took the envelope with his good hand.
"Apollo." Will answered, before he struggled off.
Chiron closed the door and examined the envelope,
"From the most hopelessly awesome god of Oympus," it read.
"Thanks Apollo," he murmured as he tore it open.
A packet of 'Apollo's Centaur Blood Resistant Band-Aids' lay inside it. He tried to open the quality seal with one hand, but gave up and used both. For once his blood did not burn it.
Chiron dumped the contents onto his messed up desk, and five sunny yellow bandages smiled brightly at him.
The centaur did not smile back. Instead, he picked one up and gingerly placed it on his index finger.
"Early night today Chiron," he said to himself, "you've been through a lot."
Yawning even though it was only 5 o'clock, he locked the door, turned off the lights, and opened a drawer. Making sure that absolutely no one was looking, Chiron pulled out his ever most prized possessions, and put them on his tail. He brought the boom box (thankfully it wasn't ruined) inside his bedroom and fell asleep with his two favorite things. Frank Sinatra music and his Horse-Hair curlers. The yellow smiley faced bandage may have looked out of place, but Chiron didn't mind.
Annabeth finally found Percy near the Demeter cabin arguing with Katie Gardener.
"I paid for BLUE strawberries, and now they are RED!" He jabbed a finger to the wheelbarrow beside him. "I demand a refund!"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Seaweed Brain..."
