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Sorry if this chapter isn't the best, but hopefully it'll shed some light on Liz for ya.
Hope ya like it.
In my dream, I was on a bus. A truck was smashing into us. Kids screamed. The bus driver tried to get away, but it was no use.
Then I saw the scene of the crash. Cars were squished, the bus was in a heaping pile on the side of the road. It looked like there were still people digging through the wreckage to find others. Kids, parents, and emergency vehicles were everywhere. Everyone looked almost okay. The people who had been on my side of the bus were being put into ambulances. Others just looked shaken. The girl who'd been sitting next to me was crying, along with more than a few others.
I noticed a black truck on the scene and walked over to it instinctively. Inside sat a boy about seventeen or eighteen, talking into his phone. "I don't know where she is!" he exclaimed. "They haven't found her yet." he voice sounded broken, and my heart contracted. I realized that this must have been my brother. He looked too much like me and his voice was immeidatly familiar.
Suddenly, a police officer walked over to him. "Sir?" he asked.
"I gotta go, I'll call you back in a sec," my brother said, then hung up. He looked at the officer hopefully.
"We found your sister," he said, though he looked like there was still some bad news to come. "But she's in a bad state. She's being rushed straight to the hospital. Would you like to ride with her?"
My brother nodded immediately. He turned to the truck. "You guys got this?" he asked. I hadn't noticed the other two boys in the car.
"Yea man, go," the one in the passenger seat said.
My brother nodded in thanks and followed the officer to an ambulance. I briefly saw the form of a broken body before the doors closed and the ambulance drove off.
"She's not a demigod," I heard a voice say. "That much I'm sure."
"Then who is she?" another voice asked.
"We'll have to talk to her more once she wakes up. Annabeth, will you send an Iris-Message to Reyna? Maybe the Romans will be able to shed some light on this."
Slowly, I groaned and opened my eyes. The others in the room looked over at me. Annabeth was gone, but the boys all looked down at me. I was lying on the couch, a thin blanket draped over me. I sat up, rubbing the grogginess out of my eyes.
"Liz," Chiron said eagerly. "What did you see?"
I stared at them, not knowing what to think. "I…I think I was in a crash." I explained what I saw, causing the boys looked troubled.
"That explains what I sensed," Nico said.
I felt dread settle in my stomach, but I spoke with an even voice. Guess all that practice of keeping myself together after something major happened in a book that made me freak out inside has paid off.
Okay, how can I remember that, but not my last name?
I forced myself to stay on topic. "What do you mean?" I asked Nico.
Nico looked at me with sympathy.
"Well, we can't very well leave her clueless," Chiron said.
"Why not? She's a mortal." A voice said. It was the first voice I'd heard when I woke up. I looked over and saw a man in a cheetah print cloak reclining with a can of Diet Coke in his hand. My mouth watered a bit. I love Diet Coke.
Chiron gave an exasperated sigh. "Mr. D, with all due respect, she's our guest now. Until we can figure out what's happened to her, she should know the truth."
Mr. D sighed, but acted like he didn't care. "Fine, but don't blame me if Father gets angry."
Chiron seemed to take the risk, which was brave considering who Mr. D's father was.
Chiron explained everything to me. About the Greek and Roman gods and their children, about the two camps. He said that I was a mortal, and that I pretty much shouldn't be here, but since I was, I may as well not be kept in the dark.
I pretended to act surprised, but it wasn't anything that hadn't been confirmed the first time I'd heard his name.
I looked at Nico and Clovis, question in my eyes. "Son of Hades," Nico said.
"zzzzz," Clovis was snoring.
"Hypnos?" I said it like a question.
Chiron raised his eyebrows, and I flushed. "I, ah, remember some things. Random little tidbits of information. Hypnos is the god of sleep right?"
Chiron nodded. "Mostly. I suppose it'll be good that you know a thing or two. At least you won't be clueless."
Oh, you have no idea.
"Well, since you're so smart, do you know who I am?" Mr. D asked. he looked curious, like he was testing me.
"Um," I said, studying him. of course I knew the answer, but I had to make it look good. I looked around, at the grape vines that decorated the walls, at the Greek drama masks, at Seymour growling in the corner. "Dionysus," I said. "God of wine."
Mr. D sat back, satisfied. "Very good." he said, and I got the feeling that he was congratulating me on more than just getting the question right. "Now the rest of you get out. I want a word with our new guest."
The others looked nervous, but they nodded, and left without a word.
As soon as we were alone, Mr. D chuckled. "You're a better actress than you're given credit for."
I scowled. I knew Mr. D wasn't loved by the demigods, heck I didn't even like him that much. But he's still a god. He still has some serious power. "What am I doing here? You obviously know me, but you're not saying anything to Chiron."
Mr. D shrugged. "It's a test. You've probably already guessed that you're in a coma. Only a part of you is here. But everyone can see you."
"Why? Why am I here?"
"Because you know the books like the back of your hand. And you're important." That seemed to be all he was allowed to say.
"Important?" I nearly laughed. "I'm not important."
Mr. D studied me a moment. "There's plenty of empty rooms upstairs. I'll have Argus show you to one."
The moment his name was said, Argus appeared. The sight of him startled me slightly, but I recovered quickly. I had to admit, he was handsome for a guy with a hundred eyes. Slowly, I got up and walked over to him.
"Oh and Liz," Mr. D called. I stopped and turned back to him. "You may want to keep this between us."
I nodded, then turned and walked out without another word.
The room Argus took me to was average, I guess. There was a bed, a dresser, and a door that lead off into a bathroom. A full length mirror hung on the wall.
I looked up at Argus. "Um," I said, not sure how to phrase the question, or even if he was the person to ask. "I don't think I've eaten all day. Or…well…it feels like I haven't," I stammered. Why was I so bad with talking to people? It wasn't even his eyes that bothered me. They all looked a bit concerned for me. And curious.
He grunted and nodded. I remembered that he didn't talk, supposedly because there were eyes on his tongue.
He left without a word, closing the door behind him.
"I don't know if that was him being rude or not," I muttered to myself.
I sat on the edge of the bed and wished I had a book to read. Never mind the fact that I was living in one of my favorite stories. I get the feeling that reading would calm me, so it didn't really help that I was book free at the moment.
With a sigh, I got up and walked over to the window. It looked out onto the volleyball court, where there were a few campers and satyrs playing one last game for the night. I knew it had been afternoon when I'd passed out, but how much time had passed since then? I know I saw myself being taken to the hospital, but that might have been hours ago. In fact, I'm sure it was. I don't know what was going on with my body. Am I in surgery? Are my parents pacing some waiting room, desperate for news on if I'll survive?
I pushed the thought back. I didn't want to think about them. It'd be too hard. I already have so much to wrap my mind around.
A moment later, a knock came to the door. Reluctantly, I pulled myself from the window and went to open it.
A girl stood on the other side. She wore a green dress and had flowers in her air. Her skin was tinted slightly green. A nymph. Behind her stood Argus.
"Hi!" she said in a perky voice. "I'm Juniper. I was instructed to bring you some food?" she said it like she was asking me if I was still starving. Which I was.
I smiled. Despite how confused I was, there was no reason to push her away. Besides if she is who I think she is, I defiantly wanted to get to know her. "Thanks!" I said, to both her and Argus. I knew he was the one who went and got her.
Juniper came in, setting a plate of food on the bedside table. "You must be hungry." She said.
"Believe me, I am. I don't think I ate lunch or breakfast." I said. The smell of the food made my stomach rumble.
Juniper frowned. "Why?"
I looked down at my figure. Or lack thereof. "Wasn't hungry then." I said, which I knew immediately was the answer I gave everyone. Guess I had a habit of not eating.
A troubled look crossed her face, as well as Argus. But they didn't say anything. "Well, we'll leave you to your food. Chiron wants to see you downstairs when you're done, by the way." Juniper said.
"Okay," I answered, and they left.
I took my time eating. I get the feeling that I'm normally a very picky person, but in this case I knew I wouldn't have that much of a say in my food, so I decided now would be the time to try new things.
I found that I liked this type of barbeque, though I knew that I'd only ever get it here. I also didn't mind the beans that much.
Once my hunger was satisfied, I took a breath to calm myself, then made my way to the living room.
Chiron was waiting by a roaring fireplace. He was still in his wheelchair, and I wondered if I'd get to see him come out of it. I'd always had trouble picturing that.
Chiron turned as I came in. he gave me a small, welcoming smile. "I trust you've settled in?" he said.
I tried for a light tone. "In all honesty, there wasn't much to settle."
Chiron chuckled politely and motioned for me to sit down in the chair next to him. I did so, and felt the warmth of the fire wash over me. I relaxed slowly, enjoying the warmth.
Chiron must have seen this, because he spoke in a soft voice that matched the roar. "Liz, I know that this is a lot to take in, but we have to know a few things."
I stared into the flames, not trusting myself to look at him. "I'll tell you anything you need to know. I just want to know what's going on." it was true. I had no reason to keep anything back from him.
"I was hoping that now that you've had some time to yourself and something to eat, that maybe you've remembered more than when you first arrived?" he sounded doubtful, but I knew he'd had to ask.
I had thought about it. It was another reason why I'd eaten slowly. "A few things," I admitted. "My brother…I don't know. Now that I've seen him, I'm starting to remember more about him. His name is…"I racked my brain. It was at the tip of my tongue. "Christopher, I think. Everyone calls him Chris, though."
Chiron nodded. "Go on."
I chewed my lip. "A few other things that don't make sense. Feelings, mostly. Feelings that should pair with memories, but the memories are gone." I felt myself getting frustrated. How can I explain this?
Chiron was patient. He let me gather my thoughts. The fire seem to help, though. The warmth wrapped around me like a blanket and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, focusing on that. "I remember being happy, sad, frustrated, nervous, sick. Whenever I see certain things, like this fire, familiar feelings come back, and I know that I've felt it before because I can put a name to it. Or when I hear something, I can suddenly remember that I have some sort of connect to it. Like…when Mr. D was drinking his soda. I immediately knew that I liked Diet Coke. Or earlier when I guessed that Clovis was a son of Hypnos. The information just came to me, like it's always been there, but when I reached for it before, it wasn't there. I don't know."
"And how do you feel right now?" Chiron asked softly.
I sighed. "Home."
I jerked back suddenly. My eyes were still closed, but instead of seeing darkness, I saw flames of a fire in a fire place. It wasn't here at the Big House, though. It was in another house. I was curled on a beanbag chair with a light blanket draped over me, a book in my hands. In the background, I could hear the noise of a TV show, though I had no idea which one. Over that, people talked. A man's gruff voice followed by a woman's higher pitched one. I couldn't make out words, but their voices comforted me almost as much as the warmth of the fire. A leg touched mine, but barely, and I didn't have to look up to know that it was my brother. Two fur balls were curled up on the floor next to us, taking in the warmth of the fire just as much as we were.
I felt so content at that moment. I felt like I was home.
I opened my eyes, only to find that I was in the Big House. Chiron had a hand on my arm, a worried look in his eyes. "Liz? Are you okay?"
I stared at him, wide-eyed. "I think I just had a…a memory or something."
Chiron looked curious. "What is this memory?" he asked.
I shook my head. "It was a winter night that much I could tell. Chris and I were curled up next to the fire. Each of us reading a book," I smiled at the mere thought. "my two pets were curled up next to us. A dog and a cat. My dad was watching TV and talking to my mom. It just felt so…normal."
Chiron was thoughtful. "Like home."
I nodded. "Exactly."
Chiron absentmindedly rubbed his beard. "Interesting." He muttered.
I shook my head in wonder. "Chiron, what did Nico mean earlier, what he sensed?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.
Chiron leaned forward, a troubled look in his eyes. "Nico's a son of Hades. He…he can sometimes sense when people are dying."
I bit my lip and nodded. "And if I was in such a horrible crash…"
"Then perhaps you are," he said.
I sighed. "I think I'm in a coma," I said. I know Mr. D said to keep this between us, but I got the feeling he only meant to leave him out of it. I'm not to tell that he knows anything. As far as the rest of the camp knows, he's just as clueless as everybody else. "So why am I here?"
Chiron shook his head. "That, my dear, I don't know. Do you feel like you did before you came here?"
I shrugged. "Emotion wise…well yes, obviously. Sense wise…well I guess so. I mean, I feel the heat of the fire, I can feel my own skin. I still get hungry and exhausted. And I bet that if I were to get hurt, I'd feel pain." I shook my head, mystified.
Chiron looked thoughtful. "I wish I knew what to tell you. Annabeth, the girl who brought you here, spoke with our friends in California. They're just as confused. They're going to try and get something out of their books to see if they can help." I knew without asking what books he was talking about, but I didn't' say so.
Instead, I turned to Chiron. "Do you happen to have an empty notebook or journal? I feel like writing."
Chiron seemed a bit startled by the request, but he nodded. "I'll see what I can find."
I smiled. "Thank you." the journal thing felt right somehow. Like none of this would be real until I was able to get it on paper.
He returned my smile. "Perhaps you should get some rest my dear. In the meantime, I must go check on the campers."
I nodded in understanding. I knew they'd be at the camp fire right now.
"Get some rest. We'll talk more in the morning." He promised, then rolled himself out.
I stayed by the fire for a long time. I was reluctant to leave the warmth of it. Eventually, I felt my eyes close.
There you have it! Again, I apologize if it's not the best chapter in the world, but I hoped you liked it!
Thanks for reading and please review!
