Chapter Two
Regan
The girl collapsed. Argus lunged and caught her just before she hit the floor. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with concern. And when I say eyes, I mean like, all of the two-hundred eyes covering his body. I ran over and kneeled down next to him as Argus gently laid the girl down on the floor. She did not look to good. She had a deep cut on her cheek, blood streaming down her face. She also had two deep puncture wounds in her arm. As I examined them closer, I realized with in shock that they were a Chimera bite.
"Oh, no." I mumbled. "No no no no no." I was chosen to go with Argus to collect the girl because I am one of the most skilled healers of the Apollo cabin. But this was the one thing I couldn't heal. I easily stopped the flow of blood from her cheek, but she was becoming unnaturally pale, and her breathing was shallow. I knew we didn't have much time. I turned to Argus. "How fast do you think you can get us back to camp?"
I've always hated horseback riding. I hate riding pegasi even more. Now I'm zooming at a bajillion miles per hour through the sky on a pegasus, not only trying to trying to keep myself from falling off, but also the unconscious and dying form of the demigod I was supposed to save. I cursed myself for never learning how to cure a Chimera bite. I racked my brain for any possible solution that could at least slow the poison from reaching her heart before we get to camp. Finally, I remembered something Will Solace, my cabin's leader, said about Chimera poison. Whatever you do, keep the victim awake, the less conscious the mind is, the faster the poison reaches the heart. I stared down at the very unconscious form laying in my arms pitifully. Oops. Panicking, unsure of what else to do, I shook the girl awake as gently as I could. She groaned and began to stir. Finally, her eyes opened.
"What-?" her voice was raspy, and she was shaking so hard it shook me. She began to take notice of her surroundings. Flying on a pegasus driven by a man with eyes covering his body. Completely normal. She started to scream, but I cut her off. "Save your strength." She was pretty, but not, you know, I just ran through a field of makeup pretty. It was natural beauty. Her long golden hair fell down to her waist. Her eyes were dark, like, almost black dark. With a start, I realized I was staring. I broke my gaze. "Er, Argus, how long until we get to camp?" He nodded with his head down. Argus doesn't talk. There are rumors that it's because he has a eye on his tongue… I follow his gesture and see Camp Half-Blood right below us. With it's cabin's aligned so they were forming an omega in the center of the camp, the big house,the dining pavilion, the endless strawberry fields basking in the summer sun. This place was the only home I've ever had as long as I can remember. I came here when I was five, after my family was killed by the monsters… I try not to think about that.
I remembered the task at hand, and turned back to the girl, who was still frozen in terror. "Where… who-?" she stuttered. I tried to comfort her as best as I could. I was new once to, and I knew what it was like, and how scary it felt. "It's okay, you're safe with us." It was a horrible answer, but I didn't know what else to say. That was a job for Chiron.
The pegasus started descending towards the ground. I held the girl in my arms as we dropped. She could barely sit up without support. The pegasus touched down, sending a jolt up my spine. Ugh, the joy's of riding a pegasus. A group of campers ran over to us, cheering. They died down almost automatically when they saw the girl. For a second, everybody was silent, staring in shock at the half-conscious figure in my arms. Finally somebody in the crowd yelled, "What are we standing around for? Somebody get Chiron!" Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin took off running to the Big House as I helped get the girl off of the pegasus and get off myself. Argus galloped away on the winged horse, probably taking it back to the stables. The girl leaned on me as we waited. The crowd was still there, staring at us. I felt terrible. It was my fault that the girl ended up like this. Chiron had given me the task of getting her to camp safely and I failed. If we had just been a little sooner maybe we could of stopped the Chimera and the girl wouldn't have gotten bitten. Nobody has ever fought the mother of all monsters alone before. Except for maybe Percy Jackson.
But he had been at camp for a little while before he had went on his first quest, and he had at least some training. This girl doesn't even know she's a demigod yet. I still can't think how she had managed to kill the monsters. I didn't see what happened, I had only arrived in time to see her standing there in shock, a butter knife in her hand, before she lost consciousness. An image I will never forget. I was so absorbed in my own thoughts, I didn't notice the Stoll brothers running back into the field, Chiron galloping after them. Chiron the centaur, a horse from the waist down, was the activities director here at Camp Half Blood, but myself and most people here at camp look up to him as our leader. The real camp director, Mr. D (A.K.A. Dionysus), could probably care less about his position. He is only here because Zeus gave it to him as a punishment for chasing after a woodland nymph. The crowd of campers parted as Chiron trotted over to the girl and I.
His face paled as he examined the girl's arm. "Chimera bite?" he asked. I nodded my head and stared at my shoes. Finally, I couldn't take the guilt any more. "Sir, I'm sorry, If I had been there sooner-" Chiron put his hand out, not taking his eyes off the girl's wound. "It's alright child." he said warmly. "There is nothing you would have been able to do to prevent it." I looked at the girl again, who had slipped back into unconsciousness. I hadn't even met her yet, but I could already sense bravery radiating from her. "I think I can save her," Chiron said. "But there is little time. We must hurry." He gestured for some tree nymphs to come over and take the girl from me. I hesitated. I don't even know her name yet, but I felt protective over the girl who killed the mother of monsters single handedly. I had failed to protect her once, and I don't want it to happen again.
But she was dying, and she needed to be healed, fast. I handed the girl over, and watched as the nymphs carried her away, following Chiron to the big house.