Kiss of Death Chapter 4: Written In These Walls Are Stories That I Can't Explain

Lynn

A normal person would have said something to fill the awkward silence. A normal person would have gratefully accepted a nice, warm blanket without complaint. A normal person would have thanked the person that may have saved their life. A normal person wouldn't have gotten themselves into this situation in the first place.

I was sitting with my back against the worn wooden frame of my bed in the infirmary. The sun was setting over Long Island Sound and vibrant colors were painted across the sky. It was a beautiful sight, especially since the different hues of blue, pink, and purple were mirrored on the waves rolling in and out on the beach.

I don't think that I could've hated it more.

The world should have been suffering, just like I was. I was in pain; even the slightest shift sent another wave of soreness rippling throughout my body.

I had to endure it, though. I needed to get out of there as soon as possible; their sad eyes followed all of my movements and I legitimately thought that I was going to scream. Did they think that I needed that pity?

I didn't, okay? I didn't.

I just needed to get out of there because I really didn't want anyone to even hear a whisper of what was happening, especially not from Scott. He'd probably say that I was faking and it was just training accident. And Zeus knows how fast rumors spread at summer camps, especially demigod ones.

If I got out of there would be less chance of anyone realizing that I was gone, even though I hadn't shown up for dinner. I felt no urge to answer snoopy questions and lie to people. I didn't want to lose the friends that I had. They were a small few; Dani, Dylan, Will, Katie, Travis, Connor, and Jane, my younger half-sister.

My eyes traced the entire area that I was in; worn, yet homey rugs by the door, the bizarre mementos from Mr. D, and the five faces looking straight back at me.

Dani and Dylan out of all of them looked the most nervous. My brain was running at a million miles per hour trying to figure out why they were so worried. I mean, it was obvious; lines on their high foreheads bite marks on their thin lips, hands twisting platinum blonde hair—yeah. They were freaking out about something. But my only thought when I looked at them was I hope they didn't tell; I hope they didn't tell.

My eyes shifted to my older half-brother. With him being the first of the campers to welcome me into Camp Half-Blood, he was my best friend. He still is, really. Some new campers have come up to us and asked if we were dating because we would spend so much time with each other—gross, right? I'd never date my own brother. But Will is almost the exact image of our father; tall, blonde, blue-eyed, athletic, and can pretty much master any instrument in under an hour.

The downside to having such a great brother is that he can convince me to do almost anything that he wants. For example, if I, for some reason, got angry with Will (which rarely happens) and I decided that I wasn't going to talk to him, he could make me talk to him just by talking and making me look at him. It's like charmspeak, just a whole lot less romantic. (Kind of.) As my band teacher always says, "Music is made to make you feel an emotion."

If there was one person that I truly would feel ashamed around because of my situation, it would be Chiron, my trainer and teacher. Even though he lies very well and has an amazing poker face, his dark eyes have so much depth and hold stories unknown to both mankind and demigod-kind. His scraggly beard is always comforting to see, especially if you're in a position like mine. Chiron is like a second parent to all of the half-bloods at camp and none of us could ask for more than what he already gives us.

Now on the other hand, if there was one person that I was scared of, it would be Nico di Angelo. His father was Hades, for gods' sakes! What else would you expect from me? Other than the rest of the Big Three campers and Annabeth, there was not another camper that could match his own skill level. Even without his powers this guy would be scary.

When you looked into his eyes, it was as if they were searching your soul, or something. Nico's eyes were so terribly mesmerizing, almost in the way I would imagine the eyes of Medusa would be. (Within a couple weeks of me being at camp I'd heard that whenever he was angry his eyes would flash red. But then again, I'd also heard that he'd slept with the entire Aphrodite cabin, which was highly unlikely.)

Even though his broad shoulders were slightly slumped, he always looked ready for an attack. And when you live a life like ours, you learn very quickly that those can happen at any time. Another thing that kind of set me off whenever I saw him was his hair. It sometimes seemed too long, it sometimes seemed too short. It was weird.

A quiet cough shattered my thoughts.

My eyes snapped in Will's direction. I had to stop myself from actually listening to what he had to say, or else I knew that everything would come rushing out like a waterfall. So, instead, I focused my eyes on the view through the door.

There were campers rushing to and fro, trying to find their brothers and sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends before campfire started. This was our routine. This is what we did every day, without fail. It was crazy that this was our life; singing to keep a fire going, burning food for our parents before we ate, literally fighting to stay alive.

But, at the same time, they were all so carefree. Sure, most of us wouldn't make it to late adulthood, but no one seemed to care in that moment. I wanted to be able to live like that.

Will looked me right in the eyes, and I could tell he was trying to give me some encouragement without actually voicing it. It seemed to have worked because even though I was nervous, I wanted them to know. This time, I actually wanted to tell the truth. I opened my mouth, cleared my throat, and began my story.

"The last time that Scott hit me was earlier today. We were in his cabin hanging out when he suddenly said that he wanted to spar with me. I said sure and we headed out. As we were walking along, I somehow managed to trip over a tree root."

Nico snickered a bit. Did he really think that now was the best time to laugh? Or was it that he just found my misery amusing? If he was going to be like this I didn't even want him to be in the same room as me, regardless of the fact that he agreed to be my "bodyguard" or whatever. (What kind of bullshit was that?)

I could see him starting to get reckless. His fingers were twitching and he was eyeing the door like he really had someplace else to be. Well, if he didn't want to be here, then he didn't have to be. It's not like I was forcing him to be my warden.

But Will, being the best brother ever, saw this and glared at him. I went on. "He leaned forward to catch me, while in the process dropping his spear that he got from his father. He loves that spear so much that he had Leo build him a glass case for it next to his bed. Anyway, as I said, he accidentally dropped his spear when he went to catch me.

"Somehow, I managed to land on his spear and I broke it into three different pieces. Once he got that look in his eyes—he always gets this certain look when he's really angry, especially with me—I ran. I didn't know where else to go because I didn't want anyone to find out. As I was running, I was going so fast and so aimlessly that I ran into Nico I didn't really register who it was, though, until when I woke up and saw Nico sitting next to my bed. But at that point, when we had crashed into each other, I wasn't really thinking. I was so scared; I thought that I was going to shit myself."

The son of Hades laughed under his breath.

Okay, now I've had it.

I looked at him, sure that there must have been murder in my eyes. "If there's something amusing about a girl being ab-abused then you should probably enlighten the rest of us," I snapped. "I'm not getting the joke, di Angelo."

Almost immediately, his slightly relaxed body went tense. "I wasn't laughing at you," he said, sounding a bit incredulous, but I was tired of not standing up for myself.

"Sure you weren't."

"I wasn't," he snapped back. "I'm just trying to help, even though I don't even know why."

I crossed my arms. "Please! You probably have the emotional range of a spoon—why are you even bothering?"

The forgotten occupants of the room gasped. "Lynn," Will said disapprovingly, but Nico interrupted.

"You don't even know me!" he said angrily, rising from the cot he was sitting on.

My eyebrows went up. "Don't I? You're the son of Hades that doesn't give a damn about everyone else, just like his dad. You hold pointless grudges even when you know you're in the wrong, and—"

"What makes you think that you can just talk to me like that? You think that you can assume things about me just because of some fucking campfire rumors? Think again, Lynn," he sneered. "You don't know anything about me, my family, my friends, or my life. And have you ever taken a moment to consider that I didn't have to bring you back here? There are other things that I could have done with my time. I could've left you there to die, just like your deadbeat boyfriend."

I don't know how I did it, but the next thing I remember is me slapping him and screaming for him to get out.