Chapter Four
Kylee
I gasped in pain. I closed my eyes, taking deep shuddery breaths and trying to calm my senses. Okay, I thought. Something bad happened. Our apartment exploded. I was knocked out, I had a crazy dream where my step mother and her dog turned into blood thirsty monsters, and I was abducted by some kid and a dude with eyes covering his body and we flew to some crazy summer camp on a magical pegasus where I completely blacked out and had another crazy dream inside my already crazy dream. I am now at the hospital.
I forced myself to open my eyes. My chest throbbed, but I was alive. Good. I was lying in some sort of cot, in what looked like an infirmary. More of these cots lined the walls, filled with injured kids of all ages, and more kids, all in orange t-shirts, giving them medicine and changing their bandages. But what really grabbed my attention were these greenish elf people running around tending to them, and not to mention some people who were goat from the waist down doing the same. It wasn't a dream. The thought echoed through my mind. I was part curious, part downright terrified.
"So, she finally wakes up." I had been so lost in thought, I hadn't noticed a boy was standing at the end of my cot. No, not a boy. The boy. It was the boy who was on the pegasus earlier, who had taken me from our apartment. He looked around fourteen, and was really tall and lanky, with messy blonde hair and blue eyes glinting with the unmistakable look of mischievousness. His jeans were tattered, as if he wore them while climbing a rock wall that spewed lava. His orange t-shirt was tattered as well, but you could just barely make out the words. Camp Half-Blood. He studied me curiously, as if deciding if I was worth keeping. I tried to sit up, but when I did the burning, fiery feeling revived in my heart, forcing me to lie back down. The kid must of noticed my pain, because he spoke again. "You were near dead by the time we got you to camp. If it weren't for Chiron's healing… Let's just say you were lucky to survive." I wanted to say something like thank you for saving me, but instead I said, "Who the heck are you!?" He smirked and held out a hand for me to shake.
"Regan Thomson. Pleased to meet your acquaintance m'lady, but may I ask, who the heck are you?" Even though the joke was really stupid, I had to smile when he did a terrible imitation of my voice. He was annoying in a cute way. I gave myself a mental slap in the face. This is no time to be crushing on a guy! The voice in my mind roared.
I shook his hand, or at least tried to. My hand was limp in his. "Kylee O'Malley." I found myself staring at an elf person as she wrapped bandages around the leg of a girl who looked no older than seven. What kind of place was this? Regan seemed to have read my thoughts. "Its okay, it'll take a little getting used to, but eventually this place will start to feel like… home. Believe me, I'd know. I've been through it to-" he hesitated, as if recalling a bad memory. "all of it." I was speechless. What did he mean, it would start to feel like home? What happened to my real home? Part of me wanted to hop on that flying magical pegasus and get as far as I could away from this place. But the other part of me was crazy excited. I mean, a magical camp? It's just like Harry Potter, how cool is that? I decided to go with the crazy excited part of me, partly out of instinct, and partly because I can barely shake someone's hand, so I guess that rules out flying away on a winged horse. We stared at each other in silence for a while, before Regan stood up. "I better go tell Chiron you're awake, he'll need to make sure that his magic worked properly before you're back on your feet."
"I'll come with you." I said, slowly pulling myself up. He pushed me back down. "Uhh, did you not hear what I just said? Chiron will need to make sure his magic worked properly before you're back on your feet. Now stay." He commanded, as if I were a dog. I sat straight back up, and got off of the cot. Surprisingly, the pain in my chest had dulled to a weird numbing sensation.
"Thanks for the offer," I told Regan. "But I'd like to have a talk with this Chiron." And with that, I made my way to the door, leaving the kid stumbling after me, rolling his eyes and muttering to himself.