Chapter 4

"No!" Percy yelled and jumped over a pile of debris, landing bravely between Winthrop and me, lifting his intricately designed shield up over our bent heads.

Winthrop just laughed and knocked his shield away with his spiked tail. Just when I thought Percy was a goner, he pulled Anaklusmos out of his short's pocket and slashed Winthrop to yellow monster dust. Leaving the both of us covered and coughing.

Percy offered me his hand, I reach up to grab it, and fall back, eyes wide.

"You okay?" He asked, concern plainly written across his tired face.

"I'm fine, thank you." I lied, my voice stiff.

My shoulder was seriously throbbing, but I wasn't about to whine and complain, at least I was alive. Plus, I am a Hunter and didn't want to sound pathetic! Percy still looked worried, but I brushed him off, it worked too, until my hand came off my shoulder and he saw my wound.

"That's not okay. That's hurt." His voice was strained, like he couldn't believe I hadn't told him I was hurt in the first place.

"I'm fine, really." True, my shoulder did hurt, but I'm not letting him treat me like a little kid, or worse, his girlfriend.

Percy however, doesn't seem to have heard me. Tearing off a narrow strip of his red shirt, he leaned down and wrapped the cloth around my injured shoulder. Completely ignoring my feeble yet legitimate excuses.

When my temporary bandage had been wrapped to Percy's satisfaction he helped me to my feet, the fact that I had the lean on him more than I would have liked, due to my sprained ankle, did nothing to improve my dignity. In fact, I believe it hit an all time low.

As we left the office, he grabbed a dark green colored backpack with his name, Perseus Jackson, off one of the fake-gold hooks in the waiting room as we passed. The top flips open for a moment, and when the contents shift my fears are dowsed, he has a picture of Annabeth Chase in his backpack. I almost let out a sigh of relief, he's already got a girl friend, no need to worry, to much.

The waiting room showed obvious signs of our fight, a hole in the wall, the dust and broken bits of plaster. Some of the receptionist's files were shredded a some point, and the bits of paper were scattered all over the floor, mixing with the heavy dust.

"Guess I won't be coming back here anytime soon." Percy commented, as he held the door open. I smiled slightly and followed him out of the office.

Once we had stepped outside into the bright early afternoon sunlight, he pulled a baggie of ambrosia squares out of his backpack and handed one to me. It tastes like butterscotch candy with a swirl of vanilla. I found that a bit odd, but it was good and I was hurt, so I ate it.

He winced, and for a brief moment he's turned so I get a sense of how bad the little scrape on his back is. The right half of his shirt is covered in blood.

"Is thee alright?" There is genuine worry in my voice, he's worried about my shoulder, but his back looks just as bad.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He's a bad liar I note, as he turns so I can't see his back.

We'd only walked a few blocks when my shoulder went from throbbing to flat out stinging. I grimaced and clutched it, hoping the pain would subdue or pass, but it didn't, and Percy noticed.

"Sit." He pointed to the curb.

Reluctantly I sat. He knelt next to me, squinting at my shoulder's bandages. Then he carefully peeled the cloth from my shoulder. The originally red strip is now crimson, and the wound beneath it is green. I winced again as pulled a lose bit of fuss out of the now infected cut.

Percy reached into his backpack and pulled out a little golden vile of nectar. Carefully he poured a few drops onto my shoulder, which instantly felt better, although it still stung like Hades. Then he takes off his shirt and rips it into about a dozen long narrow strips.

"Lift your arm." He instructed me.

Rolling my eyes, I pick up my arm so he could wrap my shoulder in his hastily made bandages. Squinting again, Percy carefully tied the strips of red cloth around my shoulder.

"Percy, we need to get thy wound bandaged." I stood up, my shoulder swathed in bandages.

"No time, more monsters will be coming, we need to get out of here before the cops come and find us."

Stupid boy, so worked up about whether or not I get hurt, I'm a Hunter!

He started walking down the block; I hurried to catch up with him, might as well stay close he is injured after all. We got a lot of odd looks from other pedestrians. Me in jeans and a silvery shirt with my shoulder wrapped in Percy's red shirt, and him in khaki shorts with a bloody back.

"Zoë, listen, you need to get back to the Hunt." Percy attempted to give me Anaklusmos, but this time I won't take it. So he set it down and started to walk away. I grabbed his arm and he winced, that's when I noticed he has another big gash down his forearm, and I now had blood on my hand.

"No you listen Percy, I'm not going to let you go anywhere without this sword." I point down at the sword and Percy takes my hand. I'm about to protest, but then he dropped it. I glanced quickly down; his watch is now on my wrist.

"If you need it, press the middle button and it will activate my shield." He says, answering my only question. I was staring at the watch, to busy admiring the clock face, to notice him put naklusmos in my pocket and sneak away. Then I shifted my weight and felt the pen, I looked up, he was gone, with no weapon or shield, nothing for protection.