Chapter 6

Madyson tried not to hurl as Shaun helped her to her feet, she was about 90% certain she had a concussion, you know, if the three heads Shaun was sporting right now was any indication. "Steady there, love." they said softly.

"Rivers I swear call me that again, and I'll...ooh." Madyson wasn't feeling particularly combative at the moment.

"Shh, no threatening your doctor, now come on let's go over here away from the romantic bonfire you started."

"You idiot, I didn't-" "Hush, love I have work to do."

Madyson started to growl under her breath, but hissed as a wave of pain washed over her. At this point she couldn't really tell what it was that was hurting it just felt like her entire body was trying to rebel against her. Shaun half had to carry her away from the burning trees and set her down by the edge of the river. If the idiot would just take me into the water I'd be fine...Madyson thought fuming. But, why would he do that? He had no way of knowing who her father was, so how could he know her injuries would heal a lot quicker if she were in the water?

"Ok..." Shaun seemed to be pretty serious now as he got a good look at her and pulled out a small pouch from his bag. He opened it to reveal bandages and various medicines. Madyson had almost forgot that aside from the oh so annoying poetry Apollo (and Shaun) was famous for, he also was the God of Medicine, so it only made since that Shaun was a medic.

Hell, the Hunters had a few daughters of Apollo in their ranks they all were pretty proficient medics.

Shaun started rubbing a weird green ointment on some of her smaller cuts. It stung and Madyson winced, but the irritation was soon replaced by an almost pleasant tingling.

Shaun seemed a little worried as glanced at her abdomen. Madyson knew she had had to have a bad cut there because it throbbed and she could tell she was bleeding, but she didn't want to look at, every move she made made her nauseous, and she didn't think seeing a big ugly bleeding cut in her side was going to help.

Shaun wrapped up a gash on her arm after putting some ointment on it and then sighed, "Alright you need to lie down."

Madyson shot a look at him, "This isn't the time for me to be taking a nap Rivers! I have a job to do, just-"

"Madyson! You are injured, you have a concussion, and you also have a log lodged in your abdomen that I really need to take out. Right now you are not a lieutenant of the Hunters you are my patient. So lie back and let me treat you."

Madyson's eyes widened, she had never heard the son of Apollo so serious or for that matter she didn't think she had ever heard him actually call her by her name. She had almost wondered if he even knew it. But aside from that what he said bothered her. A log? What did he mean? She looked down, and wished she hadn't.

Her white clothing was stained with her blood and what looked a branch protruded from her stomach. A wave of nausea washed over her and she had to lie back before she fell. Shaun cleared his throat and slipped off the thin jacket he wore over his Camp Half-blood shirt. He balled it up and pushed it under her head unceremoniously. "Don't fall asleep," he ordered, "and don't move."

He carefully felt around the piece of wood and his face seemed to get more serious as he did so, but at last he relaxed and murmured almost as if to himself, "I don't think it hit anything major."

He pulled a pinch of ambrosia out of his bag and pushed it into Madyson's mouth. She wanted to protest but the treat made her feel warm and calm. She mentally reminded herself she needed to be careful how much of the god's food she ate.

"Don't move."

Madyson prepared herself realizing what he was about to do. Shaun put one hand on her chest she felt pressure on her abdomen as he took hold of the shard. "Ok...one...tw-" He pulled.

Madyson yelled out as it felt like Shaun had just pulled the plug the was keeping the pain she felt bearable and felt like she was on fire.

Through her blurred vision she saw Shaun trying to use his shirt to stop the bleeding and he pressed his body weight on her trying to keep her from thrashing too much. She felt weak and her yells faded to whimpers.

Shaun was saying something over and over, a chant? Some sort of Native American thing? Then she could make it out, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Damn. I'm sorry."

Her vision seemed to just be getting blurrier, but she could hear him cursing himself, and trying to get the bleeding to stop. She caught snippets of things he was saying like "artery" and "missed it."

She was getting more and more tired and wanted to just sleep, but something told her she needed to stay awake. Water.

Get to the water.

Get to the water!

A voice in her head seemed to be screaming at her. "The water..." She uttered barely able to get out more than a whisper.

Shaun couldn't hear her he was wrapping bandage after bandage around her trying everything he could to fix the problem at hand.

"Shaun..." She used what energy she had to reach up and grab his hand. He froze. "Sha...un...water"

He shook his head. "I know you think you're thirsty but it's-"

She tried to pull his hand. "Take me...the river."

"What?" Shaun looked at the girl's pale face figuring she must be delusional.

"The water... take me to it." She rasped. Shaun sat frozen for a minute, but then dropped his hands and swung so he was sitting at her side and scooped her up like she weighed nothing. He ran to the bank of the river and stood at it's edge. "N-now what?" he gasped.

"Put me...in."

"Are you kidding that water is nasty you'll just make it worse!"

"Now..."

Shaun reluctantly laid her down in the shallow water. Almost immediately it felt like hands were pulling her deeper. Water went up over her face and she thought she could hear Shaun shouting in protest. Everything started to go numb, as if someone had just hit her with a load of morphine.

Rest daughter of Poseidon, the river will heal you.

It felt like her skin was being pulled back together, and the pain was washing away with the current. Breathing came easier now and her vision cleared. She was in the Hudson which seemed unusually clean for...well for the Hudson. The water swirled and bubbled around her, fish swam by and what she could of sworn was a hippocampus. She loved being in the water.

She heard a muffled shout from above the water and was brought back to reality. She looked up to the surface and water gathered around and the current propelled her out. She landed softly on the river bank and stood up prepared to fight. She looked around and saw Shaun squaring off with a silver timber wolf.