Jennie pursed her lips and drummed her fingers against the desk. Darren stood beside her, although his attention was occupied by the retching patient in the bed beside them.
"Heart rate's increasing slightly," Darren mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
Jennie and Darren had been summoned from the war games to help look after a score of violently sick demigods and legacies from New Rome. They'd been up all night. It was early morning now.
"Have you tried the unicorn drought?" Jennie asked Darren, gesturing to the bottle of the stuff on the desk next to the medical bed.
The boy nodded. "As much as it was safe to give them. There's nothing else we can do."
Jennie had expected a bit of coughing and maybe a couple vomiting bouts, but this was much worse. Much worse. By now, every medic in the vicinity, and then some, was working in the medical bay, rushing back and forth between beds and trying to distribute bandages, water and unicorn drought.
The demigod in the bed beside Jennie moaned. Jennie's hand curled into a fist. She really, really needed sleep. But there was too much to be done.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a commotion outside. The door to the medical bay burst open, and Reyna, Jason and Octavian strode in. They all looked shocked at how many people were in the bay.
"Jennie, Darren," Jason touched their shoulders, "get some sleep. There are others who can do your job."
Octavian looked about as concerned as Jennie had ever seen him. "What's the situation?" He asked her.
"Some of them are a bit better," she told him reluctantly, "but there's too many coming in for that to make a real difference. If we can find what's poisoning all the demigods and legacies, we might be able to come up with an antidote. Might," she added quickly, not wanting to sound too optimistic.
Reyna and Jason both nodded. "We'll make sure an investigation is under way, and I'll call a Senate meeting tomorrow," the former said, "but you and Darren look exhausted. You can't get anything done with no sleep and an empty stomach."
"Thank you, Praetors," Darren breathed gratefully, taking Jennie's hand, "come on."
They hurried out, taking care not to bump into any of the flustered medics.
As they got outside, Darren nearly slammed into Ruby, who had been running with Logan at full speed towards the medical bay. Jennie caught her friend's arm as she flew past, making Ruby spin around and sigh. "What?"
"What are you doing?"
"I could say the same." Ruby tried to wriggle free. "I'm going to help the medics."
Jennie glared at her. "Oh no, you're not. It's a madhouse in there, and it'll be worse with another person."
"I've got to help," Ruby pleaded, twisting in Jennie's grip, "I've got to-"
"Is this about Reyna?"
There was a long, awkward silence. By now, Darren had taken the hint and had headed off to the third cohort's barracks to catch some much-needed sleep.
"What the hell do you mean?" Ruby snapped, eyes narrowing. Jennie was overtired and not in any mood to be gentle about this.
"I mean," she snapped back, "you've been doey-eyed over that girl since you got here four months ago. She doesn't like you, Ruby- get over it."
"Excuse me?" Ruby looked angrier than Jennie had ever seen her. Her hands were bunched into fists by her sides, and her brown eyes were stormy.
"You... you heard me," the medic continued. Too late now. "Stop wasting time with the praetor. It's really... really un-Roman."
"Well maybe I don't want to be Roman!" Ruby shouted, startling a few pigeons that were pecking at a bit of food and earning a lot of stares from passers-by. She pushed roughly past Jennie, and the medic could have sworn the ground was steaming where her friend had been standing. She watched as Ruby stalked away, in the direction of Temple Hill. Jennie, still angry herself, went in the opposite direction, to fourth's barracks.
When she got there, Anthony was sitting in his bunk, fiddling with what looked like an empty bottle. He looked up and smiled a little at her as she walked in, but his grin faded when he saw her expression.
"Jen, what's up?" He asked, beckoning her over. Jennie choked back a bout of tears and sat next to him on the bunk.
"Just... bad day," she admitted, leaning on his shoulder, "and I was up all night last night, in the medical bay..."
Ant nodded understandingly. "That must suck."
"Yeah. And Ruby and I... well, we had a bad fight, and..."
"Hey, it's okay now," Ant put his arms around Jennie. She was too tired to care, and was too busy trying to stem the flow of tears and hiccups. "You're okay, Jen. C'mon, you get to bed, I'll get you some food."
Jennie sniffled, but got up and shuffled to her bunk, climbing the ladder rungs and burrowing under the blankets. Forget training today- they'll be fine without me. Besides, there's no way I'm going to get anywhere near Ruby...
By this point, Jennie wasn't even sure why she was mad at her friend. She thought about the last thing Ruby had said before she left: maybe I don't want to be Roman. What had she meant by that?
Anthony eventually came back with a plate of fruit and a glass of water. He handed them up to Jennie, and they chatted quietly as she ate. Jennie briefly wondered why Anthony hadn't been at training. She supposed he had a break in between sessions, maybe.
When Jennie had finished eating, Ant took her plate and glass, put them under the bunk, and climbed up to sit with her. Jennie wasn't really upset anymore, but she appreciated the company, especially since Anthony had barely spoken to her for over four months.
"You know," Jennie said to him, "I never wanted to replace you with Ruby, or anything." She hiccuped, and smiled a little. "I mean, you're still my best friend."
"I know," Ant squeezed her hand. "I was jealous, is all. I don't..."
"You don't what?"
"Nothing," he mumbled, "don't worry-"
"No, tell me." Jennie poked his arm.
He sighed. "I just don't think Ruby's good for you."
The medic raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I think she's a bad influence. She hangs out with that weirdo Logan, and his group, she's against fighting and almost never listens to orders..."
All of those things were true, although Jennie would never admit it.
Anthony shrugged nonchalantly, and hopped off the bunk. "I'll be at the baths if you need me."
"See you," Jennie muttered into her pillow. She closed her eyes and slipped into sleep.
Ruby shuffled into the temple of Vulcan, on Temple Hill. Another legionnaire was inside, but they quickly stood up and left as Ruby entered. She raised an eyebrow but made no comment.
Pulling a couple of apples out of her satchel, Ruby placed them in the offerings bowl, which was already burning. She sighed and looked imploringly at the ceiling, as if it would give her an answer.
"Hey, um, dad," she began uncertainly, "uh... thanks for getting me here, by the way. I've... I've made a few friends and things. But... you told me that it wasn't going to be completely safe. That it was- what did you say?- that it was risky? Why? What do the Romans have against me?"
She was met with silence.
Ruby crossed her arms. "Fine. Don't tell me anything. But if I get chucked into the Little Tiber inside a sack with angry ferrets, I'm completely blaming you."
She stood and walked swiftly out of the temple of Vulcan, her offerings still burning as she left.
