TRIGGER WARNING: violence, tiny bit of gore and torture.


Worst of All

Seeing him so ghastly pale and not moving was jolting. It hurt quite a bit more than I thought it would. Not that I thought about Dan being on his death bed often. I mean, I had thought about it, because we were demigods, and our lives were so dangerous, but it wasn't like I thought about it every day or something.

My brother and I have had and still have a difficult relationship, as you can imagine, but I was very protective of him. Technically speaking, because I came out of the womb first, I was older. And I guess, because of that, I felt protective of him. To know someone had hurt him, was hurting him, that he was almost dead—maybe even…no, I didn't want to think about it—made me so irrationally angry it shocked me.

Only, too late, I realized that the empousa hard heard my gasp.

My ADHD kicked in as the monster stopped what she was doing. Time seemed to slow tremendously, like everything was moving through molasses. As the empousa sat up I looked around the clearing for anything I could use as a weapon. The fire might slow her down, but I didn't think it would wound her or kill her. I needed Celestial bronze…

Then I spotted something winking at me with the reflection of the firelight. It was near Zeus's cabin, like it'd been tossed away. It was smaller than the usual daggers or knives we had at camp, but it was my best shot. I just needed to find a way to get to it.

My time was up. The empousa had sat up fully and turned to stare at me with those vicious red eyes.

As soon as our eyes locked, I barreled toward her. First thing, I had to get her away from Dan. I wasn't sure if he was still alive, but either way I was not going to let her eat his flesh. I couldn't scream for help either, because if Dan was still alive she'd probably kill him before anyone could help. I wasn't about to take that risk.

The empousa stood to face me. At the last moment, I twisted my upper body so that when I crashed into her, my shoulder rammed into her chest, sending her backward. She stumbled, not expecting this, tripping over Dan's body and landing on her back. But she used this momentum to do a backward somersault. She no sooner landed in a crouch before she lunged at me, fangs bared. She was fast, despite her lopsided legs.

I just barely managed to sidestep her attack, spinning around so I could face her. She came at me, her claws swiping at my face. I dodged and stepped back, before blocking her other swipe and kicking her in the stomach. She stumbled back, confused again but that confusion quickly turned into a sneer.

"No weapon, demigod?" she taunted.

"Oh, I've got one," I lied, trying not to let my fear show. Maybe if I could get her to land in the fire…

I took a step to my left experimentally. Just as I hoped, she took a step to her right, watching my movements closely or maybe trying to decide if I did have a weapon or not. I continued to move to my left until my back felt like it was roasting.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're lying." She decided right before she lunged at me again. I dove to my right. I didn't hear a scream, but the fire roared like something huge and flammable had just been tossed into it. I didn't have time to think about this or look back, because I needed to get to that knife, or whatever it was.

I got to my feet and sprinted toward Zeus's cabin. I was only a yard away from the weapon when a hand grasped the back of my shirt and threw me down. The impact knocked all the air from my lungs, stars danced across my vision. I gasped helplessly for a few seconds, trying to get my lungs to work again.

When my vision cleared and I could breathe again, the empousa was standing over me, smirking triumphantly. Her clothes were smoking with burnt holes here and there, but she looked pretty unscathed.

Without warning, I rolled onto my side, simultaneously swinging my legs at her ankles. She went crashing to the ground as I pushed myself up to my feet again. I tried to sidestep her as I went for the small dagger, but she grabbed my ankle and I went sprawling, my right arm outstretched, fingertips brushing the dagger. I allowed myself a brief moment to look back to be able to kick her in the face with my free foot. My heel connected with her nose, there was a loud crunch and she hissed in pain. I used this momentary distraction to close the infinitesimal space between my hand and the dagger, and grasped the weapon.

Now that I was closer, I realized it wasn't a dagger, or even a knife. It was a letter opener. A flashback threatened to take over my senses, but I forced it down because I could feel the empousa looming over me. Though, the situation I was in right now was sickeningly similar. As a last ditch effort, I turned, still on the ground, arm outstretched, ready to impale her, but she caught my wrist easily.

I tried to pull my wrist out of her grasp, but she twisted my arm, forcing me to let go of the letter opener. She then pushed me completely on my back on the ground, before straddling me and pinning my arm down with her hand. I tried to punch her with my free hand, but she caught that too and forced it to the ground. She put her bronze foot on my wrist, before folding her donkey leg underneath her and laying that on my right wrist.

I was completely immobile.

Still, I struggled, trying to pull my arms away from her, but she was so strong. The more I struggled the more pressure she put on my wrists, the more pain spread through my body.

Breathing hard, I glared up at her as she smirked down at me.

At this time, I probably could've screamed for help. We were in the middle of the cabins, so a bunch of kids who were trained to fight monsters would've burst out and surrounded us. I didn't really care if she killed me, as long as Dan was safe, I was fine with dying. The only reason I didn't was because I'd completely forgotten where I was. The world had shrunk to contain only me, my brother and the empousa.

"It was a nice try, but you're weak," she spat. "So is your little camp. Soon, it'll be all in flames, your friends? Dead." I spit in her face. Her hair flared. Suddenly her hand was gripping my neck and our noses were almost touching. The pressure on my wrists, however, didn't lesson.

"You are in no position to disrespect me," she growled, her claws for nails dug into the base of my throat and I yelped, instinctively trying to pull away. She pulled back slightly, her other hand grabbing what was left of my hair and forcing my head against the ground, exposing more of my neck. She drug one of her nails along the length of my throat, making me cringe.

"I thought you only fed off boys," I commented, glaring at her.

She smiled wickedly, her eyes flashing. She stopped stroking my neck with her nail. "Oh, I'm not done with your brother," she said, glancing over her shoulder at his unconscious body. "He's still alive, by the way." She turned back to look at me. "But just barely hanging on by a thread."

My anger surged, tinging my vision red. New energy surged through me. "Are you the little surprise Kelli sent for me?" I ground out through gritted teeth, struggling—uselessly—to get out from underneath her once again.

The empousa chuckled. "You like it? That brother of yours is quite handsome. I'm glad Kelli picked you."

"So, what? You're just going to kill me now and get back to your meal." I stumbled on the word meal, referring to Dan like that made my stomach roll.

"You wish," the empousa quipped. "Oh, no, Kelli sent me here for you. Your brother was just a little extra. You could even call him payment."

I ripped my hair from her grasp, lifting my head and my shoulders off the ground to get into her face. "How dare you refer to him like that—" I broke off when she dug one of her sharp nails into the base of my throat, slowly forcing me back to the ground.

I was breathing heavily again, wanting to rip her head off but being unable to. It was infuriating.

The empousa followed my right collar bone with her nail as soon as I was on the ground again before stopping abruptly and digging it into my skin. It was kind of like how a needle punctures the skin, sharp and quick, only a thousand times more painful. A choked yelp escaped my mouth and my whole body tensed. I stopped breathing.

Grinning horribly, meeting my eyes, she started to pull her nail through my skin. A scream bubbled up to my lips but before it could come out, her other hand clamped over my mouth. That didn't stop the scream, but it lessened the noise. I fought against her legs, to free my wrists, my back arched, my heels dug into the dirt as I kicked. I turned my head away, like I could escape her, escape the pain, by doing so and I squeezed my eyes shut, tears pouring from them.

It was like being sliced open with a scalpel, only I was awake and very aware. It was only just barely worse than when the hellhound had shredded my shoulder and the back of my arm, because at least that had been quick. The empousa was cutting so slowly, the agony seemed to last forever. I couldn't tell when she stopped with one cut and began with another, if she even stopped at all. All I knew was pain.

She finally finished and removed her hand from my mouth. I was breathing heavily, each breath shaky and gravelly, like more screams trying to come out, but my body not having enough energy to make them proper. My whole right shoulder throbbed. I could feel the blood from the cuts trickling to the ground.

It had felt like eternity, but had to have only been a minute or two.

"Bored now," she said. I looked up at her through the corners of my eyes, too exhausted to turn my head. "Time to say goodbye." She lifted her hand, pointing her index finger to the sky. I watched in horror as her nail flashed in the firelight, becoming about a foot long and wicked thin in the blink of an eye.

I couldn't move as she positioned this nail-dagger, letting the tip rest against the place between my neck and shoulder. It easily pierced through my skin—my yelp was small, almost silent, and my body tensed, but my energy had hit zero—sliding through tissue like it was nothing. I wasn't sure what she was aiming for (lungs, heart?), but I figured "goodbye" meant "dead."

I kept my eyes open. I wanted to see the sky, the stars, in my last moments.

It seemed so unfair to have it end like this. After everything I'd been through. To die in a place that I called home. That was painful to think about. Or, it could've been from the injuries I'd sustained.

I tried to put a positive spin on it. At least I was home and not in the middle of nowhere, starved, cold and hungry. At least I could see the stars. Maybe Dan would be okay. Maybe before she could finish him off, by some miracle a camper would come out and save him. It was highly doubtful, but positive, right?

Just when I thought for sure it was all over, the empousa suddenly froze, her eyes widening, her mouth dropping into an O, in a silent scream. There was a moment where nothing happened, then, with a horrible shriek, the empousa burst into sulfurous dust, leaving her nail still embedded in my body.

The empousa's fiery hair and red eyes dissolved and was replaced by a mop of brown hair and very concerned blue eyes. The person standing over me was holding the small celestial bronze letter opener in one slightly shaking hand.

"Conner?" I managed, through the fog of pain. Both my hands, now that they were finally free, went up to touch where the nail met my skin. I felt a warm, sticky substance coat my fingers and swallowed hard. Then I remembered Dan and tried to sit up.

Conner quickly dropped to his knees and pushed me back down carefully, only touching my left shoulder.

"No, don't move. Some of the Apollo kids are coming over," he told me. I shifted my head as much as I dared (I didn't want to jostle the nail, afraid it might hit its intended target and kill me) to look around the camp. As Conner had said, the Apollo kids were up and surrounding who I assumed was Dan. Travis was with them. I watched as a few of them picked Dan up and started toward the Big House.

The rest of the camp was waking up too. The empousa's scream hadn't been quiet. Lights glowed from inside cabins, campers came out half-awake and confused, murmuring and muttering things. Before the Apollo campers could get to me, a group of kids from the Ares, Demeter and Athena cabins were surrounding me, inquiring Conner what was wrong, what had happened. They noticed my wounds and started whispering in each other's ears.

"All right, enough!" a guy's voice yelled from behind the crowd. "Give her some room to breathe, people," he shouted. The group parted and Lee Fletcher, the head counselor for the Apollo cabin, came forward. He was Asian, so his skin was a shade darker than mine and his straight, short jet black hair was a bit disheveled, probably from waking up so abruptly in the middle of the night. But he had startling, deep blue eyes. They reminded me of Apollo's blue eyes.

Lee knelt down on my right. He gently pulled my hands away from my sounds and examined them. I wasn't sure if he was purposefully not meeting my eyes.

"Is Dan…all right? Is he still…alive?" I asked him. Lee finally looked at me.

"He lost a lot of blood, but he's still alive, for now." Lee told me in a very calm, cool voice. It was surprisingly comforting. "Some of my siblings have taken him to the Big House. Which is where we need to get you. But first, I need to remove that…whatever it is from your neck."

Lee stood and removed his shirt, wadding it up before kneeling down next to me again. He held his shirt in one hand and took the nail in the other.

Looking at me, he said, "I'm going to remove it now." I nodded and held my breath. It was quick and didn't hurt nearly as much as it had going in, thankfully. Lee then pressed his shirt up against the wound to stem the bleeding.

"Conner, help me get her up. We need to get her to the infirmary as fast as possible." Lee instructed. Conner nodded and together they put my arms around their shoulders and hauled me to my feet, Lee keeping a pressure on my puncture wound with his other hand. The world spun and my ears rung, but I stumbled forward as the two boys helped me to the Big House.

It could've been because of the blood loss or because of the pain, but when we got into the infirmary and I saw a part of the room sectioned off by a white curtain, all concern for myself went out the window. Suddenly all my mind could think about was Dan. Was he behind that curtain? He had to be, I didn't think anyone else had gotten hurt tonight. So, what was happening to him? Why did they need that curtain? Was he even still alive?

I started to pull away from Lee and Conner, toward the white curtain, but Lee tightened his grasp on me.

"You need to sit down and let me treat you, Tori," he warned in a stern voice.

"I need to see Dan," I responded. "I need to see if he's all right. I just want to make sure he's still alive…" My voice cracked, the image of that empousa feeding off of him, his ashen skin, flashing behind my eyes. I wanted to see him with color, I wanted to see that he was breathing.

"Chiron and the others are doing their best. Will is with them. He's our best healer. I'm sure Dan's fine. But you won't be if you don't let me treat those wounds," Lee told me as both he and Conner half-dragged, half-led me over to a cot. I sat down hard onto the edge of the bed, my legs giving out for a moment, but started to stand up again almost immediately.

"Tori," Lee scolded, putting more pressure on my wound, but also keeping me seated. "You need medical attention."

"I just need to see Dan," I pleaded, though my voice was just barely a whisper. "Just real quick, please." I started to get up again and more people descended on me. The other Apollo campers who weren't with Dan had followed me here, and almost all of them grabbed for my arms, or put hands on my shoulders to keep my seated.

This only made things worse.

The feeling of hands gripping my limbs and forcing me down was too reminiscent of the first time I was admitted to the mental ward. I'd thrashed and struggled but six of the orderlies had grabbed my arms and legs and held me down against my will as four more orderlies had pinned my wrists and ankles to the bed.

I panicked.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped, pulling away from everyone, and backing into a corner where the small bedside table and cot met. I felt adrenaline I couldn't afford to use up course through my body.

I glared at the group—which consisted of half the Apollo cabin and Conner—surrounding me. Their eyes were wide, shocked, surprised, confused. My shoulder throbbed painfully and I put my hand up to put pressure on the shirt that had managed to stay on when I'd pulled away from Lee.

I was still half-stuck in my memory. My glare wasn't angry, it was frightened. I was trembling and I couldn't tell if it was because I'd lost so much blood—still was—and was forcing my body to still function, or because of how scared I was.

The cots here didn't have any restraints that I could see, but my mind was stuck. I breathed heavily, my eyes darting around the group, watching for signs of movement. I was a cornered animal ready to attack. It really didn't help that I was hurt.

Lee slowly stepped forward, regaining his composure. I tried to back up further, but when I realized I didn't have any more space, I tensed, my free hand fisting, ready to fight. Lee quickly held up his hands in a surrender gesture.

"Hey, it's all right," he said in a soothing voice. "We just want to help." He turned his head slightly to the side, to address the group, but kept his eyes on me. "Cressida, will you go inquire about Dan, please?" He turned his head back to face me fully as a girl, maybe fourteen, darted off toward the white curtain. I watched her go before warily turning my gaze back to Lee, who'd taken another step forward.

We all waited in a tense silence for Cressida to return. When she did, she pushed her way to the front to stand at Lee's right flank.

"Dan's still alive," she told me. "He's getting a transfusion, as we speak. He's going to be fine, Tori."

I swallowed hard, my hand furling and unfurling. Okay, so he was okay. This wasn't a mental hospital. I could calm down. I could relax. I would let them treat my wounds so long as they didn't try to grab me again. Okay, relax.

I took a few deep breaths before slowly stepping out from my corner and sitting down on the cot. Lee lowered his arms and sat down next to me, slowly. I angled my body so that he could see my shoulder a little better. The rest of the group let out a collective sigh.

Lee carefully removed his ruined t-shirt from my wound.

"I'm going to pull the collar of your shirt down a little so I can look at those, cuts, okay?" he said softly. I nodded. He peeled back my shirt, because it had soaked up a lot of blood, and examined the cuts. He looked up, over my shoulder at the group. "I'm going to need some nectar, ambrosia, some gauze pads and a role of medical tape, please. Quickly!" His eyes focused back on me again as I hard multiple footsteps run off. "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt." His tone was kind of embarrassed, but at this point I didn't really care.

It took me way longer than it should have, but moving my shoulder around with so many wounds was impossible without feeling some pain. They throbbed and ached and bled more, and the process was slow, but I finally got my shirt off. I was panting and my head spun. Throughout this struggle, campers came over and handed Lee the things he'd asked for.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, fighting to stay upright, against my better judgment. Lee was currently tending to my lacerations. I winced as he poured some nectar over them.

Lee paused momentarily, confused. He looked at me. "For what?"

"Freaking out on you guys back there," I clarified. "You were just trying to help."

"It's fine," Lee assured, eyes going back to what he was doing. I was pretty sure he was going to say something else when I suddenly pitched forward. I heard him call my name but my world went dark.


So, a little shorter again. But not a cliffhanger, so you're all good. Not much else to say here… Until next time!

As always, I hope you enjoyed.

To FadedSunset: Is it bad that your review made me laugh? Seriously though, I really enjoyed reading it. I hope this was a good conclusion to my cliffhanger. Most of your questions were answered. (We'll be seeing Luke soon-ish, I think.) And, that's good, I'm glad it doesn't bother you, because I really like to reply to my readers' reviews. :) It's always super nice to know what the reader is thinking. Especially if they're enjoying the story. ;)

And I greatly appreciate all the favorites and story alerts from other readers, too, because it tells me that people are watching and reading and, hopefully, liking. So, thank you for those.

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight