Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series by Rick Riodan.

Will had taken me to the building that didn't have a roof. Apparently this was the mess hall where everyone ate. He had told me to wait out on the steps, and then he ran in.

A few minutes later, he emerges with two plates heaping full of smoked brisket, strawberries, rolls, and green beans.

"Here." he says, handing me a plate and a fork and knife.

"Thanks." I say.

"Don't mention it." he says, smiling at me, "Come on, we can go eat in the Big House."

"The Big House?" I ask, following him down the steps.

"Yea, that house up there where I found you. We call that the Big House. It's where all the cabin counselors have meetings, the guest rooms are up there, and Chiron and Mr. D live in there too." he explains.

"Who's Mr. D?" I ask.

"The camp director. He's actually the god Dionysus." he says.

"What's he doing here? Shouldn't he be on Olympus?" I ask, confused.

He snickers and grins at me. "Well, he should be. But he chased after an off-limits wood nymph and his punishment from Zeus was that he had to be here for 100 years, without drinking any wine or other alcoholic drinks. After the second Titan war in New York this past August, Zeus cut the time in half, so he'll only be here for 50 years." he says.

"Titan war in New York?" I ask.

"Yea, the mortals didn't really know about it though. I mean, the city was in shambles, but they just assumed that it had been a terrorist attack or something." he says.

We had reached the Big House and were walking inside. Will sits down on the big couch and motions for me to sit as well.

"So this Jordan guy seems pretty special to you." he says.

"What?" I ask.

"The way you were looking at him earlier, I got the vibe that you cared a lot about him, even though you barely know him." he says, popping a strawberry into his mouth.

"Well, even though I haven't known him very long, I feel like we've been through a lot, y'know?" I say.

"Yea. I know. There were a lot of people I got pretty close to in New York that I'd hardly ever talked to here. We lost some of them." he says, his eyes darkening.

I'd only met him about an hour ago, but I already liked Will. He seemed like a really good guy.

"I'm sor—" before I can finish, Chrion comes in.

"Keegan, Jordan wants to talk to you." he says, his brown eyes held years of sadness and pity in them.

"Alright." I say, my stomach tying itself into knots. The way he said it made it sound like Jordan wasn't doing so well.

I get up from the couch and exit the Big House, quickly going down the steps and hurrying to the infirmary.

When I reach it, I go inside and over to Jordan's bed. He opens his eyes and smiles when I sit down in the chair beside his bed.

"Are you going to be alright?" I ask, hearing the worry in my voice.

"You want the sugarcoated answer, or the real answer?" he asks, his voice sounding weak.

I sigh. "The real answer." I say, preparing for the blow I knew I was about to receive.

"He was able to close the wounds, but they had been there too long and I've lost too much blood." he says.

"So you're not gonna be here with me for much longer." I say, feeling tears prick my eyes.

"Sad to say, but yea. Keegs, I gotta say, you're a pretty awesome guy." he says.

"Jordan, can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Sure." he says.

"Who's your godly parent?" I ask.

He smirks at me, his maple syrup colored eyes twinkling with mischief. "Hermes." he says.

"I'm not, really." I say, looking down at my hands.

"Not really what?" he asks.

"All that great." I say.

"Yes, you are." he says, putting a hand under my chin and forcing me to look at him.

Tears roll down my face. I had tried stopping them, but it hadn't worked. I had lost Oliver just a couple of days ago, and now I was loosing him. Everyone I loved in my life had just seemed to get up and die on me. I didn't want to loose Jordan too, even though I knew I was going to.

"Don't cry, Keegs. I don't want you to mourn over me." he says, wiping them away with his thumb.

"Come closer." he says.

I lean down and he leans up and kisses me softly on my lips. I pull back, shocked. I wasn't necessarily mad that he had kissed me, it just caught me off-guard. Yellow light pours over Jordan and the smile on his face widens.

"I know I've only known you a couple of days, but gods, I love you Keegan. Even if you don't love me, I love you, son of Apollo. I'll see ya in the afterlife. Just wait a while before coming down to meet me, will ya?" he says.

Then he closes his eyes, a sweet smile still on his lips, and he stops breathing.

A/N:

I TOLD YOU THERE WERE FEELS AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! I TOLD YOU! Seriously, when I was writing this last week sometime, I was doing my best to keep it together. You ever get like that? When you're writing something sad, but it isn't devastatingly sad, yet you feel like breaking down and sobbing in a corner for hours anyway?

Oh, and did you see that kiss coming? It was like a last minute thing I decided to add when I was originally finishing writing this chapter, and I thought it fit in quite well with where this story is headed.

Also, I just finished writing this story, so we'll be starting A New Beginning within a few days! I'm soooo excited for you guys to read it! It starts out a little slow, but y'know, most new stories do.

So it just hit me today how fucking dedicated I am to pottery, or any art really. I mean I put up with so much shit from those two brothers and some of the other students, and have been for quite some time, yet I still go because I love to do it. It's a part of me, like writing is a part of me. I'm seriously considering asking my teacher if I can start coming on different days during the week, because I am getting so sick and tired of those two brothers.

They've finally come to the conclusion that I'm "evil" and I always give them "glares of doom like I want them to die." Okay, really. I may not love them, they definitely aren't my favorite two people on the planet and I would do just fine if I didn't have to see them every week, but that doesn't mean I want them to die. I mean, really. And my little trick of just ignoring them doesn't seem to work anymore, so I need to figure out something else soon, otherwise I might just end up going off on one of 'em.

Six hours of sleep is not enough. Yes, I stayed up til about 4 last night...Watching Supernatural...I TOLD YOU GUYS. IT'S GOING TO BE ANOTHER ONE THAT RUINS MY LIFE. I only have three more episodes and then I'm done with the first season though ^_^

I'm so excited to start the second one! I'm not going to watch anymore today though. I'm going to finish HoH, even if it kills me.

M/A:

The Smiths are just so awesome! And I think I've gotten my mom liking them too, so that's a plus :3

My favorite song by them is "Asleep" from their album "Louder Than Bombs." It's just such a soothing, slow song and it's just awesome. It calms you down, y'know? Sometimes I really love songs like that, and other times I can't stand listening to them. It just depends on my mood or if I want to go to sleep or if I need to stay up and do something.

Like if I want to go to sleep, I listen to slow music with a soft beat. If I want to stay awake, I listen to rock and punk, stuff with really hard beats. Loud music, I guess you'd say.

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25