Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJ or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

Nico's POV

I ran around to the front of the Big House, Kyra moaning louder in my arms. I run up the steps and into the house. A couple of campers were inside. They stopped what they were doing when I came in with Kyra and gawked at me.

"What are you standing there for? Go get Chiron!" I say, almost hysterically.

They bolt past me to find Chiron. I set Kyra down on the couch and she opens her eyes a little.

"Nico." she whispers, a tear rolling down her burned cheek.

"I'm here, Ky. It's going to be okay. Chiron is coming and he's going to fix you right up. The pain will go away soon." I say, taking her outstretched hand.

"John." she says, squinting her eyes shut.

"What about John?" I ask.

"He-he was there." she says, then passes out again.

I exhale and put my head in my hands. I hear hurried footsteps and what sounds like horse hooves on the porch. I look out the open door to see the two campers that had been here before and Chiron. He waves them off and comes inside.

"What happened?" he asks, taking in the sight of Kyra.

I explain what happened at the house as fast as I can, stumbling over a few words as they rushed from my mouth. Chiron stayed calm throughout the whole explanation and looked through the medicines he had with him.

"Well, we're going to need to take her to the infirmary. Mr. D would not have it if I treated her on his couch." he says.

I slide my hands under Kyra and gently lift her back up. I cradle her in my arms, her head resting against my shoulder. Chiron walks out the door and I follow closely behind.

"You may go now." Chiron says, mixing some glowing liquids together in a small bowl.

"No. I'm staying right here with her." I say, crossing my arms.

Chiron gives me a long, hard look. I guess he finally understands that I'm not going anywhere because he sighs and gestures for me to sit down in the chair beside the bed.

"We might have to cut some of her clothes off." he says.

"I'll handle it." I say.

He raises an eyebrow but doesn't argue. He leaves and I take some scissors from one of the cabinets. I begin the process of cutting her shirt off, covering her with a light sheet when I get it off.

She was going to be so pissed about the shorts. They were one of her favorite pair and now they were ruined. I'd get her a new pair. Although, she might not want a new pair.

"Okay Chiron." I say once I'm done.

He clops back in and looks at the burned and cut clothes in a heap on the floor. He shakes his head and gets to work.

Kyra's POV

I drifted in and out of consciousness. Most of the time when I was conscious, I was in intense pain. Usually the pain knocked me back out within a few seconds.

While I was unconscious, visions haunted me. Visions of the house, what I found inside, Callie's laugh as she stabbed me with my own dagger. It was all so horrible.

But the whole time, conscious or not, I felt strangely safe. Almost as if someone was watching over me, making sure no more harm came to me.

One of the times I came back, my vision was blurry and I had a pounding headache. I saw three dark shadows hovering over me and I felt a pressure in my hand. They were whispering but I couldn't make sense of what they were saying. I tried to figure out where exactly I was but I passed out again before I could figure it out. All the other times I woke up after that were about the same.

The last time I awoke and stayed awake, I could actually see and the headache was gone. The intense pain I had felt before was gone as well. I carefully moved around the bed I was laying in, making sure I was alright to move.

Nothing hurt so I took that as a good sign. I looked around and saw I was in the camp infirmary. It was fairly dark outside, like the sun had just gone down. I strained my eyes to see because the infirmary was very dimly lit.

I make out a figure slumped in the chair beside my bed and I lean closer to see who it is.

"Nico?" I ask.

I was horrified at the sound of my voice. It sounded like I had eaten glass and then gargled some sand for good measure. That was probably the only thing that hurt like hell; my throat.

The figure stirs but doesn't wake. I was positive it was Nico now. He was one of the heaviest sleepers I knew.

I grab my pillow and throw it at him. He jerks up, startled, and looks around. His eyes finally land on me and he makes a sound at the back of this throat that was a mixture of a cry of joy and a relieved groan.

He rushes to me and before I know it, his arms are around me and he's cradling me. I bury my face into his shirt, inhaling his familiar scent of freshly fallen rain and Old Spice.

I cling to him tightly as he holds me. We just sit there on the bed and hold each other for gods know how long. Just sitting in the dim infirmary and rocking each other back and forth.

A/N:

Well, she's awake and well! (For the most part, that is). The ending was just sorta fluff but I think it fit in well. Five more chapters and then it's on to Salvation! I'm a bit bored for I decided to update!

At the moment, I'm watching "The Birdcage". In the past couple of days I've had a lot of heavy information dropped on me and it's gotten me a bit down. None of this was helped by having a confusing nightmare last night... I figured the best way to remedy this was to laugh my ass off at Robin Williams.

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25