/ Quick Shout-Out Before We Begin - Huge Thanks to Writer2006, addalittlesmoke, and Dawnjustice for being such frequent reviewers! I appreciate it a lot!

Chapter 37 - Yes, I Know it's an Arrow Wound, But is it Bad?

The next morning I got up early. My half-brothers came in with my stepmom this time. Bobby was carrying orange juice and managing to spill a fair amount on the floor. He handed it to me.

"Here. Orange juice makes you feel better. It makes you strong."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Bobby. I feel stronger already, reading your notes."

"Really?" He said, brightening.

"Yeah. I really like them. I have to go home to New York today, but I'm going to bring them with me. Hang them up in my room. Is that ok?"

He nodded, his grin spreading over his whole face.

"What about mine?" Matthew asked. "I made this one." He tapped a picture that appeared to show a woman with a cape. "See, that's you. You're a superhero. See? Cause you need to be strong."

A lump formed in my throat. "That's…. I really like it, Matthew. I'm going to frame it, hang it in my room, ok?"

He grinned. "Frame it? Like in a museum?"

"Exactly like." I promised. "Can I give you a hug?"

Both boys collided into me. It reopened my chest wound again, jostled the arrow in my side, and caused a ton of pain. But it felt wonderful to me.

"Come on, boys. I don't want you catching Annabeth's flu." My stepmom said. She handed me a plate with a Mickey Mouse waffle on it as well as some bacon. My brothers waved farewell, but when they got to the door, Bobby turned back.

"Next time, can you visit longer?"

"I'll try." I promised. "I've got a different school schedule and stuff. But I'll try."

"We didn't get to play Minecraft with you." Matthew pointed out.

"Next time." I promised.

They grinned at that.

"Tell Annabeth goodbye. You've both got a birthday party to attend today and she'll be gone when you get back."

"She will?" Matthew asked, sadly. My step-mom nodded. Both boys came and gave me a second wound-opening hug.

As they pulled away Bobby said, "Bye, Annabeth. Love you."

"I love you, Bobby."

"Bye, Annabeth. Love you." Matthew echoed.

"Love you too, Matthew."

They left, and I tried not to cry as I finished my breakfast. My dad came in at some point - I'm afraid I was asleep.

"I didn't want to wake you -" He apologized. "But Will said you needed to be back today, with the time difference and all -"

I nodded and let him help me up. To my shame, he had to carry me downstairs. My stepmom went up to fetch my things.

"Did you get all your weapons?" She asked me as she brought my backpack down the stairs.

"I just had the knife and baseball cap, thanks. Well, I had a sword, but kinda, lost it in a centaur."

She paled but nodded.

I sighed, looking at my wounded leg. "I don't know how I'm going to stay on Mrs. O'Leary, but I've got to get back. I can't exactly just go around with an arrow in my side until I feel better."

My dad smiled. "I thought of that."

He scooped me up again and took me outside where Mrs. O'Leary patiently waited. When I saw my dad's invention I had to smile. Mrs. O'Leary now sported a large rope harness made from a combination of belts, a garden hose, and various types of ropes. My dad boosted me aboard the dog.

"There are ropes up there to tie yourself down." He explained.

"So, it's not a poodle." My stepmom guessed.

My dad and I grinned at her. "Meet Mrs. O'Leary. The world's only friendly hellhound. She's about the size of a garbage truck. Oh, and she's a mastiff, if that helps."

My stepmom shook her head is disbelief and handed up the backpack. I strapped it on, securing the backpack straps in front of me as well. Then I tied myself into the harness as my dad had said.

"So, is there a Mr. O'Leary?" My dad asked.

I thought about that for a second. "Um, not that I'm aware of. She met Cerberus in the Underworld and likes to play with him."

My dad grinned and shook his head. "You'll need to tell me that story on your next visit."

"Deal." I said, grinning at them. I blinked and swallowed, then managed. "I love you. Both of you." I looked my stepmom in the eyes.

She smiled. "I love you, Annabeth."

"Love you, Annabeth." My dad said. Then, Mrs. O'Leary bounded into the darkness.

When my vision cleared I was in the middle of the volleyball court at Camp. Will Solace and the Apollo cabin had stopped their game when a hellhound appeared in their midst.

"Um, hey." I managed.

Will shook his head at me. "Can you even walk?"

"Uh, no. I'm…. I'm tied to the dog."

He laughed. He looked at one of his siblings. "Kayla, can you go get Chiron? And maybe a stretcher."

She nodded, gave me a curious look, and jogged off. I managed to undo my ties, toss Will the backpack, and slide off Mrs. O'Leary.

"I owe you one, girl. Go get some rest." She woofed, licked me, and bounded off. Austin, one of the other Apollo campers, grabbed me before I could fall.

I gasped. "Careful. Arrow in that side."

Will lifted my shirt. "Gods, Annabeth. We should have gotten you here sooner."

"Is it bad?"

"It's an arrow in your side."

"Right, but is it bad?"

Will laughed at me. "I can heal it, if that's what you mean. Let's get you back to the Apollo cabin."

Before I could ask how we were going to do that, strong hands lifted me up. I looked into the face. Clarisse.

"Uh, hi." I muttered.

"So, to finish our discussion, this was not a good plan."

"No. No this was not a good plan." I agreed.

"Find Percy?"

"No."

"Find any sign of him?"

"No."

"You going to keep throwing yourself into stuff until you get yourself killed?"

I let out a defeated sigh. "No."

"Good. Then at least you learned something. That's worth it."

"Hey, that sounds like an Athena line."

She glared at me. "What, like Ares isn't smart?"

"Hey, you said it, not me."

She purposefully poked my arrow and I gasped. "Truce." I muttered.

She grinned at me evilly. She placed me on a bed in the Apollo cabin. Then, pulling away, complained, "Oh come on, you bled on me."

"Yeah, sorry, arrow wound."

"Come on, Princess. This is my favorite shirt."

"Sorry." I said, only a little sorry. "Not much I can do, cause, you know, arrow wound."

She glared at me and marched towards the Big House, doubtless going to wash her shirt.

Will grinned at me. "Take off your shirt and lay on your… ah, I was going to say uninjured side, but I guess less-injured side."

I gritted my teeth, carefully pulled off my shirt, and rolled to my less-injured side. I gasped as Will's cool hands touched the wound.

"Yeah. This will not be fun. Annabeth, I'm going to touch the arrow a little. This will probably hurt."

"Thanks for the warn-" I yelped and gripped the side of the bed, trying not to pass out as spots danced in my eyes.

"As I thought." Will came over so he could see my eyes. "It's a barbed arrow, Annabeth. Only hurts a bit when it goes in. But when it comes out…."

I felt the blood rush from my face. "Oh. Um. Yeah. So, any chance I can just sport an arrow as the latest fashion accessory?"

Will laughed. "I think the Ares cabin might agree, but that's it. No, we need to get it out before infection sets in. But it'll hurt. Badly. I'd need to cut it out."

I winced at the thought.

He looked at me with a wicked glint in his eyes. "You prefer chloroform from the Hermes cabin, sleeping potion from Hecate cabin, or see if Clovis can put you under?"

I muttered. I did not like any of those ideas. But I hated the idea of what would happen to get that arrow out more.

"Uh, let's see if Chiron has any better ideas."

Will shook his head at me with a smile. "Chicken." Then he gently helped me roll over. He checked all the other wounds. "You did good on that leg one. It's healing nicely. Nothing more I'd do for it. Same with the chest and head wounds. You're getting good at bandaging wounds and using nectar to heal. I'm proud of you."

I blushed.

"I'm still going to knock you out and rip an arrow out of you, though."

I sighed. "Yeah, I got that part."

Chiron showed up. "Kayla said Annabeth's back and - oh." He had to stoop to get in the doorway but looked me over. "And how did this happen?"

"I…. I was prideful. I didn't want anyone to stop me, so I didn't say anything, but I went to check out the Wolf House - no, Percy wasn't there -" I said, seeing his raised eyebrows. "But this band of evil centaurs were, and well, they can fight." I finished.

He nodded solemnly. "Promise to stop going out alone?"

"I promise." I said with a sigh.

He rested a hand on my shoulder. "I know you want to find Percy, child. But rushing about, without thinking your plans all the way through will get you killed. You're no good to any of us if you're dead. Except perhaps Hades, who would doubtless enjoy having you help build things in the Underworld."

I nodded grimly. "Will said the arrow's barbed. Can you take a look?"

Will helped me roll back over. Chiron gently poked and prodded the area, then sighed. "It's barbed, alright. In a very evil design. It'll take work to get it out."

I felt sick. "So, my choices are -"

"I'm here." I heard a familiar voice. Clovis appeared in front of me. "Hi, Annabeth. How are you?"

"Hi, Clovis. I've been worse."

He smiled and laid a hand on my neck. "Just relax. Take a deep breath. I can put people into a magic sleep. It'll be gentle, I promise." I did so, used to following Clovis's instructions after our dreamscape sessions, and felt magic seeping into my veins, lulling me into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up, I found myself still in the Apollo cabin. There was a bit of light outside still. I looked around, but I was alone. I was wearing a Camp shirt that was a few sizes too big. Probably a spare that Will used to make sure nothing bumped my wound. I turned, trying to look at it. There was a large medical pad laid over the area. The arrow was gone. I sighed with relief. I'd need to thank Will and Clovis. I tried to swing my legs over the bed and stand up, but found that I still couldn't. The muscle that had been shot in my leg was having none of that. I fell back onto the bunk with a defeated sigh. Will and Kayla came in at that moment.

"Hey!" Will said happily. "We just went to grab dinner."

"I need to find a better way to thank you, Will. After everything you've done for me."

He shook his head. "I'm happy to help."

I looked at him hopefully. "Any chance I'm fit to go back to school in the morning?"

He gave me half a smile. "Ideally, no. But I don't see you skipping school for something 'little' like multiple wounds. So -" He went to a nearby supply closet and pulled out a set of crutches.

As he adjusted them for my height, he explained, "So, the story for mortals is you got mugged when you were visiting your dad. Stabbed a few times. I wrote you a doctor's note -" He placed it on the cot beside me. "Excusing you from gym and all unnecessary movement. Delay tests, whatever you need."

"Thanks, Will."

He grinned. "I'd wanted to get you in a wheelchair, but figured there was a better chance of Hera bringing Percy back and apologizing for the whole mess than you actually using a wheelchair."

I blushed but nodded. Will knew me well enough by now.

He handed me the crutches and picked up my backpack. "Let's go to the pegasus stables. Butch said he'd talk to Blackjack about taking you back to school."

I smiled at him and tried out the crutches. I was still weak, and it hurt the wound in my side to use them, but it was better than nothing. I had to stop a couple times to rest, but all in all, I was doing pretty well. As we went to the pegasus stables Will caught me up on the progress of the Argo II. The ship was now able to sail, for the most part, but we still had a ways to go until we were air-worthy. When we got into the stables I saw Butch had saddled Blackjack for me.

"Thanks." I muttered. He just grinned and shook his head at me.

"You do know that we'd all be happy to come along with you, right? Most of us owe Percy for all his work during the Titan War - we'd be happy to come on rescue missions with you."

I sighed. "Stupid pride." I muttered.

Will and Butch both grinned at me. Butch had to help me mount Blackjack. Will handed me my backpack and Butch strapped the crutches behind me.

"Be back next weekend, Annabeth. I'll need to check your wounds." Will warned me.

Butch grunted. "Blackjack knows to be gentle rather than fast this time. He'll drop you off as close to your school as he can get without the mortals seeing."

I thanked them both and Blackjack took me out into the night sky. As we flew, I looked up at the stars. I remembered teaching Percy what each constellation was, the myths behind them. Tears stung my eyes but the cold air dashed them away. Blackjack landed and waited while I pulled my crutches off him.

"Sorry, buddy. I don't have any treats. Next time, I promise."

He whinnied and took off. I managed to get inside and get settled into my dorm room. The last thing I did before bed was hang up the drawings my half-brothers had made me. I smiled, looking at the drawing of Super-Annabeth. Then, I crashed onto my bunk to sleep.