CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Why didn't you mention this when I asked if you were ok?!" I shouted.
"We had more pressing matters!" he shouted back. I rolled my eyes and pulled his hand away so I could look at the wound. It was a murky greenish brownish color and seemed to bubble at the surface. Definitely poison, but not one I'd ever seen before. I grabbed Damasen's backpack and dug through it, bringing out the small bundle of herbs we had left. I should have asked Damasen what they were called, I'm getting sick of just calling them herbs.
Charlie hissed in pain and motioned towards the ones on the outside of the bundle. "You'll need two of those. But first, go find two rocks so you can crush them into a paste."
I rushed off to get the supplies. It wasn't very hard to find rocks in Tartarus, so I only had to travel about five feet. A treacherous journey, I know.
Not as treacherous as your face.
"Ok, now what?"
"C'mon Jack, you're smart, figure it out," he groaned.
I rolled my eyes and swept my hand over the bundle. "Jack?" I asked, trying to distract him.
"I'm gettin' tired of calling you Jackson every time you screw up," he said, only half sarcastic. I huffed in moch annoyance and got back to finding all the things he needed. We fell into a silence.
"Two of those purple stemmed ones," he finally said. I looked through the limited herbs and frowned.
"There's only one with a purple stem."
Charlie sighed, muttered a few mortal curses under his breath. "Fuck it, we're doing this anyway. Get a few of those yellowy leafy things," he said. Glad to knew he knew what he was talking about. I grabbed some of the yellowy leafy things and placed them on the rock with the purple stemmed one. "That should be good," Charlie approved. "Now crush them up and add some lava to make a paste."
I glanced around. "No idea where the River Phaethon is," I confessed.
"You've got to be shitting me. I guess we'll have to make this work. Ok, so crush the plants anyway. I don't know how this will work but I think we have to try," he tried to sound casual but I could tell he was in pain. His skin had turned an ashy grey and his eyes were sunken in.
I balanced one of the rocks in my lap and began smashing the Hades out of the plants on top of it. It wasn't much of a paste when I was done; more of a powder. I cupped it carefully in my hand and Charlie exposed the wound so I could sprinkle it over the poisoned area. Charlie closed his eyes but showed no other sign that it hurt.
He won't live through this.
With his shoulder as an excuse to stop, we took a break. Charlie slept first, like usual. He laid his head on my lap and I ran my hand through his hair. This was becoming a routine by now. I ripped up the remainder of Charlie's ruined shoe and used the long straps to wrap up my arm. It worked better than any other bandage I'd tried. We'd have to use this stuff at Camp. After my arm was taken care of, I settled down to keep watch.
Every once in awhile a monster would wander by in the distance but nothing came close enough to cause alarm. Nothing much happened. As far as Tartarus went, it was almost peaceful. Almost. But it was never peaceful in Tartarus. My broken arm had begun to throb, begging for medical attention. Charlie and I had tried to set the bone back in place but it was healing wrong and every time I fought, I messed it up more. The whole arm around the elbow had become purple, as had my knuckles and the joints in my fingers.
It looks as just bad as it feels.
"Your turn," Charlie yawned after a while. We didn't switch positions but he turned over in my lap so he could keep watch.
"Next time I say we've been through worse, I mean this," I said, interrupting what little silence we had. Looking to my down at him reminded me of how dire our situation was. Purple bags grew like roots under Charlie's eyes. His face was covered in an uncomfortable looking layer of dirt, blood, and sweat. A long cut was beginning to scar on his forehead. Dried blood remained plastered onto his chin and around his nose, despite my efforts to clean him up. His hair no longer looked soft and curly and his almond eyes were missing their old sparkle. He looked broken, and not just because of the look in his eyes. He was using his new drakon bone sword as a stilt to keep the pressure of his swelled and bruised ankle. We both knew it was broken, but neither of us wanted to admit it. His previously clear skin was littered with bruises and gashes and his clothes were soaked with blood and liquid fire.
Even if you did manage to get out, you would never look normal.
I knew I didn't look much better. My Camp shirt was torn at the sleeve and there was a large rip at the bottom from the fall. Dameson had crudely tried to sew it back up but that had only lasted two days or so. My jeans were stuck to my legs with precipitation and blood. In other places they were torn, exposing few open wounds. The back of my shirt had been torn to shreds by the aeternae. Charlie's flannel was bound tightly around my chest to keep my ribs in place. My other arm was draped around Charlie so my hand rested on his chest. He rested gently against me and tried to sleep. We both knew he wouldn't.
Sleep is for the weak. You're weak.
As soon as I fell asleep, I was haunted with visions of Nyx ripping my family apart. Literally. I found myself, like in most dreams, helpless as I watched them die. Every time I had one of these dreams, Casey was screaming my name, begging me to help them. Sometimes she yelled at me for betraying them, for letting my family down as she died. I tried to protest, but after awhile I began to agree.
It's your fault
I snapped awake with the vision of her bloody hand reaching towards me from her shredded corpse. Charlie rolled over to look at me and lifted a hand, tracing the lines of dirt on my chin. He didn't ask about it.
"We should get going. We need to find the River Phaethon," I said shakily. He nodded and got up. He looked a little better than he had before, but not much. I yawned, the foul taste of Tartarus filling my lungs.I rubbed my eyes and shook my head quickly, waking myself up.
"I heard some monsters talking while you were sleeping, I think we're getting close," Charlie said. Finally, some good news. He slung the backpack over his shoulders and took my hand.
Good news never lasts long in Tartarus.
I heard the group of monsters before they came into view. "Come on, idiots! We're almost there!" What looked to be a large female cyclops was in the lead. Two other cyclops trailed after her. They were all wearing faded blue coveralls, likely the type mechanics usually wore.
"Yes mother!" They yelped, falling into a clumsy line behind her.
"As soon as we get out we can track down that McShizzle or whatever he is called, and the sooner you two quit bickering and start walking the sooner we can kill him!" she growled at her apparent kids.
"As if!" one of the empousa following it shrieked. "First we find Perseus. He's killed me three times now!" The one in the lead complained.
Charlie raised an eyebrow at the mention of my dad's name. I shrugged in response. My dad has killed a lot of monsters, how should I know which one this was? Charlie coughed, raising his fist to cover the sound. He still seemed sick, but he wasn't dead. I guess that was something.
He's going to die
I huddled closer to him than usual as we walked. I'd nearly lost him once, I didn't want it to happen again.
"Jack," Charlie whispered. His voice was cracking. "I don't think we're the only ones following these guys." He pointed off to the right and I followed his finger, noticing a tall figure running alongside the rock wall near one of the cliffs.
"What is that?" I asked.
Charlie shrugged, then stopped walking."I don't know, but I think it's coming towards us!" he warned. His grip on my hand tightened significantly and he raised his dagger. I followed suit. The figure, which I recognized as a man, had a sword at his side but wasn't holding it up defensively.
He reached us and before we could speak he said, "You're not monsters!" He spoke a little too little too excitedly.
I raised an eyebrow. "We're not?" I snuck a quick glance towards the monsters up ahead, who were yet to notice us.
"Who are you?" Charlie challenged.
"Who are you?" The stranger returned.
"I asked first," Charlie childishly protested.
The man huffed but allowed us this victory. "My name is Quintus," he introduced.
