Chapter Twenty-Two
Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.
James' POV
The game had been called seconds after I had picked up Adrienne's throwing star and started heading in the direction of the scream. Whether it had been because someone had gotten the enemy's flag or if they had heard the scream too, I didn't know.
"James, that sounded an awful lot like Adrienne." Lydia says, catching up to me.
I just glare at her and keep moving. I really hoped she wasn't right about that.
We come to the end of the dense trees and out into a sort of clearing. There were boulders, wildflowers, and tall grass covering the whole thing. So actually, not much of a clearing at all. I could see a trampled path leading to the center though.
I quickly start running along the path, not even paying attention to see if the others were following me. When I reach the middle, I see a small figure curled up on the ground.
"No." I whisper, moving closer to the person and seeing that it was, in fact, Adrienne.
I fall to my knees and move her closer to me, pulling her up to me and cradling her. There was an arrow sticking out of a chink in her armor on her side. The whole backside of her armor was sticky with blood.
"Addie." I say, squinting my eyes shut, like maybe if I didn't see her, it wouldn't be real.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. I don't know who's hand it is, but I really don't care.
I hear a small cough and the other three behind me gasp. "Jamie?" a small voice asks.
I open my eyes and see Adrienne looking up at me, her dark eyes sleepy and confused.
"Thank the gods. Addie, just hold on." I say, scooping her up and running back the way we had come.
"Please, I need help!" I call, running into the infirmary.
There were three other campers with fractured something-or-others and bruises and scrapes. When I came in with Addie in my arms, the three injured and the two campers tending to them froze.
"Well don't just stand there! My little sister is hurt!" I yell. My left shoulder blade hurt slightly, but I push it off as nothing.
That seemed to snap them out of their stupor. They have me set her down on a bed and they get to work on examining the arrow sticking out of her side.
"Somebody go find Chiron." one of them says.
"I'll go." I say, moving towards the door.
Before I know it, my vision blurs and my feet seem to go out from under me. I hear shouts of surprise around me and someone taking me by the shoulders, trying to heft me up.
"Dude, hold on." the voice sounded familiar.
My vision had blurred so badly that everything was just shadows and different shades of black and dark blue. I feel a sharp pain in my left shoulder blade and cry out.
"I think this is what was causing the problem." someone says.
"Wha?" I ask.
"James, are you alright?" it was Tristan, or at least, he was one of the people in the room.
"No." I moan.
"What's wrong?" he asks.
"I can't see anything. Shadows. That's all. And my stomach is killing me." I say, "Is Adrienne going to be alright?" I ask, sitting up, only to be pushed back down.
"She'll be fine. Sam just got back with Chiron and he's fixing her up. You need to rest. You got shot in the back with some sort of poison dart. The point of it must of been pretty sharp to pierce through your armor." he says.
"But who—?" I ask.
"We don't know. No one's fessed up to Adrienne's accident yet, and we have no clue where that dart of yours came from." he says.
"The field." I say, sitting up again, even though Tristan was trying his hardest to keep me down.
"What field?" he asks, confused.
"Where I found Addie. Go ask Lydia, she was with me." I say.
"Okay, okay. I'll be back soon. Stay here." he says.
"Yea, alright." I say, laying back down, feeling a mixture of sleepiness and dizziness come on, probably from trying to sit up.
When I wake up, I find Jade sitting in a chair between mine and Adrienne's beds, flipping through a magazine. My vision was mostly back to normal, except for a bit of blurriness here and there.
"Ugh." I groan, sitting up and rotating my shoulder back. My whole back felt like it had been attacked by a hornet's nest.
"Oh, so you finally decided to wake up." she says, glancing up at me.
"Is Adrienne still asleep?" I ask, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.
"Yea. Chiron had to give her some sort of pain relief because the ambrosia wasn't working fast enough. The side effect was sleepiness. She's been in and out of it for the past couple of hours." she says, glancing over at her.
"Did they ever figure out who shot her?" I ask.
A dark look comes to her face and she shakes her head. "No. Tristan came back here about two hours after curfew with nothing. He and a four other campers scoured that clearing twice, and there wasn't a thing. Chiron's furious about it." she says.
"He's not the only one." I growl, getting out of bed, only to stumble.
Jade's on her feet in an instant, catching me and steadying me. "Whoa there, take it easy, Sunshine." she says.
"What the hell?" I ask, frustrated. I was so irritated with the fact that I couldn't walk that I didn't snap at Jade about calling me "Sunshine."
"The poison on that dart sort of paralyzed some of the nerves throughout your body. You're gonna have to wait a couple of more hours before you can actually walk without falling on your face." she says, helping me sit back on the bed.
"Well then what am I supposed to do? Just sit here?" I ask.
"Yea actually." she says, shrugging.
I moan and flop my head against the pillow. This was just wonderful. I just had to sit here while whoever shot Adrienne, and probably me as well, just got away with it.
"Do you know if my uncle has called back yet?" I ask.
She shakes her head again. "No, he hasn't. I'm sorry." she says.
"Could this get any worse?" I ask, closing my eyes.
"Don't say that. You'll tempt Tyche." she says.
"Yea, I guess you're right." I sigh.
She stands up, placing her magazine in the chair. "You want anything? I'm going down to the mess hall to get something for breakfast." she says.
"Whoa, how long have I been out?" I ask.
"Since last night." she says.
"Oh. I guess just some cereal with strawberries." I say.
"Alright, I'll be back in half an hour or so." she says.
"Okay." I say, watching her as she left.
She was being surprisingly nice to me, and it was weird. I wonder if maybe it was just because she felt pity for me, or if maybe she was actually just starting to like me.
A/N:
Heh, "Sunshine." I quite like that nickname for James, don't y'all? And who do you think shot James and Adrienne? An accomplice or spy for the guy who took Kyra, Nico, and Mike maybe? Or just someone who really doesn't like them?
It is Saturday, right? For some reason, my days have been mixed up all damn week, it's driving me mad. I keep thinking it's actually Sunday, so I check a calendar and then see it's actually Saturday. Gah!
Oh! So exciting news! Y'know on Tuesday I was talking about that dog I really wanted to adopt? Well, I GOT HER! Waking up at 6:00 and waiting until they opened at 11:00 was totally worth it. I haven't actually gotten to bring her home yet because they're going to spay her, so I'll get to pick her up on Monday. I got all her things from the pet store yesterday and I'm soooo excited! Like, I really can't remember the last time I was this excited and happy about something. The closest I can think of was this past summer when I went to see Green Day's "Broadway Idiot" and got to talk to one of the guys who preformed, he was pretty fucking cute, I might add.
And I was really happy because there was this lady behind me who had also wanted to adopt Zoe, but since I had been there first, she didn't get her. Anyway, she decided to adopt Snickers, Zoe's sister, instead. So I was really glad that she got a home as well. I woulda felt kinda bad if she had just been left there at the shelter while I took her sister away.
So ah, it's like 70° where I am right now...It's supposed to storm and bring in a cold front tonight though, so it'll be getting colder again. The weather has been so crazy this year, it's driving me insane.
M/A:
"'I have a life outside my mind
But I am trapped inside
Remembering nothing
Wanting for no one
So damn hollow'"
~ Numbing Truth by Daisyhead.
(I've been obsessed with this song for about a week now. It's so good!)
XOXO,
Mrs-diAngelo25