Chapter Twenty-Six
Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.
James' POV
"You should be fine to move around now, but be careful." Chiron says, stepping back so Adrienne could get out of the bed.
"Thanks, Chiron." she says.
"No trouble. When we find who did this, they will be severely punished." he says, his brown eyes darkening with anger.
It caught me by surprise to see that much anger in his eyes, Chiron always seemed like such an easygoing guy. But I suppose the campers were like his grandchildren or some type of family to him, so if someone hurt them, he'd be glad to hurt the person who did it back.
He shakes his head, as if to knock out the angry thoughts. "Now, I must get back to the other campers. Take it easy, both of you." he says.
He clops out of the infirmary, leaving just Adrienne and I. Jade had left about twenty minutes ago, claiming she had to get back to training and that I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself now. Why she wasn't worried about Adrienne, I don't know. I mean, she has a worse injury than me.
Adrienne starts making her way to the door, perfectly in ease. It never ceased to amaze me what nectar and ambrosia could do, as well as the other medications and herbs we used here at Camp. I quickly follow her out and we make our way to the cabins.
"After training today, I uh, I need to talk to you." I say, catching up to her.
She glances over at me, her dark eyes curious and suspicious. "Sure, James. Would it have anything to do with how you and Jade were acting earlier?" she asks, leaning against one of the black and gold marble pillars of the Hades cabin.
"Uh, yea, it actually does." I say, looking down at my feet.
"I see. Well, I'll talk to you then." she says, grinning at me before turning around and disappearing inside the cabin.
I sigh and shake my head. I knew what she was thinking, why she thought Jade and I had been acting weird earlier. She thought maybe we had hooked up or something. But what was going on was the farthest thing from that.
"Hey, Adds." Jade says, running up to Adrienne and laying a hand on her shoulder.
We stop walking and turn around to face her. "Where are you two going? The campfire is that way in case you didn't know." she says, pointing to the path and rolling her eyes.
"We're skipping the campfire tonight, I have to talk to Adrienne." I say.
Confusion lights her colorful eyes and she cocks her head to the side. Then her mouth takes the shape of an "o" and she nods her head, understanding.
"Gotcha. Well, I'll see you later Adds." she says, walking away from us and waving.
I turn around and start making my way to the dock again. That was where we had been heading when Jade had stopped us. I could hear Adrienne's light tread as she followed me close behind.
When we get to the dock, I sit down on the end of it, looking down at the water. The sun was slowly slinking away, lighting the sky in vibrant reds, purples, and oranges on its way out.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Adrienne asks, sitting down next to me.
I sigh and look up at the colorful sky. Where would I even begin to explain this? I take a deep breath then just plunge in. "Mom and dad and Mike, they uh—someone took them." I say.
"What? What do you mean 'took them?'" she asks.
"I mean took them. Kidnapped them, snatched them. Mom was able to Iris message me from where they were, and she told me to call Uncle Mo and have him try to track them down. Then, if he manages that, he and some of the others will go and find them and bring them back home. At least, that's what they implied would happen when I talked to them. Now, I'm not so sure." I say.
She looks at me, her eyes wider than I'd ever seen them, and her mouth hanging open.
"A man visited me this morning while you were still asleep. Jade had gone to get breakfast, so I was basically alone. This guy came up to me and said that he was an old friend of mom's, and he knows where they are." I say.
"What?! Where are they? Did he tell you?" she asks.
"No, he didn't. He wanted me to tell you what was going on first when you were well enough, then he wanted us to meet him in the woods." I say.
She looks at me skeptically. "James, this man who you've never met before comes up to you and tells you he knows where mom, dad, and Mike are and then asks you to meet him in the woods. Don't you think that's just the slightest bit weird?" she asks.
"Well, yea. It is a little weird. But there was something about him, Addie. He seemed like he wanted to help." I say.
"Well, did he tell you where to meet him?" she asks.
I shake my head. "No. When I asked, he just said I'd know." I say, shrugging.
She stands up and turns around, making her way off the dock. I get up and start walking after her. "Where are you going?" I ask.
"You seen pretty convinced this guy can help. I'm going to my cabin to get some weapons and then we can go searching the woods for this mystery guy." she says.
"Alright then, let's do this." I say.
A/N:
Kind of a filler, I think. But oh well, every story needs 'em. And how do you think Chiron feels about all the campers he's seen and trained throughout the years? Do you think he feels like they're his family? I suppose they're all related in some way through their godly parentage...
Tuesday you find out something pretty major, I can tell you that. May or may not shock you, I don't know.
So today I slept in until about 10:00, I took Zoe out and gave her to my dad at 8:00 when she woke up. Lemme tell you, sleeping in felt fucking incredible. I haven't slept in since I got Zoe, except maybe once.
Then later on my mom and I ran some errands then we came home and about an hour after that, we went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Holy fuck, it was amazing!
And, alas, this is my last Saturday of sleeping in, at least for a while, since I go back to my regular pottery class schedule of Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Though, I'm going to ask (probably more like beg) my teacher if I can switch schedules.
The friend that takes classes with me, for some reason it's taken me five fucking years to figure out she's a narcissistic asshole who doesn't care about anyone else but herself. She's constantly insulting me and the things I believe in, making fun of other people and generally just being a bitch. And y'know what? I really just don't want someone like that in my life.
She made me really angry the other day by something she said, I'm not gonna say what she said though. But I don't want to blow up on her in the middle of class and then have a mental breakdown after. I'd be so fucking embarrassed, I'd never want to show my face at the studio again.
I will talk to her eventually about the way she's making me feel, but for now, I really just want to switch schedules in class.
M/A:
"'I don't care what you think as long as it's about me
The best of us can find happiness in misery'"
I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy.
(This is one of my all-time favorite songs, and I just rediscovered it last week.) XOXO,Mrs-diAngelo25 P.S. I don't know why it's italicizing stuff now, I can't get it to stop soo, yea.