That had been the first monster attack Elise had seen in ages. Her heartrate had spiked, and she was shaking like a leaf. She would've totally lost it if it weren't for her concern for Percy and Annabeth.

That was who they were, right? She could've been sure those were the names Jason had called. They matched the description: a guy with black hair and a blondie. But they seemed different than Elise had imagined them. Maybe it was because everyone made them out to be these powerful, god-like heroes, and here they lay, completely vulnerable. Just kids.

Jason stumbled over to where Elise knelt beside them. He was clearly worn out from his brief battle. No hiding that. "How are they," he gasped.

Elise shook her head. "Not good. Percy here is bleeding his guts out."

Jason grimaced. "Really?"

"No, I'm lying," Elise lied. "Don't worry. Could you check Annabeth for injuries?"

Jason nodded and did as she said.

Out of the blue, Percy grabbed Elise's wrist. His grip was extremely tight. He was cutting off her circulation. "You—you saved my life," he choked.

Elise smiled pathetically at him. "It wasn't just me," she informed. "It was Jason and Nico, too."

Percy shook his head. "No," he insisted. "They couldn't have done that."

That confused Elise endlessly. She hadn't done anything that Nico hadn't done, and Jason had killed the manticore. "What did I do?" she questioned. But Percy didn't have time to answer before he passed out. "Percy?" Elise tried to call him back to consciousness. "C'mon, Percy. Don't leave us."

Annabeth, who was obviously in better condition than her boyfriend, must've noticed Elise's attempts to bring Percy back to reality. She leaped up and pushed Elise out of the way. Elise couldn't blame her.

"Percy, wake up. We're here. We made it. Wake up, Seaweed Brain. C'mon!" Annabeth was in hysterics. Screaming at Percy's lifeless form and slapping what she was calling his stupid face, all desperate attempts to wake him up. "Perseus Jackson!" she finally screeched. "If you die, I'll kill you!"

Percy's eyelids fluttered open briefly. "You're getting me to stay alive by threatening me?"

Annabeth sighed in relief. "Yes, if it works. Keep talking to me."

Will and Nico reached the scene at that point. Will took one look at Percy's wound and decided, "He's in critical condition. I need to get him to the infirmary right away."

Will drew a tiny, white rectangle from his pocket and placed it on the ground. It magically expanded into a stretcher. A handy tool for a doctor.

Elise helped load Percy onto the stretcher, and watched as he was wheeled away to the infirmary, Annabeth in tow.

As she let her eyes follow, she couldn't help but wonder what Percy had meant. What in the name of Olympus did she do? Did she somehow use some unknown power? She must've, but she couldn't imagine what… Whatever it was must be a clue to the identity of her godly parent. No, she couldn't think about that. Not now. It would be selfish.

She turned to face Jason and Nico, who had also stayed behind. "So they're back, huh?"

Jason shrugged. "It sure looks that way, doesn't it?"

Suddenly, Nico exclaimed, "Jason, look at your arm!"

Jason looked at his arm, and so did Elise. There was a long gash down his forearm that was foaming with green puss. It looked bad. Really bad.

"Jason, I think you need to get to the infirmary," Elise stated, never tearing her eyes away from his wound.

Nico stared incredulously at Elise. "Oh, you think?"

Elise ignored Nico's sarcastic comment and helped Jason get to where he needed to be. The poison was draining his energy. She was sure of it.

The infirmary seemed empty. It was empty. But then again, it was always empty. After everyone had recovered from the Giant War, there were only ever a few campers there at a time and only Will was needed to take care of them. There were two patients around now, neither with seemingly serious problems.

There was female screaming from the opposite side of a door at the far end of the infirmary. Elise watched as Annabeth was dragged out of that door and left in the waiting room.

"You'll pay for this, Will Solace!" she was yelling. She sounded more violent than Clarisse on a bad day. But Elise didn't see someone that should be avoided, she saw someone who needed a friend. It's just the way Elise was.

But first things first, Jason was rapidly losing blood, and who knew how quickly that poison worked? Elise walked to the door that Annabeth had just walked out of and knocked.

"Will?" she called.

She heard Will on the other side of the door. "If she's using you to get in, it's not working! He needs air, Annabeth! I told you that!"

"No, Will, it's Jason."

Will opened the door. "What's wrong with Jason?"

"He's got this wound on his arm," Elise informed, gesturing to where it was on her own arm. "It's deep, and it's dripping with green puss."

Will looked back inside at Percy. Elise could see that Will was hesitant to leave him, but then there was a matter of potentially fast-acting poison. Then his face lit up. Elise knew this face. It was the face he made when he had come up with a stupid idea.

"I have a brilliant idea," Will announced. He grabbed Elise's arm, pulled her inside the room, and shut the door. Percy was on a bed, still completely knocked out. "You know how to stich a wound closed, right?"

"What?" Elise exclaimed. "No!"

"Oh, c'mon, Elise! It's just like stitching anything else! You've seen me do it plenty of times. Listen. All you have to do is run a needle back and forth. Simple!" Before Elise could argue, Will ran out the door singing, "Don't screw up!"

"This is why they don't let teenagers become doctors!" Elise called after him. She slowly turned back to Percy. Still out cold. "Good grief why are boys so stupid?"

However, the stupidity of males was not Elise's main concern. Her main concern was this kid that was bleeding to death. How hard could it be to stitch a person closed? It couldn't be that hard. For real.

Elise put her hair up, washed her hands, and put on gloves. She took a long look at the wound, trying to determine what she should do… Finally, she just grabbed the tools she needed and got to work. She was sure she was doing something wrong. Her worst fear was that she was hurting more than helping.

"Okay," she mumbled, finishing up the stitch and cutting the string. "I think that did it."

Will ran in at that point and started raiding the medicine he had stocked up. He grabbed a bottle of something and a container of something else. Holy Olympus, he was practically grabbing the whole stash!

"Will, I finished," Elise announced.

"Yeah, great job," Will muttered back, not even looking.

"I think I killed him," Elise threw in, just to grab Will's attention. It didn't work.

"Uh-huh! Sorry, got to run. I'll be back," Will announced. He ran out the door. Before it closed, Elise heard Will say, "Hey, Nico, I need your help."

Okay, so what was Elise supposed to do now? She glanced at Percy, still breathing, still out cold. Well, one thing was for sure: she wasn't going to leave her patient

Nico walked in and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm supposed to check on you and Percy."

Elise sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I was wondering when someone would come and…" Elise shut up while Nico checked the stitch.

He cleared his throat. "You did fine," was all he said. "Remarkably well, actually. Will is going to come back soon and start pumping blood back into him, but for what you did, you did well."

Elise stood up a little straighter. That was the biggest compliment Nico had ever offered her. "Thanks."

Nico stared at Elise a while longer. "Listen," he said. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I think after this, we can pretty safely guess who your godly parent is."