YAY! LOOK AT ME! I'm still followed through on my promise even though that obnoxious little detour came up :P I feel I deserve a prize.
In response to your reviews: Wow. You guys have a lot of hatred for Isabella, don't you?
I saw my school's musical last night. It was good. Just felt like sharing that little piece of information with the rest of you.
Disclaimer: I own numerous things, but none of them are a New York Times bestselling book series.
Once I made the realization of what was going on, fear quickly pumped through my veins (is that possible?).
Not for myself, but rather for the bloody girl with the broken body lying in front of me. The sheer terror of the whole situation had sharpened my senses, and the rotten egg smell became very distinct to me as I realized just where I was: the very place I was thinking about before the whole disaster had started.
From when I first saw the body, I had assumed it was Jill, but as I looked at it closer I saw it was much too small to belong to the 15 year old girl. And as horrible as it was, I was slightly relieved when I saw Jill run over to the body; sobs shook her body as she leaned down and gently moved the hair away from her sister's face.
"Izzy!" she cried out in despair. She had thought she was dead. I had known better, but for some reason my body refused to walk over to her and tell her that her sister was indeed alive.
The closer I got, the less extreme the injuries looked. I saw a few broken bones, a couple of cuts, and a few scratches here and there. Practically nothing compared to what I had thought at first glance.
With emotions clouding Jill's mind and actions, she hadn't even thought to check the girl's pulse. Hanging over her body, she cried and tried to shake Isabella awake. Hailey and Riley stood to the back; Riley was awkwardly trying to comfort Hailey as she cried into his chest.
Spirits, excited by the sudden action, were crowding around the girls now. On top of thinking she just lost her sister, Jill seemed positively terrified of the ghosts.
I finally found my voice as I waved away the spirits. "Alright, shoo! Go away! There's nothing to see here." Most of the ghosts faded away, but a few remained. Ignoring them, I walked over to Jill and Izzy. I saw her injuries must not have been as serious as I had thought, considering her life energy still seemed pretty intact. She definitely wasn't dead. She just appeared that way.
I leaned down next to Jill and hesitantly tapped her on the shoulder. She glanced at me for a minute, and then went back to staring at her sister.
Wondering how I was going to tell her that her sister was just unconscious, I was relieved when a sudden moan came from the smaller girl, along with a twitch of her foot that made everybody gasp (that is, except me of course). "Izzy?" hesitantly questioned Jill, filled with a sudden hope. "Izzy?"
At first, all was silent and you could see Jill's face drop again, but soon another louder moan came from the girl.
Bursting into tears again, Jill hugged her sister as gently as she possibly could.
"Ow…" complained Isabella so quietly that if I hadn't have been sitting inches from her I wouldn't have heard it.
Regaining her usual wit, Jill began barking out commands. "Hailey! Get over here and see if you can help!"
Hailey came over without complaint, but looked unsure. "I can't mend broken bones, Jill…I would be able to set them, but I don't see anything I could use here. Where are we, anyway?" She looked around at the scenery. "Hell?" The brunette leaned down and placed her hands on the open wounds of Isabella; quietly chanting as she tried to heal the girl.
A hand fed ambrosia to Izzy, and she happily swallowed it. Within a few minutes, she was looking much better; Isabella attempted to sit up, but when she put pressure on her bad arm she hissed in pain and fell back down.
"Nico!" cried out Jill, "Do something!"
"What! Me? What am I supposed to do!"
She seemed unsure of what to tell me. "I don't know; take her to a hospital or something!"
Another moan came from the girl. Though going to a hospital would only lead to questions and suspiciousness, I knew there would be no arguing with Jill. Then again, I couldn't just leave them all in the Underworld, and I sure as Hades couldn't bring all four of them with me.
Jill seemed to notice my doubt. "We'll be fine! Just take her, get her treated, and come right back!"
"You don't even know where you are! It's dangerous here!" I shouted back at her.
"Oh, we're obviously in the Underworld, Nico. Don't doubt my intelligence! And don't worry about us; we're fine. We'll be right here when you get back. Just go!" Her eyes were red and puffy, and tears were streaking down her face. She lacked the confidence that she usually carried with her, leaving her body limp and scared. She was as vulnerable as I had ever, and probably would ever, see her.
"Stay right here." I commanded them. They all nodded their heads quickly.
Sighing, I acquiesced, awkwardly picked up the girl, and calmly walked into a shadow and out of the Underworld.
(¡Hola! Me llamo Alejandro, y yo soy una línea)
I ended up in an alleyway in some city. Even though I was out of the Underworld, I could still smell the sulfer that had clung to my clothes and skin. Apparently, Isabella could smell it too. "You smell bad." she said as I walked onto the street and into the hospital. I guess she was feeling good enough to insult me.
In TV shows and movies, the emergency room is filled with excitement, gurneys rushing in every direction, and doctors performing CPR as their patients gushed blood from extreme accidents. When I walked into the emergency room at Saint Katherine's, there were just two old men playing Sudoku in the corner and a nurse standing behind the desk. I must say, I was a bit disappointed.
You would think that if a kid with blood stains on his shirt that smelled like rotten eggs came in carrying a little girl with obvious broken bones, there would be doctors and nurses rushing to get them treated.
Besides one of the men thinking out loud about his grocery list, there was no reaction to our entrance. Awkwardly, I walked over to the desk. The woman standing behind the desk was wearing ugly salmon colored scrubs that didn't do anything to compliment her hideous perm. The nurse (her name tag read "Nancy") was too busy with whatever she was doing on the computer to notice me.
I cleared my throat loudly, which earned me a sigh from Nancy the nurse. "Can I help you?" she replied in a monotone voice.
"Uh, yeah. My, uh, little sister here fell from a tree and broke a few bones…" I explained. To go along with the story, Isabella moaned loudly.
Another sigh from Nurse Nancy. "Alright, you'll need to fill out this paperwork here before the doctors can see her." With this, she plopped a packet onto the counter. I glanced at the first page. It asked for the insurance company, social security number, name, address, date of birth, phone number, as well as numerous other complicated things I didn't know the answers to.
I tried to scoot my way out of the papers. "She's really in a lot of pain, I don't think we have time for this."
She looked at me like I was an annoying little boy that she was being forced to watch."Well even if I let you through right now, you would have to wait for the x-ray room to be set up. That will take an hour. Then you'll have to wait for a doctor to come and take the x-rays. Then, you'll have to wait for the x-rays to develop. Then, you'll have to wait fo-"
"Okay, nevermind. We'll just leave." I said as I made a move for the door.
"Nicooo.." complained Isabella.
"It's okay, Izzy. You can just live the rest of your life with severely deformed limbs. I'm sure in twenty years that'll be totally cool."
"Look, kid, I don't need your attitude." said the nurse.
"Oh, no worries, we're about to leave. But first, little Izzy here needs to use the restroom, so we'll just be taking a short detour." Saying this, I walked through a big set of doors the surely led somewhere.
"Hey! Kid! You're not allowed to go-" her voice was shut off as the doors closed behind us.
"You're gonna get us in trouble!" yelled Isabella, using all of her energy.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll just leave you here so you can self-heal and go back to find everybody else in a few months when your bones mend! That's a great idea! I'm sure by then, everybody, including your sister, will still be totally safe and not eaten or killed! Wow, you are just such a smartie today!"
She made an irritated face, but didn't say anymore.
We walked (well, technically I walked and she was carried) down a long white, sterile hallway that made us look especially filthy. Soon, somebody tapped my shoulder and I turned around to face a man in a white coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck. I took a wild guess and said that he was a doctor.
"Hello, are you two lost?" he asked politely. He was a fairly tall man (he had a few inches on me), with a cleanly-shaved face and a kind look in his eyes. I felt suddenly self-conscious of my raggedy appearance, but shrugged it off and answered the man.
"Actually, yes. We just came from the x-ray room, and the doctor said to wait for him to go get the… uh… casting materials but he was taking a long time so we went looking for him."
"The casting materials?" he asked.
"Yes. For her, uh, cast…" Embarrassed by my awkward answer, I looked down at my feet rather than up at the man.
"Well, alright." he said, "I really don't have anything better to do, and this sure beats giving some old man a sponge bath, so I'll fix you up with a cast right now."
"That'd be great!" I said a little too cheerfully for my normal self. In an attempt to try to cover it up, I coughed loudly.
"Alright, just follow me. Hey, what doctor did you say was treating her? I could probably figure out where he is, if you want." The doctor said as he led us down the same hallway.
"Oh… uh… his name was, uhm," I struggled for a name to use, "Doctor Klark."
"Doctor Klark?" suspiciously asked the doctor. "That's strange; I don't think I've ever met a Doctor Klark…"
"Oh, heh, yeah… strange." I said.
We followed the doctor into a large room (everything was white, of course) where he gently took Izzy from me and sat her down on a metal table.
"What bones did he say you had broken, sweetheart?" the doctor asked.
"My radius and fibula." replied Izzy without missing a beat, thought I don't think she enjoyed being called "sweetheart". I was glad he hadn't asked me, because I wouldn't have had a clue of what to say.
The doctor began to sterilize Isabella's arm and leg. She winced in pain, but didn't show too much discomfort. I'm sure that's one thing being a demigod has taught her. "Jeez, that must've been some accident. And hey, where are you guys' parents?"
Since I couldn't think of any other good excuses, I said, "They, uh, are at work."
He looked surprised. "And they didn't come when you called them?"
"Nope." I shook my head quickly, "Realllyyy busy. They're, uh, accountants. You know how busy those accountants get…"
"Yes… I suppose they do get busy…" he said as he began to wrap a cotton band around her arm. "Alright, what color cast do you want, sweetie? We have pink, blue, purple, green, and white."
Expecting her to go with the boring white, I was surprised when she answered "pink".
"Sure thing!" the doctor said, "Now, let me go get that and I'll be right back!" With a large smile, he exited the room, leaving the two of us alone.
After a moment of awkward silence, Isabella made a comment. "He's nice."
"Yup." I answered quickly, and there was another silence.
"Is Santa Clause really not real?" blurted out Izzy quickly.
Caught off guard, I asked, "What?"
"Is Santa Clause real or not?" she repeated, this time with a bit more irritation in her voice.
"Uh… no." I answered bluntly.
She sighed and shook her head. "I knew it. Ever since I was a toddler, I questioned the idea of an obese man traveling across the world overnight with his flying reindeer."
"Aren't there weirder things that you've seen than a fattie old man flying on a sleigh?" I asked, because I know I've seen much weirder things.
"Well, yes." she admitted, "But he supposedly lives in the North Pole, which has temperatures ranging from -45 degrees Fahrenheit to -15 degrees Fahrenheit. It's highly unlikely for a human to be able to survive in those temperatures."
"Well then I guess he's not real."
"I guess not…" She looked like she was about to say something else, but then stopped herself. When I didn't respond, she tried again. "Hey, Nico. There's something I wanted to tel-"
The opening of the door interrupted whatever Isabella was going to say. "Alright, here it is!" said the doctor as he strolled in carrying the hot pink plaster.
(I already had one line with a name in this chapter, so this one will be nameless. Ooohh… mysterious ;) Who wants to think of a super awesome name for this line?)
An hour later, after Izzy had gotten her cuts properly covered and her bones set into place with a cast, we were "calling our parents to get the insurance card" (AKA: getting out of there before anybody noticed us leaving).
Slipping out of a window on the first floor, we were back in the alleyway. Picking her up was a lot more difficult this time with two clunky casts and a pair of crutches to go along with the small girl. But I still scooped her up and walked into a shadow, re-entering the Underworld.
I made sure to come to the exact place we had left, where we would surely see Jill, Hailey, and Riley unharmed and awaiting our return. We came to the same place, but the three kids were nowhere to be found.
I swore loudly, placed Izzy down with her crutches, and stalked off. Even though there was a much better chance they were involuntarily moved, I was still mad at them for not staying where I had told them to stay.
"Where are you going?" asked Izzy as she hobbled along on her crutches behind me.
"I'm going to find everybody, of course."
"Wait, Nico! Wait up!" she yelled. It was obvious she wasn't used to the crutches, and she was having a hard time catching up with my long strides. Sighing, I stopped walking until she caught up.
"Thanks."
"Just try to walk faster. It's dangerous down here, and they don't know what they're doing or where they're going." I told her.
She rolled her eyes at me. "No, I meant thanks for taking me to the hospital, and stuff." She said it awkwardly, like thanking people wasn't something she does often and wasn't comfortable doing.
Taken back by her sudden thanks, I didn't know how to respond. "Wow. I think that's the first time you've ever said something even remotely nice to me."
"I'm still mad at you." she said.
I threw my hands up. "But why? Why on earth do you hate me so much?"
"I don't hate you." she bluntly said, "I just don't like you too much."
With this, she continued to hobble alongside me but stayed quiet.
With every passing moment, I became more and more worried as to what happened to them. Were they killed? Did they wander off and get lost? Were they scared to death? Did they fall into the River Styx and die? I desperately wanted to shadow travel around until I found the three of them, but if I left Isabella here alone she would probably get eaten, and Jill would most-likely be super mad at me for a really long time.
Then again, there was of course one person who always knew what was going on in the Underworld. Maybe if I asked them, they would kindly tell me exactly where my dearest friends were and we could go on with our lives (that is, if they're not already dead).
Sighing, I picked up Isabella along with her crutches and walked towards the nearest shadow I saw.
"Where are we going?" she questioned.
"We're gonna go take a trip to the Lord of the Underworld." And with that, I stepped into the shadow.