Chapter 27.
"We'll set up camp here." Thalia says and drops the piece of cloth half-heatedly.
"I'll keep watch tonight." Nico mumbles.
"No, I will. You need to sleep." Thalia insists.
"Thalia, that's not going to happen. You and I both know that. And, I need to think some things out anyways." He sighs. Thalia doesn't say anything but she nods.
Thalia dishes out the, dishes and everyone says what they want. I'm not hungry but I choose lasagne so no one will think any things up. Olivia is clearly taking full advantage of eating whatever the a Hades she wants and is eating a sundae and Maisie's plate keeps switching.
"After dinner, Katy, come outside with me please. And bring your sword." Thalia says. "Okay," I agree, then turn back to my plate. The thought of eating makes me sick so I flip the plate upwards to clear it and drink some water instead.
"You're not eating?" Chantelle notices.
"Not hungry," I say.
"Me too, I guess today's been one disaster after another." Nico mumbles.
"Yeah," I agree.
The table goes quiet. "I'll wait for you outside." I say and leave with my bag and a pair of trainers.
When I'm outside, I go to the floodlight so I can see. The tent is in the middle of the track, where it's driest. I find a pair of running shorts and a camp half blood tee and change into those and my trainers. I screw my clothes back into the bag and ditch it on the side of the track. Then I run.
I remember coming here for sports day, nearly three years ago. I was on the mile run a and I came second out of everyone, and the fastest girl. It's almost completely dark on the opposite side of the track, but there's enough light to see. It's a full moon tonight and the sky is clear. I stop and breathe.
It's dead silent, apart from my breathing.
"Katy, are you ready?" Thalia shouts. I'm in the shadows with no light so I would be completely invisible from here. I make my way towards her but before I can reply, a hand is around my mouth and a needle is in the neck. My legs give way and the only thing holding me up is the hook of an elbow that my neck falls into.
I am almost gone when the hand moves from my mouth, but I can't scream anyways. But I do say "I have got to stop ending up like this."
When I wake up, I'm staring at a guy's face. He has messy dark brown hair and cute brown eyes with olive skin. He's wearing a navy blazer and he can't be any older than fifteen. "Jesus Christ, I thought you were dead," he sighs. "She's not dead Amy." He says. "Give her a hand up James." A girl says.
"Oh yeah, you want a hand up?" He offers.
I nod and take his hand. "Thanks," I stumble.
"How long have you been there?" He asks.
"I, don't know." I reply. I look down to see I'm wearing my old school uniform. With a kilt and tights instead of trousers and ballet shoes instead of my old trainers. "Here's your bag, by the way," he hands me a pastel blue back pack and brown zips. "I checked your planner, it's Katy, right?" James asks. "I'm James, this is Amy. Incase we didn't already give that away. Are you the new girl in our form?"
I can't think of a lie and the truth seems less believable than what I could come up with right now so I nod. "You're a lot prettier than how Peter described you. Is it true that you used to come here?" Amy asks.
"Yeah, I left in year seven. I was in form RW." I say.
"GK for us, so we wouldn't have met." James says. "Are you ok? Do you need to go home early or something?"
"I'm good." I say.
"Ok, well the bell's about to go, so should we take you to form?"
"Yeah, sure. Thanks." I say. And I follow them.
On the way there, I see my reflection in the windows of the Science block and I look nothing like I did last night. My hair is much longer and has soft curls in it. My eyebrows are shaped and my lashes look longer and curled, and my eyes, my eyes are grey. Not greeny-grey but seriously grey. I grin at myself. "Yes, you're face is still there." Amy laughs.
"Sorry, just making sure that you can't tell that I just spent I don't know how long passed out on the tennis courts." I laugh. Then the bell goes and the sound makes me giggle for whatever reason. "Come on, slow coach." James grins.
The classroom is in the new history block and we have a teacher I don't recognise as our tutor. "Katy Thompson, hello. If you could sit next to Harry please." Mr. Gers says when I introduce myself. I grimace and go to sit next to Harry. He used to be in my old form and, let's just say I was tempted on more than one occasion to punch him in the face. "Yo, Tom, guess who's back? It's the freak!" He shouts as soon as he hears my name. I roll my eyes and sit down. But he moves my chair so I would have fallen onto the floor if I hadn't caught myself with the table. I pull myself up. My face burns as half the class laughs. "Hey, freak. Can you read what's on the board? Or are you going to start crying because you're stupid again?" Frieda hisses behind me.
Two minutes into the school day and I already want Backbiter back.