Vita Mortis

Chapter 39

Guys WE JUST HIT 1K READS!! I never thought this would get any bigger than one or two people coming across this story and deciding to take a look, so thank you SO SO much for your support. In honor of that, I present to you an early chapter.

~LOGAN~

Once Percy flew away, Jason turned to me in shock. "Since when does he have wings?" he asked. I shrugged.

"It's been a couple years now. Since Hades gave them to him, your father can't shoot him out of the sky for using them, so it's pretty cool. Except for the fact that, as far as everyone else is aware, Hades and Percy aren't friends," I answered. "Come on. I have to run you back to camp. I can carry you three ways as I run. Bridal, potato sack, or fireman. Which one do you want?"

"Fireman." I helped Jason onto my shoulders and took off running. There was a boom that I could only hear because of my heightened senses. That was probably Percy breaking the sound barrier. I sped up, leaping over fallen trees, creeks, and boulders. I had to avoid crowded cities, so I stuck to rural areas.

When I arrived forty-five minutes later, I sprinted to the infirmary and put Jason down. Nico lay on a cot, resting peacefully with a bandage over his abdomen. In contrast, Percy lay on the other cot with Apollo campers surrounding him. Some idiot had shot him in the wing. The demigods had gotten the arrow out, but they were scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to heal it.

"What's the issue? Why can't you just give him godly food and call it a day?" I asked, walking up to them. Jason followed me.

"Well, the border patrol unleashed a volley of arrows, and Percy got hit by, like, half of them because he was flying too fast to dodge. We used all the nectar and ambrosia we could without burning him up, but now we have no idea how to heal his wing. This isn't part of normal first-aid courses," Will explained. "We already tried water, but for some reason, it's not healing him. Is there any chance you have some of the blood you gave him earlier?"

I nodded, sprinting to Percy's cabinet and grabbing it from my stash. I ran back and poured it over the wound, closing it instantly. Will nodded to me in thanks. I pocketed the remaining blood and sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs next to Percy, waiting for him to wake up. Jason sat beside Nico, grabbing his hand and rubbing circles on the back absent-mindedly. The rest of the Apollo kids left the area, probably tending to other injured campers.

Percy woke up with a start, shooting up and looking around, panicked. When his eyes met mine, he asked, "Did I get here in time?" I nodded, and he sighed in relief, falling back onto the cot. "How many people saw the wings?" he asked.

"Way too many. At this point, the entire camp might as well know," I chuckled as he groaned. Jason looked at him curiously.

"Do the wings restrict how you sleep?" he asked, a genuine look on his face. "I feel like they'd get in the way all the time."

"Oh, trust me, they do," I said with a snort. "There was this one time he tried to take them out, but he forgot he was in a hallway, so his wings went straight through the walls, and he got stuck," I told Jason. Percy groaned, tossing an arm over his eyes.

"Why must you embarrass me like this, Stone," he whined. "I thought we had something."

I smirked. "Oh yeah," I replied. "We definitely did. And if I'm being honest, it was a little more than something," Jason blushed, understanding what I meant. Percy groaned, throwing a pillow at me.

I caught the pillow with a grin. "Not like that, you idiot," Percy complained. I shook my head in amusement. Percy swung his legs off the side of the cot, and laced up his combat boots. He picked up his shirt, but realized that the Apollo campers had cut through the fabric to access his wounds, so he just dropped it in a trash can, apparently deciding to go shirtless. He ruffled his wings before tucking them in so they didn't take so much space.

He made his way towards the door, before turning around and looking at Jason. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but an Iris message formed in front of him. I could see someone from Percy's Atlantean army in the mist. The guy said something in Atlantean, but I didn't know much Atlantean, so I only caught certain words. Something about advice on handling a kidnapping in some trench? I don't know.

Percy growled and answered angrily, "It's quite simple. Kill him, take her for questioning, and bring the hostage to Poseidonis."

The man winced and responded, "King Triton said no casualties."

"Fine. Bring him to my palace. Get the shadow squad to deal with the criminals. Got it?"

"Yes, my king." The Atlantean bowed at a forty-five degree angle and swiped a hand through the Iris message.

"Who's the shadow squad?" Jason asked, having listened in on the entire conversation.

Percy sighed. Obviously, he wasn't comfortable revealing so many secrets he'd worked so hard to keep for so many years. "The shadow squad is the part of my army that does all things dark. Mostly spywork, interrogations, stuff like that. They're gonna interrogate the hell out of two criminals," Percy explained. "Anyway, I have to go prepare for a council meeting, so I'm gonna go to my palace and get some work done," he added, vapor traveling away. Council meeting? Like, with the gods? Why would he have to attend?

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