The Unclaimed

Chapter 4: An old friend at the archery range

  As I had spent all my life running from my past, I guess it only made sense that my nightmare involved running from an unknown monster to an unknown location. I was running on the beach, the ocean was to my left, and there were woods to the right. I had a bow and arrow around my back. The sky was full of clouds; I could see lighting making contact with the ground all around me. The ocean was churning violently. It started to rain; my vision became blurred. I heard loud footsteps coming from behind me, they were gaining on me quickly. The rain was coming down even harder now; I tripped over an object and fell to the ground.

  "No more running for you little demigod." And with that I woke with a start and sat straight up. Even after I realized that I was still in the infirmary, I had to keep reminding myself that it was just a dream.

   "Hey you're up," my head spun to the side where Nico was sitting.

   "What are you doing here?" I asked him. "And how long have I been out for?" I added as a follow up question.

   "I'm here because I was scared to death when," I started laughing before he could finish. Something about a son of Hades being scared to death was just a bit to ironic for me. Realizing what he said, Nico rolled his eyes and reworded his sentence. "When Will called me and told me that you and Michael were unconscious in the infirmary, I got worried." I found myself mentally saying aw when he admitted that he was worried. I was about to ask how long I had been out for (again) but something he said clicked in my mind.

  "Wait how's Michael? Is he ok? Please tell me he's woken up by now." Nicos eyes skirted nervously so he was no longer looking directly at me. A sense of dread started to consume me.

     "It's almost 6:30," Nico said. "You've both been out for a few hours now. Michael though, well, he hasn't you know woken up yet." The world seemed to freeze; Nico's announcement kept repeating itself over and over again.

   "You're lying, you have to be lying." Even though I physically felt extremely weak, I got to my feet. I took a few steps, looking for Michael, before Nico picked me up and placed me back on the bed. "No where is he? What have you done to Michael?"

     I felt hysteric; my whole life has been dedicated to protecting him and now due to one careless misjudgment on my part he was passed out. I knew I shouldn't blame myself but I just felt like I should have known that James was going to try and get a reaction out of me. If I hadn't frozen when James called me out then Michael wouldn't have gotten knocked out and we wouldn't be in this situation. Obviously sensing my misery Nico put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

   "He's going to be ok," he said. "I may not be a healer like Will but I know Michael and he's a fighter." I knew he was right but I was scared. If anything happened to Michael then I would be lost. He was the reason I put a smile on my face even when I felt like crying, he was the reason I remained at this camp and put up with all the crap from the others, he was my world.

     It's all my fault," I sobbed. Nico immediately started to shake his head and talk.

   "No it is not," he told me. "Will explained what happened to Michael and I promise you that it was not your fault. You had no way of knowing that James was going to do what he did." The mention of his name snapped me back to reality. My hysteria was quickly replaced by icy anger. Nico was right, it wasn't my fault. The only person to blame was James and he was going to pay. My strength started to return to me. Ignoring Nico's protests, I stood back up and started to walk towards the front door.

   What do you think you're doing," Nico asked hesitantly as he followed me.

   "You're right, what happened to Michael wasn't my fault." I said, he nodded in agreement.

   "Exactly; now that you've realized that lets head back to your bed so you can rest." Nico started to turn back around but I kept walking forward.