Red Skies at Morning | Clarisse La Rue x OC | Percy Jackson AU

Fun Times in the Infirmary

I didn't really understand how that would help but I figured that I should trust the closest thing to doctors we had, so I just took the Tylenol he gave me and sat in the chair they gave me since all the beds were full.

"If you weren't half-bloods, these would have been far more serious. Might've even needed a few fingers amputated. At the very least, these would be some nasty scars," Michel chattered as he applied ointment, disrupting the uncomfortable ambiance of light shuffling and groans of pain in the infirmary.

"If I weren't a half-blood, I wouldn't have been fighting giant, fire-breathing metal bulls," I retorted. 

It was meant to be a joke but scorn slipped into my tone and I felt that my smile had come off as sarcastic. The way he had said it that had struck a nerve and I didn't realize how much sarcasm found its way into my voice until it was already out in the air.

Sometimes campers would talk about being half-bloods as if it was some kind of blessing. As if we should be grateful for being born into a life where we were forced to abandon normal childhoods. Like we didn't train our asses off every day just for the slim chance we were needed to be the gods' errand runners for a quest. 

Maybe I just couldn't understand because I don't know my mother. Maybe knowing your parents and half-siblings made you view existence as a half-blood differently.

'Maybe being a half-blood was better when you were wanted,' that annoying voice said. 

'No,' I argued back, 'Luke knows his father and he hates being a half-blood more than I do. In fact, he probably hates his father the most of any half-blood.' But thinking Luke upset me more than anything the voice could have said. 

I sighed, I'd already killed the conversation Michel had attempted to start so I tried to distract myself from my thoughts with the pain in my hands and the low conversations of campers in other beds.

Most of the injured campers, including Clarisse, had already left by the time Michel wrapped bandages around the open blisters and told me I'd have to come back to the infirmary the next day so he could reapply the ointment and make sure I didn't develop an infection. 

I'd asked if it was really necessary and he promised that if I came back, he'd be willing to use some magic salve that was usually saved for quests or injuries that urgently needed to be healed ASAP. Allegedly, both my hands and feet could be fully healed in a day or two with the treatment of that salve, but only if I came back tomorrow. I wasn't really sure if he'd actually be willing to bribe me with special treatment just to make sure I came back and I've never seen the salve in action before since I'd never been on a quest, but I figured coming back wouldn't hurt even if he was lying.

It was very late afternoon when I finally left the infirmary and waddled out of the Big House in a pair of borrowed sneakers since someone had thrown out my unsalvagable Vans while Michel was busy. 

I awkwardly greeted Percy, Annabeth, and the big guy I'd seen on the hill as I shuffled by them on the porch. Now that I got a closer look at him, I could see that the big guy was actually the Cyclops I'd been hearing kids talk about in the infirmary. A lot of campers had been complaining about his presence in the infirmary and I would have agreed if I hadn't heard a particular detail while eavesdropping on some Athena kids. 

Turns out he was the one who killed the other bull, and he'd done it to protect Percy. I have no idea why, but it wouldn't make sense for a monster to protect a camper if he wanted to eat us so I assume he's not planning on hurting anyone. I do wonder how Annabeth is handling him, though. I know she and Luke had a pretty traumatizing experience with one before arriving at camp.