The Jacksons (completed): Book 2 - Percy Jackson Fanfiction

~ Chapter Two: ESME

"Thanks. Any sign of power yet?"

Drake grunted. "You'll be lucky. Neither seem like Bornes to me."

"Trust me. They are." Thalia lent over and whispered something in Drake's ear, causing his eyes to widen slightly.

"Bring Nero and Will to me, please," Thalia ordered, "and set up an Iris-message for young Esme here. I have a feeling that Percy has a right to know that his children will be joining him at camp."

Drake nodded and strode back to the large tent. I heard Nero sounding off again and groaned.

"Sorry," I said. "Nero has -"

"ADHD?" Thalia supplied. "Probably dyslexia too? All the more reason for you to be Bornes."

"What are Bornes?"

"All in good time, Esme. Now. Let's go see Nero, as Will will probably refuse to move from his station. If you'd follow me, please."

Thalia led me to the tent. There were beds set up everywhere, though only two were occupied, one including my twin brother. Nero was hooked up with an IV line and several tubes, a massive thick one connected to a monitor that was beeping steadily.

He looked in agony and pretty hideous under all that blood. His left eye was caked with dry blood and sported a massive bruise going halfway down his cheek. His nose was covered with a square white plaster and tape, and seemed to be soaked in blood, too. Even his right hand was bandaged up and stained red. I felt terrible for him.

Nero hadn't been to see Mrs Clarkson at all. Those brutish boys had bullied my brother into arriving early and lying to his family, just to get thuggishly attacked behind the school building! Fury swelled inside me. I'd get them. I'd get them. I'd get them.

I ran to Nero's side. I noticed up-close that his lower lip was sliced here and there, and his chin was badly scraped. His windswept black hair was damp with his own blood. My heart lurched for him. He wasn't even recognisable.

"Nero," I said, taking his uninjured left hand, "can you hear me?"

His eye - the normal one - looked sideways at me, and he said nothing. Guilt propelled all over me. How could I have let this happen?

"Nero," I repeated, tears in my eyes, "what happened? You should've told me, I'd have -"

"- embarrassed me," Nero finished, his voice barely audible, but bitterness still there. "Humiliated me, like always, as the guy whose sister fights his battles. I needed to do this on my own. I..."

His voice trailed off into a coughing fit. He clutched at his side, and when he drew his fingers away, they were stained red. He looked at me desperately, as his coughs subsided and he clutched at his side weakly, the colour draining from his face.

"MEDIC!" I screamed. "Please, hurry, MEDIC!"

Thalia looked over at us. Her eyes widened in horror. "Will!" she yelled. "Will, we need you!"

A man in a white lab coat rushed over. He threw off his stethoscope from around his neck and pressed it against Nero's chest. With white gloves, he then examined Nero's bleeding side. "Stab wound," he muttered. He looked up at me. "You'll have to help me, Esme."

"Me?" I asked. "How?"

"If you're Bornes, you and Nero, one of you might have medicinal powers. That could be you."

"I don't know what a Borne is!"

"Listen, I'm Dr Will Solace of Camp Half-Blood," Will said, slapping an oxygen mask over Nero's mouth as he struggled to breathe. "I work with your father. He knew that you and Nero might well be Bornes so he sent me along with Thalia to track you two down. Now, pass me those ambrosia tablets and that bottle of nectar!"

I noticed the items on a cabinet to my left and threw them at Will. He - as I hoped - caught them easily. Pouring water into a glass, he dissolved two tablets and tipped in thick golden liquid. He stirred it with a spoon he produced from a pocket, then reached up towards the tube connected to Nero's monitor, and glugged the mixture into it. Will squeezed one of the small bags and I watched them turn yellowy. Nero relaxed a little, and breathed into the mask.

"BP good," Will muttered. "Heart rate increased, tablets will slow it down. Stacey, can I have five more milligrams of morphine and a syringe full of antibiotics, please?"

Minutes later, a nurse - presumably Stacey - had sorted out the morphine and syringe, and was talking with Dr Solace.

"Stable condition," Will was muttering, "definitely a Borne by these test results. Broken wrist, broken nose, damage to the retina in the left eye. A surgical procedure should do the trick. Contact the nearest hospital and get Argus to drive Nero there."

Will turned to me, grinning. "Nice work there, Esme, but I'm prepared to expect Nero to be the medical Borne."

"For the last time," I said exasperatedly, "what's a Borne?"

Will looked over my shoulder quizzically, then back at me. I didn't have to turn around to know Thalia was there.

"Sit down, Esme," she said. "We'll tell you now."

*****

Hey, I'm at my aunt and uncle's wedding as a flower-girl tomorrow so I probably WON'T be updating, but I will keep working on a Chapter Three throughout the wedding.

A flower-girl. At thirteen.

Hmmm.

Hope you're all having good summer holidays.

Mine are okay.

Bye!

~ Lauren