tHE gIRL wITH tHE iRON fISTS

cHAPTER 17

cHAPTER 17

Damion Roland

"She's up." I hear Hunter say. B sprints over to the beds. I'm already there, looking at Ivy.

"Ivy." B lets out a breath.

"B? You're ok." Ivy talks quietly.

"DON'T YOU-"

"Ladies, you're both beautiful," I say. I rub my eyes. I look at Mariah sleeping in the bed next to Ivy. She got a cut above her eye and has a really bad leg injury. "You'll wake Mariah." B scolds Ivy a bit quieter.

"What now?" Ivy interrupts. "Who's house even is this?"

"It's mine!" A voice squeals. Here we go again.

A woman walks into the infirmary. She's wearing a casual black and white striped dress and practically no makeup, yet she looks like she's the prettiest woman in the world. Her raven black hair falls down her back, twirling and cascading down like a feather. Her slightly pale skin glows and her dark blue eyes shine with glee. She looks a lot like Mariah. "Aphrodite," Ivy says.

"Welcome to my abode, dahlings." She stretches the a. "This place is beautiful for pictures, and totally works with all the red that's in season!" She does a weird kiss thing with B. "I've seen that you've woken up, dear." She flashes pearly white teeth.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Hunter says. "We do need to stay until morning though. I wish we could leave earlier, but I'm concerned about Mariah and Ivy's health. I can't feed them too much ambrosia."

"Hunter?" I hear a small voice. Mariah's eyes are looking at me. "Where are we?"

"Aphrodite's mansion. You've been hurt pretty badly." I begin to zone out on the conversation Damion, B and Ivy were having. I hold a glass of water to Mariah's lips. "B's fine. She just used a lot of energy." Mariah slowly sips the water until the glass is drained.

Mariah nods. "When-"

"Yes! You should come to my ball!" Aphrodite lets out another deafening squeal. Mariah clutches her ears.

"What..." Ivy said. "Heh, that's funny."

"Maybe that's what we need," I say. "We've been working really hard. Besides, we could do research. I would like to know what I'm going to be getting killed by before I die."

"You won't die." I hear Mariah mumble.

"Just in case, princess. Whaddaya say?" I look at the others.

"I guess I could use a break..." B says hesitantly.

"Oh goody!" Aphrodite clasps her hands together. "I'll do a dress fitting in an hour. Be ready!" Aphrodite poofs out of there with a puff of pink dust.

"Hows my leg?" Mariah asks Hunter.

"Oh! Your leg is fine." Hunter perks up. "It's just a nasty wound. It may scar, but just make sure you sip on a bit of nectar every once in a while. Mariah nods. "You'll be fine for the ball."

"Thanks." Mariah nods.

"No prob. I'm going to check on B. She looks fine now, but she was pacing a lot this morning. I don't really think she's going to let this incident go."

"Yeah. That sounds like her." I say. "I'll stay with Mariah and Ivy. You go worry about B."

"Actually, there is one thing I have to tell you guys about." Hunter bites his lip.

"I'm all ears," Mariah says.

"Remember that town we went to?" Mariah and I nod. Hunter takes a deep breath. "B lived there. The place we went to, it was a hospital. She was visiting her father. Her dad was kidnapped and I guess stuff happened. B swore not to use her voice again until she corrected her mistake."

"Woah." I breathe out. "That's deep."

"I wish it was B who was telling you this, but I don't think she wants to tell you. But there's something else. I think I know her fatal weakness." Mariah gasps.

"What's that?" I ask.

"It's your Achilles heel. Basically, if it was a physical weapon, it would kill you."

"I think it's trust and failure." Hunter leans back in his chair. "She feels like she's being depended on without anyone telling her. If she fails, even at the smallest things, it's like she let the world down."

"And failure?" I ask.

"She thinks she's a disappointment. She looks down at herself like she's even worse than the monsters in Tartarus." I finally notice the etches of tiredness under his eyes. Right now, he really looks like he's really stressed.

"Well, sheep. That was deep." Ivy states. "Don't look at me that way. I thought I'd try to control my language. Anyone else wants to share depressing stories?"

"I've got something. And it's about you, Hunter." Mariah puts on her interrogating face, and I swear, Hunter goes fifty shades lighter. "I saw you and B fall from that building. You guys should have died. What happened?"

"I really have no idea. I saw a pair of wings before I blacked out, but I don't have the faintest clue."

"That was me," I say quickly. "I did a spell."

"How did you know that they were falling?" Mariah questions me.

"I was about to iris message them. But I have another question about B. Do people have 2 weaknesses?"

"I was about to ask the same thing." Mariah put in her two cents. "Every demigod only has one weakness."

"I think it's both. She's really strong. I have a feeling Hades' blood isn't the only magical thing she had in her system. Her strength and weaknesses have to balance out."

"Makes sense." I shrug, "You should check on B, though."

"Yeah, I should head out. Holler if you need me." Hunter walked away.

"You liar. How did you do those wings?" Mariah immediately began pelting me with questions.

"They're my wings," I say before she can say anything else.

"Well duh. I figured that out a while ago." Her voice softens. "You have wings?"

"Yeah. I was born with them." I leaned back in the chair.

"Can I see them?" Mariah asks quietly.

"Sure." I shrug off my jacket. The shirt I have has holes in the back where my wings are. I open them slowly, the white, black, and blue feathers quivering slightly. It was then I realized that nobody knew I had wings, and I trusted someone I had met a week ago.

"Oooooh, pretty." Ivy looks at the wings. "Can't believe you'd trust someone so quickly."

"Me neither," I admitted.

"They're beautiful," Mariah whispered. "Can I touch them?" I nodded. I twitched as I felt Mariah's cold hand on my wings but slowly relaxed as she was stroking them. Ivy came over and hugged me.

"What was that for?" I chuckled quietly. Ivy clutched me.

"I don't know." She said in a voice so soft I didn't even know she had. "Just wanted to let my guard down." I wrapped my arm around her and Mariah. Mariah was stiff at first but relaxed after a bit.

"We're a team," I said to nobody in particular. "All for one, and one for all."

I AM SO FRIGGIN SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG.

I DON'T KNOW WHY.

Love y'all! (Please don't kill me.)