For the second time in the week, I ended up in the infirmary.
When I woke up, I had a pounding headache, and my upper body was tightly wrapped with bandages.
But considering my heart had gotten punctured, it wasn't that bad.
But since it got punctured, I just laid there and grunted in annoyance.
As though I was being watched, Rosaline immediately came a few minutes later.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, there was a tinge of worry in her voice.
"Not dead," I groaned. I licked my dry lips and tried to get some moisture back into my mouth. "How long?"
"A month."
"A month?! Did Void attack yet. Oh no . . . she did, didn't she—"
"Calm down, Percy," Rosaline interrupted. "Nothing happened yet."
"Yet?" I echoed.
"Nothing for you to worry about," she corrected.
"Nothing for me to worry about?" I echoed again, getting worried. I started struggling, trying to get up.
"Perseus Jackson," Rosaline warned. "If you try to get up, I swear I will knock you into another coma."
I poked at my bandages, as though they were the carcass of a dead animal. "Why do I feel like this is meant to be more of a straightjacket than a healing instrument?"
"We had a feeling you would try to get up," Rosaline said matter-of-factly. "And if you still try to, no fighting for a week!"
I crossed my arms and pouted like a little kid. "You're not my mom."
"I could call her here if you would like." When I didn't say anything, she said, "I thought so."
"Whatever," I muttered, refraining to say some unsavory things about Rosalines in the world. Then I thought to add, "Please don't call her."
"Is the legendary Perseus Jackson scared by his mom?" Rosaline teased, but there was an underlying tone of respect in her voice as if she approved.
"If you say it any louder, Chaos will hear you."
"Hear what?" a voice asked. An extremely bemused Chaos appeared next to Rosaline.
"That even though you're the Creator of the Universe, you're clueless," I said, desperately trying to change the subject. If Chaos caught wind of what we were saying, I would be done for life.
"I am not clueless—" Chaos caught himself and cleared his throat. "That's not why I'm here. Knowing that you're probably wondering what happened, here's the report. Eon and the other three Generals—as well as Void's mole—have been jailed until the war is over. Next time, please refrain from killing an important strategist that we could have also captured . . ."
"They were about to kill me!" I argued. "I saved some of your soldiers and the validity of your reputation of a good ruler! What more do you wish for?"
" . . . A small portion of Void's army attacked," Chaos continued, ignoring me, obviously wishing for more, "but we beat them back. Now, if you don't obey Rosaline's commands to rest, I will throw you into the jail cell of Eon."
"You're a big meanie," I said simply.
Chaos shrugged. "I've been called worse. Oh, and Perseus. Thank you."
"How about we call it even if you help me—"
Chaos disappeared before I could finish my sentence.
I heaved a disappointed sigh. "Oh, well." I looked at an amused Rosaline. "I suppose you won't help me?"
Rosaline shook her head.
"I thought so," I said. I started fumbling through my pockets, looking for my trusty pen.
Rosaline took a step forward. "What are you doing?"
"Not trying to escape, if that's what you're thinking—Aha!" I shouted triumphantly as I pulled out Riptide. I uncapped it, and with one clean stroke, I cut the bandage/straightjacket off of me. I jumped off the bed, happy that I was free—until I realized I was just in my underwear. I blushed and quickly pulled a sheet off the bed, wrapping it around me like a bathrobe.
Rosaline gave me a hard look. "I thought you weren't trying to escape."
"I am escaping, not trying to escape," I corrected. "There's a difference."
Then I bopped Rosaline's shoulder and made my way to my room while humming a happy tune, ignoring all the stares from the passing soldiers.
Ten minutes later and after I was dressed, I was thrown into Eon's jail cell by Chaos.
Chaos heaved a dramatic sigh as the jail door closed and locked. "I told you the consequences of disobeying Rosaline. Your five minutes starts . . . now."
He walked away.
I glared at his retreating form before slowly turning towards the back of the cell, where Eon casually laid on her bed.
I gave her my best diplomatic smile , which was as calming as getting bit by a dog. "How about I just stay here, and you stay there, yeah?"
"Prepare to die, Jackson," she said coldly while getting up.
I gulped.
~~~
Five minutes later, I was thrown out of the cell by a smirking Eon, groaning in pain.
Chaos stared at my prone body impassively. "I assume you didn't learn your lesson." He looked at a satisfied Eon. "Thank you for cooperating."
I slowly got up, wincing at every movement. "I assume you didn't tell End about this little . . . punishment?"
Chaos paled, giving me my answer. "If I heal you, will you not tell her about this?"
"Sure!" I said. "And thanks."
With a wave of his hand, I was good as new. I immediately walked towards the exit of the dungeon.
"Where are you going?" Chaos asked.
"To go see End," I said happily.
"But . . . y-you just said you wouldn't!" Chaos stuttered.
"I won't tell her what you did, I'll just mention it to her. There's a very big difference," I said, smirking at him.
Then I left him there, his mouth gaping at me in surprise like a fish.
Somewhere in the halls, a voice called out to me, "Hey, Perseus!"
I turned around. Omega was coming out of a doorway, holding a stack of papers that was double the height of him. He was having a hard time navigating through the crowded corridor but managed to stumble towards me without any parchments falling.
"You want any help with that?" I offered the same time he asked, "Mind helping me?"
"Great minds think alike," I said as I took half of the papers and started following him.
"More like I just look like the biggest fool in existence."
I snorted. "Trust me, I've done worse—Whoa!"
I jumped in surprise as a soldier entered a doorway right in front of me without warning, making me almost lose the meticulous balance of the papers. I observed some of them as maps, while others were stats of Chaos' army, like how many current, reserve, and retired soldiers there were, or the number of weapons they had. A thought began forming in my mind for why Omega needed them, but it needed some more time to develop.
"I had double of that stack," Omega grumbled. "What I did was plain stupid."
"Why did you do it? You could've taken half then came back for the other."
"I thought it would work," Omega admitted.
At this time, we entered the Situation Room and following Omega, gingerly put the papers down on the table beside Chaos, End, and Jessica.
Jessica whistled in appreciation. "Those stacks must be at least three feet! How did you—"
"Let's not talk about it," Omega groaned, swiping a hand tiredly across his hidden face.
Chaos opened his mouth to probably make a teasing remark, but I stopped him short when I smirked diabolically at him and turned to End. "I'm here to mention something to you."
"Mention something?" End asked, raising an eyebrow. "About whom?"
"Chaos," I simply said, and her whole demeanor changed.
"I'm listening."
"Well," I started, noticing Chaos' pleadful expression and sweating face, and decided to stop my harassment, "Earlier today, while I was in the infirmary, Chaos didn't heal me, even though I was imploring him to."
Chaos gave a sigh of relief and mouthed to me, Thank you, just before End wheeled on him. "How could you do such a thing!" End exclaimed. "I expect you not to taunt the poor boy again, especially for how much he's already done for us."
"Yes ma'am," Chaos said, and that was the end of that.
Omega cleared his throat, making all our eyes go to him. "Here is everything you requested, Your Highness."
"Thank you," Chaos said before giving a stressed sigh. "I do hope we have enough to defeat Void."
"Hold up," I said. "What's happening?"
But as I asked that question, all the pieces snapped together, giving me my answer as Jessica said, "Void demanded to battle next week."