I woke up in the infirmary. The light streaming in through the windows was light pink so I guessed that it was evening time.
At the end of my bed was Jade. She was staring off into space but as I moved she turned to me.
"Ooh yay, you're awake!" She said, reaching to hug me.
"Probably best not to hug her right now," Lee Fletcher said as he walked into the room.
Lee has short blond hair and blue eyes. He is a pretty good archer as well as a healer, one of the few children of Apollo to get both gifts.
Jade stopped mid-hug and sat back up. She made a slight pout face but Lee just shook his head with a smile.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"Oh, only two days," Lee answered.
"Oh, that long?"
"Yeah," he answered.
I tried to sit up but I put too much weight on my right shoulder and fell backwards. Then Clarisse walked in.
Her eyes widened as she saw me and a small smile crept onto her face. She opened her mouth to speak but then seemed to realise that Lee and Jade were also there. She changed her smile to a scowl and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, hi," She said, as she looked back and forth between Lee and Jade.
"Hi," I replied, as I sat up again, this time putting pressure on my left arm.
"Don't put any pressure on your arm, okay?" Lee said as he stood up.
"Okay," I nodded.
"Will!" he called.
Will ran into the room from a side room, a big grin on his face.
Will has shaggy blond hair and blue eyes. He was only nine but an amazing healer although Gracie and Lee mostly made him run errands or just give ambrosia and nectar.
"Can you bring this to Gracie?" Lee asked Will, handing him a clipboard. "Ask her if Silena can leave."
"Okay," Will said, grabbing the clipboard and going back into the other room.
A few minutes later, Will came out of the room, no longer holding the clipboard. "You are free to go," he said, doing two thumbs up.
"Great, thanks guys," I said.
They left the room and I looked back at Clarisse and Jade.
Clarisse continued her harsh stare toward Jade but Jade, being the stubborn little girl she was, didn't move an inch.
I got up off the bed and walked out of the room, Clarisse and Jade following behind me. As we left the Big House, I saw Gemma walking and looking around. She saw us and then walked over to us.
"Jade!" Gemma said excitedly. "Come with me. I have something to show you."
Jade looked at me for permission and I nodded.
"Also, I'm glad you're good, Silena. Clarisse was worrying about you. A. Lot," Gemma added.
Clarisse glared at Gemma and Gemma just smirked and dragged Jade away.
"You did?" I asked Clarisse. I was surprised that she was worried.
"Luke is going down," Clarisse ignored my question.
"What? Why?" I asked in shock.
"I told you that if he hurt you, I would run him through with my spear and burn him alive. So that's what I'm gonna do."
"Wait. No. Clarisse, it was an accident. We were just sparring. You of all people should understand that people get hurt when they spar," I said, trying to reason with her.
"No," Clarisse said as she started storming off toward the combat arena.
"Clarisse, no. Stop. Stop. Stop!" I said over and over again. She refused to listen.
I caught up to her at the entrance of the arena.
"Clarisse, please don't. Please," I begged her.
She stormed over to where Luke was practising with a dummy.
"Hey! Luke!" Clarisse yelled. "How dare you!"
Luke turned around, his eyes wide in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"You have the audacity to ask that?! You hurt Silena!"
"It was an accident, Clarisse. Calm down."
Clarisse growled and grabbed a spear from the weapon rack.
"Clarisse," I said, running up to her. "Don't."
I grabbed her hand and tried to send positive thoughts toward her. I told her over and over again to calm down, putting charmspeak into my voice.
The sneer on her face slowly disappeared and her body untensed.
"Now," I began, still using charmspeak. "You really want to go check on your siblings."
"Yeah...." Clarisse said, dazed as she stumbled out of the arena.
I turned to follow her but Luke grabbed my arm.
"I'm really sorry," he said.
"I know," I replied. "Bye."
I walked off without looking back but I could sense that he was surprised about how I answered him.
I went back to my cabin intending to just sit around and do nothing but as I walked in, Lacy and Mitchell came up to me, very excited that I was out of the infirmary.
"How is your arm?" Lacy asked.
"Still sore but it's fine," I replied. I looked around the cabin. Most everyone was sitting at mirrors, doing makeup and things like that. "Who has been standing in as counselour?"
"Drew was the oldest so she did," Mitchell answered.
At that statement, Drew spun around in her chair and smiled at me. I rolled my eyes and the conch horn sounded, signalling dinner. I was suddenly aware of how hungry I was and urged everyone to line up quickly.
We joined the crowd of campers and headed to dinner.
After dinner we had free time until curfew, so I went over to the beach. I breathed in the salty air blowing in from the Sound. The grey storm clouds were rolling across the sky, destroying the peace I was feeling by reminding me of the oncoming war.
"Hey," Jade said as she came up beside me.
"Hi," I replied.
"How's your shoulder?" She asked.
"Fine, I guess."
"What made him do that to you?" Jade asked. "I thought you guys were friends."
"We are friends. We just got too intense while practising. Luke is a good fighter. He just sometimes forgets that others aren't as good as him."
"So it wasn't on purpose?"
"No. Definitely not," I reassured her.
"What were you guys arguing about? Me and Gemma couldn't focus on the fighting because you two were yelling at each other."
"We were just," I paused, trying to figure out what to say. "Just talking about the possible war. We were worried so we were raising our voices without realising. Sorry that it was distracting you."
She nodded and leaned back, her hands sinking into the sand.
I looked back out over the Sound. "What did Gemma want to show you earlier?" I asked as I suddenly remembered them running off.
"It was a scorpion," she said timidly. "A pit scorpion."
I processed that. "Where was it?"
"Just along the creek in the woods."
"Why would one be here at camp, let alone out by the creek?"
"That's what Gemma wanted to know. She showed it to me from far away and we talked about how weird it was that it was there. Then she threw her steel throwing knife at the pit scorpion's heart and she threw another at its head. Then we waited a while and she went there. I stayed back. She circled it for a while to check it was dead and then she took out her Asian sword thing and decapitated the scorpion. Then she brought out a jar and put the scorpion's head in there. It was disgusting. I went there to ask her why she did that, she said that she wanted the poison of the scorpion to learn about it and maybe use it. I hope she doesn't use it, the pit scorpion's poison can kill a person in less than a minute."
"I don't think she will, but be careful, Jade."
"I was careful! I wasn't close to the scorpion. Gemma was."
"Well, you two be careful. I'm going to go talk with Clarisse for a while."
"Ok, see you."
I got up and Jade followed suit, though we headed in opposite directions. I walked toward the cabins where Clarisse was with Gemma, correcting her fighting stance.
"Hey, Clarisse," I said.
"Hi, Silena. What do you want?" Clarisse responded.
"I need to talk to you.... About something."
"Okay... See ya, Gemma," Clarisse said, following me.
We walked away from where everyone was and sat down on the grass.
"Are you fine with Gemma having pit scorpion venom?" I asked.
"Why would she have pit scorpion venom?" Clarisse questioned.
"She found one on the beach and decapitated it and took the head which has the venom."
Clarisse tried to hide a smile and look worried but she failed. "I don't see why she can't have it. It's like having a spoil of war.
"A pit scorpion's venom is dangerous though!"
"I'm pretty sure Gemma knows that. And I'm curious to see the head anyways."
"Clarisse!"
"What?"
"It's still dangerous and she's only seven."
"You're just worried, it's fine. She's not going to use it to kill anyone and she's not going to get hurt. She's more careful than you think."
I wasn't sure I believed her but I let it go.
We sat there for a bit. "So you were worried about me?" I said with a smile.
"Ugh. I wish Gemma could keep her mouth shut. You know I was worried about you but Jade didn't need to know that. And anyone could have heard her! I have a reputation to keep."
"Well, I'm glad she said something because you and I both know that you never would have," I said.
"Maybe I would have!" Clarisse retorted
"Most likely not, though," I said. I didn't realise until a few seconds later that I had used charmspeak.
One of Clarisse's siblings came out, asking for her, so I left.
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**author's note**
im back. anyways, i love traditional asian weapons so yea gemma in the book uses a lot of them. jade (in the book) doesn't know what the sword name is, but this one is a wakizashi. she also has a katana and twin sai. wkwk anyways. do u have any weapon of choice?
- Gem