If you have any ideas for a better chapter name please comment them, I've changed the title to this chapter so many times and I hate all of them
7 months had passed since the incident in the forest. Things at camp had gone back to normal only a few weeks after - with the exception of Cabin 11's counselor situation - but I was only beginning to feel normal now.
The winter had come and gone once again with the change of seasons and now spring was approaching, though you'd never guess with all the snow. It was only March, after all, meaning the three-year mark of the date I'd found the postcard that started my life as a half-blood was approaching. Oh- and my birthday too, I guess.
Not much had changed around the camp over the last few months, but Clarisse and I had been spending more time than we used to. Usually, we'd hang out during meals or free times, and talk when our cabins had the same activities, but these days Clarisse would constantly be around me, even skipping out on her cabin's scheduled activities to come interrupt mine. Only if she wasn't needed with her cabinmates, of course. She still has her duties as a counselor, and she takes them seriously.
After a while of her doing this, I realized she'd been trying so hard to be around me because she was worried about me. But you'd never guess since most of the time we were either making fun of each other or she was kicking my ass in the arena. Despite our usual bickering, I noticed she'd hesitate slightly before she spoke; choosing her words more cautiously, even if it was just a comment on how I smelled after pegasus riding.
I wanted to say something. To tell her that she didn't need to walk on eggshells when she was around me; that I wasn't so mentally unstable that even referencing Luke would set me off. I wanted to, but I knew the reason she was so worried and I couldn't really blame her for the way she was acting.
After that day, Clarisse had let me sleep in her bunk for the night since I'd fallen asleep on her. I'd slept for maybe nine hours, then started thrashing around in my sleep. I'd had one of my normally violent nightmares, but this was different. I dreamt that I'd taken Luke's hand and followed him into the dark, rippling portal he'd made with his sword. I'd fought for the Titan king, by Luke's side. While it didn't feel like I was trapped, it didn't quite feel like I was in control of myself either. More like I was looking through my eyes at limbs that should have been mine. But those limbs showed no hesitation while cutting down kids in orange T-shirts and greek armor. Demigod blood- my friends' blood- dripped from Copper's blade and stained the shirt and pants I had on under my armor.
While I'd been dreaming, in the real world I was thrashing around on the bunk while Clarisse tried to wake me up. Finally, I'd hit my head on the wall and woke myself up the same way I usually did during nightmares. Though, a new kind of awful was there to welcome me back to reality.
The room had been spinning- wait no it was just my vision that was spinning. The walls swirled around as I tried to catch my breath but my heart was thumping so hard, it felt like it was beating the air out of my lungs. After that, Clarisse had to calm me down for the second time in 24 hours.
Now that Clarisse was watching me like a hawk she'd begun to meet me outside my cabin in the mornings, which is why she was here now. The air was chilly but the weather was bearable, the snow melted much sooner within the borders of camp than it did in the rest of New York. Perks of housing the children of the gods. However, that doesn't mean the icy breeze from outside didn't make it through.
Clarisse suggested that we take a walk before breakfast. At first, I was against the idea since I didn't really fancy the idea of going for a stroll in temperatures below 15 Celsius- or I guess 60 Fahrenheit since we're in New York. I was about to decline, but Clarisse saw my answer coming and quickly added that we'd go to Half-Blood Hill.
I raised a brow. "You know what we're gonna do if we go up there, right? I know you're not too much of a fan of heights. You sure you wanna go this early in the morning? "
"I'll be fine, just-" Clarisse sighed to herself, "are you coming or not?"
Her resignation to her fate convinced me and I only ran back inside for a moment to grab a coat and a pair of gloves before bolting out the door and shouting, "Race you, Classy!"
Her original proposition of a nice morning walk was dropped as she chased after me, but both of us enjoyed the competition and the adrenaline much more than we would have a boring walk. Unsurprisingly, she beat me by a long shot but we were both panting and laughing as we reached the top of the hill. I wanted to declare another race to the tree tops, seeing as climbing is the only physical activity that I was indisputably better at, but I was still huffing and puffing. Not to mention there was a chance that Clarisse would take it too seriously and end up falling. Ares kids were tough, but a fifty-foot drop would still at least break a bone.
Instead, I started the climb slowly; taking my time so Clarisse would be able to keep up. She wasn't as comfortable with heights as I was and while she'd never admit it, I knew that if we got too high she wouldn't be able to relax. So, to make sure that didn't happen, I'd found a spot at the top of one of the lower trees. It didn't reach as high as I usually liked to sit, but it was worth it for Clarisse to feel comfortable and it still had a view over Camp Half-Blood.
Being up here was one of the few times that it was Clarisse clinging to me instead of the other way around. Not nearly as tightly as she had when we'd first found this spot, but she still hugged my arm and leaned against me for comfort. I actually love when she does it, but she doesn't need to know that.
We sat there, leaning against each other and watching Apollo's chariot slowly raise into the sky, painting the clouds in hues of gold and pink. I breathed in the morning air and released it while snuggling into Clarisse a bit more with a content sigh. I was in my favorite place with my favorite person during a beautiful time of day. This morning couldn't be any more perfect.
After a while of sitting there, the sky had started to change into its daytime azure blue and I began to wake up a bit more, deciding that I was in a chatty mood now.
"What do you wanna do one day, Clarisse," I started abruptly, purposefully being vague.
"What?" Clarisse shifted slightly to look at me.
"Like- if we got older. If we grew up, I guess... Have you thought much about it?" I hoped this question wasn't too heavy. Talking about the future with half-bloods could get depressing fast.
"Not much, you know half-bloods, we don't... we don't really, uh..." It was weird to hear Clarisse of all people struggle to avoid talking about what usually happened to our kin before reaching adulthood.
"Live long enough to worry about it. I know," I finished for her.
"Yeah," Clarisse was eying my expression. She was definitely thinking this wasn't a good topic for someone who was grieving, even if death wasn't the source of the grief. "I haven't really, but you asked the question, so... I assume you have?"
"Yeah. When I was little I wanted to be a 'bird scientist.' It's called ornithology, but I don't think I would have been able to even pronounce that word when I was little." I laughed, thinking of eight-year-old me and my stutter. "But since coming to camp, I realized I'm more interested in genetics. I mean- no wonder, right? When you hear that half your DNA comes from a god it's not that unreasonable to wonder how that works, eh?"
"Your Canadian is showing," Clarisse teased.
"Hey, shut up! No one actually talked like that where I lived!'" I protested. "That 'eh' was just to signal you were free to give your input!"
Clarisse just laughed while I playfully lectured her on conversation cues and how the 'Canadian eh thing' was a harmful stereotype.
Eventually, we both calmed down and went back to staring at the clouds. The silence was interrupted when I heard a sound coming from somewhere below us. It kind of sounded like someone was hitting an empty plastic bin with a pillow.
Boomf
Boomf
Boomf
"Hey, Clarisse..." I looked over at her.
"I know, I hear it too," She answered and we slowly started descending the tree to see what was happening.
Boomf
BOOMF
As we got closer to the ground the noise stopped sounding like a pillow on a bin and more like a battering ram on a heavy door. I slid off the last branch and landed on the ground for only a second before jumping back and nearly tripping over my own feet as a pair of suddenly appeared right in front of my face.
BOOMF
Horns were pressed against an invisible force inches from where I'd been standing. I followed them with my eyes to the head of a goat, which was partially melded on top of a lion's face. The goat's horns were unnaturally long, making them look like they belonged to the lion as well. As I backed up I saw a Diamondback rattlesnake peaking out from behind its back. But the snake wasn't behind the creature, it was part of its tail.
"Clarisse, come look at this," I said when she finally reached the ground behind me. The creature had already been rearing back again.
BOOMF
It didn't pay us any mind as it continued ramming its horns into the magical barrier. I knew it couldn't get through, but something about watching it try so hard made me uneasy.
"A chimera? What's it doing? Even the stupidest monsters know they can't get across the border," Clarisse inquired.
BOOMF
We stared at it from a few feet away; for some reason, neither of us wanted to be close to it despite being in no danger. But as we watched, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was getting closer each time it pounded into the border. I stepped to the side, trying to get a better look. I lined up my view of the chimera's head with a tree. For a moment it seemed like its progress had just been an illusion, but then its horns stopped just barely further than they'd been before.
It was getting further and further into the camp with every push.
"Clarisse," I didn't take my eyes off the chimera's horns, "go get your spear. And maybe Chiron. And maybe the rest of your cabin."
Clarisse looked at me like I'd asked her to kiss Percackson. "What? Why? It's just hitting its head. Probably has brain damage or something."
BOOMF
The goat's horns were nearly through now.
"Just do it, and hurry," I urged. She could probably hear how serious I was because she didn't object more after that. I would have gone to get myself, but Clarisse didn't have her spear with her right now. I knew if I left her here alone when the chimera got through, she'd try to face it unarmed and on the ground. Basically the exact opposite of how it had been killed in the myths.
I knew Percy had encountered one on his quest, but he hadn't been able to kill it. When Bellerophon had hunted it in the original myths, he used arrows while flying around on the original Pegasus. So basically, I was screwed. I didn't have a pegasus or a bow on me right now, and this thing was capable of almost killing Percy so how the hell did I expect to come out of this alive if it got through?
BOOMF
BOOMF
...
My stomach filled with new horror as it stopped ramming itself against the border. Instead, it was now clawing at the ground, inching closer and closer with every step.
The magical border had stopped even the strongest monsters in their tracks for seven years and now this chimera was making it look like nothing but a strong wind. What I was seeing shouldn't have been possible. A monster was slowly but surely entering camp without being summoned or given permission. I hopped onto a branch of a tree in anticipation for it to charge at me, praying it couldn't climb trees.
Spoiler alert, do you know what you get when you combine the front of a giant cat with the back of a goat? A very, very good climber.
"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" I chanted as I weaved through the trees and dodged the fire it was trying to hit me with; because of course, it could breathe fire, too. I had planned to get up high and keep it focused on me to buy time but it didn't occur to me that both lions and goats were excellent at climbing trees until the creature had already scaled the branches after me.
I'm pretty sure the only reason I was still alive was because of the weird energy boost I got when I was up in the trees. I lead the chimera up and down in circling paths in the trees, each loop becoming harder as the trees were filled with more and more fire. My only goals were to stay alive and keep it away from the rest of the camp for now.
I made the mistake up glancing back at it and ran face first into a branch. My mouth filled with the iron taste of blood and I wasn't sure if I'd bitten my tongue or lost a tooth but I didn't have time to check as the creature was catching up again.
I dropped down a few branches to try and get it stuck in the thick brush but instead of following me, the chimera went up. A shadow loomed over me and I realized what was about to happen just a second too late to dodge. I felt claws sink into my shoulders and I didn't have time to grab Copper, which was still in whistle form around my neck, before a curved set of razors sunk into my shoulders. The force the chimera had used to jump on me broke the branches beneath us and we began plummeting towards the ground.
We tumbled through the thicket like the chips in a painful game of Plinko. I'd probably hit every part of my body with a piece of wood by the time we hit the ground and I was bleeding from serval cuts and scrapes. Some were just scrapes but some were puncture wounds made from the larger twigs. I'd also heard a crunch sound after landing on a branch for a moment and I wasn't sure if it had been the wood or my ribs.
When I finally hit the ground, I was surprised that the landing had been less painful than the fall. I tried to inhale but nothing happened. I rolled over and curled up on my side clutching at my throat and the orange fabric over my chest. Through the growing panic, I realized I must have winded myself because I could breathe out but the air just wouldn't fill my lungs after. The blood pooling in my mouth was slowly beginning to run down my throat as well which only made my attempt to breathe more torturous.
I heard the sound of paws and hooves on grass slowly approaching me and I looked in the direction it was coming from as I lay there choking on my blood. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the absolute terror that overtook me at that moment as asphyxiation and serval tree branches to the head had me fighting to properly see the chimera stalking towards me with its teeth bared.
My mind was a complete mess, but I could still hear my survival instincts and my pessimism. One was screaming, Breathe! Take a deep breath! Move, dammit! You need to move it's getting closer!' And the other was saying, 'I'm dead. It's going to kill me. I'm going to die. This is going to hurt so much.'
"Wren!" Somewhere in a place that sounded much further away than it probably was, I heard a familiar, raspy voice yell my name.
I wanted to look in the direction where I'd heard the voice, I wanted to cry out for my friend as she reassured me I was going to be fine, but the feeling of the chimera stepping on my leg and sinking its claws into my calf distracted me from any sense of hope. I screamed- well attempted to but the blood made it come out more like a squeaky toy underwater. Through blurry vision, I saw the chimera's snake tail peak around from behind its body and bare its fangs.
I couldn't move because its claws were still stuck in my leg and my lungs still refused to work. I figured that I was as good as dead but I still attempted to wriggle away from it. I knew I wouldn't survive the chimera's venom, especially not with the blood I'd already lost.
Just then, an arrow sprouted from the snake's eye, piercing its skull and pinning its head to the goat's upper leg. The goat head let out a loud, pained bleat as it and the lion head turned to face the arrow's origin. The goat head's bleating was cut short as another arrow pierced its own eye. The lion didn't even have time to react again as a celestial bronze spearhead was stabbed straight into its throat.
The chimera began disintegrating and I followed the shaft of the spear up to two large, calloused hands I glanced behind their owner and saw our centaur camp director before closing my eyes and taking my first, small breath since the fall. I could hear Clarisse's voice above me but my head was too fuzzy to understand what she was saying.
I think I passed out for a second because the next thing I remember is being shaken awake and when I opened my eyes I was still on the hill. The only difference what that Chiron was now towering over me next to Clarisse. At least I could understand her questions now, but I couldn't even begin to answer her before Chiron took over to asses how much damage had been done.
I told him that I hadn't been bit by the snake and about the pain in my chest that might be broken ribs since those were the most urgent things I was aware of. I had a headache that was killing me but I didn't think it was a problem until I blinked and even up at the Big House. I knew I'd hadn't passed out again but I didn't remember how I got there. I was in one of the sick beds and Chiron was busy giving me pain meds since I wasn't mortally wounded enough to have nectar or ambrosia. Clarisse was sitting in a chair a few feet away.
"Wait, when did we get here?" I asked Chiron, my words slurring a bit. He looked at me with worry and Clarisse got up to come to my bedside.
"I carried you because ribs were broken," Clarisse knit her brows together. "That was barely a minute ago. You were talking to us on the way! How don't you-!" Chiron had to put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from yelling, which I was thankful for because of my headache. Clarisse sounded like she was angry at me. Was she? Why would she be angry?
"Sorry," I said, still not knowing what I did to upset her. "I just... I know time passed but I don't... I don't know." I was so confused. I hadn't been surprised to be in the Big House but I didn't remember how or when I'd gotten here.
"It's alright," Chiron reassured, though I think he was talking more to Clarisse than to me. "It might just be a concussion. Wren, did you hit your head anytime before we got there?"
Usually, I would have said something like, "Hah! Did I? Do you think it could be from when I ran face-first into a branch? Or when I slammed my head into serval branches with a chimera on my back? Or maybe when I hit the ground from a fifty-foot fall?"
But the sharp pain behind my eyes, the bruises and scrapes on my that made just opening my mouth hurt, and the part of my tongue that I'd practically bitten off just had me nodding in response.
"Then that is likely the cause. I'll check more thoroughly when your other injuries are addressed. After that you'll need to explain to me why you let that chimera in the border," Chiron said matter-of-factly like he hadn't just accused me of endangering myself and the camp.
"Chiron, you think I let that thing in?" I slurred. The pain in my skull and mouth was torture but making sure Chiron understood that I hadn't caused this was more important than my comfort.
There had been whispers among the campers that I was working with Luke ever since he betrayed the camp even after Percy had woken up and given his side of the story. The last thing I wanted was for Chiron to think that I was doing anything that could endanger other campers.
"Wren, how else could it have gotten inside the border? You know monsters can't get in without permission." Chiron said gently. Did he think I'd the concussion had made me forget or something?
"I know they shouldn't be able to but I saw it get through," I protested. "It rammed the border. Clarisse saw. We need to check it out. There's something going on with the border. It could be a serious problem." I was trying to use as few words as possible since my tongue was starting to go numb.
Chiron sighed but I could tell that the possibility of me being right worried him. "Alright," he finally agreed. "When I'm done here, Argus and I will go see if there's anything wrong with the border. In the meantime, you have to rest; that concussion will need it."
I couldn't argue with that. The painkillers had started kicking in but I still felt like crap. All I wanted was to pass out and wait until nothing hurt anymore. After that Chiron had cleaned and bandaged all the open wounds- mostly the deep holes in my calf and shoulders made by the chimera's claws- and a redheaded Apollo girl named Kayla had gotten a bandage around my ribs.
Clarisse was by my side the whole time. Well almost the whole time, since she said an excuse about going to get something from her cabin when my ribs were getting bandaged. I think she just didn't want to be in the room while I was off half naked. When she came back the pain meds were making the headache just slightly better, so I decided a little pain was worth it to tease her.
"Clarisse!" I cried dramatically when she walked back into the room."Is my body really so ghAUHstly that you cAUn't even be in the same room as me when I am not clOAUthed?" I exaggerated my words with an awful attempt at a posh British accent. "Oh! You wound me more than any chimera ever could! You've bruised my pride more than it has bruised my body!" I continued while throwing the back of my hand over my forehead.
"Shut up and go to sleep, dumbass. Chiron said you need rest. I will not hang out with you if you end up with brain damage." Clarisse thought for a moment, then added," More brain damage than you had before."
"Nice burn, Classy. You even thought of it before it was too late to add. Nice save." I grinned with a quirked brow.
"I said go to sleep!"
Over the next few weeks of my recovery, I annoyed Clarisse enough every day to the point where she threatened to leave. Yet she only ever did if it was absolutely necessary, even sleeping in an empty sick bed nearby.
This chapter was difficult to write and I think it's more obvious here that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when I write action. I like how the moment with Clarisse and Wren in the trees turned out though. I'm trying my best to portray them as kids who are obviously in love but are too young to even realize it. I want them to have a little nice time together for their development (since Clarisse's character is a bit flat in the books) but still be able to have the awkward teenage romance stage when they're older since right now they are both kids and at this point in the story neither of them are even aware that their feelings might not be completely platonic.
An alternate title to this chapter would have been: "I Fall Out of a Fucking Tree" because I thought that sounded funny but even though I'm definitely including swearing in this book, it just feels like Wren would have a bit less of a potty mouth at this point in time and wouldn't include fuck in a chapter title. At least not yet. Maybe character development will include more cursing as she gets older since she's not even 12 yet in this chapter.
If there's the feedback you have, like a joke, writing tips, grammar corrections, or anything else please share! I'm new to writing and I want to not only have fun with this book but also to improve my writing and make it an enjoyable experience for those who read it!
Thanks for reading, have a meme!