"Please Chiron?" Bella begged once again, now attempting to sit up in her bed. We were in the infirmary and Chiron had come to see how Bella was doing. She has gotten a lot better, her eyes brighter and her skin regaining color, but she is still really weak and looks like she had a bad cold or strep throat.
She tried to push herself up on the bed, a determined set to her jaw and a sparkle of defiance in her stunning sea green eyes, but Chiron kept a strong hand on her shoulder and easily guided her back into her pillow. Bella huffed in agitation and crossed her arms like a pouty child.
Chiron smiled at her. "I'm sorry my dear, but you are still weak," he pointed out logically. He leaned down to look at her more closely, feeling her forehead and frowning. "But I feel fine!" Bella insists, though her weak voice and red nose said otherwise.
Chiron laughs. "Of course, but you still must rest." He glanced back at me with a knowing grin.
"I will come check on you again later," he announced with a swish of his tail. He winked to Bella one last time then patted my shoulder before ducking and exiting the infirmary.
Bella groaned dramatically and leaned back into fluffy pillow so far I could only see curls of hair and her nose. "I don't want to stay in bed all day!" She complained in a muffled voice. She emerged from her pillow hideaway with knitted eyebrows and a frown.
I sit down in the bed next to hers. "Honestly, this is for the best. If you rest today you will be fine tomorrow," I point out.
"I guess you're right," Bella responded after a moment of thought. Then she sneezes and groans. "I still don't like the idea of staying in bed all day," she complained, grabbing a tissue and rubbing her nose.
I hear a knock on the door that was followed by Alice, Logan, and Tyler entering the infirmary with laid back grins. Alice had changed her hair to a pretty shade of royal blue that popped against the colors of the infirmary.
"Chiron told us that you are still sick and we came to give you some company!" Tyler says, flying across the floor and sitting on the other side of Bella.
"How are you feeling love?" Alice asked, putting a hand on Bella's forehead. Bella crosses her arms with a defiant tilt of her chin. "I feel fine, but Chiron is making me stay in bed." She said with an annoyed look on her face.
"That stinks," Logan replied casually, giving her a small smile. Bella smiled back and sighed. "Well, at least I have you guys," she said with a laugh.
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We spent the morning talking and playing card games and around 12:00 I asked Bella if she wanted any lunch.
Her nose wrinkled up and she stuck out her tongue. "I'm not really hungry," she said with a shake of her head. Alice put her hand on Bella's forehead immediately after this and pursed her lips. "You're hot," Alice announced with a concerned look on her face.
"I feel fine. Your hand is cold." Bella replied, squirming as Alice pulled back her hand. Alice smiles kindly, a twinkle of laugher in her multicolored eyes. "My hand isn't cold, you're hot." Alice repeated, sitting back in her chair.
Bella sighed and laid back into her bed. Now that Alice had pointed it out, I realized Bella had paled. Her eyes had a shadow under them from tiredness despite her amount of sleep, and her cheeks had a pink flush. I felt stupid for not realizing this before.
"Hey, don't worry. You can sleep and we will sit here and eat," I suggest with a shrug. At first Bella denied the need to sleep, and I was tempted to argue with her because I knew she needed it, but I didn't have to.
I'm not sure if she fell asleep before or after the tree nymph brought us our lunch, but some time during the moment I was looking away she had closed her eyes and fallen asleep.
I felt stupid when I began to say something to her only to turn and see she was out like a light, but I smiled knowingly and put a finger to my lips so the other demigods would know she was asleep.
Logan's eyes lingered on Bella's peaceful sleeping face for a moment longer than I would have liked, but I pushed the thought out of my mind and decided to think he was staring at her because she looked like a brunette Sleeping Beauty when she was asleep. Not because he may want anything more than a friendship with her.
The four of us ate lunch in silence more out of not wanting to wake Bella than not having anything to say, but soon Tyler broke the silence. "She's getting better," he said, his tone making his words more of a question than a statement.
Logan replies before I could. "Yes, she should be better by tomorrow." He looked hopefully at Bella.
We all mumbled an agreement, not too certain but not wanting to say anything negative.
"I hope so," I murmur under my breath. "I hope so."
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Chiron looked at me with concern etched on his face from across the desk in the Big House office. It was 9:00 P.M. and I had come to tell him about my dream.
"I think I know the girl they want," I say, looking at him with a serious expression. "They want Bella."
"Yes my boy, and when they realize that they can't have her powers without your power to steal them... they will be after you too." His voice drifted to a whisper near the end, and his gaze became distant like it does when he is worried.
I sigh. "Is there anything we can do?" I ask with a shake of my blond locks. "I'm afraid not," Chiron responds with a frown. "Now go get some sleep," he adds, attempting at a hopeful smile.
That was basically like saying, "You may get kidnapped and be in great danger! Sleep tight!"
But I obeyed Chiron and walked back to my cabin. I fell onto my bed face first, my landing softened by my blankets and pillows and listened to the faint sound of my siblings snores and sleepy mumbles. It didn't take long for my own to join theirs.
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My nightmare started almost immediately.
I was in the cave again. Bones and the hooded figure on the throne were in almost the same places they were before, giving me a serious moment of déjà vu, but this time Bones had a army. Around 200 bone skeleton soldiers stood behind him.
They seemed uniformed enough, traditional celestial bronze breastplates with gladiator styled skirts plated with bronze and worn blue leather fabric. Domed shaped helmets balanced and stuck at odd angles that differed for each skeleton, causing my hands to twitch and making me wonder if I had OCD along with dyslexia and ADHD.
Some of the skeletons still had faint designs of gorgons or warriors painted on their breastplates, and most held a sword or a shield that was just as chipped and unkept as their armor. It looked as if they had just stepped out of the ground and then randomly decided to create a lovely skeleton army and casually destroy the world.
Bones was kneeling like he was about to ask someone to marry him. He had his sword gripped in his boney hand but instead of wearing robes he wore Greek battle armor like the rest of his army, only he had on a spiked celestial bronze croaker necklace and spikes added to his dome helmet.
"My Master!" He proclaimed, throwing his hands up dramatically and falling onto his face as he bowed to the hooded figure on the throne.
"The time has come to storm the camp of the demigods and take our prize. Or should I say prizes," he added with an evil twist to his bony face that I could only assume was his attempt at a smile.
"Yes, my warrior. But remember-" the hooded figure stood up for effect, which defiantly added the flair he needed as pools of black fabric fell around him. "- I need both to complete the Reapers will." He pulls down his hood.
He reveals his skull face.
Half was burned and rotten with parts of the bone missing. I could make out a ligament and the twitching of flesh long too exposed to the outside. I may have been imagining the amount of flies attracted to the raw meat that clung to what should barley pass as a face. The other side was the complete opposite. It was golden with beautiful Greek designs and letters. It held a glow to it that illuminated the dark around him and made his rotten half even more revolting to look at. His eyes were the only part about him that even came close to resembling a human. They were round and had visible veins standing out against milky white and were a startling blue that almost looked unreal. I wondered if he had trouble using eye drops with half of his face being almost non-existent.
"Bring me the daughter of Poseidon and-" he laughs a deep empty laugh. "-The Warrior of Athena."