VIDEO GAMES! (p. jackson) (#1)

- six

act iii, chapter vi
august 17, 2020. day 2. 5:47 am.
manhattan, new york

ROSE WAS SWARMED AS SOON AS BLACKJACK LANDED.

"What happened?" Connor asked. "Are you okay?"

"Obviously she's not okay," Jake said. "She's been stabbed!"

"Everyone back up!" Silena shouted, helping Rose onto a lounge chair, like the kind you see in a therapist's office on TV.

Silena was pressing a cool cloth against Rose's forehead when Percy arrived.

Rose was pale and beaded with sweat. She was shivering. Her armor had been tossed to the side. Someone had cut her blood-soaked shirt off, leaving her in a sports bra. Silena had made a makeshift bandage from someone's shirt, but that too was soaked with blood. She was clearly holding back tears.

Will Solace and Percy pushed through the small crowd that had formed— Jake, Connor, Travis, Mitchell, Lacy, and Annabeth. Will unwrapped Rose's bandages to examine the wound, and Percy looked like he might faint. The bleeding had stopped but the gash looked deep. The skin around the cut was a horrible shade of green.

"Rosie..." Percy said. "Why?"

"Poison on the dagger," she mumbled, her eyes watering up. "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

Will exhaled with relief. "It's not so bad, Rose. A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet. You've lost a lot of blood, though. Just lie still. Somebody hand me some nectar."

Percy grabbed a canteen. Will cleaned out the wound with the godly drink while Percy held Rose's hand.

"Ow," she said. "Ow, fuck!" 

She gripped Percy's fingers so tight they turned purple, but she stayed still, like Will asked. During the process, she started crying. Percy used his other hand to wipe her tears. Silena muttered words of encouragement. Will put some silver paste over the wound and hummed words in Ancient Greek— a hymn to Apollo. Then he applied fresh bandages and stood up shakily.

The healing must've taken a lot of his energy. He looked almost as pale as Rose.

"That should do it," he said.

"My left ear," Rose said. "Lost hearing earlier. Is it fixable?"

Will reached over to put his hand against her ear. Rose felt something in her ear canal shift. "It's pretty severe. Like, everything in your ear is damaged. I healed your ruptured eardrum, but it's not likely you'll get your hearing back. We're going to need some mortal supplies."

He grabbed a piece of hotel stationery, jotted down some notes, and handed it to Mitchell. "There's a Duane Reade on Fifth. Normally I would never steal—"

"I would," Travis volunteered.

Will glared at him. "Leave cash or drachmas to pay, whatever you've got, but this is an emergency. If you don't have anything, don't worry about it. I've got a feeling we're going to have a lot more people to treat."

"Roll of cash in my backpack," Rose said. "Take it."

"Rose—"

"My dad is a millionaire," she grumbled. "Take it. And get me a new shirt, please."

Nobody disagreed. There was hardly a single demigod who hadn't already been wounded. They needed all the supplies they could get.

"Come on, guys," Travis said. "Let's give Rose some space. We've got stores to raid... I mean, visit."