Ashes, Ashes

chapter 10

-aspen-

We froze for a moment. Then we ran. We ran and ran and ran until we were tired. We crashed through the underbrush, the monster right on our heels. It was slow going at times, us stopping to momentarily to catch our breaths. At one point, it came so close behind me, I could feel it's hot breath on my back. We ran and walked until we found a little pocket of rock we could could hide and huddle in.

* * *

It was cold here. I shuffled closer to Ash and he seemed to understand, because he shuffled closer as well. We were huddled so close together that our cold breath mingled when it came out.

I felt so tired with what all that had happened today and yesterday. I know i had had a good nap on the train but it was unfinished. My mind was so blurry that it didn't even register that i used his shoulder as a pillow. Or that he rested his head on top of mine.

It seemed as though we had lost the monster because it was a bit later than daybreak when i woke up. Ash was still sleeping, but his head had rolled onto his other side when i had stirred. His neck is going to be sore when he wakes up, i thought, wincing at it.

I carefully repositioned him to be a little more comfortable then stood up and stretched. I looked around and noted our area. We were on a slope of a hill, not too well hidden from smaller predators. There were trees, yes, but the area we were in was almost a clearing, so not much shade from the foliage.

I walked around a bit and then shook Ash to wake him up. He blinked up at me and smiled a radiant smile that made his face glow.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. I'm just happy to see your face first thing when i wake up."

I blushed and turned away. "Well, i looked around, but i don't know much about this sort of stuff," i said, gesturing to our surroundings. "I thought you could tell me what we need to do."

"Okay." He said as he stood up and stretched. He walked around muttering to himself as i stood on my spot, revolving to wherever he turned next.

After a while, he walked back to me and said, "How long were we here?"

"In the forest? Um, about... about a day, i think." I frowned. "Why?"

"Okay." He said, looking a bit troubled. He looked at my face and hastily added, "The monster might come back. I know we lost it, but that doesn't mean he can't smell you. And you have the scent of a strong demigod, so we can't just keep running and we'll have to fight it at some point." He sighed "Which is why we have to get to Camp as soon as we can. " He explained.

He then took out his backpack and fished out some protein bars and something else in a Ziploc bag. It had indentations in it that were in a grid form so that it looked like a chocolate bar. But it was a golden-brown color. After setting them down, he took out a plastic canteen thingy filled to the brim with a golden liquid.

He looked at me and held up the golden food. "This is ambrosia and nectar. It's the-"

"-food of the greek gods. It can heal demigods but too much can hurt them. They literally can burn up and turn to ashes if they take too much. It's extremely dangerous for regular humans because it will kill them." I blurted out before i could stop. I glanced at him and he had a weird expression on his face.

"What?" I asked defensively.

Ash shook his head. "Nothing, I'm just conflicted on whether I should be surprised or not," he said, smirking. "Now, do you have any injuries? We need to heal while we have time,"

"Well, I've had a stinging sensation behind me leg on my calf while we were walking back then but I kept ignoring it. Can you check?" I turned around. I was about to roll up the bottom of my pants when-

"Agh!"

"What? What is it?" I panicked. When i turned my head to him, he had looked away and he was wincing. What did he just see? He quickly changed his expression to a strained attempt at a smile.

"Oh- it's nothing, um, nothing at all!" He seemed flustered.

I turned around to face him and quirked an eyebrow. "Don't lie to me. I can see straight through people." Okay, that was definitely a lie, but I ended up sounding more confident than i felt.

He sucked in a breath and relented. "You have a huge gash on your leg. Like, it looks like something took a stick and just rubbed it across you leg a thousand times. Then again with their nails. And carved it up with a knife. So. Much. Blood-"

"Okay, okay, i get it! Can you help me or what?" He opened his mouth and closed it. Then opened it again and let out a scared squeak in response. Hmph. Wimp. Then again, he's kind of cute when he worries...

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll just do this on my own." I twisted my leg just to see the wound, and a whimper escaped my lips. It hurt to twist, or move my leg in any way for that matter, but I ignored it. After looking at it, (and how the heck did that happen?) I turned back around to grab the nectar but it wasn't there. Suddenly, the stinging sensation on my leg was slowly fading with a warm, tingly feeling afterwards.

I looked up and and found Ash dripping the liquid on my leg.

"This is my first time on a quest and I tend to panic easily. Sorry, Aspen." he said quietly.

I turned around and smiled up at him in response, the smile quickly turning to a grimace. I guess the wound was still a little tender. I turned back around to inspect it.

"I think you should lay off of that for a while. At least that's what I've heard." Ash piped up from above.

I sighed. "So, now what do we do?"

"We should look for cover and then maybe some extra food or something," he said. Then he threw a worried glance at my leg and said, "But I'm not sure if you could... er..." he trailed off.

"Oh, I'm fine. I could do it," i brushed him off. He looked at me skeptically. I gave him a stern look and he relented. Then he extended out a hand to help me up.