¹𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀. percy jackson

XLV.

ｔｈｅ ｌａｓｔ ｏｌｙｍｐｉａｎ

WHEN LUCIA'S EYES FLUTTERED OPEN the pain shot up her arm like fire, She cringed. It exploded in her head with blinding whiteness and made her so dizzy she almost passed out again. A cool cloth was pressed against her forehead and when her vision cleared she blinked to see Silena looking over her.

Even though she was covered in blankets it felt like she was back in the freezing morgue: vulnerable, weak, and shivering. Her shirt clung to her skin due to the stickiness of her drying blood. She laid on a lounge chair on the terrace of what she realized was the Plaza Hotel, where the demigods had set up camp.

"Hi" her voice was rough and weak.

"You're awake." Silena sighed in relief, she kept pressing the cloth to her head "Thank the gods"

Lucia winced when she turned her neck, inside the room were a handful of other campers. Annabeth was there with her siblings packed behind her, when she caught Lucia's eye she immediately stepped toward the lounge chair.

Lucia furrowed her eyebrows "What happened."

"You... You got stabbed, the dagger was poisoned" She sniffled, quickly wiping away her tears "Will's on his way."

Lucia furrowed her eyebrows, the severity of the situation not processing "oh.." she muttered, Her body and shoulder felt heavy, she could barely move. "That sucks"

"I can't leave you alone for a single second" Annabeth scolded

She let out a breathless chuckle. Her mind went back to the battle, the minotaur, the soldiers on horses, her siblings in formation, and then Ethan looming over Percy with a dagger in hand... "Where is—"

'Percy' Lucia heard Jake Mason's voice. 'We're getting reports—'

'Later," He said. 'Where's Luz?'

'The terrace. She's alive, man, but . . .'

Percy didn't let him finish. In seconds he burst through the door with Will beside him. She immediately felt relief, seeing him formed a weak but bright smile on her lips. "Percy"

Will and Percy rushed forward pushing past the other campers.

Will unwrapped Lucia's bandages to examine the wound, and by the look on Percy's face, she knew it was bad. Even without Annabeth telling her she could diagnose herself as a child of Apollo, she learned how to tell what was wrong with someone by simply touching them. And she knew that even though the bleeding had stopped, something else was spreading inside her.

"Luz..." He choked up.

"Poison on the dagger," she mumbled. "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

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

Percy grabbed a canteen. Will cleaned out the wound with the godly drink while Percy held Lucia's hand. "Fuck! ow! that stings!" she said. "Ow, ow!" She gripped his fingers so tight they turned purple, but she stayed still, at least she tried to.

Silena muttered words of encouragement. Annabeth watched next to her, her face etched in worry. Will put some silver paste over the wound and hummed words in Ancient Greek—a hymn to their father. Then he applied fresh bandages and stood up shakily.

The healing looked to have taken a lot of his energy. He was paler.

"Careful."

"I'm okay Lu. I'm not who you should be worrying about." He stood up, looking over her wound one last time "That should do it, But we're going to need some mortal supplies." He grabbed a piece of hotel stationery, jotted down some notes, and handed it to one of the guys. "There's a Duane Reade on Fifth. Normally I would never steal—"