Three Worlds Clash

Chapter 13.

Sophie Foster's POV

The next morning, I went to the infirmary to visit Tam as soon as Will Solace let me in. He was awake, luckily, and staring at the ceiling while simultaneously picking at the bandage on his leg. He looked up when he saw me come in.

"Hey, Sophie. What's up?"

"Well, first," I said, sinking into the plastic chair on the side of his cot. "How are you feeling?"

I didn't want to jump right into the bad news, and it would have been rude not to ask. Tam caught on quickly anyway.

"I'll live. And you're stalling." He raised an eyebrow. "Somethings clearly wrong. You've pulled out two eyelashes since you came in. And it obviously has to do with darkness or something, so you're asking me."

I obviously looked shocked, so Tam just shrugged and tapped the side of his temple.

"I'm smarter than I look. And Linh told me after Hermione told her."

I rolled my eyes and an actual smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.

"So, before you ask, no, I have no idea what the so-called Source is. I was actually just talking with Nico about it before..."

He trailed off, but I knew the answer. Before they got attacked.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about this," I said, making sure he was okay with it before I continued. "I need to know if it was just hellhounds out there attacking you, or if there were people too."

His gaze narrowed, his silver eyes clouding over before he answered.

"Yeah. They were wearing Neverseen cloaks and weird silver masks. Some of them had sticks that would shoot out jets of green or blue light. Mostly, the jets hit trees or bounced off a shadow shield Nico and I teamed up to make, but a red one hit my leg."

He moved to touch the bandage with a grimace on his face like he was reliving some of the pain. On the cot to his left, Nico stirred and muttered something under his breath before rolling over in bed. Will, who had been casually leaning against the wall near the door and pretending not to listen, quickly walked over to Nico's cot to check on him.

"I'll have to ask Nico when he wakes up, then. I don't want to burden him, but--"

"You don't have to wait." 

Will interrupted.

"Hazel Levesque and her boyfriend Frank are coming to visit later today. Percy might have told you about them. Hazel's a child of Hades too, she'll know. I IM'ed them last night to tell her about Nico."

Will shrugged. I blinked a few times in surprise. I hadn't really heard Will talk yet, and he sounded like he could sing a soprano in the opera.

"Thanks, Will."

I didn't bother asking what it meant to IM someone as I said a quick goodbye to Tam and Will and hurried off to breakfast. I caught Keefe on the way there, looking too tired to have slept very well last night.

"Are you okay, Keefe? It doesn't look like you slept too well."

He didn't answer, so I grabbed his hand. A faint trace of red crept up his face.

"I'm fine. What's up, Foster?"

I told him about my conversation with Tam. He grabbed two pieces of toast and tossed one to me, slowly digesting the new information. We both weren't too hungry, so we munched our toast on the dock in the canoe lake.

"So, we wait for Di Angelo to wake up, or wait for Hazel to show up, and then we make a plan? You should talk to the magicians too. George specifically. The pranks I could pull with him--"

"Does George actually know anything important about The Source?"

I knew if I hadn't cut off his rant, he would have talked about jokes with George all day.

"No. He came on this quest to keep his mind off of something. No, he didn't tell me what."

He said when I opened my mouth to ask. 

"Ron told me his family suffered a lot in their war."

Keefe shot me a glance. I hadn't looked at him when I told him, I just gazed into the water and watched ripples form.

"Kiara from the Hectate cabin said something similar too."

Keefe grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. He leaned in, and their lips were about to make contact when two figures in purple shirts came barreling down the hill that held a tree named Thalia.

"That'll be Hazel and Frank. Come on Keefe, let's go introduce ourselves."