Fire and Water, Closer than we think

Chapter 2

We don't own PJO, HOO, or any of Rick Riordans work.

Percy pov

We frowned at each other, the newly dubbed "Leo"'s curls bouncing lightly as he kept on his 'thinking face', or so it seemed.

"What do you think?"He looked warily.

"That we should be those people in the movies who are all 'Outta' here!"

"Good idea my man!"

We jumped up and headed towards the door. Just as I was about to open it, it slammed open, hitting my face. I stumbled back, consumed by many emotions including fear, wariness, and frustration. Why does everything wrong happen in a good, heart-warming scene?

The nurse came in. She had a nasty evil glint in her eye, Leo looked at me, concerned, then straightened his back with a faux cocky smile.

" Oh gods, what happened to your face, did your neck puke up your breakfast?" Leo joked, a mischievous grin sneaking its way onto his face.

Gods?

The nurse frowned. She hissed in a strange manner, "Young, foolish boy, you aren't as oblivious as I thought you were, you will be an excellent prey for my master."

Master? What?

Her grin was exactly like the doctor's, except more...feral? Her head snapped towards me, and her grin grew impossibly wider, which, no thank you, I never want to see your ugly face again.

"Oh, and you!" She almost purrs, "The son of the big three, you will be perfect my chaotic little devil."

She started to step towards me. Eughh boy

She suddenly fell on her side, the exposed side burning. She writhed on the ground while screaming threats and insults.

"Once I get my hands on you, you filthy little..."

I turned my head to stare shocked at Leo. His hand out-stretched in front of him. His eyes held anger but the most empowering: fear.

He has it too? It seems he knows more than me though.

He backed away, tears starting to fall, he looked close to either breaking down or running away. I slowly made my way to Leo as the monster was unable to commit any bodily harm towards us

I could see him, staring at his hands, shaking almost uncontrollably. He then outstretched his right hand, pointing to something behind me, and I turned around just in time to hear a poof! From behind, the monster vanished into thin air. Well, not entirely, in place of it was a pile of golden dust.

I twirled around again, annoyed, because I am NOT a ballerina, then reeled back in shock. Leo also disappeared! But in a more obvious manner. He chose the flight response.

You could see the door swinging, and the slight breeze you feel when something rushes past you fast. Or someone.

And what? Did that nurse try to kill us? Was that Leo who killed the monster? So many questions swirled around in my head, a miniature hurricane of thoughts and scenarios forming, and I could just feel my ADHD getting to me. Focusing (or even trying to at least) is definitely not one of my strong points. Suddenly, exhaustion swept over me like a sudden wave, I tried keeping my eyes open, and for some reason all I could see was gold with black spots. Breathing heavily, I drifted out of consciousness. The last thing I heard was a deep, rumbling chuckle that shook me to the core, it sounded like it came from the deepest part of hell.

I shifted my eyes, I heard a conversation going on, and the beeping noises you hear on hospital shows on tv with those major characters who got injured badly from a near-death experience, but that's not possible, I wasn't that injured was I, heck why was I even here?

It took me ten seconds after that thought to remember everything. From Smelly Gabe, to the creepy nurse monster, and Leo, the only one bothered to actually talk to me apart from my mom, running away. I shook my head, I did not want to delve into THAT. I sat up instantly, big mistake

The two heads, one of that creepy doctor, the other of a new, different nurse, slowly turned to look at me, their grins fading. I do NOT want to know what they were talking about, I'm glad my head was full of cotton when I woke up. The instant I saw the brunette with sparkling teeth and a lot of makeup, I knew she wasn't going to be a monster, her eyes looked clouded, as if she was racking her brain for memories.

"So, are you okay now, is your leg fine?" the nurse asked, looking indifferent, like she couldn't care less to be here, and just came for the money.

Huh?

You're the nurse here, do I look like one? I wanted to snarkily reply. But instead, I did the safe thing.

"Yea, it's fine now. But what happened to the other nurse?"

Two looks of puzzlement and confusion were sent his way.

The doctor walked over to me, minding each step and being extra cautious as if I, a seven year old, was a shark ready to bite him down.

"What other nurse?" he asked carefully. It almost felt as though he was questioning my sanity, which was preposterous - yea I know, big word - I was sooo sane, I could not have imagined the whole thing, I am not going mental.

"You know the nurse Leo fired?"

Still confused.

"You know Leo, the other kid who was with me? You said 'Oh I see you have met each other' in that creepy 'doctor' voice, remember?" I was becoming increasingly frustrated and annoyed. Who do they think they are, lying to me and making me feel mental?

But they did seem to have genuine confusion, he could see it in their eyes. But. There was no way he hallucinated that whole experience.

He looked to the side and saw the sheets next to my bed ruffled up. Wait, so that means...

"Wow, I had no idea you were this good at faking, why?"

The doctor slowly looked at the nurse who nodded. His ice-blue eyes, which I was really beginning to despise, stared at me, as if he was trying to see everything that made me "Perseus" or "Percy".

"I want you to start from the very beginning, from when you, think, you woke up to when you 'became' unconscious 'again'."

It was clear he didn't really believe what I saw, and that he was terrible at reassuring and handling kids. I looked away, crossed my arms, and harrumphed. How rude! Why does nobody believe in young kids, they all were seven at some point too., wait, maybe that IS why. But still.

While he went through his inner-conflict, the nurse looked at the doctor, annoyed, and went back to scrolling through her phone and chewing bubblegum while she was at it, while the doctor's brows creased, showing of his nasty wrinkles, and looked at the paper attached to his clipboard.

I have to escape.