The Hell of the Nine Realms: Book 1: The Mystery of the Odinsons

XIX; XX: Temsik; A Living Time Abyss

It had been three days since the incident. Odin drove off the Lamias and David was immediately admitted to the infirmary. When me, Lizzy, Dylan, Flora, Kiernan, and Ashley were finally allowed in the infirmary, we found Jamie and Abby already at his bed. Jamie was holding onto David's hand, a very worried and sad expression spread across her face. David's eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted, and he looked impossibly peaceful, as if he was dead. But I knew that that was impossible; because I had seen David dead before. The only thing that indicated that I was right was David's occasional incoherent mumbling and groaning.

"He still doesn't look that good." Flora noted after a few days.

"What do you expect?" Lizzy asked icily. "He fell over five thousand feet."

"I guess I should aim higher. How about twenty thousand?"

When we registered who the voice belonged to, our heads immediately jerked to David, whose eyes were wide open, smiling as if nothing had happened. Lizzy and Jamie began crying tears of joy and Lizzy ran out of the room. David attempted to get up, but immediately winched and fell back down into his bed.

The nurse Bailey came in and gave David a sip of potion and his face began to relax. He then seemed to begin to notice how many of us were there.

"You had some very worried friends here, Mr. Reeves." Blaine informed him. "Miss Azure was here before we even got you into the room. And Miss Taylor arrived not shortly after and they've been here, along with your other friends, ever since. Refusing to leave your bedside."

"What happened? Who won?"

"Well, uh," Jamie began. "You were attacked by Lamias and sent hurtling towards the ground from about five thousand feet. Odin was furious. The Lamias weren't supposed to come onto the grounds like that. They came after you and he drove them off. They called the game a draw and brought you here."

"Heh." he laughed.

Jamie's face turned a blazing red as she put on the first serious look I had ever seen her put on (while in David's presence). "You find this funny, De-De?"

David's smile vanished for a second, then reappeared and he laughed harder than ever.

"No," he said when he could finally speak. "This situation just reminds me of when I was hospitalized all those years ago and you guys all visited me. And, you, Jamie, ended up headbutting me into a solid wall."

Jamie immediately turned scarlet red at the mention of that and looked as if she was trying to decide whether she'd die of embarrassment, shame or misery.

"Well," Dylan said, putting his hand on David's shoulder. "We're just glad you're safe."

Ashley showed David that she was glad in a different way. She leaned down and kissed him passionately. I mean, a kiss full on the lips and she continued kissing him for a good two minutes. Both Dylan and David looked taken aback by this, but David did kiss her back, but obviously only because he thought he needed to return the kiss. Jamie looked even more miserable when she saw Ashley and David kissing. However, that look vanished when she saw in David's eyes that he had not taken any romantic hints or romantic anything from the brief kiss. Though Ashley now was hungrily exploring David's body, as if she was thinking about getting something she knew she'd wouldn't be able to get.

David frowned, licked his lips, then frowned again and asked "Strawberry?"

Ashley nodded.

"So you were so overjoyed that you had to snog me?" he asked her and she immediately got a look of confusion. So did I, Dylan and Abby.