(DISCONTINUED) Echoes of the Outcast: Abandoned Bonds, Lycaon's Resurgence

Chapter four

Silver

His mind turned blank as he fought off the hunter. His sword lay scattered somewhere behind him, but it didn't stop him from approaching the fighting hunter. His mind was blank. All he could see was a living being in front of him. He wanted to tear out its throat. Feel the flesh between his teeth.

He sneered.

"Percy." He heard the one say behind him.

"I yield." The hunter said, fright shone in her brown eyes. Or were they black? He couldn't tell. All the colors seemed to have faded. They looked to be a dark grey.

"Percy, she yields." He heard the one speak behind him. He sneered. He slowly approached the hunter who backed away.

"Look, I said I yield." She said slowly.

He reached out to grab her, when an arrow flew through the air and bore into his hand. He yelled out in pain and dropped to his knees and hugged his hurt hand.

It burned. Why did it burn? He looked at the arrow. One of the hunters'.

The hunter in front of him quickly moved out of the way. Annabeth ran over to him and kneeled down.

"Why didn't you back off?" she muttered, "Now you're hurt."

"I..." He stopped. He didn't know. He wasn't thinking. He'd never actually hurt a hunter, or anyone else. So why hadn't he stopped when she had yielded?

A small voice in his head told him, it was because of what Lycaon did, but he chose to ignore it.

His hand burned and blood seeped out of the wound.

"We need to get the arrow out of your hand." His girlfriend muttered. She looked up. "Will!"

"I'm coming!" Percy heard Will's voice yell a bit away. He heard his running footsteps, and soon the son of Apollo was kneeling next to him. "Show me your hand." He spoke.

Percy let go of his wrist and slowly held out his hand for Will to inspect.

Weak.

He shook his head.

"Odd," the son of Apollo frowned. "It's like the arrow is burning him or something. Look, his skin is bubbling." Percy glanced at the hand but looked away.

Silver.

The same voice spoke.

A low growl emitted from his throat.

"This might hurt." Will warned him. "I need to pull the arrow out." The demigod grabbed the arrow and cut the arrowhead off so he would be able to pull it through his hand, without damaging it further. Then Will pulled. Percy hitched in a breath as the burning feeling spread throughout his hand.

He put down the arrow and pressed a cloth against the wound.

"Who sent the arrow?" Will asked and looked at Annabeth.

"That'd be me." A hunter said and stepped forward. "He didn't stop when Natalia yielded, so I took matters into my own hands." She explained.

Will nodded, "Was there something on the arrow? Like poison or something?" He asked.

Percy saw the hunter frown. "What? No. Lady Artemis forbids us to use poison as it hurts the animals further. The poison is unnecessary."

"Okay. It's just, his skin is showing signs of maybe an allergic reaction or poison or something." Will frowned and carefully looked at the wound. "Does it burn?"

Percy nodded. He pressed the cool cloth against the wound.

"Hold it there for a second." Will instructed him. Percy nodded and took the cloth and did as he was told.

Why was it burning so much?

Will took over again and began to fix up the wound and bandage it.

"Here, eat this." Will said and handed him a piece of ambrosia. He nodded and began chewing on it. He could feel his energy slowly returning to him.

"Is everything alright here?" Chiron asked and trotted over to them with a worried expression on his face.

"Percy just got shot with an arrow. It's fine, I've got it under control." Will informed him. "I just need him back at the infirmary. The game can continue if you'd like." He looked up at Chiron.

"The hunters already won." Chiron spoke.

The son of Apollo nodded and helped Percy up from the ground. The dizziness consumed him, and he swayed. It felt as if he was standing on the deck of a ship, while the waves crashed against the hull. Chiron grabbed his arm and helped steady him. He smiled softly at him and helped him out of the forest. Annabeth walked closely to them and cast a worried glance at Percy's hand that kept bleeding. The ambrosia had not closed the wound or stopped the bleeding. Her eyebrows were furrowed together.

∞

Percy sat down on a bed and watched as Will checked on the wound with a frown.

"It's odd. The ambrosia should at least have stopped the bleeding." He spoke. Chiron looked at his hand.

"And there was no poison on the arrow?"

"No." Will shook his head. "The hunters don't use poison, and when I asked, she said she didn't use poison. I don't know why it won't heal."

Percy watched them as they discussed what to do with the wound. Deep down he knew why the ambrosia hadn't worked, but he chose to ignore it. Even if he didn't ignore it, he couldn't tell them.

"It's quite odd." Chiron nodded. "How do you feel, Percy?" He asked him.

The demigod shrugged, "I feel fine, though it burns like crazy." He looked at his hand, he felt sick to his stomach.

"It's odd. Usually, it shouldn't burn unless there's poison or something on it. Or you're allergic to, I don't know, the arrow?" Will frowned. His eyes suddenly lit up and he hurried out of the infirmary.

Chiron carefully inspected Percy's still bleeding hand.

Both Chiron and Percy looked up when Will came walking into the infirmary again.

"Where'd you go?" Chiron asked him.

"Sorry, I got an idea." He said and held up one of the Hunters' arrows. "Can I borrow your arm, Percy?" He asked.

Percy nodded and gestured for his arm with the hurt hand.

"So, I don't know what will happen. I have a theory that the arrow might be the problem, and you might be allergic to it. Something might happen, something might not happen. It all depends." Will shrugged. "You ready?" He asked.

Percy nodded. "Just do it. I'll live." He shrugged.

Will Solace nodded and held his arm, then he pressed the side of the arrowhead against Percy's arm, without penetrating the skin.

The demigod hissed and tried to pull his arm free from his grip. Will quickly removed the arrow and frowned when he looked at the scar.

"That hurt?" He asked.

"Yes." Percy nodded and stared at the red mark on his skin.

"It shouldn't even have left a mark." The son of Apollo frowned. "Do you know what might have caused it?" He looked up at the centaur.

"I don't know." He frowned. "I need to have a word with Mr. D about it before I jump to conclusions. It's quite odd that his skin scars from that."

Will nodded and applied some ointment to the new wound. "That should help with the burn mark. But I'm not sure if it will since your hand didn't get better with the ambrosia."

Percy nodded, "As long as I don't bleed to death, I'm happy." He spoke carefully.

----

Hello, I found some time to write chapter four on the story. it is still on hold (sadly) as I don't have much free time to write in and have to focus on school and our big projects. It's taking up a lot of my time and energy. But I'll try and write as much as I can.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

-R_LG