The Shadows Between Us

Chapter 3

"Is she awake?"

"If she wasn't before, she will be now, after you barged your way — noisily— into my QUIET infirmary."

"I already said sorry about that!"

"Well, if you woke her up, I don't forgive you."

I sluggishly opened my eyes. After a few seconds, I rubbed my head and tried to sit up. This bed was too hard, and I was uncomfortable being in a room where people were talking about me. Leo and Will, specifically.

"You did wake her up!" Will scolded.

"Wasn't him, I think." I mumbled, and Leo shot a 'see?' look at Will, who rolled his eyes.

A clatter sounded from outside. The emo boy from earlier poked his head in the door, locked eyes with Leo, turned red, and left.

"Nico!" Will shouted, getting up and storming indignantly out. "Come back, you antisocial little—"

A few seconds passed in silence. My head was still foggy, and I still felt ridiculously tired, but i was determined not to fall asleep again. Not when I knew Leo was still watching me. That just felt wrong. Okay fine, I admit it. I thought grumpily. He's pretty hot. But I will never tell him that.

"So..." Leo started awkwardly, trying to break the silence. He was still fiddling with some sort of mechanical thing.

"So... what was that thing? The... trident, last night?" I said, remembering everyone's reactions.

Leo looked around helplessly. Clearly he hadn't expected or wanted to be the one to explain this to me. Whatever it was he had to explain.

"...know! Let go of—" Will and that black-haired boy, Nico, who was being dragged by the wrist, were back.

As soon as he saw Leo and I, Nico scowled, looked at the ground, and hid behind Will, muttering something.

As hilarious as watching the two of them was, my patience was thinning and I was still desperate to know what the trident meant. I turned back to Leo, and he sighed. "Why don't we wait until Percy's back. He can probably explain better than I can."

I tensed. Last time I had seen Percy, he had ordered one of his friends to attack me. Not the best first impression. Also, he had this vague feeling about him, like he was quietly radiating power. It was unsettling.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking about last night? I'm curious too. What on earth happened to you, Lizzy? You ran away, then came back, and basically collapsed in our arms just as you were claimed by..." the blond boy didn't sound accusational, but I felt targeted anyway. It wasn't my fault that a crazy evil voice with a nasty habit of shooting acid had followed me!

Leo was gesturing something, eyes wide, to Will. I raised an eyebrow. He stopped, coughing something that sounded suspiciously like 'Percy'.

As if on cue, said Percy walked in. Leo scrambled up, exhaling in relief. "Holy Hephaestus, it was getting tense in here. Can you please explain to actually-really-terrifying Lizzy what happened last night?"

Percy looked at Will in a 'help!' sort of way.

But he sighed, turned to me and said haltingly, "Your father... is Poseidon. Who is my father. You're my sister. Yeah. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

"I'm your what?" I growled. "This better be a joke. Tell me it's a joke." The fishbowl on the cabinet beside me started bubbling, making the fish look quite startled. Did I do that?

Nico's eyes widened, and he tugged Will towards the door, looking terrified.

Leo's eyebrows rose, and he whistled, murmuring, "She's a Poseidon kid, alright."