Out of Nowhere

Chapter 17

I wake up the next morning with a horrible headache. I stare at my watch for a minute, it taking that long for my eyes to focus. Finally, I see that it's 6:57. Wow, a sleeping-in record for me.

I stumble out of bed and groan because it makes my head hurt worse. The tips of my fingers tingle as a pull on clothes. I quietly leave the cabin as not to disturb a drooling, snoring Percy.

I glance at the dock, just in case Nico is there, but he isn't. I sigh internally, wishing I could talk to him, but not wanting to wake him up. He always seemes to need sleep.

As I walk up to the Big House I go over the days I've been without swimming. Was it 4 or 5? I think it was 4... I shake my head. I need to get rid of this headache so I can think.

I reach the porch of the Big House to find a teen boy leaning over the rail, slightly green.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

He nods slowly.

"Um, are you sure?" I ask again.

"Yeah, sorry. The kid I was taking care of..." he turns a little more green, "Just didn't feel good for a minute."

I nod, silently noting to never nod while you have a headache and that this guy must be a child of Apollo.

He finally straightens, looking at me. I step up on the porch and face him, "I was wondering if you had anything for a headache."

He looks confused for a minute, then realizes what I figured out and that was the reason I was here. He nods and leads me into the house.

He opens a cabinet that's at the end of the hall where the room I first stayed in is. I see tons if bottles and vials, but he just grabs Tylenol and offers me two. I take them just as we hear the conch shell for breakfast.

I see Phillip running toward the pavilion ahead of the group of hungry campers. I grin at his energy, wishing I had that much.

Percy and I talk about marine biology during breakfast, it may sound boring, but it is one of our favorite topics.

After breakfast it's back to my boring life devoid of water. I try to read a book I've been meaning to start, but my brain is foggy and still burdened by the headache. I grab my sword and do some half hearted stabs at a dummy, but my arms feel weak.

Percy enters the arena to find me polishing my sword. "Hey, Ames! I was going to practice, but do you want to spar?" He asks.

Well, call me stupid because I wasn't feeling my best, but I can never turn down a fight. I grin and answer him, "Sure."

I drop the polishing cloth on the bench where I was sitting and walk to the middle to face him, holding my sword up. Right then, Annabeth and Nico walk in.

"I thought you had work to do!" Says Percy to Annabeth with a playful glare.

"Well, Nico came to ask me a question and I lost my concentration," she protests.

Nico smiles at me and sits down, preparing to watch the fight.

Percy and I turn back to each other and begin the spar.

Apparently, people like to watch siblings fight, or maybe it's that Percy and I are both powerful, but soon lots of people are watching the spar.

For about the first 7 minutes my stabs and blocks are strong like usual, but I quickly get tired and my arms get heavy. My vision blurs and within a second of my losing focus, Percy has his sword at my neck.

"You win," I mumble, not caring about the fight anymore. I step back from his sword and try to regain my balance because my knees are shaking.

I turn my sword back into goggles in case I faint and take deep breaths. Usually I would be sweating hard from a spar, but my skin is cold and one or two cold drops of sweat drip down my back.

Something is wrong. I barely have time to think that before my knees give out. Since we were still in the middle there is no one to catch me and I fall to the ground. Thankfully I have time to let my arm and shoulder take the impact. Not so thankfully it scraped up my whole right arm and twisted my elbow the wrong way.

Several people had run forward by now and I try to struggle back to my feet, but two strong arms lift me up, one behind my back and the other under my knees. I groan as my headache worsens, black spots dance in my vision, and my arm throbs.

I turn my head to see who's carrying me. If I had been in my right mind, I could have guessed, but I'm not in my right mind. I turn my head and see Nico. "Nico," I mumble.

He glances down at me, but then looks back to where we are going, frown on his face. Hard shivers suddenly rack my body. I turn to see where we're going myself and find the beach and the clear blue water calling to me.

Nico makes it to the sand before I scramble out of his arms and run splashing into the waves. It's like waking up from a terrible nightmare. My vision clears instantly and all pain leaves my body. Warmth returns as I allow my clothes to get wet and the water soaks my skin. My natural grin finds its way to my face again. I let out a sigh of relief.

The water is my home and this proves that I can't ever leave it.