Forest Sisters

Relief

Helena's POV

After that incident, you'd think they would close the rock climbing wall or do something, but everything goes on. When I made it to the bottom of the wall, no one really seems too shaken at what happened. Maybe this was normal. Little girls falling to their doom, you know, the normal type of camp activities. But what do I know about normal.
When my feet touch solid ground again, I only get five paces away from it and the safety gate before someone tries to tackle me. I catch my self before I could fall over. Something is squeezing my mid section tightly. I almost reach for my knife, thinking it was an attack, but then I look down. Holding tight to my stomach, face buried in my short, is the little girl. All I can see of her when I look down is her sleek black hair which has now fallen out of her make shift braid.
I stand there, stiff, not knowing what to do. This is something entirely new to me, I am in uncharted waters. I feel like I should be uncomfortable, that I should push her away, but another sense wins over. I wrap my arms around the little girl and she clings to me. After a few heartfelt seconds, she loosens her grip just enough to look up at me. She has brown eyes and pail skin. I can see where the tears had fallen down her cheeks. More tears threaten to fall from her small, innocent eyes, but it's not from fear this time. No, this time her eyes are full of joy and gratitude. She beams up at me, and I feel my heart kilt, just a little, when I see the pure joy radiating from her face. No words are spoken, none need to be.
After standing there a little longer, another girl comes running up. It's the same blond Roman who attacked Jack. I stiffen, thinking she had come to attack me as well, but instead she smiles. I see a tear in her eye, but I know she would not let it fall. Instead she gives me a quick nod.
"Thank you." She says. I don't need tears to see her emotions. They are hidden in her eyes and laced in her voice. The little girl that was hugging me runs to the blond and hugs her as well. The blond pats her head affectionately. She looks at me, straight in the eyes. "Thank you so much for saving her. I had been assigned to help her jump, and she was supposed to go at the same time as me, but there were some complications. When saw her fall-" she looks down, not able to continue. I pat her shoulder. There was no need to continue. After the blond composed herself once again, she stuck her arm out, and I shook it. "Hi, I'm Molly. This here is Liz." She says, nodding to the still beaming little girl. "We thank you for what you have done. If you ever need anything, you shall have our swords and shields by your side in battle." I smile at her. I didn't need any favors, but I see it would make her feel better to try to repay me in some way. I do a little bow. "Thank you." I say.
After Molly and Liz left to go back and report to their leaders on what happened, I walk over to a tree and stand in the shade. I was standing there, looking out at the camp, when I heard a shout.
"El!" At first I didn't register the name, but then strong arms engulfed me. They squeezed me into his chest, a tight hug. I could tell it was Jack, both by his voice and that silly nickname he called me. My spine stiffens and I don't know what to do. It's one thing to be hugged by a little girl, but a complete other feeling to be hugged by a guy. He keeps his tight hold around me, holding me to his chest. I feel his cheek on the top of my head. All the world is gone, replaced with Jack. I can see nothing but his short, feel nothing except his arms around me, smell only him, a scent of pine and sweat. I don't move a muscle.
After what feels like an eternity, his grip loosens. He pulls back and releases me. I take a deep breath in, what seems like the first in a long time. He looks down at me, worry etched all along his strong face. I refuse to look into his eyes, looking anywhere but at him
"I was so worried." He says to only me. "When I saw you fall, I don't know, I felt so useless. I couldn't so anything except hold onto that stupid rock." I look into his eyes. The raw emotions there take my breath away. I can't breath, can't think, and the memory of how he felt, how he smelled, they keep going through my mind. I push them down, along with any feelings I had felt in those few moments. It wasn't good to feel this way, wasn't right. Men were supposed to be deceitful and only care for themselves. That's how life is supposed to be, but now Jack was changing everything I knew. Why couldn't Jack be the man I thought I knew he was supposed to be, why can't I just hate him. But I just couldn't. All I knew before, the facts I had lived by for so long, were now becoming more fiction then fact, and of all the things I had thought I had known, of the largest proof of me being wrong, was Jack.
I couldn't handle it, couldn't handle all the emotions. I looked away from him.
I felt a dark cloud seem to fall between us, but maybe that was a good thing. Help us both remember to keep our distance. Jack cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the med wing. Do you want me to look at you?" I whipped my head around. "No!" I shouted. Then I thought better of it. "No, no, I'm fine." I say quieter, plastering a smile on my face. Guess I just kind of freaked out at the thought of Jack looking at me, trying to heal me. It made sense he wanted to, he was a child if Apollo, he may even be pretty skilled at healing. That's why he offered, it was because it was his job. What he was meant to do. It wasn't because he cared if I was okay. But if that was true, why was it so hard to believe.
I wrapped my arms around my self. "You know what, I'm actually pretty tired. Maybe it would be best if I went back to the Hermes cabin and just lay down for a bit." It was a lame excuse, and I knew it, but I needed to put some distance between us, have time to think things through. Jack nodded, then brightened a little. "Then I'll walk you to your cabin." He said cheerfully.
"Oh, that won't be necessary." I try to reassure him, but his face becomes serious. "Helena, you just had a traumatic accident and may have been harmed, and as your doctor I insist that I make sure you get back to your cabin safely." A sly smile came over his face. "Besides," he says nonchalantly, "I can't be that bad of company." I chuckle and give in.
We start to walk towards the cabins when a camper bumped into my shoulder while they were trying to run past. Pain shoots through my arm and I grab it, sucking in a breath from the intense pain. Jack glares at me. "I thought you said you were okay." His voice is deadly, and I try to let out a chuckle, trying to distract him. I am actually scared, both from his tone and the look on his face. "It's nothing." I say, trying to brush it off. "Just a little injury." I move my arm to try to show him, but the pain is so intense now that I gasp and have to grab it. I keel over, squeezing my eyes shut through the pain.
Jack's strong arm grabs my injured arm. "Take a deep breath in," he commands. I take a shaky breath in, ready for whatever he's going to do next. "And release." I let it out right as he jerks my arm back into the socket. I give out a small cry, pain making my vision go white for a second. Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore of the pain, a soothing warmth seems to numb my arm. The warm feeling spreads from my arm and goes through my entire body. All my tense muscles loosen almost instantly and the pain is gone now. I take in a deep, calming breath and let it out. The feeling is so nice, I feel like I am floating off the ground.
I look up at Jack. Now there is a new breed if sweat on his forehead and he is breathing deeply, but other then that he looks fine. His eyes look tired, but are now crinkled from the sweet smile that spreads across his whole face. Some how, I know that it was him who did it. Not just put my arm back in it's socket, but dampened to pain. I smile up at him. "Thank you." I whisper. He smiles down at me. "I told you, I'm your doctor. Maybe this will be a lesson to you to tell me next time your hurt." I nod my head.
We start walking again, me still floating with ease. When we make it to the middle of the camp, I see a crowd. I can't see into the center of the crowd, but I see their faces. Everyone looks concerned and shaken about about something. Some are even crying. I hear voices speaking, but am not close enough to here what is being said. Jack walks up to a camper who had been standing out side of the group. He talks to the camper a little bit, then his face goes white as well. I walk up to him. "What is it?" I whisper to him, now scared as well. Jack looks down at me. "It sounds like there's a killer in the camp."
I throw my hand over my mouth. I look up at him. "Did they kill anyone?" I ask. "Not yet, but it sounds like this person killed their own parents and has burnt down a couple houses already." I look into his eyes. "Who is it?" I ask timidly. "Come on," Jack says, grabbing my arm, "let's find out."
We start to make our way through the crowd. No one seems to notice us, they are all focused on whatever, or whoever, was in the center of the crowd. When we make it, I feel my feet stop moving. In the center of the crowd stand three people. Samantha, holding up a printed out old article with a small girl's picture in it. On the others side stands a boy I don't really recognize. He has dark brown hair, which looks wet. His face looks white and eyes haunted. But that's not what made my heart stop. In the exact center of the circle stands Ivy. She is shaking, looking around desperately. Samantha speaks up. "See, she doesn't even deny it." She says. Ivy looks like she is about to break, like she is a spring that was pulled too tight and will soon break. I watch helplessly as she does just that, as she breaks. She runs away from me and the crowd, faster then I had ever seen anyone run, like death itself was after her.
She runs towards the woods, and when she disappears, the spell over the crowd seems to break. Hugo starts sprinting after her, pushing Samantha out of the way when she tried to stop him.
All the campers, the large crowd that had seen the whole event, start yelling over each other. Some say that we need to get her out of the camp, some even going as far as to say she should be killed or imprisoned. They are yelling and seem to be debating the best way to go from here. It's all too overwhelming for me. My mind is on overdrive, while at the same time it seems to be going too slow, like it was working through mud. I don't know what to do. I want to speak up, to try to defend her, but I can't seem to make my body work right. I started to give up hope, started to loose my mind as the shouts of the crowd grew louder, when a sharp, loud whistle broke through the crowd. We all look over at where the sound came from and every one goes quite. Annabeth, Percy, Chiron, Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel all stand there in front of the crowd. I can tell Annabeth was the one who whistled.
"Listen up!" She yells, and everything and everyone goes quite. No one dares speak up. "We don't know the full story, and until we do no one, and I mean no one, will do anything to her. Do you understand?" There are a few nods, but still no one speaks.
"Now," Annabeth says, "we all know that not everything we hear is what happened. Most of us know first hand how it feels, so why, tell me, would you think that Ivy is any different?" Some people look down at the ground in shame. I know her words struck home. "Now," Chiron yells, "no one is to approach her about the subject or harass her in any way. We will get to the bottom of this, but that does not mean that you need to do anything about it. We understand your concern, but it will be no help jumping to conclusions. Do you understand." Almost everyone nods. "Good," he says. "Now, back to class. Could the head camper of each cabin please come to the big house for an emergency meeting." I see a couple campers start to walk towards the big house while the rest start to disperse.
I look up at Jack in worry. His eyes are worried as well. I look over at the spot Ivy had vanished into the woods. I wanted to go after her, try to help her and let her know that people were on her side, but something kept me back. I didn't doubt her innocence for a second, but I knew she didn't need me right now. The right people to help were already going after her. I just hoped they would be able to find her.