The Unclaimed

Chapter 3: The Son of Apollo Accuses Me of Murder

As I sprinted through the camp I ignored all the states and whispers that normally caused me to feel unsure of myself. I ran through the middle of a basketball game, past the rock wall, and through the archery range (it wasn't being used at the moment) and then I finally saw the infirmary. With one last burst of speed, I propelled myself to it and through the doors while shouting,

  "Someone please help, my brother needs medical attention now." The desperation in my voice was crystal clear. Will Solace, who was the head of the infirmary, immediately led me to a bed where I could put Michael down. Will, a son of Apollo, was around the same age as Leo. He and his husband Nico, son of Hades, lived in a house together on the edge of campus.

     "What happened to him," Will asked as he scrambled around Michael preforming different medical tests. "And what happened to you," I didn't know why he would ask that, so I ignored it; even if he did have a legitimate reason for asking me that, Michaels health and safety was much more important to me.

     "We were at sword training," Will looked at me skeptically, he knew I rarely went to training. "Michael somehow got ahold of my schedule and found some other information out but he wouldn't tell me unless I went to training. When we got there that asshole James from Ares cabin was the instructor and he called on me to help with the demonstration. Michael knows I don't like being the center of attention so he volunteered to take my place; I let him because it was just supposed to be a demonstration." Will seemed to be catching on to what I was getting at.

  "Based on the tone of your voice I take it that it wasn't just a demonstration." He said slows; I nodded.

  "The first few minutes weren't that bad, but James was just getting warmed up. Before anyone could react he started fighting his hardest against Michael; I'm talking about him using the same intensity he would in an actual battle against a nine year old boy." Judging from Will's facial expression, he was beyond angry at James. While Will and Nico were closer to me than they were Michael, they still cared for him dearly.

  "How long has he been passed out?" Will asked, clearly trying to focus on the medicine as a way to distract himself from his anger.

     "A little over ten minutes," I responded. His face narrowed in concentration and he looked at me suspiciously. "I know you ran here from the way you had to catch your breath when you put Michael down and with your speed the arena is only like a three to four minute run from here. Which means there's time unaccounted for from Michael got knocked out to when you got him here. Alright, where'd you hide James's corpse?" I wanted to believe he was joking but everything from his posture to his facial expression to his tone was a hundred percent serious.

  "I didn't kill the boy Will." He looked at me in disbelief. "I swear on the River Styx that I did not kill James." After about one year at camp, I had figured out that the quickest way to get someone to believe you was by swearing on the River Styx. (Of course I was smart enough to only do this when I was being a hundred percent honest.)

     "If you didn't kill him than what did you do to him?" Will asked me. "And don't say nothing and pretend the subject will disappear if you ignore it." He apparently knew how my brain worked better than I realized.

  "All I did was fight him, disarm him, and promise to create new forms of torture and humiliation that he would be subjected to if he ever came near me or Michael again. That's it." Will started to laugh.

  "Oh ok, that's all you did." He repeated. "You just beat someone three years older than you, who I should add has had twice as much training than you. But you know what,
the fact that you beat him and threatened him is no big deal." As I listened to him I slowly started to catch on to the fact that he was mocking me (in a loving manner of course).

     "He hurt Michael." I reminded him. The joking look immediately disappeared from Will's face, he thought about what I had said, and then seemed to realize that me beating James actually wasn't that surprising.

  "I guess you're, hey are you alright?" I tried to respond to him but the room was suddenly spinning. I tried to make my way to a bed but I couldn't figure out which one was real; instead of seeing one, there were now 3 beds. "Jessica," I heard Will shout my name one more time before everything went black.