Callie Jackson; The Return

Chapter XVII

      Noah's POV

  I walked with Kat. She was talking about volleyball, but I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking about what I saw last night. I was coming back from the infirmary at about ten, and I was looking around. Suddenly, something in the trees moved, so I weaved between cabins to get a better look. It was a blonde girl and Nico jogging and arguing about something.
"We're not going to find anything!" She hissed.
"We have to try." He whispered back, not making eye contact.
  "What's so important about her anyway?" The blonde girl asked.
  "I care for that family. Don't ask why, I honestly don't know. Maybe because I've known him since I was ten."
  "Whatever. You're not going to find anything." She snorted. They continued threw the forest until I could see them. I had started to follow them, but I walked up on a harpy. It started screeching, so I turned back. I went back to listening to Kat.
  "So, we need to do something." She said.
  "Huh?" I asked.
  "Nothing." She said. "As in you listen to nothing. We need to do something about Percy. To get over Callie. I know it's hard, but she's gone, grieving won't bring her back. Maybe a beach party?"
  "Oh. Um yeah. In about a month, so we'll have time to plan it." I said.
  "Ok. I'll talk to Piper about it." She skipped off. I decided to go to the infirmary. I went to talk to Penelope, my sister, our 'secretary' if you call a 15 year old daughter of Apollo a secretary. She does pretty good though. She's really smart. We think she's a distant relative of Athena. I walked up to her desk.
  "Hey kid." She said. "What's up?"
  "Nothing much. Do you happen to know where Will is? I was gonna help him some."
  "He's in room 317 with Grover Underwood kiddo. Why are you always in here? I thought you liked... You know, sports and stuff." She only said this because she was here when I arrived. I was about 7. She was like my big sister, even though she is, but we didn't know it at that time.
  "I've kinda given up baseball, but it's still fun. Thanks for letting me know." I said, and hung a right corner around her desk. It took about ten minutes to get to the room, because it was hidden. Under the rest of the infirmary was a secret corridor, one for Satyrs. If a satyr was sick or hurt, it involves a lot thrashing around, rampages, and hijacked behavior. The doctor had to be very advanced to treat a satyr. I wasn't as advanced as Will, but I could hold my own. Grover was more controlled than most satyrs, but if he was sick, he was horrible. I finally made it to room 317 and knocked on the door. Will flipped the blind open and then poked his head out of the door.
"Hey Noah. I-I think I can handle Grover. I got it. Why don't you go help in 138?" He stuttered.
  "But you said that Grover was doing really bad?" I paused to listen to the thrashing against the bed. "Don't you need help? I'm old enough really! You taught me yourself and even said I was better than loads of people."
  "He's doing better. I have to give him his medicine now. You can help later ok?"
"Alright." I grumbled. I walked down the corridor and reached the room. I knocked. This was a young satyr, I could tell from the screaming. My sister, Layla, opened the door.
  "Thank the gods." She sighed. "I need help." I walked in. The young satyr sat balled up in the corner, persistently screaming, though Layla had done nothing. I walked over and squatted down so I could be eye level with him.
  "Hi little dude." I said, picking up his chin with my two fingers so I could make eye contact with him. His eyes were a brilliant light brown. "Could you tell me what's wrong?" He shook his head and looked down at the floor once again.
"What if we tell you," Layla said, squatting beside me, her long blond hair flipping itself around her shoulders. "That we've healed the Lord of the Wild, and he loves us. He said for you to let us help you." It wasn't fully true, but anything to help the little dude. His eyes suddenly widened, then he mumbled.
"The lord of the wild knows about me?"
  "Well of course!" Layla said, ruffling his hair. "Your the bravest little satyr ever Blake!" Great, boosting his confidence and healing him. He smiled and moved his leg. Then, pulling back some tufts of fur, he let us see a gash.
  "I fell while running through the woods, and a briar caught my leg." He confessed.
  "It's an easy fix, young hero." I said, smiling. Layla and I laid our hands on the cut. We had healing powers, so it was fine after, but we still bandaged it. He ran off, so I followed him. He galloped into the elevator, and we rode up silently. I left the infirmary and was walking towards my cabin, but Kat, Caroline, and Annabeth's little brother, Malcolm were running to me.
  "Noah! Come here!" Kat yelled. She looked extremely worried.
  "Hey. What's wrong?" I asked.
  "Somethings wrong with Callie. Malcolm thinks he knows."
  "What is it then!?"
  "Well if you think about when Callie, Annabeth, and Percy were in Tartarus, Grover acted like this," my mouth fell open. This couldn't be. "Well, Grover has an empathy link with both Callie and Percy, so maybe Callie's in Tartarus?" He said. He noticed the tears I was trying to hold back. "I'm sorry dude. I know you were best friends."
  "Thanks for letting me know." I said, then ran off towards the woods.
  "Noah!" Kat yelled, but I wasn't stopping. I ran into the woods, watching the flashes of young satyrs playing. I ran until I reached a tree that looked ok that was right by the creek. I flopped down on it and buried my face in my hands. She had been gone for 3 WEEKS. Three weeks in Tartarus.
  "She's dead Noah. Gone. Never coming back." I said to myself out loud.
"What makes you think that?" A voice said. I looked up to Kat, propped against a tree with her arms crossed.
  "Sorry Kat. She's in Tartarus though." I mumbled. Kat slid down the tree to sit by me. She hugged me then laid her head on my shoulder.
  "She was my best friend too." She said. I felt her tears soak through my shirt. "I miss her just as much."
  "At least we have each other." I said. "Do you really think she's in Tartarus?"
  "I-I don't know." She belongs in Elysium.
  "She sure does." Said a different voice. We both looked, and standing above us was Percy.