Shattered

Infirmary

It took Phoebe the entirety of twenty-three seconds to react to what was presented before her eyes.

The fact that she had been awoken at four in the morning by a loud shriek didn't help her shift away from the confusion.

"Percy!" a familiar voice had awoken her from her slumber, the scene she was presented with caused Phoebe's jaw to fall on the floor. Her groggy mind struggled to comprehend where she was, and what she was seeing.

Maybe she was just hallucinating?

Maybe Zoe wasn't crushing a boy in a hug?

Maybe the centaur blood was relapsing and her mind was playing tricks on her?

That had to be it.

That had to be what was happening.

The was absolutely no possible way that her lieutenant, Zoe Nightshade would be caught hugging anyone – let alone a barely clothed male specimen in the dark.

Her eyes widened as she backpedaled.

Zoe was clad in only her hospital gown, one that was two sizes too big and barely hung onto her lithe frame. The boy, she recalled, Perseus, to his credit seemed awkward enough, not sure how to react to the situation himself. He had a weird constipated look on his face, and Phoebe had to bite her tongue to stop her laughter.

But the boy was also shirtless and was only clad in his bare bloodied boxers.

Phoebe decided to not interrupt the moment like she had planned to; instead, she opted for eyeing them cautiously from her vantage point. Of course, had the boy been anyone who wasn't Percyy, then they would have probably been missing a certain body part that males hold quite dear. (I'm not talking about what you think I'm talking about, pervs)

She held her bow ready for if (when) the boy would try something with the vulnerable hunter.

It was not long, before Zoe realized what she was doing, and untangled herself from the son of Poseidon. "So – Sorry!"

Her crimson flush was almost as dark as the boy's below her. Phoebe almost gasped at how soft the girl's voice was.

"I- That's fine. I guess," Perseus managed to choke out, clearly embarrassed at his near nakedness. He pulled the sheets to cover his bare chest.

Zoe's eyes softened, and a quip of a smile curved from her lips. "I'm glad you're alive."

Phoebe was rather confused; her lieutenant was speaking in modern English!

Yep. Definitely a relapse.

Phoebe mentally scoffed, she must have been dreaming, because she knew for a fact that Zoe Nightshade spoke the English from four hundred years ago. The Hunters as a group had struggled to keep up the times – but their lieutenant was the worse. Zoe Nightshade had been adamant when refusing to continue learning the more modern slang.

Phoebe stepped away, deciding to file the events away as a dream.

Not one of reality, but simply a product of simple deliriousness. She decided to navigate her dream self to Apollo's kitchen to grab something to eat.

She could barely make out Zoe's voice commanding Perseus to get some rest, as she tuned out everything else and focused on the warm glow that Apollo's kitchen emitted.

'Apollo really needs to make healthier dining choices,' she thought silently as she stared at the contents within the godly fridge.

Ω

Two days ago, everything had gone normally enough for Phoebe. She had awoken seventeen minutes early and had thus taken the liberty to have the first bath in the stream. She was glad that she was able to relieve her sore muscles after having to have taken down the Manticore the previous day. Just as she gathered her clothes and made her way back to her tent, Artemis appeared at camp to awaken her hunters and to explain the current situation.