Camp Half Blood: One "Salty" Adventure

Chapter Six

Myra's POV:

I woke up to the sound of voices besides me. My body did not comply with my brain's immediate command to get up and run, but I must have tensed up a bit because someone ran over and began feeling for my pulse. The movements they made were gentle and soft, so I felt no reason to open my eyes.

"She's ok. She'll probably be up soon though." With some alarm I realized Will must've been the one checking up on me.

"This is all my fault. I assumed the charmspeak would outlast her curiosity..." Ben replied. I had no idea what charmspeak was, but it didn't sound good. I willed myself to stay still.

"She's twitching a bit. She could be up any moment now." Will's voice held concern and I listened as he picked up a chair and moved it directly next to my side. His footsteps fading away as he went over to the medicine cabinet to presumably knock me out again with more unicorn draught, but there was no way I was letting that happen again. Hopefully Ben was here to rescue me after my failed attempts and we could get out of this wretched camp.

"Just treat her like you would a wild fox. Chances are she's more afraid of you than you are of her, but she can be crafty and might make a run for it. What you're counting on is her curiosity outweighing her instincts. Which, believe me, her curiosity has almost gotten us killed more than once." I could almost hear him rolling his eyes at me, but I was a little hurt. Treat me like a wild fox? How about don't handcuff me to a hospital bed and just let me leave.

"Come on Myra, wake up." Will spoke softly and shook my arm a little. I ignored him and rolled over. He let out a frustrated sigh and prodded my side where I was horribly ticklish. I flinched and snapped open my eyes. Will was standing over me with a sheepish smile on his face while Ben grinned at me from his chair. I was more than ready to punch Will right in the face, but as soon as he saw my arm tense up he offered up an apology.

"It was the only way to subdue you! You spent an entire night inside a small chest! Your body needed the rest..." I tuned him out as he lectured to take in my surroundings. It must have been late afternoon, maybe around two or three o'clock. I made eye contact with Ben and he quickly broke it and stared at the floor. Something about this place was messing with me. Messing with everything. I wanted to leave as soon as I could. I started to get up and Will quickly restrained me.

"Let me up! I've been unconscious in here for way too long! It's time for us to leave!" I struggled against Will's vice like grip on my arms which he seemed to effortlessly pin to my sides. He and Ben seemed to have an unsaid conversation through one glance.

"Myra stop." There was some kind of power in his words that made me give up the fight instantly. This wasn't the first time this had happened and I was sure of it. But I was unable to recall any strong memories of it. For some reason any memories of when this happened were always hazy, as if I wasn't the one in control. I had never voiced this concern to Ben though. Right? Uncertainty flooded me. How did Ben know all about powers like mine? I must have asked him why before. I snapped out of my thoughts as Will handed me what seemed like a glass of water. I looked at it suspiciously.

"It's just water." He assured me, but I still felt uncertain. I grasped the glass gingerly as the two boys watched on. Will grabbed the glass out of my hands and took a sip.

"See? It's ok. No sleeping draughts." He handed it back to me. I still felt a little uncertain, but my dehydration won out. I drank the water slowly and Will looked back over at Ben, confident that I was not going to bash him over the head with the glass. He shouldn't have been that confident because I was still mutinously considering it. My uncertainties about Ben were quickly fading. I had no proof about him controlling me and I must have wanted to stop fighting Will. Besides, Ben had had plenty of chances to hurt me over the past seven months and he'd protected me every step of the way.

I finished the glass of water and handed it back to Will. Will took it and left the room, saying he was going to check on a few other patients.

"When are we leaving?" I was the one who broke the silence. He stared up at me and just shook his head.

"We don't have a reason to leave now." He refused to meet my eyes and instead stared at the floor.

"What do you mean we don't have a reason to leave? I'm handcuffed to a hospital bed! Everyone here is insane! The only thing keeping me going is knowing that we are leaving."

"Will must've told you we're safe here. No more monsters. We can finally stop and rest. We have a home here now."

"Will didn't tell me anything and neither have you. Maybe you have a home here, but I don't! Do you think I didn't see you talking and hugging all those kids? What are you hiding, Ben?" I strained to get up and the handcuff cut into my wrist, drawing blood. I hissed in pain and leaned back, Ben seemed unfazed. "You can stay here, but I'm leaving as soon as this handcuff comes off." I spat angrily. 

"There's a reason we can't leave ok? I just... I have to explain why." I glared at him, but didn't say a word. I doubted any explanation he could come up with would diffuse my anger. My wrist was still bleeding and it stung as I tenderly rubbed it.

"It all started before the incident with Cass." He began and I froze. "It was the last day of school and we were all having a pool party. There was this girl I really liked. Her name is Rose. Now you have to understand that I stay in this camp all year round. Long story short, with the shortage of Satyrs here, I was assigned to bring her to camp after I discovered she was a demigod." He paused as I nodded in recognition. Greek and Roman mythology had been one of my favourite things to learn about when I was younger. Now I had learned living the myths were not nearly as fun as they had originally sounded. "She ran away after the party, due to an incident. When you were baby sitting Cass was when I went to go find her. Then I came home and-"

I cut him off. "So this place is a camp for demigods? And I'm assuming I'm one you didn't know about." He nodded his head sheepishly. I rolled my eyes. "So let me guess. The girl somehow ended up here and you just happened to stop by for a family visit without telling me anything?"

"No! Well... Not exactly. We've been trailing her for the past seven months. I'm not quite sure how I knew what direction she was going in, but I just did. All those monsters we faced were coming after her, but we were the ones who ran into them. Every time you saw her or I mentioned her, I just talked you out of remembering or asking questions." He explained and put on his best puppy dog face after speaking the last sentence.

"You talked me out of remembering and asking questions?" I tried to stop the sinking feeling in my chest. He had manipulated me for months and taken me into hostile territory. I knew after I was cleared from this infirmary I was leaving. Maybe I could head to Canada. I snapped out of my thoughts as Ben shifted uncomfortably in his chair and began speaking again.

"I'm a son of Aphrodite. Some of us have this thing called charmspeak where we can influence what people think, say, or do just with our voices." He spoke tentatively like he thought I would react badly. That was a good idea on his part.

"So you not only lied, but you used me to help you find a girl you liked while putting us both in constant danger?"

"No wait Myra-"

"Get out."

"Just let me-" A boy suddenly walked into the room. He had sea green eyes and messy black hair. He looked a bit awkward and cringed a little when he saw my wrist bleeding. Ben looked up, grateful for the excuse to leave our fight unfinished.

"Uhh.. Hi. Ben are you available to give a tour to this new camper. I'm Percy by the way." He introduced himself to me.

"I'll be back soon to talk more, alright?" And then Percy and Ben practically ran out of the room, not letting me respond to Ben. I clenched my fists in anger. I was left alone with my thoughts. After a while of waiting, Percy came back into the room.

"I'll go get Will to help with your wrist uhh..." He looked at me until I realised I hadn't given him my name.

"Myra. Nice to meet you Percy." I said doing a pretty good job of at least acting like I was civil. He nodded and also quickly dashed from the room. I let out a sigh. "Wow Myra look at that, you can uncontrollably shoot ice everywhere and scare off boys from at least a mile radius away. Way to go me." I thought bitterly. I crossed my legs and waited for Will to come back in while rubbing my bloody wrist.