Decimate

Chapter Nineteen--Phil--My Cabin

I woke up with every inch of my body aching.

When I cracked open my sticky eyes, whatever part of my body that wasn't covered with a white blanket was wrapped in bandages, and when I tried to move my head I found that I couldn't.

My hand twitched and I groaned as pain shot up my arm.

Dan shot up at the corner of my vision and grinned at me. His eyes were red and puffy.

I grinned, which kind of hurt. "Dan!"

Pain shot through my again, this time in my neck as I spoke.

Dan turned to the door. "He's awake!"

A moment later Will, barely recognizable in his minty green doctors scrubs, hurried into the room.

"How are you feeling."

"Not the best." My throat had dialed down to a dull throb, but my voice was a bit off.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't," Will said. "You fell three stories out of a tree."

"Didn't you tell me to?"

He paled, and sat next to me. I turned to face him with some difficulty.

"I thought—the thing is—" He sighed. "I knew you were a child of Demeter, and I thought the trees would catch you, like they do with the other Demeter kids. And they tried. But... I don't know. I guess..." He looked like he felt horrible about what he was saying. "I guess you're just... not very powerful."

I thought for a moment. I was a child of Demeter. That's weird, because I killed almost every plant I touched, aside from Jeremy.

"And I'm a son of Ares," Dan said, "We figured that out when I kind of attacked Will with a branch and was blessed by him."

"Why did you attack Will?"

"I thought you were dead."

I looked at Will again. "You don't seem very hurt."

He shrugged. "Lots of ambrosia. Dan dislocated my shoulder, but I healed quick. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

I glanced at myself again. "So what did I break?"

He sighed. "Both legs, and you fractured your neck and your hand. You should be okay in an hour or so with a bit of ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia is weird."

He laughed. "Yeah it is. Well I'll leave you and Dan alone for a bit. There's some ambrosia on the desk. Eat it whenever you can and try not to explode. I'll be back in an hour or so to take off your casts."

And he left.

The next hour went by quickly. Dan told me what had happened after I fell, and then how he woke up in the infirmary (again) with a bandage on his head (again) and tore through the infirmary looking for me until Will threatened to sedate him.

He said he waited in the chair next to my bed and talked to Will for a bit until he had to go back to his doctor duties. Then he waited until I woke up.

When the hour was up, Will came back in, holding an electric saw.

"It's okay," He laughed when he saw the look on Dan and I's faces. "It's just to get the cast off."

The next fifteen minutes were scary to say the least. I was so worried he'd sneeze while he was sawing my cast in half and accidentally kill me. Luckily my neck brace just had a clasp. If he'd had to saw that off too I think I would have just kept it on for the rest of my life.

When the last cast fell to the sides and the saw was off, I wriggled my toes experimentally, and was pleased when they only tingled.

"All right," Will said after giving my legs and neck a quick look-over. "I think you're ready to go." He threw me a pair of socks and my tennis shoes. "I'd suggest you go to your new cabin and get used to it."

I quickly pulled on the shoes and socks and followed Dan outside. My legs were a bit shaky but they didn't hurt at all.

We walked to the cabins and stopped outside the Demeter cabin, which had brown and green vine covered walls and a roof with grass growing on it. I waved reluctantly at Dan and headed inside through the wooden door.

The inside was very nice. It was green, with lots of houseplants and grass carpeting. Instead of curtains over the windows, vines grew over them, making beautiful patterns on the floor. The walls were a tan color that went nicely with the vines growing over them. The bunk beds had dark green comforters and even more vines grew up the sides. There were a lot of windows, which gave it a greenhouse-like vibe, and the flowers blooming on a tree in the corner filled the whole place with sweet scent.

A girl approached me. She had brown hair braided over one shoulder and green eyes. She was barefoot.

"If you're coming in please take off your shoes."

I kicked my shoes into a wooden bucket next to the door.

"Um, hi." I continued to look around with a smile on my face. "I'm Phil. I just got claimed."

The girl grinned. "That's great! I'm Katie Gardner."

"I really like this cabin. It's so cool!"

She smiled again. "Thanks! I love it too. It's the best looking cabin, in my opinion."

I walked in, enjoying the feeling of grass on my feet.

"So," she said, sitting down on an empty bed. "Mind telling me how you got claimed?"

I told her the story. As I told it, more kids gathered around me and listened, and when I got to the part where I feel out of the tree, some of them began to giggle.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"It's just.." Katie said, covering her mouth. "The jumping out of the tree and being caught thing is like the first thing we learn here. And we don't really learn it, it just comes naturally."

A few of them began to flat out laugh, and one boy said "Wow, nice powers!"

I turned beet red and faced the wall.

"Hey," Katie said, her laughter gone. "You'll learn."

I shrugged. Most of the kids had stopped laughing by then, but I still felt a little hurt.

"Anyway," Katie went on as the others dispersed. "You can take this bunk if you want."

"Okay."

Katie left, and I turned to my other side and was surprised. Jeremy was sitting on the bunk next to me, as if he'd followed me. I picked him up.

"Hi Jeremy."

Gingerly, I poked his side. I tried to force my will into him, to make him move or something, but he remained as he always had. Prickly.

I set him down in the windowsill next to me and lay flat, staring at the bottom of the mattress behind me.

It's been a long day.