Heart of a Traitor

9: Tightrope

I wake up two days later in a hospital. Luke is in the chair beside me, his hand laced through mine as he softly snores. Thalia and Annabeth share a small couch in the corner of the room, both of them shivering under too-thin blankets.

There's a tube in my nose. There's an IV in my arm, pouring some clear liquid into my body. They've put me in a thin hospital gown. I don't know where my other clothes are. Oh well. I need new ones anyways. I'd been wearing the same outfit for weeks now. It's unclear the exact time, but the moon shines through the small window, so I know it's some time in the night.

I must stir or something because Luke picks his head up, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He blinks at me. "El?"

"Sorry," I whisper. "I didn't mean to wake you."

He wakes up within a matter of seconds. "You're awake!"

I put a finger to my mouth, motioning to Thalia and Annabeth on the couch.

"Whoops," he mouths, then looks back at me. "How do you feel?"

I try to pinpoint any soreness in my body, but I feel nothing. I frown. "Please tell me the doctors didn't inject me with painkillers or something."

He gives me a guilty smile. "Class-A morphine. Procedural protocol for anyone who's lost as much blood as you."

I frown. "How much blood did I lose?"

His smile fades. "A lot. It was bad, El. You passed out and-and the blood stained your clothes and my hands and I couldn't get it off my sword... I thought you were..." He tears up. The sight of it nearly kills me. "I thought I had lost you, El."

I squeeze his hand. "It's okay, Luke. I'm right here. I'm fine. I'm more than fine." It hits me then. I'd been running from something inescapable for months. I'd watch my time run out each day. Fear became my constant companion. But now, the threat was gone. Because of the boy sitting beside me, holding my hand. "You saved me, Luke."

He scoffs. "How could you say that?"

"Because it's true..."

He pulls his hand away from mine. "I stabbed you, El. I'm the reason you're in this stupid hospital in the first place."

"Unless my mind is playing tricks on me," I begin, "you wouldn't stab me. I had to take the sword from your hands and do it myself. You didn't hurt me."

"I didn't save you, either," he argues.

I roll my eyes. How could he be so dumb? "Luke, if you hadn't been there, Kronos would've destroyed the entire east coast by now."

His eyes grow wide, like he's trying to process something difficult to hear. "Speaking of Kronos, is he really...?"

"The guy from the greek myths?" I nod. "Yeah. He is."

"So you know," he realizes. "You know that the greek gods--that they're--"

"Real?" I finish for him. "I'm starting to gather that. You're kind of forced to realize that when the Lord of the Titans possesses you."

He flinches at the word. I clasp his hand, basking in the warmth of his skin.

"It makes sense now." His voice is so quiet I barely hear him.

I frown. "What does?"

"Why you left home," he clarifies. "You were running from him. Trying to protect your family so that when he finally... did what he did to you, your family wouldn't be in danger."

I'm silent. I don't know what to say to that. He's right. I just never thought he would figure it out so quickly.

"The Twin Towers fell yesterday," he informs me. "He—Kronos did that. The fucking Lord of the Titans."