Sina Saves

Chapter 29: Misery, Loneliness, Hopeless, and All the Wonderful Things

Okay, I couldn't cry yet; we had to get back to camp and save it. I blinked hard as I ran. I saw Jason, strained and freaked the fuck out. "Sina, get Annie! The Camp could be in ruins!" he barked.

"On it!" I focused on Annie as I ran into in the shadows. I appeared in a quiet, dark room. Annie didn't look great: dull eyes, messy hair. "Annie! Camp's under attack, gotta go now!"

I grabbed her wrist before she could even register what I said. Her breath had an undertone of lemon; she hadn't eaten in a while. Regardless, the shadows got darker, and we were back in old headquarters.

Nico turned to face me, his face showing panic. I hoped another breakdown wasn't in his future because one was definitely in mine. "We got your stuff; pegasi in the air. We're out."

We all scrambled around. I saw Levi and Mikasa, both worried. "We'll be back soon, I swear!" Armin ran up to me.

"Sina, I...I don't want to lose you now. I... I can't."

I turned away from Nico and cradled Armin's face. "You aren't losing me. I swear on the River of Styx that I will be back for you as long as I live."

His eyes had tears dripping out of them. I wiped them away with my thumb. Tears started falling from my eyes. For a moment, the chaos around us disappeared. We moved closer. I was going to kiss him; I didn't care about anything else.

"All right! Let's go! Circle up!" Nico grabbed my arm gently. I took one last second to stare at Armin before closing my eyes hard and turning away. I grabbed Reyna's hand, and my Armin was gone.

•••

Campers were running around with an assortment of weapons and healing kits. Giants were wreaking havoc. Annabeth cursed and informed us that they were Norse giants. I didn't waste time wondering and unsheathed my blades.

I flicked my left to a sword for the slashies and kept my right a dagger for the throwies. And I threw my dagger into a thirty-footer's eye and sliced his Achilles' tendon. He turned around like why did a very sharp bug fly into my eye and why does my ankle feel funny?

[Giants are intelligent.]

It fell over super gracefully and brought down a few trees. I stabbed my sword into its chest cavity, and my sword lengthened until it pierced the giant's heart. I pulled out my sword and dagger. Gross.

I helped Nico by cutting one from behind, but I accidentally let bitterness out. Nico barely managed to get out of the way before the giant toppled over. Oops.

I looked around and realized there weren't any giants anymore. I had no idea how many there were to begin with. Exhaustion finally pushed Adrenaline and Fury out of the way, and I passed out like a frick-fracken hero.

•••

I woke up in the infirmary. Annie was beside me reading. "Good book?"

She looked up and nodded. She closed it softly. "You said you spoke a different language, but I can understand it. Everyone can understand me. Why?"

"Ah, that, you see, is because magic." She didn't seem satisfied with my answer. "So basically Hermes, the god of travel and travelers, has blessed us so everybody understands each other. My dad worked it out somehow. You can't read though, but most demigods can't because of dyslexia."

"Dyslexia?"

"Disorder that makes reading really difficult. I personally don't have it, but most demigods do. It's because our brains are made for Greek or Latin or whatever."

"Because that makes sense."

"Hey, in the great world of demigodness everything makes sense."

She snorted. "So do you feel fine then?"

"Yeah, I just used up all my energy. Oh, did you talk to Chiron?"

"The centaur? No."

"We should do that. Then, you can meet my friend Meg. She's pretty...cool."

[I was going to say different. but that might've not gone over the best. It wouldn't have been mean because it's true though tbh.]

I got out of the bed and found Will. I told him we were leaving before we walked to the Big House. Chiron was in his wheelchair on the porch. "Hey Chiron, I'm still alive. Isn't that great?"

He smiled dryly, clearly upset about the slaughter of the nature spirits. "And this is Annie Leonhart?"

"Yeah. I feel like she'll fit in here pretty well."

He smiled. "She can stay in the Big House. Annie's bedroom is on the left side at the end of the hall."

"Cool." I jumped down the steps. "So Annie, I guess I'll introduce you to Meg, but then I'll need to sleep for a bit."

In reality, I was close to a breakdown.

She nodded, and I took her to the Demeter cabin. I pounded on the door. "Meg!"

"Hold your damn horses!"

She opened the door and glared at me for several seconds before breaking into a smile. "Back with a bang much?" She punched my shoulder and turned to Annie. "I swear she's one of the biggest show-offs I've ever met, and I know Poseidon Jr. and Zeus Jr."

"You mean Percy and Jason? They don't seem like show-offs."

"They aren't until they start arguing over who's cooler. Then, they start raving about what they've done. Usually, they ask some poor schmuck to judge. It's usually me, Nico, or Hazel. It's the prime relationship between the big three."

Meg laughed. "Too true."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go sleep. Have fun."

I trudged to the Hades cabin, and my mind immediately wandered to Armin. Just thinking about him made me smile, but I already missed him so much. I wanted to scream, cry, and throw things.

"Sina? Are...are you okay?" I looked over and saw Mitchell. When I didn't answer, he continued, "It's not my place to ask, but you're hurting. If you... if you need anything..."

"I'm okay, really. Don't worry about it."

Annoyingly enough, he persisted, "Is it about your family or that guy that Lacy and Piper constantly talked about?"

"What? Nevermind. It's okay. Buzz off, bumblebee." I forced a laugh and made a shooing gesture. He didn't look convinced, but he slipped his hands in his pockets and stalked away. For the first time, I didn't hold any regret.

Then, I went back to my cabin and cried.