The Daughter of Artemis ψ Percy Jackson

Ch. 4: Running To Camp Half-Blood

I let out a low curse as Cherrie placed an excessively large bandaid onto my cheek; a dismal attempt to keep the wound from bleeding out. "Sorry! Sorry!" She waved her hands around frantically, trying to find some way to fix the problem, but well aware of the fact that she was no nurse.

"I think I'm gonna need stitches," I sighed and rested my forehead on her counter top, feeling as if my entire face was aflame. Orion padded over to me, the light sounds of his footsteps echoing off the wooden flooring as he pawed my leg in worry. "It's okay, the Fury is gone," I mumbled to him and picked him up, wanting to be reassuring to the tiny puppy.

Cherrie stopped looking through her cabinets for peroxide and turned to me, eyes flickering from my tired expression to the panting pup in my hands. "What did you call it?"

"Er...A Fury? I thought that was what they were called," I trailed off, letting my words trickle away like the rain pelting against the kitchen windows, petting Orion.

Cherrie shook her head at me, a scowl on her lips. "How did you know that? And, never call it by that name!" She scolded me.

"Why?" I furrowed my brow, watching her as she began to squeeze her hands nervously, pacing across the kitchen with anxiety. "When I was fighting...it, a-a voice sort of whispered into my ear and, and... told me what it was called."

"A voice?" Cherrie's face paled as she swooned a little, managing to keep her balance by grabbing on to the counter top with her hands. Worried for her, I jump up from my seat and held out my hands, in case she fainted. "I'm fine, come on. We need to get you packed."

"Packed?" I followed Cherrie as she walked into the closet and pulled out a large suitcase and an ancient looking rope. "For what?"

"I have to get you somewhere safe." Cherrie barely even glanced towards me as she waddled to the room I had been staying in and began emptying the drawers we had just filled only a few hours before.

"But Cherrie, the danger is gone. I killed the Fu-it!" I watched as she filled the suitcase. Trying to be helpful, Orion picked up a ball of socks that she had dropped, then he padded over to the bedside, hopped onto the mattress and placed the ball into the suitcase. A smile spread on my face as I watched him, but his cuteness was still not enough to replace the sense of confusion I was feeling.

Cherrie gave me a weary look. "Olive, I will explain when we are on our way, but for now,... well you have just got to trust me."

Sending her a withering glance, I nodded my head. Her mind was made up. "All right, I'll trust you." I quickly helped her finish packing my single bag and shoving all the things left over into my backpack.

Cherrie picked up the rope and started to tie a small loop at the end.

"Uhm, Cherrie?" I eyed the rope with suspicion. "What is that for?"

"Come here, Orion." Cherrie pat her thigh and Orion waddled over to her, tongue lapping out of his mouth. She bent down and pulled his head through the loop. "A leash!" She grinned at me and handed me the end of the rope.

I grabbed Orion's leash, my backpack and one suitcase. I didn't want Cherrie carrying too much in her condition. Quickly, we jogged to the car and put everything into her trunk, the unusually persistent rain soaking my hair down almost as soon as we went out the door.

"Oh Olive! Your iPod," Cherrie sighed and handed it to me as we buckled into our seats, shivering in the damp cold of the car. "It finished loading when you were fighting it."