Second Chances: Another Wrong Move

Chapter Four

**Will Solace**

I stared up at Percy, eyes furrowing worriedly as he went limp in the hold of the large monster. The liquid spilling from his chest seemed to reflect the light that touched it, making it easier for me to see how much blood the son of Poseidon was loosing. I retreated from the fight to grab a stretcher and the camp's version of an IV.

My brother, Austin, looked like he wanted to run after me, but I shooed him back to the fight. He was a talented healer, but I knew his archery skills could at least annoy the minotaur enough to make him drop Percy and retreat. If we couldn't necessarily kill it, driving it away was our next best thing. He reluctantly turned back around as I disappeared from his field of vision.

I started by clearing off a bed in the front of the infirmary. There were a few children of Hephaestus sitting around the bed I had chosen, but I chose to ignore them. Their injuries, by now, were minor and nearly recovered. There were more pressing matters to deal with, namely the giant gash on Percy's chest.

Once I had the bed cleaned off, I paused for a brief moment to look around slowly. My gaze swept over the counters on the edges of the cabin. There didn't seem to be any unused IVs laying around, and I sighed and started to rummage through some of the drawers, ignoring labels in favor of quick glancing. I eventually found a few in the back of the infirmary. I grabbed one and quickly set it up. On my way out the door, I snatched up a stretcher and pushed it out of camp.

The crowd of campers and Chiron were still trying to get the minotaur to drop Percy. Though he was far away, and it was hard to see him closely, I was at least able to tell that his usual tan skin tone was unmistakably paler. I rushed to the front of the crowd, holding onto the stretcher until it was directly beside Nico.

"You need to get him down," I said, staring at Nico. "I don't care how you do it, but there is no way I can help him if he loses anymore blood."

Nico's sister ran up to him, and I wondered where she had been beforehand. The two of them were usually inseparable. She looked up at the son of Poseidon in his arms.

"You'll need to shadow travel up there," she looked her brother in his eyes. "You could land on his hands - stab him or slash at him until he tries to go for you. When he lets go of Percy and reaches for you, grab Perce's hand and bring him back down here."

As much as I hated the Son of Hades shadow traveling anywhere, I nodded in agreement. Nico sighed, and the next thing I knew, Nico was doing exactly as his sister had suggested. His sword was raised and slashing at every finger and knuckle he had access to.

At first, the minotaur didn't even react to the consistent stabbing. I was actually nervous that Percy would die before the monster let him go. The minutes between Nico's solo fight and the moment in which Percy started to fall had me tense, but I let out a loud, relieved sigh when I saw the large creatures meaty hands unclench from around the son of Poseidon while reaching for Nico. Nico's arm shot out, and the shadows hid them for a moment as he clasped his dominant hand around Percy's wrist.

They both appeared a couple feet away from the stretcher as our friends took the opportunity to swarm our current enemy. They didn't care about the damage they would cause to the creature; they didn't have to worry about Percy anymore. I quickly turned to help Nico place Percy on the stretcher before running to the infirmary with the two Children of Hades running after me.

The children of Hephaestus all gasped, and Jake Mason sat up too quickly from his bed. "I thought Percy died," he exclaimed, his voice showing pain. "I can't believe he's here."

"He did die," Nico replied for me, sighing. "He went through the Doors of Death, and he's very much alive now. He's just... without his memories."

There were more questions, but Nico shut them down. He looked about concerned for Percy as I was. I grabbed the IV bag and began to set it up.

From the corner of my eyes, I watched as Nico stumbled slightly as he tried to walk away from Percy's cot. I had a feeling he was just trying to give me some space to work, but it looked more like he was a drunken man trying to get away from his boss. I sighed as he glanced at me nervously.

"Sit, Nico," I said through the breath of air. "You've shadow travelled too much. I need to get you some nectar once I finished setting up this IV, and I'll get Percy some, too."

I rolled my eyes as he sat dramatically, yet I didn't regret my words. I had seen him fade a few times before - the times his sister was sent on a quest had had him following her around to make sure she was okay. He'd come back to camp, nearly gone. The nectar always seemed to help a little bit, and when we had it, I knew unicorn draught would always push the problem away.

I stopped fiddling with the saline bag and stepped away before  doing as I said I would. I grabbed the drink of the gods and a baggy of ambrosia and brought it back to Nico. I let him drink as much nectar as he thought was appropriate before dripping some into Percy's mouth and force feeding him the food of the gods.

I gave a relieved smile as some of his tan returned to his face.

1/26/19