The Mark of Athena (Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 41- Hazel

Chapter 41

Hazel

     “Hazel, wake up. Come on.”

     Everything was groggy and far away. Hazel’s head was pounding, her thoughts fuzzy and she couldn’t process where she was. The last thing she remembered was Khione’s cold smile. Now she ached everywhere.

     Something brushed against her cheek like a soft wing of a butterfly. Something else hit her cheek, a drop of warm water. A finger hastily wiped the tear away.

     The tear had not been hers.

     Her eyelids felt like a thousand pounds, but she managed to flutter her eyelids until she could see. She was in the infirmary, her head pounding. Leaning over her was a worried looking Annabeth with wet eyes.

     “Hazel’s up!” Annabeth yelled. “Leo! Percy!”

     Leo, Percy, and Frank jogged in. Hazel’s brain couldn’t process their fast movements, all she saw were clips of the three boys jogging over to her bedside.

     “Hey, sleepyhead,” Percy said with a smile. “Have a nice nap?”

     “What happened?” she asked, her words slurring together.

     “You gave her too much pain meds,” Frank muttered.

     “Khione took you,” Leo explained. “She came back to gloat about how she was going to rip us apart, and that she had messed with someone else. So we got you, all banged up.”

     “Mmm,” she answered. She could vaguely remember walking down the hall to go train when she saw Khione’s white dress and cruel smile when the world went dark…

     “Do you need anything?” Annabeth asked.

     Before Hazel could answer, someone from outside yelled, “Help!”

     “Oh good gods,” Annabeth screamed as she looked out the window. “Khione did mess with someone else!”

     Hazel tried to keep her eyes open. All she could hear was screaming and urgent voices to get medical supplies…

     Her hearing cut off suddenly as she was thrown into unconsciousness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

     When she finally awoke again, it felt like she had been gone for too long… way too long. She looked over, her mind loopy with pain medication, to see Piper on the other bed, her shirt stained with red around the collar, her face the color of a white cloud, and a bad wound just above her temple. Some of her hair strands had dried blood in it, which was gross.

     “How long have I been out?” Hazel croaked out.

     “About an hour,” Leo whispered. He had a small handheld mirror in his hand. “You might want to see.”

     When Hazel looked into the mirror, she wanted to throw the mirror at the wall. Her face was chalky and covered with sweat. She had a cut on her lip. She had a huge welt over her head that looked like it was recovering. If it was healing, she could not imagine how it must have looked like when she arrived…

     She sniffled. “I look awful.”

     “You just got taken by Khione. You’re not supposed to look like you walked out of a beauty salon.” Leo looked amused by his own joke.

     Feeling the urge to smack his hand, Hazel twitched her hand up. Before she could make contact with his skin, her arm recoiled. She looked at her arm and scowled. She had an IV attached to her vein.