Signs of a Storm

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter 44: Tara Again

When I woke up, it was dark.

My memories were vague, but I remembered Nico knocking me out. I sat up, and a burst of pain exploded in my stomach.

I groaned, and sat back down. My whole body ached, but my torso was in so much pain I could barely move. I wanted it to end. But I knew that it was partly my fault. I insisted on fighting when we got back to camp. I insisted on moving so much, Nico even had to put me to sleep using force. I sighed. My life felt so broken.

The only thing I remembered clearly was the kiss.

It was soft and light, and just recalling the memory made me tingle with happiness. I now knew what the weird feeling was inside of me. I had taken an interest in Nico di Angelo. It was abrupt, and unexpected. Bu I didn't regret it one bit.

I yearned for him to come back, and sit with me once again. I actually felt like some of the weight was taken away when he was talking with me.

It was relieving.

But no such relief came to my aid. Instead, I slowly stood up, and made my way out of the infirmary, searching for help. Maybe we could finally leave New Rome, and maybe I could finally have a restart, a do over, I could be happy.

And you would've thought that the Fates would be kind, considering that I had just been put through hell, but they weren't. I searched all throughout the town, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of one of my fellow Greeks. I even would have settled for Leo. A bright light caught my eye over by the Field of Mars, and so I went towards it.

My leg and side hurt so badly I wanted to scream, but I managed to make it without collapsing. And to my luck, it was Percy.

"Percy!" I shouted.

He looked over to me, and a smile escaped his mouth. He ran over and embraced me into a big hug. "You ready to go home?" he asked.

I nodded vigorously, "Yes! When can we go?"

Percy's smile widened, "Now, actually. We should just probably say goodbye to Hazel and Reyna." He stalked off, and towards the town.

We found Hazel near the infirmary, she was there to actually check on me; but since I wasn't there, she had decided to leave. I hugged her goodbye and we shared a few words. "I'll never forget you, Hazel." I smiled through brimming eyes.

"I hope our paths will cross again, sometime. Maybe I can visit you next Christmas, or maybe even before then." She said, and I had agreed almost immediately.

Reyna was found feeding her silver and gold dogs, and no words were exchanged between the two of us, except for when she said, "For your bravery, you're welcome back anytime. The gates of New Rome are open to you." I had thanked her and left.

The whole time I had been walking around Rome, I couldn't stop thinking about Nico. Where was he? Don't tell me that had been a dream. "Percy, where's Leo and Nico? It's almost lunch timed and I haven't seen them all day." I said.

He just briefly looked at me, and then pointed to the borderline of Rome. "They had to go back to Camp Half-Blood immediately; there was some sort of quest that they had to attend to. Dunno, Chiron called, they answered."

I sighed and let the horrible mood take over. Maybe Nico was embarrassed or something, because it seemed like he was avoiding me. I hopped onto Blackjack, yet again, and we made our way back to Long Island Sound.

This was going to take forever.

~*~

My thinking was that when we had defeated Khione and her evil little squad that I wouldn't have any problems on the way back to camp.