The New Demigods

Chapter 16: Shadow

We lowered Horace into the healing pool, so only his head was out of the water.

"Horace, can you hear me?" Piper spoke loud and clear. "Horace, we're going to need you to make any noise or movement to indicate that you're okay." We hadn't exactly been able to take all the care moving him into my room - as we stumbled our way through the forest, the ground shaking violently beneath us. About halfway back, Horace's moans stopped and we feared the worst.

"Why isn't it working?" Scarlett asked, looking over Horace's still injured body.

"I don't know, maybe it needs more time" I responded.

Piper put her fingers to Horace's neck, checking for a pulse.

"He's alive, but his heart rate is very faint."

We all took a seat in the water, surrounding Horace, watching as our own wounds were healed by the pool.

"You still have a goose egg on your forehead," Scarlett said, breaking the long silence.

"Oh, right, didn't even feel it anymore." I dunked my head under the water and came back up to both of the girls staring at me in shock. "What? Is it still there?"

"No! We need to dunk Horace!" Piper said with excitement.

"Are you sure we're not going to drown him?"

"Honestly, no, I'm not sure, but I think being electrocuted damaged his brain," we all paused to shudder at the thought. "Help me slide his legs down. Scarlett, you hold his head."

We repositioned Horace from a sitting position to floating on his back in the pool - Scarlett and I both stared nervously at Piper waiting for her direction.

"Okay on the count of three, we dunk him." We all nodded. "One, two, three!"

I fought against my instincts, as we pushed Horace under the water until even his head was submerged and then pulled him up. Nothing changed.

"He's still not awake."

"I know, I know - we just need to do it longer," Piper said. Scarlett and I exchanged glances.

"Are you sure?"

"No," Piper's voice broke. "Ready? One, two... three." We submerged Horace for longer this time, both looking at Piper for when to pull him up. Piper's eyes stayed glued to Horace's face and she mouthed numbers, counting how long he was under.

Just when it was getting to feel a little too long, Horace's body surged with life and began to thrash in the water.

"Pull him up!"

He resurfaced with a gasp of air and looked around at us with wide eyes. His panic then turned to relief and he wrapped his arms around us. I felt tears well up in my eyes as we all embraced.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I said.

We held each other for several minutes all weeping in relief. When we finished wiping away our tears, we decided it would be best if we didn't spend the rest of the night alone in our cabins, so the girls left together to sleep in Piper's bed and Horace stayed with me in mine.

I fell asleep with my leg pressed up against his, feeling comforted by his presence.

That night, I had my first dream since reaching Mount Olympus.

"That was unacceptable!" screamed a familiar voice. "That boy thinks he can attack me from behind, like some sort of coward."

We were in, what appeared to be, an ancient greek temple. There was an altar lined with sacrifices, but the statue that stood at the altar was impossible for me to make out, despite how hard I tried.

The outburst was coming from a Greek soldier, dressed in hoplite armour and gripping a spear, he paced the temple in frustration. I recognized his voice immediately because it had been in my head for a month now.

His pacing came to an abrupt stop and he turned to face me, spear ready, he approached me with determination.

"He should be dead, we should have killed that boy."

"No," I argued, with a confidence assumed by the safety of being in a dream. "I'm not killing anybody."

"Then you're not going to last more than a couple of days on your quest," the voice laughed. "It's kill, or be killed - when are you going to get that?" He turned away from me and took a seat at the foot of the altar, throwing down his spear and taking a bite of an apple that had been left as a sacrifice.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I have promised not to tell you that," he said, taking off his helmet to reveal his blonde hair and large eyes.

"Promised who?"

"Can't tell you that either."

"Great, very helpful."

"Look, kid, think of me as..." he threw his apple aside, "your shadow."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You know, always with you and grows stronger just before the dark."

"Right." I didn't know what he meant.

"I'm going to make sure nothing bad happens to you, you just have to let me protect you."

"If protecting me means killing the other demigods, I'll pass."

"You saw what he did to Horace - he is a disgrace to Zeus!" He pushed the sacrifices off of the altar, vases and plates shattering onto the ground. "There was no honour in that fight."

My stomach tied in knots, remembering Horace's limp body in my arms.

"So all the demigods have a voice in their head helping them fight?"

"No," he laughed. "And it's very important that you don't tell them about me. You can't tell anyone about me, especially not Gaia."

I was disappointed that nobody else was going through this experience, but I also had no idea how I would go about explaining the warrior voice in my head giving me information and taking over my body every once in a while. Not telling Gaia felt like a betrayal, but there were plenty of things she wasn't telling me and the voice had saved me enough times during the tournament to earn my trust.

"Okay," I agreed. I heard a faint knocking in the distance that started growing louder. "What is that?" I asked.

"Time for you to go, Gemini."

"What am I even supposed to call you?" I asked, as my dream began to fade.

"I already told you - Shadow." He answered, putting his helmet back on and grabbing his spear.

I awoke from my dream to pounding on my front door.