Solangelo: The Infirmary

It Hurts

Nico woke up the next morning to screaming.
He shot out of bed and looked around. A young girl, maybe 13 or so, with dirty blonde hair was laying on a bed closer to the entrance of the infirmary, screaming at the top of her lungs. Apollo campers were surrounding her doing doctory stuff. Nico looked to Leo's bed, but he wasn't there. Nico shrugged it off and directed his attention back to the scene, and saw a tall blonde boy trying to clam the girl down. He ran over to the crowd and tapped Will on his shoulder.
Will waved Nico off without looking at him and continued trying to talk to the girl. Nico peeked over Will's shoulder to look at the girl.
He felt a tug in the bottom in his stomach when he saw her. She had what looked like a giant thorn pierced in her side. Nico backed away panicked and stumbled to the floor. He was feeling her dying. Katie emerged from the crowd of Apollo campers and helped Nico up. Her face was strained as she glanced back to the girl before guiding Nico to the opposite end of the infirmary.
"Nico you can't go over there." Katie said sternly.
"W-what ha-happened?" Nico stuttered, staring past Katie to the girl.
"A monster attacked her in the woods. She got stabbed by one of it's poisonous spikes. She's-"
"Dying." Nico finished. "I know. I can feel it. She doesn't have long." Nico finally met Katie's eyes.
"We're trying our best to help her, but we can't take out the spike, she could die from blood loss or her insides would get even more messed up."
"You have to take out the spike. The poison is still being injected into her body. I can feel how a person's going to die, and right now she's going to die from the poison. Take. Out. The. Spike." Nico stared at Katie while she pursed her lips.
"You sure?"
"Yes I'm sure now HURRY!" Nico yelled exasperated. The feeling in his gut was getting heavier. Much more of this, and it would just stop, along with her heart.
Katie nodded before turning around and yelling, "WILL!" As she ran back to the scene. Nico watched as Katie yanked Will away from the still screaming girl and frantically told him what Nico had said. Will's head whipped to Nico's direction and he asked a silent question. Nico nodded frantically and pointed to the girl. "RIGHT NOW WILL!" Nico shouted. Will nodded and raised his voice.
"Apollo campers! We're taking the spike out now. It's still injecting more poison. I need Lance, Sherri and Willow at her wound and using the most powerful closing charm you know as soon as George and me pull out the spike. I need everyone else to back up!" Some of the Apollo campers gave Will unbelieving looks, but obeyed his word. George and Will stood at the girl's side while three other campers stood right behind them. Will and George looked at each other and nodded.
Ear splitting screams echoed-probably through the whole camp- and the weight in Nico's stomach pulled harder than ever.
*****
She died. Nico knew it before the Apollo campers did. She had passed out from the pain after they pulled out the spike, and an hour later the almost unbearable weight just... Stopped. Nico sat on the bed next to the girl, despite much of the Apollo campers displease. He spent the hour willing the weight to lighten, instead of getting heavier. It didn't hurt, but when he was concentrating on a certain person close to death, the weight appears. Will sat with him most of the time, bringing him into hugs and trying to calm him. By then all of Will's siblings had known about Will and Nico, and Nico Was to busy thinking about the girl in front of him to care.
Nico learned her name was Gracie. She was 13 and had came to CHB only a year ago.
"She was only 13." Nico mumbled into Will's chest. Will had pulled Nico onto his lap as they took Gracie's body away. Tears threatened to come out, so Nico hid his face in Will's chest. Nico didn't understand why he cared so much about the girl.
"Why was she in the forest?" Nico asked, looking up to Will.
"We don't know." Will sighed. They sat in silence for a while before Nico stood up and pulled Will with him. He walked to cabin 6 first, dragging Will with him. He knocked on the door and Malcolm answered.
"Hey Nico. Hey Will. What do you need?" He asked.
"I don't know. Nico, why are we here?" Will asked stupidly. Nico rolled his eyes.
"Is Annabeth here?" He asked impatiently.
"No. I think she's with Percy at the beach."
"Okay bye." Nico said as he pulled Will to the Aphrodite cabin. They knocked and Drew answered this time.
"What do you want?" She asked lazily.
"Is Piper here?" Drew turned her head and scanned the inside of the cabin. She turned back to them.
"Yeah." She said and closed the door. Nico bit back a few words he wanted to say and knocked again.
"What?" Drew snapped.
"We need to talk to her." Nico said sharply.
"PIPER SOME GUYS WANT TO TALK TO YOU!" Drew screamed over her shoulder.
"Shut up Drew I was like ten feet away. Hey guys what's- WHOA!" Piper yelled as Nico grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door.
"Piper find Jason and Leo and meet us in front of the infirmary ASAP." Nico said as he let go of Piper's arm.
"But Leo took Festus and is giving Hazel and Frank a ride back to camp Jupiter." Piper said stopping Nico in his tracks.
"Hazel left?" Nico asked.
"Yeah she came to the infirmary early this morning to say goodbye to you but when she tried waking you, the best she could get was you being half awake, half asleep. Do you not remember?" Will asked Nico.
"I guess not." When Nico thought about it, he couldn't remember anything from the night before. The last thing he remembered was Leo falling asleep. But Nico felt tired, and he could have sworn he didn't fall asleep until much later...
"Whatever. Just find Jason then." And with that, Nico pulled Will towards the beach.