Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Seventy

I finally woke up in the Hospital Wing (I had to be setting some sort of record now). Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Luke had all set up chairs around my bed. I was surprised that Madame Pomfrey would let them do that, but as she hovered over me, she didn't say anything to them.

"Not Narcolepsy," she murmured. "Miss McKeon, are you alright?"

"I'm..." I almost said "I'm fine," but when I met Luke's eyes all I could see was him grabbing the knife I offered and stabbing himself. A wave of nausea overcame me, and luckily Madame Pomfrey had quick reflexes, otherwise my vomit would've ended up on her robes instead of in a bucket. My friends all yelped in alarm and surged up from their chairs, not away from me, but toward me. Hermione reached for my hair and pulled it away from my face as I heaved, and the boys all patted me on the back with various degrees of awkwardness.

"I really hope you're not going to try to tell us you're fine now," Ron said. "Because we're not even going to pretend like we believe you."

"Ash, is there something wrong?" Harry asked me, his hand still on my shoulder.

"You can tell us," Hermione said.

"Should tell me," Madame Pomfrey corrected. "It is my job to ensure that every student here is physically and mentally well. You are clearly not."

"Ash, it's great that you're a strong person, and we know you don't like asking for help, but we really just want to make sure you're okay," Luke added.

I appreciated all of them, but at that moment I just really wanted to get out of there.

"I... I need some air," I gasped, shoving Harry and Ron out of the way to scramble out of bed and dart out of the Hospital Wing, ignoring four shocked friends and an indignant school matron.

I ran for the library because I figured that would be the quietest place. I just had to duck behind a shelf in a row that wasn't occupied by students who were making out right under Madam Pince's beaky nose.

Once I was alone and far enough out of earshot from the unreasonably loud kissing noises one couple was making, I sat on the bottom rung on one of the ladders and tried to think.

Luke was going to fall victim to Kronos' influence. He would betray Camp Half-Blood and the gods. Eventually he would allow Kronos to take control of his body and invade Mount Olympus. Then, to defeat Kronos, Luke would sacrifice himself and die.

I needed to do something about this. I didn't know what, but I couldn't just get over what I'd seen and accept that Luke was going to die. I remembered Annabeth's face when she realized Thalia was gone, and again when Luke died in my vision. She looked like someone had stabbed her in the heart.

It was bad enough that I hadn't been able to save Thalia and she'd died. I wasn't going to let that happen to Luke.

But really, what could I do? I was practically helpless.

I buried my head in my hands. I heard the footsteps of someone arriving at the end of the row and felt a twinge of annoyance at whoever was interrupting my "drowning in my own uselessness" session but it was still the library after all, and people needed their books.

"Sorry," I mumbled to the newcomer. "I'll move."

"McKeon, what are you doing back here?"

I looked up in annoyance as I recognized the voice and saw the face of the only person who could make the situation worse.

"Malfoy, just leave me alone," I sighed, putting my head back down. "Go back to finding whatever book you were looking for."

"It's in this row."