Battling Demons: Book 2 [COMPLETED]

Chapter 22: Investigation

Will's POV:

The infirmary door opened at exactly 10 am. Kayla was reporting for her shift. She looked rough, with her hair in a messy bun and bags under her eyes. She walked right past Will without seeing him.

"You look terrible." He muttered.

She turned slowly. "You should look in a mirror yourself, Will. Did you sleep at all last night?" Will didn't answer which proved to be an answer itself. "You need to sleep, at least eat something."

He could have gone to breakfast with Leo, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper, but he had stayed behind, hoping to convince Kayla to let him see Nico.

"I can't-" Will's voice broke with emotion. "I can't function, not knowing what's going to happen to him." He looked up with big sad eyes at Kayla. "You have to let me see him. Please."

Kayla looked deeply into his eyes as if analyzing his emotions. If only she could see his true inner turmoil. She sighed. "I suppose you can go in. Just for a few minutes though."

"Thank you." Will almost cried in relief.

Kayla led him through the hallway and to the door. She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Brandon, who was sitting in a chair, nodding off, was startled awake.

"Kayla! I wasn't- Nico has been stable all night, with no change-" he saw Will. "What is he doing here?"

"I said that he could see him for a few minutes," Kayla responded. "Be gentle with him."

Will walked around Kayla and into the room. His focus immediately went to his boyfriend. Tons of wires and tubes were connected to his body. Will sat in a chair right beside the bed and grabbed Nico's hand. Nico's exposed chest was heavily bruised. His nose had been put back into place, but there was a bruise in the shape of a fist on his cheek. He looked like he was in bad shape. But the heart monitor indicated that he had a steady heartbeat. He was breathing steadily with the help of a ventilator.

"Who could have done this to Nico?" Brandon asked. "What would possess anyone to hurt Nico this badly?"

"I have no idea. Piper is talking to Chiron. We are opening an investigation to figure out who did this. Whoever did this had almost killed Nico. And they are going to pay for what they did." Will vowed. He looked to Kayla. "How long until he wakes up?"

"Chiron said that Nico was in a sort of coma. Medically speaking, he could wake up at any time. But something is going on in his head that doesn't want to allow him to wake up. We can't figure it out." Kayla explained. "But he isn't out of the woods yet. His injuries are severe and delicate enough that if one thing goes wrong, we could lose him."

Will crumbled his hands into a fist, longing to rip into his skin. This was his fault. "Why couldn't I help him, Kayla? What happened? I've healed injuries like that before?"

"You were scared, and you froze. It happens to the best of us." Kayla reasoned.

Will got up, walking towards the cabinet.

"I was talking to Percy yesterday. He said that Rachel wasn't having visions. Could dad being missing be the reason I lost my power?" Will asked. "Am I powerless without dad guiding me? Do I not have any skill on my own?"

"You've fixed people with your powers even when dad has been missing. He was still missing over the summertime when you fixed Nico." Kayla said, referring to Nico's first huge injury when Will had knocked himself out for days.

"Why couldn't Chiron heal Nico all the way? Nico is still in pretty terrible shape. When I've healed him before, he was perfectly healthy afterward."

"The skills you showed healing Nico in the past are phenomenal. Chiron doesn't possess the level of healing magic that you do. He's said so himself."