PHILOXENIA ➸ Percy Jackson¹

δεκατρία

THIRTEEN—Homecoming

─── ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽☼☾.* :☆ﾟ｡ ───

Someone must have carried Lux and Ciaran to the infirmary, for the next morning, she woke up to a familiar ceiling.

For a moment, when her brain was still addled with sleep, she was gripped with panic. Was everything nothing but a dream, after all?

Lux nearly kicked the blanket off the bed with how fast she got up, her eyes darting around the room frantically. Her eyes fell on the person lying in the bed next to her, her shoulders falling in relief when she recognized the peaceful sleeping face of her brother.

It was dawn, but all strength seemed to leave her at that moment when she realized everything that happened yesterday was real. Ciaran was alive, and he did come back. She wasn't sure how, but it was the least of her concerns. Right now, all she needed to know was whether he was injured.

She slipped off the bed and walked over to his bedside. From a quick glance, there were no visible wounds on his face, though his skin was paler and more ashen than she remembered, as though his life was zapped out of him.

Lux stretched out a hand to touch him, but her fingers curled back in hesitation. What if this was all an illusion, and as soon as she touched him, he would disappear into thin air? She already had enough emotional turmoil for a day.

After a while, she gained enough courage to poke his cheek with her finger. Her heart nearly gave out when it made contact with his skin. He didn't stir. He was like her in that way, sleeping like the dead.

So he was real, after all. She wasn't dreaming.

Lux resisted the urge to crumble to the floor. She could finally breathe normally again.

She silently moved the blanket, bracing herself for what was underneath.

He had been changed out of his dirty clothes, and there were no bandages or signs of injury anywhere, though there were faint rope marks on his wrists. It looked like he had been bound, but by who?

After putting the blanket back into place, Lux pulled up a chair to sit by his bed. Knowing her brother, he wouldn't wake up anytime soon, but at least she would feel comforted being close to him.

"Lux! I'm glad to see you up," Michael said as he walked through the door. "How are you feeling?"

She opened her mouth to greet him, but all that left her were intense coughs. It appeared her throat still hadn't recovered from all the crying she did last night.

"Whoa, be careful there." He poured her a glass of water. "Here. Wouldn't want you to choke to death."

Lux downed the entire glass and let out a thankful sigh. She then gave Michael back the glass and motioned to Ciaran.

"Right, you must be worried about him," he said. "We gave him a check-up, and we didn't find any life-threatening injuries. We suspect that he's just exhausted. All he needs to do is rest."

Lux's lips curved into a relieved smile.

"He sure shocked all of us, appearing from the shadow like that." Michael crossed his arms. His forehead creased the slightest bit as a thought passed through his mind. He shrugged the expression off. "Well, the good thing is that he's alive, right?"

Lux nodded and intertwined her hand with Ciaran's, using her thumb to trace random patterns on the back of his hand. No matter what shape she began with, she would always end with a heart.

People came and went throughout the day, wanting to ask how Ciaran was and check up on Lux at the same time. Quinn showed up bearing a bouquet of bright golden sunflowers and blue irises accented with green foliage.