Austin Cooper 1: Son of Athena

Kelp Brain

  I started to hear a noise coming from outside and my consciousness slowly returned. I opened my eyes and twisted my stiff neck to look out the window.

Chiron was standing outside facing away from my window and Bella was telling him something I couldn't make out.

Bella was wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt and jean shorts. She looked so natural in it, like she had been wearing it her whole life.

   Since we wore uniforms at our school it's sometimes weird to see her not wearing the plain shirt and skirt, but she looked perfect in the normal Camp Half-Blood outfit.

She had combat boots on today as well, and her curly hair pulled back at the top so her blue streak stood out from her dark hair. She was chewing gum, which is not a surprise. She chews gum all class. She claims it helps her focus. The thought of something so small and familiar staying the same even in this crazy environment made me smile, but I pushed it away and strained my ears to try and hear what they are saying.

What are they talking about? I see Chiron shake his head and say something and then is occurs to me that Bella is not whatsoever shocked to see he is half-horse.

Usually he waits a few days to reveal the white stallion part of him that is hidden in a human wheelchair, but there he stood. The full glory of his horse-ness on display.

Together, they start to walk towards the door of the infirmary so I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.

  I hear the sound of the door opening and squeaking closed. "He must have fallen asleep again," I hear Chiron say with concern heavy in his voice.

"What did May say his temperature was?" Bella asks in a soft voice. She was whispering as if even her talking would wake me. "102," Chiron replies.

Slowly, I open my eyes.

  Bella was sitting in a chair near my bed, her legs crossed and her elbow on her knee while her chin rest casually in her hand. Chiron is now in his wheelchair next to her.

They both studied me with concerned eyes and for a moment didn't say anything.

    "Hey," Bella said quietly. She mustered a smile but her hands were shaking. She must have realized this too because she tightened her hands into fist to attempt and steady them. "Did we wake you up?"

"No," I reply hoarsely, surprised when my voice came out weak and quiet. "I was already waking up."

   "Well, I will let you kids talk for awhile." Chiron added with a concerned expression in my direction before nodding to Bella.

I have known Chiron for most of my life. I spend my summers at camp and talk to the centaur a lot. He's like my half-horse grandpa, and so I could easily see he was worried for me, but he nodded to me then rolled to the door.

   Once Chiron left, Bella exploded with questions. "Are you ok?! What the heck is going on? One minute I'm having a nice night, and the next my best friend is fighting a monster who looks like a girl, who went to the dance with someone from our school who is also a monster!" Her sentence came out in one breath and when it was all out she gulped in air and waited for me to respond with an expression that demanded answers.

   I looked at her in amazement. She was freaking out inside though I would have never known. She covered up her worry and confusion with a confident smile and nobody knew.

   I look down and see that her right hand has a bandage around it. "What happened to your hand?" I ask weakly, I tried to reach over to take her hand but lifting my own limbs felt like lifting dead weight. Bella noticed this but quickly adverted her eyes to meet mine and drew her hand away from the bed. "What? Are you kidding? Look at you!" She answered with round eyes, she looked on the verge of having a full freak out.

I smile. "I'm fine." I croak, but even I didn't believe that.

"No, you're not!" Bella yells back. She sounded angry now and not just annoyed. "If I weren't a stupid demigod of the stupid big whatever their called, this would never have happened!"

I look out the window expecting some lighting or something, but surprisingly nothing happened. I turn back to her with a cautious expression, praying the gods would excuse her outburst.

   "It's not your fault," I answer before clearing my weak voice. "What happened to your hand?" I ask again patiently.

"When Drue's claws came out he cut my hand a little," she answered and unwrapped the bandage with a frown.

She holds up her hand and smiles exaggeratedly. "See, good as new. I just put some water over it and it's fine." She looked at her hand like she still didn't believe what happened.

"That's awesome," I say. "I wish I could do that," I add with a laugh that turned into a wince. Was it possible I felt worse than the last time I woke? Well, judging on how I felt now I would say that's a defiant yes.

"How bad is your side?" Bella asks softly.

I shake my head. "I don't know, but if it made me this sick then I am pretty sure I don't want to look at it," I said with a weak lopsided grin.

    Bella sighs. "Thanks for saving my life, Owl Brain," she says punching my shoulder lightly.

I laugh hoarsely. "No problem, Kelp Brain. I guess you found out who my godly parent is?" 

"Yep!" Bella said proudly. "Now I know why you're such a brainiac at school."

I hear the door open. "Yo! I'm back!" Sam announces before I could answer Bella. He walks through the door with large tray of food in his hands.

"I bet you're hungry!"