The Real World || Percy Jackson Olympians Fanfiction (2)

Chapter 12

"We have to climb the mountain. Soon."

"Well done genius, I'm sure none of us thought of that! And you might be forgetting a little girl, that we know next to nothing about, we can't take with us and can't leave behind?" Nico growled. Someone had woken up grumpy, although he wasn't the only one.

"Look, death boy, I don't care what it takes and I don't care what we have to do. We need to get up that mountain!" I shouted.

That morning, I had woken up from the worst nightmare I had ever had. Leo had still been laying with me then, so he woke up to the sound of me crying. The dream was so terrible that I hadn't been able to talk about it, but I made it very clear how much it had affected me.

Nico had come back last night to the sight of me and Leo sleeping next to each other on the floor. I woke up to the sound of the door closing, but Leo slept on innocently. Nico hadn't noticed me being awake, so he didn't know that I had sat in the dark and listened to him cursing in Italian.

"What is wrong with you this morning? Stop being such a brat or else we're just going to end up not doing a thing."

"Don't talk to her that way!" Leo interrupted. "Doesn't feel so good when someone's rightfully treating you the way you treat them, does it?"

"Getting protective now, are you? Maybe we should take this outside, away from the ladies," Nico mocked, which I was coming pretty used to by now.

"Mummy and Daddies are fighting!" The girl wailed, only adding to the noise and chaos.

It was still the morning and the four of us had gathered in the kitchen to eat and come up with a plan. So far, we had only ticked off the first thing from the list. Everything else had purely been us arguing, which hadn't been helping my killer headache.

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!"

"Why, baby can't handle a bit of disagreement?"

"Nico! Stop being such a... Such... Just..."

I had to get out of there. I was suffocating in this atmosphere, which wouldn't help us later, if my dream was correct. The snow seemed so inviting right now to my fevered body, so I went to it.

My brain didn't allow me to stop for a coat or any means of warmth, I just stormed outside wearing my black leggings and my long checked T-shirt.

The wind blew my long hair around my face, exposing my neck and sending shivers down my spine. My bare feet padded through the soft blanket of snow that covered every patch of ground in sight, taking me closer to the mountain.

It was only when I was about twenty minutes away from the town that I snapped out of my daze. Wind swirled around me, leaving me almost blind when looking for which way was up and which was down. If it wasn't for the huge shape looming up in the distance, I wouldn't have known which direction to put my back to and which direction to walk towards.

Are the boys worrying about me? Do they think I left them? Are they looking for me? Did they stop arguing? What will they say when I get back?

The creepy silence added a whole new set of shivers across my body. My mind couldn't remember any details from me leaving the cabin to me ending up in the middle of nowhere; it was like something else was controlling me.

That thought only brought back images. Me standing on top of a mountain with the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Leo and Nico fighting, both of them bleeding from multiple wounds. My family dead, and me not being there to mourn for them. The dream had left me not sure what had happened and what hadn't. It had left me feeling as if I weren't in control.

When the town came into view, I started hearing other sounds other than my footsteps and my breath. It was definitely the sound of multiple voices, although I had no idea who it was or where they were. Choosing to be optimistic, I put the thought in my mind that it was my friends, and I set off at a jog.

The voices took on faces when I entered the safety of the town. The somewhat familiar buildings were a comfort, and so were the three people running towards me.

"Where the Hades have you been?" Nico shouted as soon as he saw me.

"Libellus! Oh my gods I was so worried!" Leo gasped.

"Cold! Mummy look cold!"

The little girl, who we still didn't know the name of, had taken to calling us her parent. I presumed it was her way of coping with the disappearance of any adult figure, so she took us as the next best thing.

It was only when the girl had said that that I realized how cold I actually was. My feet were numb and frozen, my hair was full of ice, my nose had gotten past the point of running and was now frozen over.

"Oh gods you really are cold! What the hell were you thinking?" Nico took one look at me and picked me up. Once I had stopped walking, I had lost the ability to move. What was I thinking? If I was cold whilst wearing loads of layers, what was I thinking, coming out here in only my pyjamas?

Nico's body heat was very welcoming, and I immediately forgot all about our argument this morning and snuggled against his chest. He was carrying me bridal style, his strong arms hugging me towards him like... Like when Newt had carried me to the infirmary after coming out of the maze... Déjà vu.

We jogged towards the cabin, Leo carrying the girl so they could keep up with us. Once we got inside, there was organized chaos as everyone fussed over me.

Leo sent a ball of fire into the logs, immediately filling the cabin with warmth. Both Nico and Leo had taken some basic medical lessons back at camp, so neither of them let me sit down and rest.

"You are covered in snow, ice and water. If you sit there like that then you are definitely going to freeze! You need to take a warm shower."

"The... Water... Here... Is... Cold."

"My house has warm!" The girl exclaimed, jumping up in excitement.

We all hurried to her house and she directed us to the bathroom. Inside, there was an elegant bath, with a shower head attached to the wall a few meters up. It allowed for either a shower or a bath.

"Leo, get the warm water running. You-" Nico pointed towards the little girl. "What's your name?"

"Willow."

That one word was the last straw to a horrible day. My knees gave in and sick flew from my mouth, covering the bathroom floor. I landed with a slam, bruising my skin straight away.

"Willow, you see Libellus, the girl on the floor? You see mummy? Do you have any clothes that would fit her? Do you have any warm, women's clothes?"

"Yes! I go get some!" She ran away and the sound of her feet stomping against the carpet slowly faded.

"Lib are you okay?" Leo asked, helping me to stand again.

"No. I'm not. I'm not okay," I burst out into tears. They were endless, flowing down my face and dripping on to the floor.

"She's going to get hypothermia soon! Libellus, can you get undressed and into the bath on your own?" Nico inquired, already dragging Leo out of the room.

"Are you serious? We can't leave her by herself!" Leo exclaimed.

Willow returned with an armful of clothes. When she saw me standing there, shivering and struggling to stand on my own, she took charge. She walked into the bathroom (stepping round the sick) and shut the boys out. Leaving me in the care of a young girl, who could have just saved my life.