Callie Jackson; The Return

Chapter XXII

Callie's POV

I was exhausted and terrorized. I had awoken at camp, yet went back to sleep. How did I get to camp you ask? I don't know. All I know is I woke up with Percy in my face, and I was perfectly fine with that. After going back to sleep, I, of course, had a nightmare.

It was the Chimera. 'It's just memories' I thought. 'You've been through this. Just breathe. You'll be alright.' But it wasn't memories. It was the chimera all right, but not the one I faced. I was sitting in the dream in a corner. Suddenly, there was a scream, yet it wasn't mine.
"Help!" They screamed. Kat. There was heavy breathing, and a different voice moaned. The chairman pounced on her.
"No!" I screamed, but all was silent. I couldn't be heard. I was trapped in my mind. The other voice yelled.
"Kat!" It croaked. The other person was Noah. I ran over trying to pull them to safety, but I couldn't. Kat was lying in a puddle of her own blood. Noah was trying to take on the Chimera by himself. But I didn't get to see the ending, because I was brought into another zone. I heard a high cackling laugh, and turned to the face of Tartarus. The ground was shaking, and he was in sheathing a sword. I sat and watched myself battle, making mental improvements to my own moves. I had no words to describe the fight. I watched at last, as Tartarus stood over me. He picked up his sword and smirked. He brought the blade into my heart, killing me, but not instantly. He watched my painful death.  I woke with a start.

  Noah was in the room when I sat straight up, about to scream. I held my breath, trying to hold it in. He came over and hugged me.
"Thanks." I said, wiping my nose. I lied my head on his shoulder. I could feel the difference of body temperatures between my skin and his. He was normal, and I felt like Alaska, cold as ice. I, as an impulsive dumb demigod, asked Noah something.
"Noah, how long was I in Tartarus?"
"About a month." He said. I could tell he was happy I was back, but exhausted at the same time, because of me.
"And did you believe I was dead?" I asked, trying not to egg it on.
  "Not for a second. You were never really dead Callie. We all thought you were in Elysium, reincarnated."
  "Oh. I'm still tired." I mumbled. It wasn't fully true, but if he stayed in here, I could probably make myself go to sleep.
  "Me too. One more question. What did you see in your dream?"
"Tartarus himself." It, again, wasn't fully true, but it was about halfway. I talked more, just babbling. Finally, we both dozed into a sleep.

I was woken by a slight shaking Noah had caused.
"Sorry." He said. "I was about to go to breakfast."
"It's fine. I'm kinda glad you woke me up. I want to go to breakfast too." I stated, shaking my head where my hair would get out off my face.
"Er– alright. I guess with some crutches and a bunch off bandages we could get you out for a couple minutes."
"Thanks." I said, squeezing him into a hug.
"Your welcome, that's what I'm here for." He said. He walked out, apparently going to get crutches and bandages of some sort. His sister walked in, carrying a very small orange camp shirt, some blue jeans, converse, a brush, and two hair ties. She helped me out of the bed, pulled off the dirty, bloodied clothes and throwing them in a corner. I hadn't noticed how dirty a was. She opened a door and let me into a small bathroom. She laid the clothes on the counter.
"I'll do your hair after you get out of the tub, if you want." She said.
"Thanks." I said. "You can wait on the bed, if you want." I said.
"Alright." She said, and walked back out. I turned the water on and climbed in. I about screamed. The warm water was seeping into all my wounds, and worst, the soap. It burned like fire, coursing though my veins. I bathed quickly, trying to get out of the water. Before putting the shirt and shorts on, I looked in the mirror. My eyes looked bigger and brighter green then ever. My face was sunken and pale. I looked down. I could easily count my ribs. I pulled the shirt over my hair and head. It swallowed me, even though it was ultra small. I pulled the jeans on and rolled the bottom into capris. I walked out. Penelope was fiddling with the hem of the blanket.
"Oh." She said looking up. "Good, you're out. Sorry the shirts so big, but it's the smallest size we have. The jeans had to be taken up in the waist so they could fit you. Let's fix your hair." She patted the spot beside her, telling me to sit down. I limped over and plopped down. She yanked the brush through my hair, talking about everything that had happened at camp. That Percy was a celebrity here basically. After my hair was curly again instead of knotted and frizzy, she started French braiding it. She finished the two twin braids just as Noah walked in. He had the crutches and bandages.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later." Penelope said.
"Hey Callie. Can you stand so I can get these the right height?" He asked.
"Yeah." I hobbled over.
"Still 5'2. Looks like I'll always be taller than you." He said, smirking then laughing.
"Shut up." I said, but laughed with him. He bandaged a bunch of places,
"Well," he said "come on, or we'll be late." I hobbled with my crutches all the way to the dining pavilion. I went to table three with Percy, knowing that everyone was staring at me. I had come back from the dead. I sat down, and wished for something to eat. Pizza popped up on my plate. I sacrificed one of the three pieces to the gods, then inhaled the rest.
"Do you know when your coming back to the cabin?" Percy asked through a mouth full of blue cookies.
"Maybe Friday." I said. Today was Tuesday.
"Ok." He said. "No rush. You need to get better. Mom wants to see you. Really bad."
"I want to see her too." I said. "I kinda want to go to school, you know. Live with mom."
"That's a really cool idea." He said." I'll ask Paul if he can get us in at Goode."
"Thanks Perce." I said. Annabeth walked over.
"How?" She said, goggling at me. Percy explained everything as I inhaled more pizza.
"That's... Wow." Annabeth said.
"Callie!" Screamed a voice. Kat about tackled me. She hugged me tighter than ever.
  "Can't... Breath..." I whispered.
  "Sorry!" She squeaked. Then turned to Percy and Annabeth, fire in her eyes. Literally. They were more red than brown, and they looked like fire. "How did I not know about this?! My best friend gets out of Tartarus and I don't hear until I go to breakfast two mornings after!" She stormed over to the Apollo cabin, forgetting about us. She slammed her hands on the table in front of Noah, her eyes flaming more than ever. She yanked Noah up and came back over to the Poseidon table, dragging him over by his wrist. She looked at both of us.
  "Why! Why didn't you tell me!" Noah looked at me like I was supposed to explain. I put my hands up in surrender.
  "I was unconscious and in surgery."
  "I was helping preform the surgery."
  "Fine." She said, crossing her arms. "But if this happens again, I'm going to kill both of you." We walked out of the pavilion and onto the beach. My crutch slipped in the sand. Noah caught me by my armpits, sinking his fingers into a wound on my shoulder.
  "I am so sorry!" He said, pulling out a roll of gauze.
  "What we would do without a child of Apollo." Kat said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. I laughed. Noah told me to sit down. He wrapped my shoulder. I raised my hand, and the water mimicked me. It fell good to be back at the ocean. Suddenly, the water fell, and my head felt as though it was going to explode.
  "Your still weak. Come here." Noah said. He bent down and I clambered onto his back. He carried me to the infirmary.
  "Can I stay in my cabin tonight?" I asked him.
  "Yeah. Percy needs to talk to Will though." He said. I squeezed his neck harder.
  "Thank you!"
  "No problem." He said laughing. He sat me down in a chair.
  "You can go now, if you want to."
  "Really? Come on!" I said grabbing his wrist. He put me back on his back and walked down to cabin three. I got down and tried to walk, but yet again I fell.
  "You still need to try walking." He said. I stumbled, but made it to the door by myself and opened it. Percy stared at me, then I was crushed into a hug. My feet came off of the ground. Tyson.
  "Sister!" He bellowed. He put me down. I walked over to my bed, to noticed that there was a necklace with one clay bead. It had the two camp shirts made into one.
  "Kat designed it." Percy said. "Come on. Let's go home." We started out of the cabin and up half blood hill silently, until he picked me up, threw me on his back, and started running, both of us laughing.