Mostly Normal: Hearts and Spades

Chapter Six: Urodziny

When Victoria awoke, she was laying on a cot in the infirmary, a soothing voice spoke softly into her ear. She slowly sat up, looking around her, she smiled as she realized the soothing voice was none other than Gilbert.

"Co się stało?" Victoria asked, her voice was hoarse as if she had not spoken in weeks.

Gilbert looked up and his eyes widened, they were red and puffy, below them were tear stains. The son of Apollo gasped and launched himself at the small Polish girl.

"Du bist endlich wach! Ich habe mir solche Sorgen gemacht. Bist du in Ordnung, meine Liebe?" the German demigod whispered. His voice was coarse, just as hers was. She pulled away from him with a confused look.

"You're awake! You've been out for two weeks. That stupid wood nymph cut off your oxygen supply, and you were, really close to death. I love you!" he repeated, though Victoria was sure that some of the words had indeed been changed.

"Two weeks?" Victoria asked. It certainly explained a few things. Like the fact that there was a vase of wilted flowers on her bedside table. Victoria blinked. "Wow," she said, clearing her throat, "that must have been one strong wood nymph."

Gilbert smiled, although it was obviously forced. "All that matters is that you're awake," he said gruffly, taking her hand. She smiled. "Have you been here this whole time?" she asked softly, taking in his rumpled, dirty clothing and his messed-up hair. He blushed and nodded. "Ja," he mumbled.

"That's really sweet of you," Victoria said as she leaned closer to the son of Apollo.

"You're my girlfriend, why wouldn't I stay with you while you were sick?" Gilbert said as he reached up and brushed strands of blond hair, that had been loosely braided, out of her face. He reached up and kissed her forehead.

"To moja wina," Victoria muttered.

"Hush now, no it's not," the child of Apollo said as he leaned closer to the now crying girl.

"Wha-what if I hurt you?" Victoria asked with fear laced into her words and bleeding through her eyes.

Gilbert tilted his head. "You wouldn't have hurt me! I was at my table, at least until I saw Cedar strangling you."

Victoria sighed. "I don't even understand why she tried to kill me," she whimpered, "I mean, I might have accidentally let my power loose, but..." she sighed. "It is my power," she whispered, "I know that now. I can give people hate. Cedar hates me now."

Gilbert nodded. "After you blacked out, she ran off to her tree," he said, "crying. I swear there was a pool of green tears below the tree." he shook his head. "Can you stand?" he asked suddenly, looking anxiously into her teal-blue eyes.

She thought. "Maybe," she said slowly.

She swung her legs over the side of the cot and tried to stand, though her legs were very shaky. When she nearly fell, Gilbert was there to capture her in his arms, she breathed in his smell with a happy sigh. "What's the date?" she asked breathlessly as she stood again.

"March 12, why?" Gilbert said with a confused look.

She giggled, "It's my urodziny." Gilbert's eyes widened and then he leaned down, his eyes fluttered closed and closed the space in between them.

When they separated, Maxine stood there, arms crossed and an upset look on her face. Her foot was tapping angrily. When she saw the weak state of her sister she rushed to her and hugged her tightly.

"What on Olympus were you doing with that kid?" she whispered fiercely to her half-sister, tucking a strand of bright-blue hair behind an ear and giving Victoria a stern glare, "you're sixteen now. Make the right choice, like I did."

"You made a choice?" Victoria asked, giving Maxine a confused look.

Maxine sighed and nodded. "We all have to sometime or other, right?" she asked.

"That is not what I meant," huffed Victoria, folding her arms, "I meant what was the choice?"

"I made my boyfriend hate me," Maxine replied matter-of-factly, "he was already going out with someone else anyway. I just broke the last thread, so to speak."

"Who was your boyfriend?" Victoria asked, her teal-blue eyes wide with interest. Maxine smirked. "Travis Stoll," she said innocently, "but he was seeing some Chinese girl, so I dumped him. He hates me now," she added with an indifferent shrug. Victoria giggled slightly.

There was a banging sound outside of the infirmary and a string of Italian curse words. "What on earth was that?" Gilbert asked as she removed part of the tent.

On the ground sat a very disheveled looking Nico di Angelo. "Where's Will?" he asked with a frown.

Gilbert pointed at the Apollo cabin. Nico thanked him and then stood and walked off to go find the boy.

"Let's go back to the cabin," said Gilbert hastily, taking Victoria from her sister, "Nero's back too. He's really worried about you, you know."

"I know," Victoria said as she watched Nico tromp off. She turned and headed back to her boyfriend, kissing his lips gently before she walked off to go find her half-brother.

Nero barreled out of the cabin a few seconds before Victoria reached the door. He threw his arms around his slightly older sister, his dark eyes tightly closed, his black hair everywhere. "You're alive, you're alive," he cried, "I thought you'd died!"

Victoria smiled and hugged Nero back. "I'm alive," she confirmed softly, "Dzięki Bogu."

Nero sniffled and gripped his sister tighter. "I know a lot of Polish now," he whispered proudly, "but I thought I'd never been able to tell you!"

"That would have been very tragic," Victoria agreed, leading her brother back inside.