Child of Hades {Interactive Story} (PJO/HOO/TOA)

TWELVE: Impossible Year

I woke up in a cold sweat, clutching my abdomen like I'd been stabbed again. Light swelled within the cabin, illuminating the walls, the empty fountain in the centre of the room, the nicknacks that belonged to Matt, Ron, or other Hypnos demigods who hadn't stayed throughout the year. Fabia stood guard at the door, like always, but upon noticing I was awake crossed into the threshold.

"M'lady, Chiron wishes to see you." Where I thought she might go 'stab stab' towards anyone who wanted to talk to me while I was unconscious, she held a formal and obvious level of respect for Chiron. She helped me down the ladder as I bit my lip to hold in the pain. "He is overseeing the demigods in cabin six."

Ron was on the bottom bunk. He wasn't sleeping restlessly like when we'd come in, and I didn't have the heart to wake him when he was sleeping so soundly. Fabia handed me the crutch we had leaning gently against the bedpost, and helped me from the cozy cabin into the bright sunny outside.

Walking still hadn't gotten easier. With each step my abdomen felt like it had been freshly cut, my left arm pulsing in pain whenever my leg did. I figured it was because I was using it with the crutch, but before I woke up back at camp my arm never hurt unless I pressed on it. We made it to cabin six, a total library knockoff. It was grey building with white curtains pulled back to let light in, identified easily by the brass number six under the engraving of an owl. I moved inside with the help of Fabia, finding it as busy as the dining pavilion during dinner. When I was inside, she resumed position outside the door.

I noted a few Demeter kids mixed between the Athena campers, and a few other kids who I didn't know, but looked like they were being helpful. I spotted Tiana from support group eagerly assisting a boy with brown hair, smiling at what little success they'd accomplished. Simon and Chiron walked (er, and trotted) over. Simon looked at me happily, Chiron with a look of what could have been admiration or disdain, it was hard to tell. I liked to think of it as the former.

"Y/N, how are you feeling?" Chiron asked quickly, like my health was the most important thing right now.

"I can walk," I answered decidedly. I didn't want him to send me back to the Big House infirmary or anything. "Sort of. Anyway, you wanted to see me?"

Chiron nodded. "Yes, I did. Simon told me what happened, and I can assure you it is not your fault in the slightest. I've had heroes blame themselves before. It helps no one. Thanks to the sample you brought back, however, I believe we are almost done acquiring a cure."

My ears peaked. A cure. Perfect. If we had that done today, by tomorrow when we ambushed Tyler, we could send a second team to pour the antidote into the Lethe, and eliminate any other chance he had to distract Hades and start getting the souls to drink, forget, and stay in the Underworld where they belonged.

"After a lot of tests, and some guessing, we've figured out what's in the poison." Simon told me as he and Chiron led me to a corner of the room. The beds in the Athena cabin were pushed to one side of the room as if sleeping were somehow less important than learning from all the books they had in here. A desk that had been cleared away held two bowls, two vials, and three open books.

"This bowl has the sample of the Lethe." Simon pointed to the first one. The liquid inside seemed to measure roughly to a teaspoon of the murky liquid. Floating inside was a dead poppy. "We had to split it up very small, test different things to see what worked and what didn't, so we wouldn't use it all up. Anyway, we've determined that it's a mix of aconite, and Lernaean hydra venom."

Chiron mused, "How he got poison from a hydra and the aconite plant, I don't know. The venom from a hydra can only be obtained when it is in angered or threatened, and when it is alive. The aconite plant - rare indeed. I thought it had been extinct. With luck, we managed to research a cure."