The Librarian

I practically jumped into the car and as soon as the doors were shut, Leo zoomed off down the highway at breakneck speed. I put on my seatbelt and breathed a sigh of relief at the restraint.

"What was that all about?" I asked Leo. "I was only gone about five minutes and you already managed to get into..." I faded off as the road behind us was lit up with white flames.

"Trouble? Yeah I'm pretty good at doing that." Leo finished my sentence for me. "As for what happened, well that cashier may have turned out to be a Kindly One."

"A Kindly One? Oh you mean one of the fur-"

Leo cut me off by clapping a hand over my mouth. "You don't want to say that word when there's a demigod around. Now, as I was saying, the cashier turned into a monster and attacked me and I panicked and set the whole place on fire. We had so get out of there before the gas caught fire and exploded."

"Exploded." I repeated, gazing at the steadily retreating charred mess Leo had left of the gas station.

"You know, go BOOM?"

"Yes I know what exploded means." I scoffed. "Now, where are we actually going?"

"I hope back the way we came." He answered.

"You hope." I muttered. "Isn't that just great?"

I unconsciously rubbed at my injured arm and grimaced at the sting. I pulled away my jacket that was stuck to my upper arm with sticky blood and fought back the urge to vomit all over Leo's nicely furnished car. My arm was torn into ribbons, shredded muscle bulged through the gaps, barely held together by ripped skin. Blood flooded the wound and receded steadily as my heart beat like a drum. But worst of all was the green. Everything was tinged with a green pus that made the whole scene even worse.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's your First Aid Kit?"

"Somewhere in the glove compartment." He pulled out one of the many handles to a small compartment, sure enough, I spotted a small red box marked with a cross.

I pulled it out and snapped it open, only to find that it contained a small silver flask, a bag of crumbly slice and a single crepe bandage.

"Helpful." I muttered, wrapping the bandage around my upper arm and securing it with an awkward knot. "I think I need to see a doctor when we get back." I told Leo.

"I'll get Cally to look at it when we get back, she's great at all that healing stuff." He told me.

I grinned at the love in his voice, it almost took my mind of the pain. Almost... but not quite. My arm began to throb harder against the bandage that was quickly soaked with a sickly mixture of blood and pus. I gripped my bicep tight, remembering that pressure helped to stop bleeding.

"How much longer?" I asked Leo through gritted teeth.

"Maybe an hour if we're going the right way?" He answered.

I sighed and leaned into the seat, trying to think about anything but the pain....

Notes