The Cursed Ones

Okay. So I'm not totally done with this one, but it's the exact opposite of the first one, with a happier ending, but I'm going to add a twist to the end, which I will post as soon as I'm done. And it may affect your decision, so you may want to wait till it comes out before you vote. Here is Alternate Ending 2




One day, about two weeks after the 'accident', I was holding Lizzie's limp hand again, when I felt her fingers slowly wrap around my hand. It was slow, but I could feel it. "Alex. ALEX!!!!" I yelled. He came bursting out of the back room. "What? What is it?"

I couldn't keep the look of happiness and nervousness off my face. I have no idea what it looks like, so don't ask. Please. "She's gripping my hand. She's moving." I said softly, looking back at Lizzie, slightly worried but mostly happy. She let out a soft moan, and her eyes tightened as if she was having a bad dream. Which, wouldn't be that uncommon for her.

I just sat there, watching every little move, waiting while Alex checked some stuff, and put some stuff in her IV. I wasn't really paying attention. Her hand starting gripping my hand. Like, the really tight 'I'm falling catch me' grip. I could hear her heart monitor beeping faster, and she started sweating.

I placed a hand on her forehead. Her skin was hot and damp. Alex was somewhat frantically checking her other vitals. Her skin was getting hotter, and she was breathing heavily. With a regretful sigh, I pried her fingers off my hand, and dashed out the door to get Chiron.

I shoved past the Hermes cabin on their way to their next activity. "Chiron!" I yelled, frantically searching the grounds for the centaur.

In ten minutes I had checked the Big House, canoeing, archery, the arena, the mat, the strawberry fields, and there was no sign of him. I was standing in front of the Big House again, my hands on my hips with my lips pressed firmly together, when I heard a clopping noise.

"Chiron! Thank the gods. It's Lizzie. She's moving, but she's not good." I said turning around. He followed me to the infirmary, and inspected Lizzie.

"Have you tried nectar or ambrosia?" he asked Alex.

"No, I didn't know if I should since her temperature is rising." Alex responded, placing a damp cloth on her forehead.

"The back of the neck." I said. They both looked at me like I was crazy. "The cloth." I took it off her forehead. "You're supposed to put it on her neck." I lifted her head and placed it on her neck then gently laid her head down.

Her temp went down dramatically. "How, how did you do that?" Alex asked.

I shrugged. "We used to put it on our necks when it got really hot in the summer, and the cloth had nectar on it. So both combined helped."

"It did?"

I nodded. "You used a dirty towel."

"I did?" He said, looking around the floor. I was about lecture him, but I heard a gasp and turned around. Lizzie started breathing heavily, then slowly but surely opened her eyes.




Lizzie's POV

For the last weeks I've been in a coma. Coma- a state of deep unconsciousness that last for a prolonged or indefinite period, caused especially by severe injury or illness. Yep. That about sums it up.

Jazz said that I would twitch or make faces like I was dreaming. To be honest, I don't remember much about what happened. I had to ask how I got skewered, ahem, injured. When I first woke up, I was all disoriented and had no clue who I was, who the people around me were, and where I was.

Then Jazz smothered me in a hug, and I remembered some. "You're, chocking, me." I stuttered.

"Sorry!" She said letting go and stepping back, but keeping a firm grip on my hand. Chiron walked over, his eyebrows bunched together, and arms crossed like he was thinking.

"Um, I don't remember much of what happened, so could someone tell me? Like starting with why I'm here?" I asked. Chiron just looked. His eyes traveled down towards my stomach. "What? Chiron please tell me what's going on?"

He didn't answer, but looked at me with his sad eyes. Lips pressed firmly together, I determinedly pushed back the sheet, much to the protests of Jazz and some medic I think, and lifted up my shirt. A big deep red scar ran from the middle of my stomach to my belly button.

I took a deep breath as I inspected it. I tentatively touched it, not sure what would happened. I winched a little but it wasn't terribly bad. Jazz handed me a goblet of nectar. "Drink up." She said.

I downed the drink, my mouth dry, and tasted, nothing. "What? What is it?" Jazz asked, seeing the quizzical look on my face.

I had a second of hesitation. "Nothing."

"You don't taste anything, do you?" Chiron asked, staring at the end on my bed.

"What, Lizzie?" Jazz said, looking at me.

"I didn't taste anything. It tasted like water but without the taste of minerals." I said, placing the goblet on the table next to me. I felt surprisingly calm.

"Chiron, what does that mean?" Jazz asked. I could hear the fear in her voice.
"I, am not sure. I will look into this immediately. Lizzie my dear, you must rest. Do not do anything to make your condition worse." He patted my ankle, and trotted out.

I watched him leave, and then stared out the door, into the woods. I sighed.

"What?" Jazz asked.

"Nothing." I said, watching as two girls practiced their swordplay across the field. "It's just, I've been out for a while and, well,"

"Well what?"

I sighed again. "I just want to get up and move. Just walk around a little. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Do something other than sit in this awful bed." After a moment, "Hey Jazz, exactly how long was I out?"

"Two weeks Liz." She said, sitting down in the chair next to me again.

"Two weeks?! I've been out, for two, weeks." I just sat there in partial shock. "Two weeks." I whispered.

"Liz? Liz are you okay?" Jazz asked.

"What? Yes. Yeah sure. I'm fine." I said, just was I saw Vahl running across my view.

"Jazz! Jazz I want to see Vahl and Kliyah." I said.

"Are you sure you're up for it? I mean, you just woke up. You were in a coma for two weeks. I wouldn't think you would have much strength right now." Jazz asked.

I nodded. "I'm fine for a few minutes."

Reluctantly, Jazz left to go get them. While she was gone, a son of Apollo walked in, and checked my monitors. "Who are you?" I asked, as he fiddled with a bottle and a syringe. He looked up at me after he got the contents of the bottle into the little glass tube.

"I'm Alex. I've been taking care of you. Not that you really needed it, what with Jazz constantly being here." He said with a smile. He injected the syringe into the IV on my arm. "Did you know Vahl and Kliyah had to force her away from your bed to get her to get some exercise? It was kind of funny the first time."

I smiled. "What's that your putting in my IV?"

He pulled the syringe back out. "Just a mortal pain killer, mixed with a little but if nectar. I also had you on blood thinners for a few days to help with the bleeding." He cocked his head to the side, and pulled my shirt up just enough to see the wound. His face scrunched up in thought.

"What?" I asked. "Does it look bad or something?"

"No, that's not it." He said softly to himself. "The bruising should be pink by now not red, so maybe the weapon was a magical metal. Or the poison was different than we originally thought. Or she just heals slower than most."

"Um, does it hurt when I touch it?" He asked, gently touching the mark.

"No.." I said, before he started pressing.

"Yes yes! No pressure. No pressure" I said, gasping for air as it was just stripped from me.

"Oh I'm sorry. Here," he said, grabbing a paste off the shelf. He handed me the jar. "Put that on whenever you feel a particularly painful, well, pain. When it gets worse or something hits I touches it."

I unscrewed the lid, and scooped out a quarter sized dollop of the blue stuff. I immediately felt relief as it touched my skin. "What is this stuff?" I asked. As he was about to respond, Kliyah and Vahl walked in with Jazz. "Lizzie!" Vahl said, and ran over to me. When I turned to thank Alex, he was gone.

"What.." I said under my breath, right before Vahl squeezed me in a hug.

"Ouch." I said,

Notes