Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Audentis Fortuna Iuvat

Promise

"It's not looking good." The medic said grimly, "He'll at least lose his leg, if the poison climbs any higher then we'll have to amputate tomorrow. We'll wait the night and see how he's doing, though."

"Is there any chance of him dying?" I asked, pulling at the loose threads at the bottom of my camp shirt.

"A small chance," The medic admitted, "But we'll do everything we can to eliminate it, I promise you that."

I closed my eyes and took a breath to gather myself. "Thank you, doctor."

He lay a hand on my shoulder. "The most important thing is that he doesn't give up. Don't let him give up." I couldn't reply to that except with a solemn nod and the medic continued down the ward to the next bed.

I brushed aside the curtain and sat next to Richard's bed. He was pale and sweat was accumulating on his brow and dampening his unruly hair. He opened his heavy eyelids as I sat next to him and the milky sheen across his eyes nearly made me despair.

"Looks like the roles are reversed now, eh?" He croaked and I held a glass of water to his lips. He took a few grateful gulps before weakly pushing the glass away. "Why are you here, Kerri? It's the middle of the day, you should be with your cohort."

I shook my head and gently mopped away the perspiration on his forehead. "Octavian offered to handle it. I'm taking a few days off to look into why Centaur blood was left in a puddle near our cohort's barracks. Thankfully that means being allowed in here to question you whenever I like."

"Thankfully?" He asked, "You mean that you don't think I'm a total screw up after last night?"

I set down the cloth, "I'd only place you as a screw up if you were the one who placed the Centaur blood that is eating at your leg. Which I'm guessing you're not?"

He laughed, but without the grin that usually lit up his face, "I'm not really that dumb, am I?"

I set down the cloth and smiled, "Good." I leaned over and kissed him, all too aware of the fever burning in his lips. Kissing him felt odd, but it was a nice sort of odd. I'd only ever kissed Mark to escape death and Dakota when I was drunk, but this time I was kissing Richard because I wanted to and because it felt nice and because I liked him. I really liked him. I pulled back reluctantly and studied the dulled blue of his eyes. "I have to go now, but I'll be back." I brushed his hair back from his forehead. "Get better. Please."

He smiled weakly, "I will, I promise."

-----

I rifled through the paperwork as I sat at my desk. The taskforce I'd assigned to the case had handed me back a stack of reports to sort through as soon as I'd returned from the infirmary. Each said exactly the same thing - absolutely nothing. Nothing suspicious found in any of the barracks searched. Nothing suspicious said by any of the suspects questioned. Nothing at all.

Someone had to be responsible for it, didn't they? Puddles of Centaur blood don't just appear from nowhere, and no god would hate Richard enough to poison him so vilely. But then again, maybe the trap had been set for me. I'd made my fair share of enemies and I wouldn't have been surprised to have a decent list of those waiting for my head on a spike. Though nothing was certain. It could just have been a group of Mercury children messing around or a trap set by a child of Mars for someone else entirely. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. I didn't know anything for certain. And it frustrating me to the point of despair.

"I found something!" A girl with a shock of icy blue hair - that I presumed had been dyed - burst into my office and I looked up at her without bearing much hope for her discovery.

"What is it?"

She held up a milk-bottle filled with a dark red liquid that filled it to halfway. It didn't splash with her movements as milk might have, instead oozing from side to side.

"Is that-?"

"The Centaur blood." She finished. "We found it in the barracks of the third cohort. It was with the gear of some Apollo boy."

I clenched my fists until the uncut nails biting into my own palms threatened to break skin. It was one of Richard's brothers, but why would they want him dead? "What's his name?" I demanded, gritting my teeth.

The impish girl shrugged. "I think his roommates said it was Richie something-or-other."

My breath caught in my throat and I choked out the next words, "Richard Smith?"

My heart fell as she nodded.

Notes

BOOM!

Plot twists are amazing and lovely and have a lovely day!

-Phoebe :)

Comments

@Phoebe

I will!

@ThatRandomPJOFangirl
Haha I'm already working on my first novel so don't you worry! :) Look out for PEM Moir (which is the pen name I use for comps and such)

Phoebe Phoebe
1/25/15

And who knows... with those good grades you may become a writer with books published somewhere else other than this site! Remember the name Phoebe!!!!

@Phoebe

I know.... but I'm still sad!!!

@ThatRandomPJOFangirl
I'm so sorry but it was time to wrap it up! I had to finish writing on this site by the time my school starts (on this Thursday) so I can work on getting the grades I desire. And mostly it was just time for this to end, I loved writing it but I had to stick to a timeline for some accuracy and that timeline just ran out quicker than I'd like. I love you guys and thank you for loving this story as much as I do!

Phoebe Phoebe
1/24/15