Resurrected

Ethan's POV

That’s it. I hate the Infirmary. It is worse than Tartarus. At least in Tartarus, you had the tingling sensation of being burned alive to keep you awake. In the Infirmary, where ambrosia and nectar are the drugs and sleep is the side effect, I was trapped in a perpetual prison of feeling sluggish and half-alive.

When I had been awake, the Apollo medic that was on duty informed me of my current state. After falling back asleep fourteen times or so, the Apollo girl on duty told me that my temperature had fallen, so they were giving me extra ambrosia and nectar to fight the sickness. At least the medicine tasted great.

After drifting in and out of consciousness another twenty times or so, I was woken up again, but this time not by an Apollo camper, but by a certain son of Nike.

“Hey Tommy,” I greeted groggily, “what’s up?”

“Nothing much,” he responded shakily, “I’m just here to check on you.”

“Well,” I replied cynically, “there’s not much to check on here. Just me, wasting away in a stupid bed, in a stupid Infirmary, in a stupid—”

“Ethan, shut up!” Tommy shouted, on the edge of tears, “don’t say things like that, okay! Gods, it’s like you want to die!”

We were both silent after that. I looked at Tommy remorsefully, and I was about to open my mouth to apologize when a girl walked into the Infirmary. She had bright red hair, freckles and emerald green eyes. And she was one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen. She was pretty without trying to look pretty, and full of energy. I began to feel something that I wasn’t used to feeling, except in front of one person. Embarrassment as a side effect of having a crush on someone. I was blushing.

No way! I thought, You have a crush on this girl? But then I thought about it some more, and I realized I did have crush on this girl. And I had no idea why.

The girl looked at me, seemed to recognize me, and asked, “Are you Ethan?”

I looked at Tommy with confusion, and Tommy totally took it the wrong way. He started to ask the girl questions about why she was here, and why she needed to visit me. When she didn’t give a cohesive answer, she began to get all shy and started to walk out of the door. But, as she was leaving, she told Tommy, in a voice just loud enough for me to hear,

“When he wants to talk about New Jersey, come find me.”

I sat bolt upright in my bed, horrible memories flooding back to me.

“What did you say?” I asked inquisitively and desperately, “What about New Jersey? And before all that, I don’t even know your name.”

She looked a little crestfallen at that, and replied, “You know, we’ve never met before, but I saw you when you were in Kronos’ army. I was in that army too.”

She faced her wrist towards Tommy and I and showed us a tattoo that was the symbol of a scythe, the symbol of Kronos. Instinctively, we both rubbed the part of our wrists where the black tattoos still lingered, symbols of our link to the Titan lord. She continued,

“My name is Alex Rodriguez. I was 14 during the Battle of—”

“Woah,” Tommy exclaimed, “Like the baseball player?”

Alex looked at Tommy with a severely annoyed expression, and Tommy said,
"I take it back, I take it back! Gods, you must get that a lot, eh?”

Alex nodded, and continued, “Like I was saying, I was 14 during the Battle of the Labyrinth, and I had been ordered to make food in Medusa’s kitchen. I saw your entire meeting with…him.”

Alex shivered, and for just one moment, I noticed how scared she still was. But then the sparkle came back in her dark green eyes, and that made me realize how strong she was. It had taken my death and transport to Tartarus for me to overcome feeling bone-numbingly scared whenever I thought about Kronos. And here was this girl, so full of life, so full of fortitude, that had found the willpower necessary to forget that creep.

I found myself open-mouthed as she began to relate her entire story. Just for that moment, I forgot all about the Infirmary. All I saw was Alex, all I heard was her words, all I felt was awe and admiration, and when she had finished, I whistled appreciatively, remarking,

“Gods, I never thought anyone could survive Kronos’ influence. What happened to you after the Battle?”

“They tried to bring me to an Olympian trial,” Alex started, “but some minor god took pity on me and let me go, leaving my sword with me and everything. I thought about going on a killing spree inside of Olympus, but I couldn’t bring myself to create any more bloodshed. I just sat in a subway station and cried for hours.”

All three of us were silent for a moment. Then, I realized it might be wise to tell my end of the story after New Jersey, so I began on the story of fighting up to the top of the Empire State Building, and trying to kill Kronos. I even told her the rest of my story, beginning with my romps through the Labyrinth. During the Labyrinth story I saw ut of the corner of my eye Tommy’s eyes widen, and I heard something that sounded suspiciously like,

“So that’s what he meant!”

To her credit, Alex was a great listener. She didn’t get fidgety or impatient, but she took in all of the information I told her, nodding intently to encourage me whenever I faltered.

“You really tried to kill him?” She asked in amazement after I was done, and I nodded, starting to smile.

“I would have given anything to do what you did,” She said, and I felt flattered, something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“Thanks,” I said, and she smiled.

“It’s nothing. I just wish I could have been as strong as you were.”

“Strong?” I asked, taken aback, “Gods, I wasn’t strong. I could have killed that monster Luke twenty times over if I had been strong! No, no, Alex, I was weak. I was pitifully weak. I let myself feed on hatred and revenge until I had become constipated with it! I let myself get into a mindset of violence, of resentment, and I could have been stronger than that.”

I didn’t mean to sound bitter, but all of the bitterness in my body had seized it’s chance to leave me, and so it did.

“Maybe Percy’s right,” I said dejectedly, “Maybe I should kill myself. Gods, why am I so weak?”

I realized that that was the emotion I was feeding on in this stupid Infirmary bed. I felt weak, feeble, unable to heal myself, cheated by Kronos and robbed of a healthy body, and I hated it.

“No!” Alex countered, “No, Ethan, you may think you committed crimes against those who died because of Kronos, but you didn’t! You did what you believed in, and even though it wasn’t the right thing to do in the most extreme way, you both didn’t know any better, nor did you believe that your actions were wrong.”

I was completely silent after that, absolutely awestruck at the girl I was facing. I had never come across anyone who thought I had acted valiantly. Always I had been met with resentment, with hatred and contempt. I had been cast as a villain in this drama, and I had played my role brilliantly. But Alex, she was the one fan who was rooting for the villain, a fan I had never expected.

“Who are you?” I asked in shock, and despite her determined and tough expression, she laughed.

“I’m someone who believes in the good side of people, Ethan. Nobody’s perfect, and in the Greek world, you don’t get a second chance if you mess up. That’s what I try to give people, Ethan. A second chance.”

“Nobody’s given me a second chance,” I said without bitterness. I wanted to sound angry, but I suddenly couldn’t. This girl, this amazing girl, had given me what nobody had ever given me before. Forgiveness. That’s when the light flicked on in my head.

“That’s it!” I shouted, and Alex asked confused, but excitedly,

“What, Ethan?”

And I told her my idea. I knew how to beat Kronos. But I would need help. But not from Tommy, who I was just noticing had left the Infirmary silently. From someone else.

Notes