Take Me As I Am

“Are you sure she’s alive?” I was fading out so I wasn’t sure if I actually heard a voice. I listened harder.

“Yes, I am sure.” Nope, it was real there’s another.

“When is she going to wake up then?” The first voice asked another question. I could imagine the second voice shaking his head in annoyance. “I’m just excited to see if it works. I’ve never done anything quite like this.” If what works? I asked myself trying to jar myself awake. I can’t stay put too long. The monsters will be coming. The could kill me. Wake up! I shouted. Wake up you useless girl. Wake up now! “Have you given her enough ambrosia? Nectar?”

“I can’t give her anymore, Leo. Don’t you have something to do? She’s going to have enough problems when she wakes up. She doesn’t need you poking around.”

“But-”

“Go on I’ll tell you when she wakes.” I heard the first voice, Leo I guess, sigh and retreat. Problems? The monsters? Does this guy have my flute? I need that to keep the monsters away. WAKE UP, KREE! Something cold touched my forehead. I jolted around. Someone shushed me. I went still. My brain was dulling again. I knew that soon I would be unaware again.

It was too bright. I closed my eyes. I struggled to move. I had been here to long it was only a matter of time before… something grabbed me. I kicked against whatever it was.

“Ow!” A feminine voice exclaimed as I was let go of. I opened my eyes and they adjusted to the light. It was a normal girl. No monsters? I must have spoken aloud because the girl smiled and responded. “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. You are safe from the monsters here. Unless they are summoned for practice, of course. I am Annabeth Chase head counselor for Athena cabin. You are?” She looked down at me almost sympathetically. I wondered why.

“Kree.” I responded trying to look around the room, but a metallic flash next to me caught my eye. I reached for it thinking it was my flute. But it was bigger. I stared at it not knowing what to make of it. It started at my shoulder and snaked under the blanket over me.

“I hope you don’t mind. We thought you wouldn’t want to go on with one arm.” Annabeth spoke I looked from her down to that thing.

“One arm?” I said not making sense of that statement.

“Whatever beast had thrown you through the gate took off with your arm. It’s a miracle you lived. You lost a lot of blood. We have never in the history of camp had someone come in having just lost an arm.” I looked back down at the thing again. “Oh our best mechanic, inventor guy Leo made that for you. We all figured that life as a demigod is bad enough without having two arms. How else are you to fight monsters? So he made this special. It should move just like a normal arm.” I moved the blanket off. It looked like an arm except that it was metal and had exposed wires at the elbow. I thought about touching my hair and the arm moved to do what I asked. I for a second wondered how that worked. “I was wondering, Kree… How old are you?”

“Fifteen. Why?”

“None of us were sure how you made it on the outside with how small you are. We bet that you were still young, but now I have no idea. How did you live?” I thought about my flute. The one that I had since I was five. The man in my bedroom that placed it on my bedside in the morning sunlight before kissing my forehead and disappearing. He blended into the sunlight and faded. I thought it was magic. I smiled at the thought of the mysterious man.

Notes