Behind the Shadows

The room fell into silence and Apollo's light fades until he could pass for a human. Sapphire races across the room and falls to her knees at Jakes side. He could not be healed or fixed because there was no injury or any sources of what was causing him to cough up so much blood. Sapphire shook his shoulders while muttering his name. Every attempt fails and Jake continues to remain unconscious. Apollo kneels beside her and looks over Jake. His expression says enough. Jake was dying and no healing magic could help. Sapphire chokes and gets to her feet.
"I need to get back to camp" She stutters half to herself. "I - I have to get him help. I need.." Her words fall to floor along with her hope.
Jakes breathing goes shallow. Apollo stays by Jakes side and continues to look him over. Sapphire paces the room fighting to the urge to break the ship in half. Her heart races and her hands shake. Milra had said the ship would arrive at camp tomorrow. Sapphire couldn't wait that long if she waited that long then she would be walking into camp alone. The thought of losing Jake was like a hundred knives stabbing her heart over and over again. The faint breathing coming from Jake slowly begins to drive Sapphire into dangerous thinking. This was Luke's fault. If he hadn't kidnapped both her and Jake then they would not be in this mess. If Jake died then there was nothing stopping Sapphire from tearing Luke apart. Anger and Worry make Sapphires breathing waver.
"The is no internal or external injury on him" Apollo voice slices the silence. "The problem is in his head" Sapphire stops pacing and turns to face Apollo. He is still kneeling beside Jake his hand in placed over Jake forehead. "I think this is was happens when a sirens connection to a human is broken""Can it be fixed?" Sapphire asks and crosses her arms in attempt to hold herself together. Apollo gets to his feet and looks at Sapphire.
"With time" Apollo picks up Jake and throws him over his shoulder. The roughness of it makes Sapphire croak while she watches Jakes head fall and hit Apollos back. Surely that would not do any good for his head. "I will get you two back to camp"
Apollo walks to the door and exits the room. Sapphire wipes her sweaty hands on her shirt and follows her adoptive father. The ship is steady now but from all the waves there in now a lot of leaks dripping through the wood. Sapphire groans and silently wishes she had brought an umbrella. Apollo leads her outside on to the deck. Sapphire had expected to see a bunch of angry drenched sirens but there is no one there. The deck in only occupied by big puddles and some fish. Not even the sirens pets were there or anywhere on the ship. She feared the waves had gotten them too. Apollo clicks his finger and a his sun chariot appears.
"Nice magic trick" Sapphire mutters and walks to stand beside Apollo. He grins down at her and opens the door the chariot."Are you jealous? I should hope not considering that you now have the whole ocean as your source of transport" Apollo chirps and dumps Jake on to a seat inside. Sapphire nearly growls at the harshness of it. For a god of healing he sure failed at looking after people. Jake continues to breath and it stops Sapphire from throttling Apollo.
"It would help if I could swim" Sapphire grumbles and climbs into the chariot and picks the seat next to Jake. Apollo stands outside and frowns at Sapphire and scratches the back of his neck. Sapphire recognizes it as a sign of embarrassment. Luke used to do it whenever he was caught red handed for something.
"I am sorry Sapphire" Apollo voice is now serious and it makes Sapphire sit up straight. "It is my fault that you can't do anything that would come naturally for a child of poseidon" Apollo climbs in and goes to the front seat to drive the chariot. "I have stopped you from learning to swim, sword fight and whatever it is poseidon's kids do all these years".
Jakes hand twitches and Sapphire grabs it hoping he can still feel and hear everything.
"It kept me safe I guess" Sapphire sighs "I heard about all the trouble Percy got into while growing up and it was all to do with the monsters knowing who he was. Since I was hidden I was in less danger and anyway I prefer knowing how to stick an arrow in someone's head and how to heal lots of wounds". Apollo chuckles and gives her a look filled with pride. A second later the chariot jolts forward and flies into the sky."My sister still has her eyes on you for a hunter" Apollo calls over the noise of the chariot.
Sapphire grumbles and leans her head on Jake's shoulder. Artemis has been after Sapphire for years to become one of her hunters. It could be because she too wanted to keep Sapphire safe and hidden but now maybe the goddess just admired Sapphire skills. Annabeth and Sapphire used to laugh themselves silly at the thought of joining the hunter and giving up boys. Considering their best friends were mostly boys it just seemed a little mad to join Artemis's hunters.
Sapphire had to take a double take when she saw the shores of camp half blood out of the window. She took her head off of Jake's shoulder and leans over to peer out. The sight of it makes Sapphire flood with relief for being home at last. The chariot shudders as it descends down on to the sands of the beach. With one last groan the chariot lands and Sapphire lets out a breath she was not aware she was holding. Apollo stands up and walks towards Jake to pick him up. Sapphire follows him out and sighs when her feet touch the sand. Campers have already spotted them and stare at Apollo. Annabeth comes it to view and Sapphire calls her over. Apollo drops Jake onto the sand with a thud.
"Do you have to treat him like a rag doll?" Sapphire hisses as she trudges to Jakes side. Apollo lifts his hands and gives her an innocent look. She sighs and lifts up Jake arm and Annabeth races to get the other hand. They both pull Jake to his feet and carry him across the sand. Apollo strolls behind them at his own pace. Camper surround them and call out offerings of help. Sapphire ignores them and heads straight to the medical cabin. Annabeth is the one to reassure campers that they are fine and to go back to whatever they were doing. The camper don't though, they just stand there gawking at the god following them. The doors of the medical cabin open and Jake is carried in and laid on a bed. Sapphire sags with relief.
"What happened?" Annabeth questions looking worried. Apollo barks orders at the healers helping Jake. Most of the healers are his children.
"A ship of sirens happened" Sapphire mumbles and stares at Jake. Annabeth gasps and her face pales a little.
"I'm amazed you two are still alive!" Annabeth frowns at Sapphire and tugs on a strand of her blonde hair.
"I handled it" Sapphire steps back in a trance as she watches healers surround the Jakes bed. They don't leave a gap for Sapphire to see through.
"You are something new Sapphire. You know you are going to have to tell me exactly what happened and why you suddenly disappeared. It's been nearly a week" Annabeth grabs Sapphires hand and drags her out of the medical cabin. Apollo stays behind and continues to order around the healers.

Notes