Also, in answer to the question about Luke, which is my mistake for not explaining earlier on in the story:
Anyway, Luke survived, essentially…And that seems like really sucky writing, at least in my standards buuut….oh well Hope you enjoy the story anyway, despite that little tweak on the original.
"Alice, are you ok?" someone asked me.
I blinked, and opened my eyes to see Jaime looking down at me in concern. She was in her PJ's, with damp hair. Exactly how she'd looked before I'd tucked her in.
I sat up, realizing that I was on a dry, sandy clearing.
"Jaime where are we?" I asked, frowning in confusion.
"We're with Mommy in her special practice place." Jaime explained.
As she said that, Hecate stepped out of some mist at the edge of the clearing.
"Hello Alice." Hecate said, her face emotionless as always.
"What's up." I greeted her.
"So, I'm sure you're pretty confused right now." Hecate began. "So let me explain. That whole party thing…never happened. I manipulated the mist to alter Chiron's words…at least in your eyes. The party is happening tomorrow. I gave you an illusion, so that you'd know not to go. Your friends interrogating you…Getting drugged…gets feelings once more for a boy. All that was an illusion conjured up by me and Nyx. So now you know not to go to the party tomorrow. You're welcome." Hecate explained to me.
I frowned. "So none of that happened?" I asked.
"Nothing past you going into the bedroom with Jaime was real." Hecate repeated.
I just stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously?" I asked.
"Mmhmm." She hummed.
"Now you're screwing with my head?"I demanded.
"Mmhmm." She hummed once again.
I stared at her, at a loss for words. I finally just shook my head. "Alright, whatever. Please don't do it again. Ever. Please. Now, let me and Jaime out." I asked.
"You can leave, but Jaime's going to be staying with me for a bit." Hecate looked at me, her eyes daring me to protest, which I happily did.
"Alright then I'm staying too." I shrugged, and plopped down on the floor.
"Alice, please go." Jaime said softly from behind me. I looked at her and saw that her face carried a look of sadness and regret. A look that I didn't want on her face. Not yet. Not when she was still so happy and innocent.
"Ok. But you need to come with me." I said firmly.
She just shook her head gravely. "No." she said dully, raising a finger and pressing it on my forehead.
Once again, I woke up gasping for air as if I'd just been suffocating. I looked around, and found Jaime sleeping on the floor next to me, a tormented expression on her face as she slept.
I leaned over to her, raising my hand to shake her awake, but all of a sudden my body froze.
All I could move was my eyes, and in the corner of my eye I saw Nyx standing in the corner, looking quite creepy. She silently shook her head, and mouthed, "Do not disturb their training."
I tried to glare, but it didn't really work that well, so I just looked back down at Jaime.
As I watched, unable to move, I saw a long scratch appear on her cheek, and a tear trickled out of her closed eyes.
I tried vainly to break free, to go and rescue this poor little girl, but Nyx merely stared and twisted her hand, making my body more still.
I examined the cut on her cheek. It didn't look too deep, but it was still bleeding a bit, and it looked like it hurt. Especially since she was only 6.
Even more furious, I tried once again to channel any emotion or magic in me. This time, it worked, and I raced over to Jaime, and shook her roughly. "Jaime, wake up!" I yelled.
She stirred, fluttering her eyes open. "Alice, my face hurts." She cried.
I wrapped my arms around her and patted her back, as she cried into my shoulder. "She said bad things, Alice." She cried, her tiny body shaking.
"Shh, it's ok. I'll protect you, ok? Remember, we'll have secret rooms?" I tried vainly to cheer her up again, but this time it didn't work, and she kept on sobbing.
I sighed sadly, and gently put her down. I walked over to my bag, and got out some supplies. A bandage, some nectar and ambrosia, and a lollipop. Cliché, I know but whatever.
"Come here." I said softly.
She shakily came over to me, and I gently dabbed some nectar on her cut. She winced, and I stopped for a minute, and kept going a few seconds later. Then I tore off a tiny bit of ambrosia, which she greedily ate. I decided against the bandage, because the cut was already gone, with just some dried blood and dirt left. But I did give her the lollipop, as she most certainly deserved it.
"I don't want to ever go to sleep again." She said, after calming down.
"Well you do need sleep." I argued gently.
"But I'll get hurt by the monsters." She frowned at her red blow pop.
Suddenly I got an idea. "I have an idea." I said brightly. She looked at me curiously. "What if, whenever you sleep, I stay awake, and if you look like you're getting scared or hurt, I'll just wake you up. And I'll just sleep in the day-time, when you're with the other campers." I suggested.
She nodded, warming up to it. "Ok!" she smiled.