Preparations for an Adventure. (CLOSED)

Luke plucked the half eaten strawberry from my hand and stuck it in his mouth before beginning to tease me about my day dreaming, earning him a grin. I picked another ripe looking strawberry from the bush next to us and peeled the green leaves from it, flicking them at him before sticking the fruit in my mouth.
"Hey, man. I wouldn't mind hanging out in the Iris cabin, maybe THEY give yoga classes I could join. As for my daydreaming? Well, it's better than the constant recurring dreams I've been having about Charlie and the mental institution..." I knew I needed to bring something concerning the topic up with Luke while I had the chance, but I chose to get the lighthearted stuff out of the way first. I wanted to have a conversation with him that didn't circle around Charlie. I wanted to talk to him like old times. He'd asked me for a story, so I decided to give him one.

I needed to sift through my recent experiences. I soon realized with a sinking feeling in my stomach, that many of them included me being approached by campers who wanted me to talk to them about my feelings for Luke. No way I was bringing that up. I never really noticed how in-your-business campers around here could be. Suddenly I remembered a pretty exciting event that had taken place not so long ago. Some pretty new news that I could share with my best friend.
"Well, I got a cat," I said, recalling the day I had gone on a border patrol with a few others and had run into a kitten and a puppy hiding in the bushes just outside the border. "His name is Fi$h... Spelled F-I-dollar sign- H. Cool, huh?"
I thought to introduce Luke to the new member of the Apollo cabin, but as of this moment I wasn't very sure where the cat had gotten off to. he liked to stalk around camp on his own, and no matter how long I searched, I could never seem to find him unless he wanted to be found. It seemed a bit unbelievable, seeing as how big he was for being just a kitten, but I guess all cats were like that. Part of me was sort of relieved when he went for his alone time. Fi$h was always getting into trouble, especially around me... Which made me even more prone to it now if that was even possible.
"I found him along the border on a patrol with a few other campers. He warmed up to me, like, instantly. He looked hungry so I took him into camp and fed him... Now he thinks he owns the place. You should come by and meet him sometime... Bring some food though, because otherwise he'll just ignore you." I paused to chuckle lightly before admitting,
"Most of the time I don't even know where he is, but if you see a big, orange fluffy cat with blue eyes and long teeth, that's him."

I couldn't help but smile widely at Luke's promise to let me name his potential pet Griffin. I knew I wouldn't let him down. My mind had already leaped into overdrive, sifting through possible names that would fit such a majestic creature. Like, Fluffy or Mr.Buttons. Ah, I guess it all would depend on what it's personality was like, wouldn't it?

I watched Luke shove up to six strawberries in his mouth before he had to lean forward to avoid dribbling all over his close. I raised my eyebrows with a smirk across my lips.
"Hey, I know they taste good but if you can't take it don't shove 'em all in there. I like my friends better when they haven't choked themselves on fruit in front of me, y'know? Maybe that's just me though." His words came out as gibberish before he gave up and swallowed the messy fruit. I perked up at his next words.
"Roxy's got something exciting?"

Gods, I hadn't seen much of my half sister since she had gotten back from her quest. She slaved away in the Infirmary day in and day out working with the basilisk blood that she had extracted to save Finn. Sometimes I would stay with her and help her out when she needed but it seemed like she liked having her space to focus, and she definitely didn't need me hovering around her. Not with my track record of messing important things up. When I wasn't with her, I would spend time at Dean's looking over Finn and making sure she had everything she needed. It was terrifying how horrible she looked. The poison had taken so much out of her that a negative part of my mind wondered if she'd ever be able to bounce back. I hadn't looked into those black-hole eyes for the longest time. I missed their mysterious light and mischievous glimmer. Sometimes Quintyn would work with Roxy, doing what children of Athena do best, reading up on the blood and helping her with the instructions and recipe. The only problem with that was that Quintyn's mental strengths weren't as set in her booksmarts as her other siblings.

Thinking about the Quest that the two had just been on, I was reminded of the thing I had been wanting to mention to Luke while we sat here.
"Oh, I have something I wanted to bring up to you," I started, but before I could continue, behind Luke a figure with dark hair and a medical bag swung over her shoulder approached us.
"Hey!" Roxy called out, wasting no time to get near us, she jogged the rest of the way to where Luke and I sat.

My muscles had never been so tense. I stood beside Roxy as she pulled the basilisk blood from the from the vile. As Roxy looked for a visible vein, I gently ran my thumb over Finn's dirty hair in attempt to comfort her as much as I could and kept an eye on her vital signs.
I only looked up when the smell of cigarette smoke reached my nose. Quintyn had forgot to put it out when she'd pushed Luke and Dean out of her way. I reached over Finn and took the cigarette from Quintyn's mouth, dropping it to the hardwood floor and crushing it under my shoe. It earned me a brief scowl, but I'm sure she realized it was better off unlit.
The room was dead silent. The only thing that could be heard was Finn's wheezes, and even they were ghostly and meek. Once Roxy had injected the blood into Finn's wrist, the room seemed to come to a stand still. It was almost as if everyone was holding their breath.
I took a moment to beg my father rapidly in my mind.
Please, Dad, please. I never, ever ask you for anything. Please let this work. Please help us. We've done all we can just give her a push.

All of a sudden, it was like my world crumbled around me. Under the hand I had placed gently on Finn's head, I felt her tense her muscles. Her charcoal eyes widened suddenly, her blue veins popped out in strain and Finn began to convulse.
"no," I heard Roxy squeak, but everything to me was background noise. "NO," she screamed. I stood up straight and ran my fingers through my hair, feeling so helpless. I saw Roxy from the corner of my eye, hands covering face and back hunched. I pulled her into another tight hug, this time it was much less celebratory.
Finn suddenly stopped,coming to a complete stillness. We all watched her intensely, searching for a rise and fall of her chest.
With shaking hands, Quintyn reached over and placed her two fingers on the pressure points in Finn's neck, searching desperately for a pulse. When she looked at Roxy, grey eyes more vulnerable than I'd ever imagine I'd see them, I'd never felt my heart drop lower. It was as if my chest had shattered into millions of pieces. It was the same heartbreak I'd gotten when my grandmother had told me my grandfather was dead.
Tears filled the room quickly. My own streamed down my face like water that had broken through a dam. Roxy broke away from my embrace to kneel next to the bed the still Finn lay on. Quintyn did't even bother hiding hers. She paced around the room in a restless whirlwind, slamming her fists into the walls until Dean grabbed her and pulled her close, letting his own tears run down his cheeks.
I almost didn't want to, but I managed to bring my gaze towards a heart-broken Luke, who's forest green eyes reflected his shattered heart like a mirror. Sage and Aubrey held each other in comfort.

It seemed like hours passed, but it could as well have been just minutes. I was a believer in miracles, but I'd never experienced one, at least not to my standards. Not until there was a loud inhale, just able to be heard over the many sobs that filled the room. Everyone fell silent and stared at Finn, our eyes wide with disbelief. Finn inhaled deeply and exhaled rapidly, bloodshot black eyes wide open. She sat up in surprise, weakly leaning on one elbow, sent into a sputtering of coughs as she tried to regain her airflow. I almost fell to my knees in relief. Roxy stood up faster than I thought imaginable. Everything became a blur as we all rushed to the side of the bed Finn lay on.

I felt as light as air, standing near Finn and watching all of her friends rejoice in her recovery. The long and tender moment between Finn and my sister had made my heart flutter, and when Finn regarded Luke I had to look away to conceal a soft smile.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Zadrota!" Quintyn had said, her voiced was raised, but her tone was relieved and playful. Quintyn's dark makeup had run and smudged along her cheeks. She wrapped Finn in a hug too, much less delicate than the one shared between the Daughter of Hermes and Roxy. Quintyn was careful not to hurt her, though. It kind of surprised me seeing Quin so gentle, especially since it hadn't even been that long since she had pushed Luke against the wall in a desperate attempt to get to Finn's side.
"Did you cry over me?" Finn asked in disbelief as the two pulled away from each other. Quintyn scoffed and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, inspecting it and realizing with a briefly wide-eyed expression that she'd been caught red-handed... Er... Black-cheeked.
"All that hard work Roxy and I went to to get you that antidote would have been a waste if you died," Quintyn said jokingly, pulling her infamous lopsided smirk across her face.
"You were all she could talk about, Finn," Dean chimed in from the corner of the room, leaning on the wall with his dark hair in his eyes. The comment earned him a deadly glare from Quintyn, but he simply smirked and gave her a wink in return. What a guy.

Finn then turned to me with a smile.
"How's Nurse Sunshine doing?" She asked, her voice sounding as if she'd just woken up from a nap.
"Better now that you're okay," I answered, embracing Finn gently in a hug of my own, kissing her on the cheek, because I didn't know what else to do to subside the excitable butterflies pounding around in my stomach.
"Haven't killed anyone with copious amounts of Ambrosia yet?" She teased. I'd missed her teasing.
"Hey, you're still in one piece. I'm not THAT bad of a nurse. Roxy taught me everything I know."
"A good thing too," Finn answered. "If she hadn't I wouldn't have let you touch me with a ten foot pole." I couldn't help but smile at the lighthearted comment.
"Aw come on, I sang for you. I brought you mix tapes. You should be nice to me." A smile spread across Finn's tired looking face.
"You kidding? I've got a lot of catching up to do, Haiku Face," Finn said. The nickname washed over me like a rush of fresh air. I hadn't realized it before, but it had been a while since someone had called me that. It reminded me of much simpler times. The air at camp had gotten so heavy, sometimes it was hard to focus on your good memories. Nowadays, demigods always seemed to be thinking more about the impending doom of the future.

Right now, I was focused on the present. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this good. I mean, naturally I'm a pretty happy guy, but I had missed this mixed feeling of bliss and excitement that stung my eyes with tears ready to pour down my cheeks in happiness. I missed the sort of happiness that my body wasn't sure how to conceal, so it would cause me to laugh and smile and cry all at the same time just to release the tension built up in a fiery passion in my chest.
I just stood and smiled until the corners of my mouth hurt, and then I smiled more.

I allowed a silent breath of relief to escape my lungs. During the moment of silence between myself and my friends in Dean's kitchen, I had decided I was going to ask Luke to come on the quest I had been planning for some time now. As much as I hadn't wanted to drag him away from the semi-peacefulness that was camp life, I felt more at peace knowing Luke would be at my side through it. Despite all of the mixed up feelings I had for him, I trusted him more than anybody.
I felt a weight being very slowly lifted from my shoulders. For months I had been plagued every night about the kids in the mental institution. For months I had been plagued with a gut feeling of need to venture out and help them, finally, I was going to do it.
"Thank you," I replied to him. "I, uh, can't really explain them, man. I just feel like I have to go, y'know? These dreams have been going on for so long and I've felt so helpless... I've tried ignoring them but it's impossible." I bit my bottom lip as I tried to explain why I was suddenly so hung up on this quest. I hadn't really mentioned it to anybody. I'd wanted to be completely sure about my gut feelings and my dreams before I ventured out of camp to chase them.
As the sun dipped lower and lower from the sky, Luke's face became harder for me to make out, but I could tell from his nods that he understood.
"Anytime, man," he answered. I smiled crookedly in reassurance.

Before Luke and I left the cabin in the woods, we decided to tell Roxy briefly about my dreams and my appointment with the oracle, figuring if it came up she'd let everyone know for us.
"Just be careful," she had said. The mention of the word "quest" seemed to make her exhausted. I couldn't blame her. It had taken me more days than I wished to count to get over the last quest I had been on. Luke and I both promised that we would be, though all three of us knew that "being careful" meant little to nothing when you were on a quest. It seemed like every turn was a perilous threat.
Roxy supplied us with a few baggies of ambrosia and a thermos of nectar for the trip, along with a few boxes of Bandaids because she knew we'd both be needing them. Unfortunately, they weren't Dora themed like I'd wished they were.
Roxy didn't accompany us back to camp. Instead, she decided to stay at Dean's cabin to keep an eye on Finn for the night.
The sun had fully dissolved in the sky, leaving my Aunts luminescent moon as our only light source. I had to admit I was terrified, and it took everything I had not to scream at every stick we cracked under our feet. The dark made me severely fearful. All I wanted was to be in my cabin where I knew I was safe, but I had an unfortunate stop to make before that.

Luke and I entered camp, much to my delight. Being out of the creepy night time forest relaxed me a bit now that I was close to familiar surroundings. Gods, if Luke hadn't been with me I'd have just run straight through the forest.
We found ourselves in front of the Big House. The happy blue building looked a considerable amount more intimidating at night. I could feel my heart beating in my chest in apprehension of what I was about to do.
Luke and I opened the door as quietly as we could, trying to keep silent for the sleeping demigods staying in the infirmary. I managed to nearly knock an expensive looking antique, ancient Greek vase from a small table used for decoration near the door, but I'd managed to steady it quickly, looking at Luke with wide eyes that said "that was close!"
Luke lead me to the stairs leading to the attic door, which looked like something out of a horror movie and made my heart thump even heavier in my chest.
"You ready?" Luke asked in a whisper. Maybe he'd seen my facial expression.
"No," I whimpered, unable to control my voice at this point.
"She's... She's not that bad," Luke sounded thoroughly unsure of himself, which didn't help me.
"Right," I croaked, balling my hands into fists.
"You'll be okay," he said, throwing a reassuring smile my way and placing a hand on my shoulder. I took a deep breath in, and let a shaky one out, gathering courage to walk up the stairs.

The experience was like something out of a nightmare. I walked up into the attic, holding my breath and fighting back tears formed by fear. Everything was dark, I searched desperately for a lightswitch on the wall, but I didn't have time to find one before the room began to glow with green smoke that poured out of the decomposing body of the hippie looking Oracle that sat hunched over in an arm chair. I fought back the urge to scream, as I was silenced by her haunting voice.
"I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seeker, and ask."
Every inch of me told me to run, but I forced myself to take a few steps up to the Oracle and choke out the words caught in my closed throat.
"S-so like. Um. What's going on in like... Uh... Oh, Gods. In, like, the future and stuff?" I couldn't help but feel like a complete idiot as I stammered. To my slight relief she didn't laugh or stop taking me seriously, but on the other hand I had to listen to her speak again.

I was relieved that my run in with the Oracle was over as Luke and I sat crouched behind the Artemis cabin. I tried desperately to slow my breathing, but my beating heart kept thumping like a bass drum.
I hadn't meant to scream, but once the Oracle had given her prophecy my body didn't know how else to release all of my built up fear.
When all I could do was panic inwardly about what I was going to do next, after what had to be one of the most terrifying moments of my demigod life, I couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness and relief that Luke was with me. Knowing he had my back helped me relax enough for me to gather up the courage to make my way to the Apollo cabin so I could finally get some rest. I was thankful he'd be the one talking to Eli. I really didn't want to be out in the open dark anymore.

Luke and I parted ways and I trudged to the Apollo cabin, desperately wanting to break out into a full on sprint just to get there faster. I held myself back though, forcing thoughts of reassurance into my mind to calm myself down.
You're inside a protective barrier. Nothing can hurt you.
You're nowhere near the Oracle now, you're safe. Everything is fine. Nothing can hurt you.
I opened the heavy door of the Apollo cabin as quietly and as quickly as I could, being extra careful as I stumbled around, kicking off my shoes and stripping myself down to nothing but my underwear, then throwing on an old, faded white Ramones band t-shirt that I picked up from the floor.
I dived into my bed, forgetting that my cat was usually curled up in the middle of it. I was violently reminded by a surprised yowl and a threatening hiss.
"Shut your freaking cat up!" One of my siblings hissed as they tossed over in their bed with a sleepy grunt. I wanted to whisper I was sorry, but I figured I shouldn't bother them further.
Once I had coaxed Fi$h into trusting me again, I curled myself up under the blankets around Fi$h, who had taken up his usual spot in the semi-circle of my form.
I focused my thoughts on music, which was what I did when I needed to fall asleep after gruesome nightmares. I started mentally playing the Bob Marley song "Three Little Birds" and before I knew it, I was asleep, all adrenaline leaving my body and rendering me exhausted.

That should have been the best sleep of my life. It would have been, had I not stirred to turn over. I couldn't be sure what time it was, but it was definitely into the early hours of the morning. I'd become very slightly conscious to re-position myself in a half-sleeping state, but I was jerked fully awake when I realized none of my appendages would obey my mental command to move.
In terrified surprise, my eyes shot open, and Gods do I ever wish they hadn't been the only things I could control.
Once my eyes were open, I came face to face with the Oracle, forced to stare into her empty eye sockets as she stood over me, watching me sleep. I tried to scream, but no sound came out of my slightly parted mouth. I was forced to stay, looking into the ominously hollow holes of her head. It felt like I stayed that way for hours as adrenalin rushed once more through my veins in a desperate attempt to wake my body up. I tried with all my might to move my limbs, but nothing budged. Eventually, I stopped trying. I forced myself to relax as I continued looking at the Oracle. Her decomposing body swayed as she stood, as if she were drunk and couldn't see straight. She brought up an old, skeletal hand and slowly ran the knuckle joint of her index finger down the side of my face, sending a chilling sensation down my spine that my body didn't react to physically. I forced myself to keep calm as she did, closing my eyes and controlling my breathing as I sang Three Little Birds to myself once again.
Soon, I lulled myself to sleep. Dead to the world, I dreamed of the mental institution I was headed to in a couple of hours.