Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝕁ason, Son of Jupiter

"I'm not late!" The infirmary doors banged aggressively thanks to Nicki's shove.

The black-haired girl practically threw herself across the cabin to reach her usual bed. The last bed on the right, normally closed off by a thick curtain, was always reserved for the girl.

Any camper in the cabin barely batted an eyelid at Nicki, used to her haphazard arrivals.

Will rounded the corner, a bottle of some concerning-looking cream in one hand, and an annoyed look on his face.

"What time do you call this, Phoenix?"

Nicki winced, easing herself down onto the bed. "Um, I was giving Piper a tour and lost track of time?" Will stared expectantly at the girl, drawing the curtains around them with a pointed look. "And I'm very sorry and it won't happen again?"

"That's more like it." Will's irritated tone slipped for a moment, as he realised how idiotic they sounded. "Anyway, I trust you know what to do with this?"

The blonde tossed the bottle of Lester's Lesion and Little Rash Cream at Nicki.

Will couldn't help but snigger under his breath as Nicki began peeling her still slightly damp clothes off her skin. He turned his back, allowing her to slip into one of her spare sets of pj's.

"I'm decent." Spinning on his heel, Will began examining the red and black irritated skin that was no longer covered by Nicki's sling.

Will let out a low whistle, dragging the girl's arm up closer to the light. The skin was roaring red and inflamed like it was screaming. The main scar itself was a thick white jagged slice covering the area that was normally covered by Nicki's sling. The worst part wasn't Nicki's wrist, it was the skin surrounding it.

Black dead skin snaked up Nicki's arm from her wrist. Her arm was shrivelled and hung limply in Will's grasp. Whatever skin wasn't covered by death, was raw and covered in scabs.

"Fascinating." The young boy muttered, running his finger over Nicki's wrist.

Scowling at Will, Nicki flicked a dollop of cream at him with her thumb and middle finger. "If you don't mind, can you stop manhandling me so I can apply my cream, that'd be great?"

"Real mature. Aren't you meant to be older than me?"

"I'll have you know I turned 16 before Annie or Percy, you still have like 2 years, mister." The blonde laughed, moving to grab a square of ambrosia for Nicki.

Passing Nicki the food, and taking the rather empty bottle off of her, Will shrugged. "You also died, so your argument is invalid."

"Oh yeah, 'cause that was mature," Nicki muttered before chomping down on the square, a small furrow on her brow.

Ambrosia wasn't all it was made out to be when you were already half dead. Percy claimed it tasted like his mom's cookies, and Annabeth said her dad's favourite popcorn.

Before she died, Nicki would've said cardboard. Now, she said lemon birthday cake.

"I learnt from the best." Winking at Nicki, Will set to work manipulating her arm to try and exercise whatever muscles she had left.

The two settled into silence. Both were quite used to their regular medical meetings and didn't mind a blanket of silence.

Somewhere in the distance, the yelling of training campers and those playing basketball echoed around the camp. Camp was at less than half capacity, but it was obvious everyone was desperate to fill the silence the missing campers left.

Nicki couldn't help but think how hard the other year-rounders must be taking the death of their siblings and friends, seeing as everyone abandoned them the second school started back. Her throat tightened as she kept thinking about the demigods that they had lost.