Thalia Grace hated crying. She hated, hated, hated, showing weakness in front of others, so she dressed boldly, confidently, hiding the slightly shy girl underneath.

But, this time, Thalia didn't even think about reapplying her messed-up mascara. She scrubbed her sleeve half-heartedly against her cheek and vaguely hoped some of the crazy black streaks would go away, but all she wanted to know was if Jason was ok.

~

Thalia sat next to Piper on the uncomfortable hospital seats, while her father had been taken into an office nearby to get a brief description of Jason's condition. Even though Thalia could hear Piper sniffing quietly beside her, she ignored the poor girl. She knew if she helped her brother's girlfriend, she'd end up crying too. So instead they sat in silence, staring straight ahead at the plain white wall in front of them.

Finally, her dad came out of the office, his face pale. His hands were knotted together tightly, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Thals, Piper. It's not good news..."

Piper let out a little gasp as I shook my head: "no, no, no..."

"He's got serious head injuries, and internal bleeding. Not to mention that one wrist is broken in two places. The doctors reckon he should be ok... but he might have difficulty with speech and he could even lose half of his vision - though he won't notice - as the left side of his brain is most injured..."

He trailed off, biting his lip. He stared at his daughter with shocked, terrified hazel eyes, and Thalia was reminded of a young school child being told off by the head teacher. He nervously ruffled his hair up at the back before silently wrapping Thalia in a hug. She leant her head on his shoulder, and wrapped an arm around Piper.

They stayed there, like that, for at least half an hour, whilst passing doctors and nurses gave us strange and concerned glances. A few came over to ask if we needed any help but her father just waved them away.

Finally, an older doctor with a bald head and huge, thick glasses that oddly enlarged his eyes emerged from a door on the threesome's left. He scuttled over, his shoes squeaking on the polished floor.

"Mr Grace?" He asked, peering short-sightedly at the tall blonde in front of him.

"That's me," her dad answered wearily, and the doctor held out his hand. He shook it.

"Doctor Thompson," the doctor spoke in a shaky, accented voice. Thalia wasn't sure where he was from... it was like a mixture of various places.

He completely ignored Piper, for some reason, and instead beckoned us all to follow him. Thalia almost broke down again when she saw the horrific sight inside.

Her little brother - sweet, loyal, funny and kind - was as pale as a sheet and his skin was waxy, his sweaty hair pushed from his forehead. Wires seemed to sprout from everywhere, bending and curling in a crazy maze around the unconscious body. A heart monitor beeped monotonously from somewhere, and his wrist had been put into a cast.

"Jase..." her father muttered, rushing forwards and placing his hands on his son's shoulders, shaking him slightly as though trying to wake him up... but Jason didn't move. Thalia realised, with a slight jolt of shock, that her father was crying. Something she'd never seen before... but she never wanted to see again.

Piper walked past her, soundlessly taking Jason's limp hand and sitting on the padded green seat beside the bed. Her face was completely blank and emotionless.

Thalia shook her limbs back to life, realising she had been standing in the doorway, watching this all happen. Uncertaintly, she moved to her brother's side and brought her mouth down near his ear, so that only herself and he could hear her.

"Jason, I don't know if you can hear me, but I love you, ok. Sure, you're annoying... so, so annoying, but that's what little brothers do, right. And I know I couldn't live without you, no matter how many goldfish you flush down the toilet or how many of my books you crease.

"So listen to me, bro. Dad's distraught and I'm quite worried about Piper, to be honest. So just... wake up. Please."

And Thalia excused herself from the room, telling her dad she was going to the restroom...

AN
Urgh! I need to work on my pathetic endings! Meh...

And I got my first votes on this book! Huge thanks to @demigod_in_the_maze!!! Yaaay!

I did loads of research on this chapter, so I hope it's ok! :)

Umm... yeah! Please vote and comment and all that jazz :) Hopefully another update will be coming soon!

RandomPhandom xxx