A/N: Spoilers from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in this chapter! Read at your own risk! (Sorry guys I was suffering from Harry Potter withdrawal at the time.)

~*~

I woke up in the morning feeling like pee-

Yup. Pee. Or maybe the better term would be microwaved squishy refrozen meatloaf.

I was laying in a bed beside Percy, who was groaning almost as much as me. "Glad you two are up!" Will Solace from the Apollo cabin said as he strolled into our little room. "Nico was..."

Will stopped himself and shook his head. "Anyway, drink some water. We already used as much ambrosia and nectar as we could use."

I propped myself on one arm and immediately started shaking. I spilled a little bit of water on myself, but I didn't really care. It felt good on my burning throat.

Percy was propped up just like me. We faced each other. I realized that he looked horrible. Then I realized that I probably looked no better, maybe even worse. Percy was pale and sweaty. His hair was stringy and definitely not in its usual "hey-I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-made-it-work-son" look.

I downed the rest of my water and sighed in relief. "That felt good." I said. "What, getting stabbed by the scorpion?" Percy asked me. I sighed. "Nice to see you still have your sense of humor, bro." "And your sarcasm, sis."

Percy looked down at the stitches in his hand. "Looks like we'll be even more alike now." He said quietly. I laughed sadly and looked at my own hand. "I guess so."

"I JUST WANT TO SEE HER!" A voice shouted from outside our little room. "No visitors yet, Nico. Please." Will's voice floated back to us, calm, controlled...and a little bitter?

Nico swore. "IT'S MY FAULT! LET ME SEE HER! LET ME SEE THEM!" There was a muffled thump and the curtain lurched a little. Percy had a strained smile on his face. I probably looked like I was watching a horror movie.

"Nico calm down they're fine." Will said, starting to sound a little panicked. "MOVE YOUR-" Nico then used some colorful language to describe Will's butt.

"Nico! We're okay!" Percy yelled. His voice cracked from the strain of yelling that loudly after having poison course through him. Nico's string of panicked and jumbled together words stopped. "Is Erica okay, too?" He shouted. Percy's face became something like stone. "Yes." He said simply.

My heart climbed into my throat. Nico was asking if I was okay. He cared. I mean, not that I didn't already know that.

"Will, let him in." Percy called, watching my face. "Are you sure Percy?" Will's voice floated back. "Yeah." Percy replied, still watching my face. There was a pause, and then the curtain was pulled open and Nico raced in.

Tear tracks streaked his face. He stared at me for a moment, blinked, and then sat on the edge of my bed. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly. I smiled. "Yeah."

Percy watched the two of us, his face an expressionless mask. Nico turned to him, got off the bed, and held up his hand for a high-five. "Trooper," he said. Percy grinned and high-fived him. "Thanks, man."

~*~

Percy and I spent the next few days in the infirmary, slowly but surely recovering. Nico came back to visit with Annabeth a lot. A few other people trickled in, like Piper, Jason, Leo, Frank, and Hazel. Reyna showed up once too, but she barely spared me a second glance.

Travis and Katie visited us too, but they didn't stay long. They went to Connor's bed a few minutes later.

I wasn't sure how Connor was doing, and I also wasn't sure who had stabbed Nico all those weeks ago. I hadn't really given it much thought, until I was stuffed into an infirmary for a few days with no book to read. Lately, I had been thinking about it nonstop. There were a lot of people at camp that were afraid of Nico, but I don't think any of them would try to kill him.

The possibility still remained that somebody had gotten overly excited and decided to skewer somebody else. For some reason I doubted that was the case. If it was done on accident, whoever did it would either stop when they hit bone, (which was not done, considering it went all the way through) or drop their sword and run.

Percy Connor and I were the only people in the infirmary. Considering the fact that Connor was in a coma, it was kind of quiet.

One time when Nico stopped by, he dropped off the book I was reading (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and the next one, since I was almost done.

"You were in my cabin?" I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Nico's ears turned bright red. "I was only doing you a favor."

I smiled and patted his hand. "I know."

One night, while Percy was doodling in a journal and I had my nose in a book, I screamed. Percy's pencil skidded across his drawing and made a long line through it. "What!?" He yelped. "NO!" I screamed, throwing The Order of the Phoenix onto the mattress and burying my face in a pillow.

"What happened!?" Percy yelled, poking me with his pencil. "WHY SIRIUS WHY!?" I screamed into the pillow. "Who's Sirius?" Percy asked me, confused. I looked at him. "Harry's Godfather."

Percy stared at me for a solid five minutes before muttering: "Stupid books."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" I screeched. Percy didn't even look fazed as he picked his pencil back up. "I said stupid books."

"OH YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-"

I am not putting what followed this sentence into words. It's too gruesome to describe. Let's just say Percy never spoke those words again.

I sat back in my bed, smiling serenely, and picked my book back up. Percy held a tissue to his nose while he tried to pry his leg out from between two poles that connected his headboard to his bed spring.

You can insult any book in the world.

Except Harry Potter.

No one insults my Harry Potter.