TW: violence, blood

 What did you really expect?

Virgil's POV

"Um, Joan?" I said shakily. "What the hell am I looking at?"

I didn't tear my eyes away from the monstrosities in front of me, but I could hear my friends breathing quicken.

"Scythian Dracaena." They answered quietly.

The monster on the left, the one that hadn't spoke yet, trained her gaze on Joan and smiled, showing pointed teeth and a forked tongue.

"Demigod with a side of goat meat? Today's our lucky day."

Demigod? Goat meat? I looked over at Joan to see their reaction, and I was not prepared for what I saw. Their eyes had taken on a yellow hue and their pupils were slit like a goats.

Am I high? I'm definitely either high or insane, and I'd rather be the former.

I was so distracted by my friend's change in appearance, I almost didn't notice the attack in time. I dived at Joan, knocking us both out of the way just as the dracaenae lunged at us. I pulled them up as fast as I could and started to drag them behind me.

I sprinted down the road and began to climb the hill that Joan had pointed out earlier, the sounds of hissing and thumping followed us as the creatures chased us.

I was kind of worried for the bus driver, but I was a little pre-occupied at the moment. And besides, working in New York, he's probably seen way weirder things than two half-snake ladies chasing a panicked emo and a person with goat eyes.

Now that I say it like that, maybe not.

We were nearing the crest of the hill, and my lungs were burning. That's when Joan yelled and fell out of my grasp with one of the monsters' snake trunks wrapped around their ankle. I turned to help them, but another snake trunk hit me square in the chest. It felt like I was hit with a log and I went flying.

I slammed into a large pine tree and before I could catch my breath, a clawed hand grasped my throat and pushed me up so I was at eye level with the dracaena. She tightened her grip so she was nearly choking me. 

"Now, there's no need to make this kinky." I gasped out

From not too far away, I heard Joans slightly breathless voice yell out,

"NOT THE TIME, VIRGIL!"

The dracaena glared down at me with her bright green eyes.

"Say your prayers, quickly."

I had determined a long time ago that even if I prayed, no one would answer. I had tried for years, until I resigned to the fact that even if there was a god out there, they definitely wouldn't be sending me any help.

"No need," I responded heavily, her claw still wrapped around my throat. "I'm pretty sure Satan is saving a seat for me in hell anyway."

Her mouth twisted in to a terrible grin.

"Goodbye, Virgil August."

My hands flailed around, tracing the wood of the tree and searching for something I could use to get out of her grip. That's when I remembered a small object resting in my jean pocket.

Acting on instinct alone, I grabbed my pocket knife, flicked it open, and shoved the pointed bronze point right into the dracaenas neck

She screeched in pain and dropped her hand from my neck. I would've gotten a face full of green blood if I hadn't rolled out of the way as I hit the ground.

I sprung up, pocket knife in hand as the injured monster turned to face me with loathing in its eyes. I sprang up and slammed my feet on its chest to throw it off balance. She swiped at me, hissing, with her fully extended claws and I stabbed down, right on its chest. The hissing stopped immediately as she burst into dust.

I quickly ran over to when I could hear Joan struggling to keep the other dracaena back. The creature had its back to me, its form towering over Joans, who was apparently trying to kick the monster away.

Using my momentum, I leaped in the air and nailed the dracaena through the back with my blade. She let out a final screech, before she too, dissolved. 

I wiped my sleeve across my face, cleaning off any remaining monster dust. 

Joan was staring at me in surprise and amazement, until they noticed something I was too high on adrenaline to.

"What?" I asked, before I was hit with a wave of pain.

I fell to my knees, releasing my pocket knife from my grip. I lifted a shaking hand to touch the front of my chest, where three large slices had torn up my purple shirt.

My fingers came away dark with blood.

I felt dizzy. I would've fallen over sideways if Joan hadn't caught me. My vision and hearing were becoming fuzzy, but I could hear them frantically calling my name.

"Virgil? Virgil, can you hear me? Virge!"

And then my world went dark.

**********

Patton's POV

I've never really minded the night shift.

My siblings found the silence boring, but I found it calming. No voices. Just the sound of the waves lapping against the shore in the distance.

My sister, Valerie, laid next to me on one of the infirmary beds trying to keep her eyes open.

"Come on, Pat." She whined. "Five minutes?"

"No, Val." I said as I stood up to look out the open window. "You can't take a nap while working. There's overnight patients and if there's an emergency, we need to be ready."

I rested my elbows on the windowsill as I stared out at the land below me.

The training arena was quiet, the nighttime was the only time the sounds of swords against swords weren't ringing across camp. Canoes were bobbing with the waves of the Long Island Sound and there was a howl of some sort of monster from deep in the woods.

My gaze drifted over to the cabins, arranged in the shape of an omega symbol. The orange, and green in the case of the Hades cabin, flames from the torches outside of all the doors flickered in the breeze.

"Oh puh-lease." Valerie replied, sitting up. "The most exciting thing that might happen is that one of them wake up and beg for more ambrosia."

"Still," I insisted, looking at her. "You have the perfect sleeping pattern so you shouldn't be this tired-"

I broke off as movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention.

There were two silhouettes stumbling down from Half-Blood Hill towards the Big House. The larger one seeming to be unconscious and the other dragging them.  

"Um, Val?" I said, straightening up."I think-"

"PATTON! VALERIE!" A familiar voice yelled from downstairs. "WE NEED HELP!"

I ran through the door and down the stairs as fast as possible. Valerie, all traces of tiredness gone, leaped up to follow me.

I flung open the front door to reveal a horrific sight.

My friend Joan was supporting an unconscious boy with purple hair, trying not panic. My eyes drifted to the boy's chest to see a massive amount of blood seeping from three long gashes.

I swung the boys other arm around my neck to take some of the weight off of Joan.

"Valerie," I said seriously. "Get Chiron."

As Valerie rushed off to wake our mentor, I helped Joan get the injured boy up the stairs and lie him down on the infirmary bed she was lying down on mere minutes ago. Joan collapsed onto the bedside chair, breathing heavily.

I took a pair of scissors and cut off the remains of the boy's tattered shirt revealing the gashes that were still bleeding.

As I applied pressure on the wounds with a piece of gauze, Valerie returned with Chiron in wheelchair form.

"Patton," He began, alarmed. "What on Earth happened?"

"I don't know sir." I replied, switching places with Valarie to wet a clean cloth. "Joan's the one that brought him."

We both turned to the person in question, who seemed much more calm than they had on arrival. One of their sneakers had fallen off, showing one cloven hoof.

"Scythian Dracaena." They answered. "Two of them caught up with us on our way here."

Scythian Dracaena? I've never seen one outside of pictures in books Logan had shown me. An untrained Demigod against two dracaena! No wonder he got mauled.

"What's his name?" I questioned, turning to the patient to clean the scratches, which Val had managed to get to stop bleeding.

"Virgil. Virgil August." They told us. Then they turned to Chiron. "I don't know his parentage, but he's powerful. Incredibly powerful."

Chiron's face was grave as he surveyed the extent of the injuries.

"Patton." My head snapped up to meet his eyes. "Could you?"

"Of course." 

I rolled up my sleeves and motioned for Valerie to move. I placed my hands above the boy, Virgil's, wounds and began tracing patterns in the air.

A golden glow began to emanate from my palms, washing over Virgil's chest and soaking into the cuts. I closed my eyes, focusing on the healing energy. A bead of sweat began to gather on my forehead.

When I did as much as I could, I dropped my arms to my side and opened my eyes again. I looked down at my work through my circular lenses.

The scratches were still bad, but I had managed to heal them enough so that they weren't nauseating to look at. 

I sat back on the bed beside Virgil.

"Val," I said. "Can you please go grab some nectar, ambrosia, and bandages for him please?"

She nodded and went over to the cupboards in the corner.

Chiron went up to Virgil's limp form and surveyed the improved wound. Valerie returned from the corner and left a package of ambrosia, a bottle of nectar, an empty glass, and a roll of bandages. She threw me a bottle of water.

"Drink it." She instructed me as I just stared at her. "You and I both know how tired you get after you pull that little trick of yours."

She was right. Already, I could feel exhaustion creeping up on me. So I just smiled in thanks and unscrewed the lid.

"Thank you Patton." Chiron said softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You can go back to your cabin for the night"

"But-" I began to protest, but he stopped me.

"Hush child. Valerie and I will watch over Virgil and Joan." He smiled in a fatherly manner. "Go get some rest."

Knowing I was dismissed, I nodded and began to make my way out. I ruffled Vals hair as I passed her.

"Take it easy, okay?" I told Joan.

"Only if you do." They responded.

I gave a small smile and waved goodbye, then I walked out of the Big House and towards my cabin.

The Apollo cabin looked quite ordinary in the moonlight, but I knew that once the sunlight hit it, it would gleam gold so bright it almost hurt to look at.

Speaking of sunlight, the sun was set to rise in only a couple hours, and I wasn't even inside yet. So, as quietly as possible, I opened the door and slipped inside. My bunk was in the middle of one of the rows since I was the cabin counselor, so I tried my best to sneak by my sleeping siblings without waking them.

I sank into bed, and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

AN- All comments are read and appreciated <3