It took a minute for Will to find his voice back."Oil of Vitrol...Sulphuric Acid...that is what that kid got splashed with?" Will asked cautiously. 

"That's what I told you", Kayla said.

"This is insane." Nico added.

"We should get going then. Oh my gods, another one..." Will muttered, as he started walking forward with a fast pace. (Bad intro, bad intro) 

"Will!" Kayla called out. Will kept on walking. Kayla didn't have a hard time catching up with Will's long-legged, now fast-paced but Nico had to practically break into a sprint to catch up.

Nico was certainly surprised by the sudden changed in Will's demeanour. He was walking unusually straight and upright. His movements seemed automatic. His face was drained of colour  and the carefree smile, which could light up a town, which seemed to be permanently present on his lips, were replaced by nervousness. With his trademark humour and cheerfulness replaced by fear and trauma, Nico felt as if the sun got clouded on a nice summer day.

Presently, they had reached the infirmary. The screams and wails they could hear before now had become louder. As Will automatically reached out for the door handle, Kayla held his wrist.

"Look Will", she said, "If you are not okay with it, no one's forcing you into this."

Will looked directly into his sister's cobalt eyes, which shone with concern. He looked  certainly scared, but his now-paper white lips were pressed together in a hard line and tear-brimmed, sapphire eyes gleamed with determination. Whoa, talk about work dedication.

"Nico?" Will said.

Nico's head jerked up in Will direction, quickly enough to give him a spasm.

"Accompanying me inside or not: the choice is totally yours. But I'd like your presence inside the infirmary." He finished.

Whoa. How many people want the son of a death god inside a place were lives are saved??

"Uhh...I guess I'm coming with you." Nico said.

"Good." Will said mustering the small smile he could.

Without another word, Will turned the handle. Will stepped in, followed by Kayla, who mouthed him 'Thank you' as she went. Nico went in at last. 

After stepping in, Nico almost had second thoughts about his decision. The room stunk.  At the end, he could see a group of people standing in a circle, all of them wearing lab coats. Near Will's study desk, he saw a pair of shoes lined up. He was about to move in further, before a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around to meet a masked face with a pair of deep, cobalt blue eyes and cocoa brown hair tied in a short ponytail - it was Kayla. She was also wearing a doctor's apron.

She handed Nico an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. After rubbing his hands with that, she handed him a white apron and a surgical mask to cover his face. She pointed at his feet like: your shoes. He looked down at Kayla's feet, and saw that the usual sports shoes seen at her feet were replaced by blue flip-flops. Nico then got down to undo his boots. 

"I am sorry for all this fuss", Kayla said, as she pushed a pair of black flip-flops towards him, "But Will and other medics are really particular about hygiene standards. Oh, and he also told me to look out for you." She finished. 

"Shall we proceed?" Kayla asked, as Nico finished donning Apollo-cabin-approved-infirmary-outfit. They went nearer towards the end, where the treatment was taking place. 

Calling that sight gut-wrenching, stomach-turning, brutal or gory didn't just put it right. A young child, about 10 yrs of age, was made to sit in a tub. He was literally bawling his eyes out. Four to five people, wearing white aprons, gloves, masks and safety goggles were scurrying around and trying to control the situation. 

He recognised Will - he was trying to calm the kid. Most of the child's right side - his hand, several parts of his torso - seemed to have received the vitrol's impact, since that's where the child's shirt had stuck portion and seemed to be emitting vapours. Another guy - who looked like Josh - with the help of another girl, was cutting of the child's shirt, because kid was in no shape to remove the shirt from over head. He also recognised Austin, who was holding out the child's arm. He looked to his side: Kayla was no longer present there. She had slapped on safety goggles and was providing supplies to the medics from their cupboard.

Finally, Josh and his partner managed to cutoff the kid's shirt. It  they removed it with utmost ease; except a few patches were left on the burn. The burn. Nico almost gagged on seeing it. In most of the areas, the skin had burned off, leaving exposed pieces of angry red flesh. It was...just like seeing a zombie movie reanimated.

Near the child's tub, a fairly built women was standing, with full gear on, her hazel hair tied back and a red bandana on her head - it was Nyssa. She had covered her masked face with her hands and silent tears were rolling down her cheeks.

Meanwhile, the medics had brought in a basin of water and a tumbler. Kayla came beside him and slid him a pair of safety goggles and gloves. She then quietly slipped through the infirmary door.

Josh and and Austin were trying to keep the child still, while the girl was seemed to be checkimg his vitals. The boy was hurt, but he was no where near dying. Son of Hades ESP, you know.

Will picked up a tumbler full of water and slowly poured it o the kid's injured side. The kid let loose guttural screams. His wounds were literally fuming now. The more water was poured the louder the screams got. If Nico felt so much agony witnessing this scene, he tried not to think about the medics who were treating him, or Nyssa, who had to witness a loved one going through this. And the kid? Leave that aside.

The medic were still pouring water on his burns, but now, the kid's screams had decreased, in both volume and intensity; but his nightmarish and absolutely horrified expressions didn't dampen the effect.

Will Solace had gone into doctor mode; he was automatically pouring water on the child's wound.  Nico knew that even in shock and trauma, Will was trying his level best to make things easy for the kid as behind those safety goggles, Nico could see his sapphire eyes widen in shock and alarm, yet at the same time, never lose their characteristic intelligent glint in them.

Meanwhile as Will poured in the last tumbler, the kid passed out. Nico also noticed that Kayla had reappeared beside him. Apparently, none of the medics had noticed that until the girl pointed that out.

"The kid's dead or what?" She asked.

Nyssa looked as if she would faint anytime.

Before any of the medics could answer, Nico said: " Nah man, that kid ain't dying any soon; he's got a lot to live." 

The girl cocked an eyebrow, "How do you know?" She looked up and down at Nico. "You don't seem like a medic." She said coldly.

"I'm not. But being the son of the Lord of the Dead has its own perks." Nico said in an equally cold and indifferent tone.

Will cleared his throat. "Julia? We're operating on tight schedule here." He said, which looked like an attempt to break the debate.

While going back, Julia gave Nico one last withering glare, which Nico gladly returned with a look of pure venom. Oh yeah, that was so posiible, even with masks and safety goggles on.

The medic team was now applying mineral oil on the burns, which will apparently provide a soothing effect. As they went in for a second layer, the infirmary door was thrown open. It was Chiron.

"Will and team, y'all did a lovely job here, but you can leave now. I'll take it up from here." Chiron declared.

The team collectively sighed. So that's what Kayla had gone for - to call Chiron. She definitely knew her sibling's limits.

Everyone (except Nyssa and Julia) went out in a single file. They removed their flip-flops and grabbed their shoes in hand. Nico was going to remove his apron and all, when someone grabbed his forearm from behind. He turned around to meet a pair alarmed and tear brimmed eyes, deep sapphire in colour - it was Will. He made a pointed to his apron, made a rolling gesture gesture with his hands and pointed outside, which easily translated into Remove them later outside. 

Nico picked up his shoes and went outside, followed by Will. Outside, Will removed his mask, pushed up his goggles and sighed deeply. A single tear rolled down his left cheek.

"I guess we need to talk." Nico said.

Will nodded his head.

                                                                     *******

Long chapter...1482 words...maybe my longest in this book.

So after a row of short'n'shit chapters, I gave you a long'n'decent chapter. Self-quarantining seems to have increased my imagination power, since I am practically jobless.

I have a lot planned for this book, but executing the ideas is a wee bit difficult.

I have also started updating the previous chapters to match up the current storyline and to make several other improvements.

I published an Author's Note early, since it's not my usual one. So, check those out as well.

Please vote and comment. It's nice to listen to your views in the comments section. And stay tuned for the second part, which I'll pot really soon :)

ALSO, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKE YOUR CHAPTERS LONG OR SHORT.  MAKE SURE TO COMMENT THIS.

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