I hope you enjoy the chapter.  It's not necessarily a big action thriller this chapter but it gives you a deeper look into the feelings of one of your favorite characters :) Enjoy!

Quote of the Chapter:
“And that’s why dog is man’s best friend, because guys want buddies that are dumber than they are… so do women but they already have men.”
~Bill Engvall 

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Chapter 16: I Can’t Do It

Luke 

Luke stared in horror at the blood.  He’d seen blood before of course, but never in such a vast amount.  He was frozen in shock for a few seconds until he snapped himself out of it, realizing that the time he spent staring like an idiot at Bryn’s wound, the shorter her life expectancy would be.  Luke didn’t know if the wound was fatal but it certainly looked nasty and he didn’t want to chance it.  Gingerly, he stood up with her in his arms.  She was completely limp.  He ran to the ship, trying not to jostle her too much.  Hannah and Derek were waiting for him in the lounge area of the ship.

“Bryn!” Derek shouted worriedly.

“She needs help!” Luke exclaimed hurriedly.

“Thank you for that, Captain Obvious,” Derek snapped.  Luke tried not to let himself be irked but with Derek’s implied tone, it was obvious he blamed Luke for Bryn’s injury. “Let’s get her up to the bridge and we’ll take care of her there.”

They took the elevator up and walked swiftly to the bridge where Luke laid Bryn on the couch.  Derek took off his backpack and pulled out some nectar along with bandages and tape.  He set to work, lifting her shirt to expose only her torso.  Luke looked away, one, in respect of Bryn’s privacy, and two, he felt strangely guilty looking at that part of her without her permission.

“What happened?” Derek inquired, sounding calmer.

“Is she going to be okay?” Luke asked.

“She’ll be fine.  It’s a nasty wound but the nectar is healing it up nicely.  She’ll be sore but there won’t be any scar or anything.  Now what happened?”

“We were thrown off the motorcycle when a hydra blocked us with its tail.  We flew off but I don’t think that’s where the gash came from.  Earlier, after I threw a pillow pet at a hydra and the hydra’s acid hit it, the thing exploded into some disgusting goo and it missed me but I think it might’ve gotten Bryn.  I thought it had missed her.  Guess I was wrong,” Luke mumbled, feeling miserable.  First his sister was missing, now the best fighter on their team was injured.  Could his quest be any worse?  He decided it could because he didn’t want to jinx himself.

“That makes sense.  She had burns, and well, that’s part of getting hit by hydra acid.  She needs to rest and she should be fine by the time we get to Milos.  If not, one of us is going to be carrying her,” Derek said.

“I don’t think she’ll be a fan of that,” Luke noted.

“Of course she won’t.  It’s Bryn.  She does things on her terms.”

“I’m surprised she’s listened to you on the quest, Luke,” Hannah said with a chuckle.

“How on earth do you get her to do it?” Derek sounded genuinely curious.

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because I’m related to one of the Big Three and we can relate in that sense?” Luke suggested.  Derek studied him carefully but didn’t reply.  Instead, he changed the subject completely and told Luke to go set the coordinates for Milos.  He did as he was told but since the boat automatically went on autopilot, he went back down and sat with Bryn.

“I’m going to go search the ship, make sure nothing unwanted came on.  Hannah, want to come?” Derek queried.

“Sure,” Hannah agreed, standing up.

“Luke, watch Bryn.  If anything happens… make the boat rock violently or something.  Use your Athena abilities that are buried somewhere deep, deep inside your brain to think up of something,” Derek said.

“I’m smarter than you think,” Luke retorted.

“I know; I’m only encouraging you to be smarter.  Come on, Hannah.” He and Hannah left the room, leaving Luke alone with an unconscious Bryn.  He buried her face in his hands, completely exhausted from today.  He was used to having things weighing down on him.  It happened all the time in football because he was the captain of the team and he had brought victory to his team with only seconds left in the game.

Those moments were nothing compared to now.  Now, his parents’ lives were on the line, with Silena’s disappearance, hers probably was too, his life was in danger constantly, he had to watch out for three other people, and he was scared.  He didn’t want to let anyone down.  He didn’t want to lose his parents and sister.  He didn’t want to fail in front of Bryn and Derek, especially Derek.  That guy seemed to have it out for Luke.  He was probably mad that Luke was able to convince Bryn to do things he never could, but that wasn’t Luke’s problem.  For some reason, Luke and Bryn shared a bond that he couldn’t explain.  Maybe it was because they were children of the Big Three; maybe it was because she had taken a leap of faith and trusted him with one of her deepest secrets.  He didn’t know but he did sort of want to rub it in Derek’s face that he knew something about Bryn that Derek didn’t, just to irk him like he’d been doing to Luke most of the trip.  However, he didn’t want to lose Bryn’s trust in him and decided against it.

At the thought of Bryn, he looked up at her.  She was pale from all the blood loss; her expression was that of exhaustion.  Luke wondered how much sleep she actually got.  He vividly remembered the night when they’d gone to Grover to get the sleeping potion thingy and how Grover had commented that Bryn needed to be careful using so much of it.  What was it about night that made her get no sleep?  Demigod dreams?  Regular nightmares?  Haunting memories from the past?

All the thinking gave Luke a headache and he closed his eyes, trying to get rid of it.

Where are you Silena? He pleaded silently, over and over.  His sister would always know what to do in situations like this where Luke was taking on too much.  She was always able to calm him down and help him rationalize the situation.

Luke! Silena’s voice screamed in his head.  He jerked from the surprise. Luke, I’ve been trying to reach you for ages!

Where are you? Luke demanded anxiously.

With mom and dad chained up somewhere under Milos I’m guessing.  I can feel the ocean above me so we’re way deep underground.  Did you know the volcano is hollow for miles and miles from its opening?  There’s magma about two miles beneath me though.  Kind of a scary thought, Silena rambled.

We’re on our way.  Bryn’s injured.  Got hit by hydra acid.

Is she okay?

Besides being out cold from blood loss, supposedly she is according to Derek.

Silena, as usual, picked up on his angst, even though he’d tried to hide it from her.  She was in a direr situation than he was and he didn’t want to burden her with is worries.  At least he had two conscious demigods to back him up in a fight.  Silena was with their parents chained up.  She didn’t have much hope. Luke, don’t blame yourself for Bryn and don’t let Derek get under your skin.  They’ve been friends for a long time; he’s only worried about her and he’s taking it out on you.  And don’t you dare worry about me.  I can fend for myself for now.

Easier said than done Silena… I’ll be there soon.  I’m not going to let anything happen to you.

I know because it’s you and you always feel like you have to save the whole world, sort of like Bryn.  Maybe that’s why you two get along so well.

How do you know she feels that way?

I’ve talked to Derek.  Now, I’m going to get some rest before the monsters come back.  I’m going to need my strength.  I’ll see you soon.

Count on it.

Luke felt when Silena disconnected from their conversation; he was left a little more relieved than before.  He could do this.  He would do this.  No one messed with his family… except for him of course but that was because they were his family.

Someone placed their hand on his arm, making him look up.  Bryn had herself leaning on her left arm; her right hand was the one on his arm.  She didn’t say anything to him, only smiled.  It was as if she could tell what was going through his mind.

“How are you feeling?” Luke questioned softly.

“Except for the fact that my arms feel like they went through a cheese grater from skidding on the asphalt and my stomach feels like someone is holding fifteen lighters to it, better than I did before I passed out on you.  How about you?”

“Except for the fact that my sister’s been kidnapped, the best fighter on this quest is injured really badly, another person on this quest loves to get under my skin, and the fact that my parents are probably near death, I’m fine,” Luke joked humorlessly.  He looked down as there were multiple tics in his jaw from him trying to get a control over his emotions.

“Luke,” Bryn said softly, lifting his chin so she could look him in the eye.

“I can’t do it,” he murmured.

“You can and you will.  You have me, Derek, and Hannah.  We won’t let anything happen to you, Silena, or your parents.”

“Bryn, look at yourself!  You’re injured to where you can barely move!  Derek despises me!  He’s only on the trip because of Silena.  And Hannah, I’m sorry, but she’s not the best fighter.  She’s smart, but she’s not a fighter.  And then there’s me, the rookie.  We’re all screwed,” Luke ranted.

“Don’t underestimate me because I’m injured.  There are other ways to fight other than physical.  Derek… he doesn’t like how I trust you.  Hannah, she’s smart and a lot of times, ingenuity is what helps you win a fight.”

“Shouldn’t Derek like me because you trust me?”

“It would make sense, wouldn’t it?   But he doesn’t like you for the same reason you don’t like him, he thinks you’re after me and you think he’s after Silena.  Your reasoning can be justified.  You’d have to be stupider than the Fates to not see how much those two like each other.  I don’t get where his reasoning is coming from though.”

Luke wanted to say Derek’s reasoning could be justified as much as his, but he didn’t want Bryn to know how he felt about her.  They’d just started forming a decent friendship.  He didn’t want to ruin it.

“You really hate the Fates, don’t you?”

“They make my life hell, so I get to badmouth them all I want,” she answered with a grin.

“I hate to bring this up, but that phone call earlier that you said was to Chiron, what was that about?”

She sighed. “You heard Rachel Dare give you your prophecy for this quest.  Well, a while back, she gave another one that everyone refers to as the Great Prophecy.  This quest is a small part of the bigger picture.  In the prophecy, it said something about you and Silena: “the Jackson legacies will lead.” That’s what the prophecy said.  You’re the only Jacksons known in the demigod world besides your parents but they’re not legacies; being their children, you and Silena are their legacies.  Unfortunately, whether you like it or not, you and Silena are the leaders of the greater quest that this quest is leading up to.”

“So that’s what the whole army thing was about.”

“Precisely.”

“That makes a lot more sense now.”

“When we get to camp, Chiron can explain more of it to you but for now, don’t dwell on it.  Focus on the task at hand.  Now, come on; let’s go get some ice cream.”

Luke tried to protest against her getting up but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.  She was unsteady on her feet but with the support of Luke, managed to walk well enough around.  Luke had never seen someone eat so much ice cream before.  The height of the ice cream itself was about a foot long.  He had her make him a cone too because he wanted that much ice cream too.  They chatted aimlessly.  Bryn was fascinated by football and so for two hours, Luke explained everything about it.  He stopped when Derek and Hannah found them.  Derek seemed to be in a better mood with Bryn awake and semi-well. 

“So what do we do when we get to Milos?” Derek asked, sitting with Hannah across from Bryn and Luke.

“I-” Luke was about to say he wasn’t sure but Bryn interjected.

“We’re heading straight to Milos to go get Silena and his parents.  No detours.”

“Is that your plan or Luke’s?” Derek retorted.

“What’s gotten into you?” she snapped.  They glowered at each other and fell silent.  It was either the world’s angriest staring competition or they were having a silent argument.  Slowly, Bryn’s expression turned troubled and there was a tic in her jaw.

“And you would know this how?” She finally inquired, barely containing how furious she was.

“Because I’m a guy and I know what goes through our heads in this situation.  Believe me, the signs are all there and I don’t want you getting more hurt than you already are,” Derek responded.

“No matter what the outcome, someone is going to be hurt,” Bryn said grimly.

“Care to explain what you two are talking about?” Luke queried casually.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” She replied. “Let’s go up to the bridge.  I have a feeling we’re almost to Milos.”

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Well, there you go!  The new chapter!  What do you think Bryn and Derek were talking about?  Tell me your thoughts in your review!