A cool breeze grazes my skin, and sunlight blinds me through the cracks in my eye lids.
"How did I get here?" I ask. The sickness had subsided a bit, but my head still throbbed and spun.
"You passed out on the field while running. Teacher carried you here."
"And everyone saw?" I groaned.
Jacob nodded, "why didn't you say you weren't feeling well? You know you don't have to do it if you feel sick!"
I sighed, and it landed me in the place I didn't want to be: the nurses office. But I was surprised to find she hadn't discovered that I wasn't human- I thought a human nurse would easily be able to tell. "I didn't want to cause anyone trouble."
He looked at me strangely, "why would it cause trouble?" he asked.
"They said you have heat stroke or something. I'm gonna take you home, gym is almost over anyway, but I'll ask Thalia to get our stuff from Jackson so don't worry." I slump upright and gently slide off the bed.
I don't really remember our journey back to the inn, but the next thing I remember is waking up laying fully clothed on my bed, with my shoes kicked off and in the middle of the floor. I woke up hungry and feeling quite awful. I should get some blood, I mused. I rolled off the bed and sat at its base, clumsily forcing my feet in my shoes before stumbling upright, and half falling, half jumping out the window. I staggered forward on impact, catching myself on the floor, then straightened up as best I could with the thumping in my head and the pain in my stomach.
The street spun around me, and I struggled to navigate my way to the Bar, a route that I'd done a dozen times before. Maybe I should have just stayed in my room, but I was so hungry I didn't know what would happen if I'd left it any longer.
The pain in my stomach intensified, bending my body over in two. My head swims, and the floor dances even though I'm sure I'm standing still. I close my eyes to block it all out, but then the sensation of being spun around and around tugs at my gut, and my stomach reaches. Bile burns my throat, but there's nothing left to come up- all the human food had gone, so why did I feel so sick? I wondered.
My fingers shake as I push the hair out of my eyes, away from the sweat coating my skin. But my trainer catches on a lump of rock on the path; the force sends me sprawling, and I catch myself against the nearest building, grazing my shoulder.
I'll just rest here for now, I think, and slump down against the wall of the building. But I find that once im down, I don't have the effort nor the motivation to move. I watch the night spin around me in half open eyes, thinking of nothing.
"You stupid brat." A familiar voice hisses. A man I think- I sense him in front of me, though I can't see his face as he bends down and shakes my shoulders.
I want to tell him to stop- to leave me alone, but somehow that words don't come, and I watch him with dead eyes as he tries to elicit a response. I know I know him, I recognise his voice as he curses at me, and his smell as he pulls at my body. He kneels by me, gently slapping my face, but when that gets no response, he slaps harder, "boy, wake up!" he hissed, "if you don't wake up you're going to die!" die? That's nice. "snap out of it! Damn it!" I feel his hands reaching under my arm pits, his muscles straining as he pulls me up from the floor, and slings me over his shoulder like a bag of flour.
I watch the dancing shadows of the moon through slits in my eyelids; with every step, shock waves travel up through my spine down to every part of my body, and I find myself shaking- but not from the cold.
After a couple of streets, his breathing gets heavy and strained, "damn it!" he huffed, and slung me back onto the floor. My face is buried in the dirt, but he rolls me over onto my back, "you owe me for this on kid." He grumbles. He raises his wrist to his mouth, and rips at the skin with his teeth. A grunt escapes his mouth, but otherwise gave nothing else away.
Something sweet but dirty fills the air, and I'm both attracted and repulsed by it. Its shoved to my lips, and I choke on the liquid. "God damn it kid! Work with me for Gods sake!" more entered my mouth and trickled down my throat, and although it smelt dirty, tasted bitter and warm, I found myself lapping it down like a starved dog, even gnawing at the man's wrist to get more.
Light flashes across the sky.
The pain is numbing, and relief starts working its way through my body. The man pulls it arm away, although I want to stop him, and at first my teeth sink deeper, ripping the flesh a little, but when he starts frantically hitting my shoulders, I release my clench and allow him his arm back. he cradles his wrist against his chest, and crudely ties a cloth around it, before resuming his task. He puts my arm around his neck and half drags me the rest of the way.