The Darkness Pressing In-part 1

3. Dark
 Hlynn watched the light of the fire dim. She was the last one to be stuck beside the dying fire. Most of the children and teens had left to their cabins or begun playing Frisbee by the lake. She shook her head violently as a sudden buzzing in her ears sounded. It was disorienting to have so many things surrounding her. The dying firelight made her Epilepsy bracelet glint, reminding her of what used to happen whenever sunlight hit her eyes wrong. She had not felt this sick since the day of her last attack. Scowling in the darkness, Hlynn watched the bracelet which had been kept on merely as a reminder of her old life. She hadn’t really liked the bracelet while she had been suffering from her illness but it calmed her now to remember back in the days when she hadn’t been a huntress. The buzzing in her brain continued. Frowning darkly, Hlynn rose to her feet only to see everything swim in front of her eyes. She could feel the familiar feeling of her Epileptic attack coming. But she was a huntress? What was going on? Her knees felt weak as she dipped down and nearly fainted on the log.
 “Hlynn?” interrupted a voice.
 A girl who didn’t look much older than herself, bent over her friend.
 “Hlynn?” her voice was worried as she peered into Hlynn’s face, but Hlynn was completely unresponsive.
 “Epi-“ she kept repeating.
   Paige noticed her friend’s bracelet and her eyes widened.
 “December!” she yelled out to the nearest camper.
 A group of Aphrodite girls and a tall girl who looked strikingly different than the rest bent over Hlynn.
 “Please help me carry her to the infirmary!” Hlynn could hear Paige yell, but from somewhere distant…
 The darkness was calling out for her.
 “Hlynn,” rumbled the voice.
 She violently shook on the cot.
 “Chiron, what’s happening to her?” asked Paige, her dark eyes growing wider with each passing moment.
 “She’s dreaming,” said Chiron, bending over the small huntress.
 The rest of the huntresses along with a few of Hlynn’s friends were huddled on the outskirts of the room. Not many people were in the infirmary at the moment, but the room was packed.
 “Dreaming?” asked Paige, looking wildly from Hlynn’s shaking body to her bracelet.
 “But she kept saying Epi like it was some sort of attack. You know, like the ones she used to have.” Interrupted Paige.
 “Hlynn became a huntress, therefore healing her previous ailments,” interrupted Thalia.
 The girl’s darkly lined, stormy blue eyes searched Hlynn.
 “But the attack...?” persisted Paige.
“I really don’t know,” said Chiron, his brow furrowing. Something in his tone made Paige think that he did know, but just wasn’t telling her.
 “Does anyone know how to help her?” asked December.
  Everyone’s eyes met hers in surprise. It was strange to see the daughter of Boreas so concerned about a smaller camper that was not one of her siblings. She hardly ever cared about anyone.
 Chiron did not reply but merely turned on his heel and vanished out of the room.
  “Does anyone else think that Chiron is hiding something?” demanded December.
 All eyes turned to her once more, but it was Thalia who spoke next.
 “I will call my lady,” she said, her eyes darkening as Hlynn twitched violently again. “She will know what is going on.”
 “Has she fallen in love and is being cursed?” asked Paige, innocently.
 It was the only thing that the poor girl could think of.
 “No,” assured December, shaking her head.  “That girl hates men. She hasn’t spoken to her father in a very long time.”
 No one asked how December knew this, but one could definitely tell that Decie related. During the war, December had arrived at camp. No one was surprised at a few of the recruits to Luke’s army, but it was widely rumored that December would. Her bitterness towards her father had warned the others at first, but either she had kept her place as a spy or kept her temperament in check, for she stayed at Camp Half-Blood and fought alongside the others.
 Paige didn’t know December well at all; there were few that could boast of that.
 December was a nastily unpleasant sort of girl who usually only associated with those she liked-namely the Aphrodite cabin and others she deemed were worthy. At least, thought Paige, watching the tall model rise to her full height, everyone knew where they stood with her. If she didn’t like you, you knew it or lived long enough to be tormented by the girl. Scowling at Hlynn, December crossed her arms over her chest and stood deep in thought. It occurred to Paige that December wasn’t scowling at Hlynn, but merely her predicament. Despite her nasty, back-biting self, December actually cared for the dark-skinned girl lying on the cot in front of her.
 Paige looked back down at the girl’s restless form. There was no peace in that poor girl’s mind.