After the war Katie can't see the point in anything.
She's supposed to be there for her cabin. But who cares if she's there for them when they're safe if she can't be when they're being killed right in front of her?
She's Katie Gardner. She's the rule follower. She's the example. She's supposed to comfort and help, but she just. Can't. Do. It.
So she doesn't.
Everything anyone has ever told her in her life, she decides to do the opposite. What's the point?
Head Counselors are responsible for making sure their cabins keep to the daily routines just like normal? Katie made herself a little hangout in the woods where she could hide and not talk to anyone.
Everyone should be looking out for the other campers, but Head Counselors are especially responsible for reporting demigods wandering into the woods unarmed and anyone in their cabin that may need to be added to the Suicide Watch List? Katie watched an Ares kid drop his weapon and keep walking farther and farther into the woods.
Don't have sex before you're married? Katie fucked Travis Stoll the first time he found her in her makeshift clubhouse made of dead vines and leaves and every time after.
Children of Demeter help things grow? Katie pulled the nutrients and water from everything she touched.
When Travis finally decides to leave, Katie nearly kills the tree and the wood nymph nearest to her. She thinks she might die. She stops going back to her cabin to sleep and stays in the woods every night.
Her stomach rumbles and she remembers she only ate because Travis brought her food. She thinks about finding a seed so that she can grow something to eat but can't bring herself to start growing again.
Annabeth joins her on weekends. She brings Katie food, but Katie never sees her eat. They sit in silence except when Percy comes and has one-sided conversations with them.
She doesn't know who brings her food during the week and she doesn't care. Logically, she knows she's not alone in the camp and that someone will be there for her when she's ready, but she feels so alone. She feels like nothing will ever be right again.
She feels her dead sister in her arms, a weight that will never leave her.
…
He comes back for her a month later. She's floating in the lake wishing some water nymphs would just drown her already when she hears a splash.
She doesn't bother to cover her naked body, just stands up to take him in. His hair is longer, his face a little leaner.
"I thought you were dead," he explains, lifting his arms and gesturing to his soaking wet clothes.
"Let's leave," she responds back.
