Speedy update so no replies! And we get some more Annabeth- poor her. She's not in a good way right now and she's been lashing out, and Percy is also super sly.
The next few days were not good ones in Percy's opinion. Annabeth wasn't handling things well. She refused to speak to anyone unless she was screaming at them to leave her alone, she'd refused to eat too. She sat for hours at a time staring at her right hand- when she'd managed to tear the bandages off it had been revealed to be red, irritated looking, the veins raised and tight. She wasn't even able to flex her fingers or move her wrist.
Jaz and Sally managed to make sure that there was no pain- and they tried to coax Annabeth into talking, but it wasn't any use.
Percy made sure to visit her- she wasn't strong enough to leave the bed for more than bathroom trips at the moment, which did not help the girls mood.
And usually Percy sat in silence, or she read. Annabeth never complained about that. And even if she refused to talk she could usually make it clear when she wanted to be left alone. But when Percy pulled out the Odyssey Annabeth would settle back into her bed, turning her head away.
But she was listening at least. Percy was sure of it- and when Percy had offered to read it in English Annabeth had shaken her head, so Greek it was.
"With this Telemachus dashed his staff to the ground and burst into tears. Everyone was very sorry for him, but they all sat still and no one ventured to make him an angry answer, save only Antinous, who spoke thus:
"Telemachus, insolent braggart that you are, how dare you try to throw the blame upon us suitors? It is your mother's fault not ours, for she is a very artful woman. This three years past, and close on four, she had been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she says. And then there was that other trick she played us. She set up a great tambour frame in her room, and began to work on an enormous piece of fine needlework. 'Sweet hearts,' said she, 'Odysseus is indeed dead, still do not press me to marry again immediately, wait—for I would not have skill in needlework perish unrecorded—till I have completed a pall for the hero Laertes, to be in readiness against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the women of the place will talk if he is laid out without a pall.'
"This was what she said, and we assented; whereon we could see her working on her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick the stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three years and we never found her out, but as time wore on and she was now in her fourth year, one of her maids who knew what she was doing told us, and we caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she had to finish it whether she would or no. The suitors, therefore, make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand—'Send your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her father's choice;' for I do not know what will happen if she goes on plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score of the accomplishments Athena has taught her, and because she is so clever. We never yet heard of such a woman; we know all about Tyro, Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were nothing to your mother, any one of them. It was not fair of her to treat us in that way, and as long as she continues in the mind with which heaven has now endowed her, so long shall we go on eating up your estate; and I do not see why she should change, for she gets all the honor and glory, and it is you who pay for it, not she. Understand, then, that we will not go back to our lands, neither here nor elsewhere, till she has made her choice and married some one or other of us."
Telemachus answered, "Antinous, how can I drive the mother who bore me from my father's house? My father is abroad and we do not know whether he is alive or dead. It will be hard on me if I have to pay Icarius the large sum which I must give him if I insist on sending his daughter back to him. Not only will he deal rigorously with me, but heaven will also punish me; for my mother when she leaves the house will call on the Erinyes to avenge her; besides, it would not be a creditable thing to do, and I will have nothing to say to it. If you choose to take offense at this, leave the house and feast elsewhere at one another's houses at your own cost turn and turn about. If, on the other hand, you elect to persist in spunging upon one man, heaven help me, but Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in my father's house there shall be-"
Percy paused mid word, faltering, because Annabeth had shifted slightly. And she had let out a slight noise- and then.
"Why are you being so kind to me?"
And Percy blinked at that. "What sort of question is that?" she asked, her tone almost exasperated.
"A good one." Annabeth swallowed hard. "I- I've been behaving worse than the suitors. I threw a pillow at your mom yesterday because she tried to get me to eat-"
"That was not cool." Percy conceded, "But mom isn't mad at you. You've been through something big and scary. Your life's been changed, you lost something. That- that doesn't just heal magically. You're not directing your anger at the right people but- you're hurting." she shifted slightly.
She'd not always handled it well after the possession by Apophis when she'd first woken up. Carter and Sadie didn't know how bad it had gotten at one point but her mom had had to stop her from chopping her hair off, from trying to tear away the scar on her neck after a horrible nightmare.
So yeah, she could understand that Annabeth had to be a huge mess at the moment.
Annabeth stared, "You come in here and you sit and read to me for hours." her voice was soft. "You don't even really
know me but you visit me every day."
"I'm the reason you're here-"
"I know you and your friend saved my life-"
"If we'd have moved sooner it wouldn't have needed saving." Percy said the words quietly, her eyes flicking to
Annabeth's hand. "If we'd jumped from the roof before he summoned that scorpion-"
"Oh." Annabeth blinked slowly, staring at Percy. "You feel guilty?"
"A bit." Percy admitted.
"You and your friend didn't owe me anything. You probably should have just ran away. You stayed and you saved my life." Annabeth said after a long moment. "I- I'm angry about my hand but I don't- I don't blame you for it."
"I-" Percy took a deep breath before she slipped a bookmark between the pages and closed the book. I know what it is to be angry and in pain and not know how to deal with it." she held out her hand to Annabeth. "I want to help you. And when Piper comes back from visiting her dad you'll want to help you too." she paused, "We were going to go to Greece soon but we can delay that trip-"
"No-" Annabeth shook her head, "You don't need to stay here to look after me. You shouldn't- I mean- Greece-" and there was a glint of longing in Annabeth's eyes at that and Percy tilted her head.
"Have you ever been?"
"No. I want to but- it's not that easy-"
"Maybe it is." Percy gave a sly smile, "But you'll have to stop sulking and refusing to eat."
"I- what?"
"If you're well enough you could come with us- we're going to be travelling a lot but we can take it slower, none of us will mind that."
"I don't have a passport or-"
"Magicians Annabeth." Percy smiled, "I can just change something into a fake."
"You'd- but-"
"If you're well enough by then then I don't see that there'd be any problem with you coming. But you're gonna need to start eating."
"I-" and for the first time Percy could see a spark of hope in Annabeth's eyes. "I will. I'll eat-"
"Then I will go and get you some food. I know after my coma I wasn't supposed to eat too much at once at first."
"Coma?"
"Yeah." Percy smiled, "You didn't get that far in the books right?" her voice was teasing and Annabeth blushed, "It's the dyslexia-"
"Well if you want I have a copy in Greek-"
"You do?" Annabeth's eyes widened, "Really?"
"Of course." Percy smiled "I can go get it now if you want, and I'll get you some fruits to eat, nice easy food."
"Please." And Annabeth's smile made Percy feel warm.
She got up and headed out of the room quickly, a slight bounce in her step as she headed first to her room, fetching the copy of her book that her mother had made just for her- each of the elder Kane siblings had been given one- they all found it funny, the irony that they owned the books written about them.
Then she headed down to the kitchen, gathering some fruit and chopping it all up nicely before she headed back up to the infirmary, setting the tray of fruit down on the little table next to the bed, "Here you go." she handed Annabeth the book- and the girls eyes were almost shining as she carefully took it.
The smile did falter slightly as she seemed to realise that she couldn't hold it with one hand and turn pages with the others but that didn't last long- it might be slightly awkward but Annabeth managed to flick through the pages.
"This is amazing." she shot Percy a wide smile, "I- actually being able to read a book without struggling. Thank you-"
"No need to thank me." Percy said brightly, "You should be thanking my mom for making it for me."
"Did- I know- I just... did the stuff in the books really happen?" Annabeth asked slowly, "I mean, all the stuff in the first book- did you really fight off Set? Were your gods really locked away."
"Yes." Percy nodded, "to both of those questions- little details have been changed- the names of the non god or historical figures, but all the important stuff. Yeah it happened."
"You really fought Sobek at nine years old and won?"
"Of course." Percy shot Annabeth a sly grin, "Why, don't think I could."
"I-" Annabeth let out a little laugh, "I just- you're so.."
"So what?" Percy tilted her head.
"I- please please don't get mad I just- you're so... tiny. When I read it thinking it was fiction- when I watched the movies- but actually seeing you? Being told that you really did that?"
"I'm pretty awesome." Percy declared lightly, "So I mean, it's only right that you're stunned into silence by it."
"You're ridiculous." Annabeth was giggling, "You are totally ridiculous." she paused, suddenly going tense, "The- the snake- Apophis. Did- is it still-"
"All that's been over for like, nearly three years." Percy said quickly, "You don't have to worry about it." and that made Annabeth relax slightly.
"That's good." she hesitated, "Things could get really, really bad with- with what-" she swallowed hard. "I-"
"You were friends?"
"He was family." Annabeth whispered the words, blinking back tears before she shook her head sharply. "I don't- I don't want to talk about it I can't-"
"That's fine." Percy reached out, laying a hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "It's fine Annabeth you don't have to ta-" she paused, mainly because the door to the infirmary was opening-and she turned her head to look over her shoulder, smiling when she saw Sally- who raised an eyebrow at the sight of Annabeth clearly in a much better mood than she had been.
Then her gaze focused on Percy. "Hey sweetheart. I have a surprise for you."
"You do-" Percy started to stand- and then a figure was stepping out from behind Sally and Percy's face lit up.
"I'm homeeee!"
"Pipes!" And Percy spread out her arms as Piper sprinted at her, almost falling back as the other girl collided with her, hugging her tightly. "You weren't due back until tomorrow."
"I missed you." Piper laughed before pulling back and turning to look at Annabeth, "And like hell was I waiting for another day to formally meet another demigod." she smiled warmly. "I'm Piper McLean, this dumbasses best friend- be careful around her she'll drag you into all sorts of trouble-"
"You suggest half of the trouble-"
"Uh-" Annabeth blinked slowly- she looked overwhelmed, but at the same time a smile was twitching her lips slightly. "Hi."
And somehow Percy knew. She knew that they were going to be the best of friends.