Merry Christmas everybody! A discord server has tied my hands and forced me to post so I guess this is happening.


Chapter 27


It worked last time. She had changed their platters of food without so much as batting an eye. So why was it so difficult this time?

Grovers platter sat in front of him, gleaming in the white lights while the neat portions of food were untouched.

Drugged food, Annabeth had come to understand. Fragments of what Thalia said were actually true. Her prison was tampering with her mind with drugs. Drugs that were administered through the circlets in the base of her wings, drugs through the food, maybe even drugs in the air.

Grover had been mentally fried by these drugs. Judging by the fact that his state was constant instead of declining, Annabeth came to the conclusion that they had either lowered his dosage of drugs in his food, or got rid of them completely.

Ergo, switching the thin platters of food.

Ergo, Grover would consume the drugs meant for her.

Ergo… he might die in the process.

Annabeth took a shaky breath and fisted her hands under the metal table. She was sure she was being watched. They would catch her this time, right? Her plans had never worked before.

But this one has to!

Percy was sitting next to her. Silent, forlorn, empty. The look in his eyes was scaring her. It wasn't an emotion, or bitterness, or scattered. It was nothing. It was the lack of anything in his eyes that drove worms through her sternum.

He muttered that he was okay, but she knew lies and she knew false confidence. She especially knew the two words he repeatedly used over and over again.

"I'm fine," he insisted when his gaze caught on her worried expression.

He couldn't even bend an arm without wincing in pain, although he tried to hide it.

So she was going to do it. She was going to risk Grovers already dwindling life. If it was either him or Percy, she was going to save Percy.

She glanced up at Thalia.

"So I noticed in the arena-" yesterday? The day before? Last week? "-earlier, that you have a thing with flab face," Annabeth mentioned casually. Her brain was working overdrive. Feeding on the one slice of emotion she'd ever truly seen in the blue jay girl.

"Wrinkle Brain?" Thalia seethed. "Don't even mention him."

"Oh… is he your dad or something? Thought I saw a family resemblance."

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Thalia slammed down her fist into the table. Enraged she leapt forward at Annabeth, but Annabeth was already moving away. On her feet and circling around the table to keep Thalia from reaching her. Holding her platter of food as if it were a shield, the food still stuck to the metal while vertical. As she rounded to Grovers corner, she slammed her tray down.

"What?! It's an honest question? You have his nose!" Annabeth acted defensively.

"Uh Annabeth?" Percy raised an eyebrow at her. A warning and a confused, what the hell do you think you're doing?

"YOU BITCH!" Thalia stormed at her again. This time scrambling over the table to reach for her.

Annabeth picked up Grovers platter and moved backwards. Readying herself for the punch, or jab, or violent headslam she was sure to get after saying such lecherous things.

But it never came. Thalia jolted in that painfully familiar way and sank to the ground moaning.

Yes, they were watching. But they were watching the wrong prisoner.

Hiding a smile, Annabeth sidestepped her still quivering body and sat down at the table again. Grover's food was now hers. Her plan was now rolling.

"Are you crazy?" Percy hissed at her.

"Completely."

.oOo.

The effects didn't start to show for an ambiguous amount of time. Judging by the square of light she got from the skylight, Annabeth guessed that it had been about a week. Like a concerned mother she had been stealing glances at Grover as much as possible.

The poor boy couldn't even sit up anymore.

Percy no longer looked at his best friend. Anytime he did accidentally graze by him with his eyes a shudder of guilt would cloud his face and he'd turn the opposite way. Didn't make Annabeth feel any better about it. She hadn't been feeling any different since swapping out foods.

All she could do was feign slipping. Acting as if she didn't remember portions of the activities they did before, or conversations they had in their cells. She took it up a notch when Grover stopped opening his eyes to staring off into space for an uncomfortable length.

Anytime Thalia cackled and poked fun at her, she figured she was doing something right.

Finally, finally, it happened. She woke up one morning, and everything was clicking into place.

The hall of mirrors wasn't mirrors at all, but one long LED screen. The activity room where she'd caught light, fought snakes of steel, was lost in an ever shifting maze, dealt with shrinking lions and held an argument at court with zebras was just a giant gymnasium with props. When she went in there, the arena was set up again. That large crowd? Those jeering people? Fake cutouts that shifted back and forth while speakers blasted appropriate sounds.

Together, she helped Percy chase around a couple of pigs dressed up in komodo dragon costumes. They weren't really realistic costumes, but Thalia and Percy were sold and swung after them with wooden swords that had thin razors attached to the edges. Swords that could cut, but not kill.

What was truly jarring was outside time.

It wasn't outside at all.

Sure, it was a massive space underground, but it was underground. The spherical room was completely covered in an LED screen. Fake sky, fake clouds, fake mountains.

The earth and rocks were real. The gurgling stream, and tall shushing grass was real. Even the cabin was real. But it was all underground. All away from the surface of the world.

Luke.

Was he real? Was he on the facility grounds with her?

While she sat in the wind, she could hear above the grass for the first time. The giant wind machines hummed against the walls as if they were murmuring an ancient song. How could she not see it before now? Those drugs had messed with her so finely that she was never aware that she was missing part of the picture.

Then it came.

Grovers death. The day they woke up to a small crew of people in lab coats, fumbling with Grover's body. Awkwardly stuffing it into a black bag strapped to a stretcher. Scribbling carelessly on clipboards and not even acknowledging each other. One was plucking brown feathers from his wings, and bagging them.

"Grover?" Percy uttered meekly. Lines of tears were already criss-crossing down his face. Spattering against the cold concrete floor. "No."

In the corner, Thalia was laughing. A maniacal desperate laugh. Forced almost. Annabeth felt like reeling around and spitting at her through the bars. Screaming at the bluejay girl for her callousness, her emptiness.

But she couldn't.

With Grover gone, her drug free meals were now gone. She had to act. Time was up. So she cultivated that disinterested face her mother taught her to wear, and brought up her mask again.

This time unfocusing her eyes, letting her perfect posture sink into a slight hunch and her jaw go slack. With her wings frumpled and unfolded behind her, she was now the perfect image of what Grover once was. Brain fried.

All her life she'd been taught to keep up appearances even if it caused her pain, and now she could finally use those skills. To escape? To fight back? Maybe.

"Uh oh. Two for one sale today," Thalia cackled. Smacking her chains against the bars, creating a jarring noise.

Annabeth could feel their eyes slip towards her. All of their eyes.

She could feel Percy's break.

"Annabeth." he croaked. Then he lunged forward, straining against the shackles on his wrists. "ANNABETH!"

Like a screw through flesh, her heart twisted sharply. Annabeth stifled the gasp that threatened to pull out of her mouth. The tone in his words, the desperation in his movements. Raw, he screamed her name over and over again. Thick tears streaming out of his bloodshot eyes. She could see them twinkle in the light in her peripheral vision.

How could she do this to him? How could she make him think that he was all alone in this place?

A lady doesn't respond to shouting. A lady is quiet, graceful and poised.

Crack. She could still feel the sting of her etiquette teacher's ruler. She could remember the disdain in her mothers eyes. Before she'd held up her mask to impress the people around her. Now it was for her. For her escape, and for Percy's.

A lady is quiet.

"ANNABETH!" Percy cried. "ANNABETH PLEASE! NO!"

Even breathing. A lady does not sigh, or yawn, or hiccup, or burp, or shudder.

"ANNABETH!"

Murmurs. Those taking away Grover's limp form were hovering. Staring at her. She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she detected concern in the way they shifted from one foot to another. Tilting their heads closer to exchange an exhaust of rushed noises.

"Annabeth." Percy was melting to his knees. Sobbing deep heart wrenching noises. "Annabeth."

A heat pressed in from behind her eyes. She couldn't cry. She couldn't show her hand. Not yet. Too much was built into this moment. Too much was riding on her ability to stay strong.

Click.

She didn't flinch when they unlocked her door. A dribble of drool leaked out the corner of her mouth when the three of them crowded around her. Stifling Percy's cries, making him watch in dread.

"Not good." The female one said. "She has to be back in the public eye and cured soon. The media is restless."

"I've been lowering her intake." Another said. "But she still worsened."

The last one was tilting his head at her slowly. Staring deep into her eyes with a suspicious twist in his lips. Panic fluttered restlessly inside her chest. Banging against her ribs.

A lady is quiet.

Decidedly, he brushed his fingers through her messy hair, getting his rings caught on the knots in her curls. Annabeth didn't betray the pinch of pain. Deep down, she felt as if her mask was thickening. Separating her from the world. Burying herself in some deep unreachable part of her body.

Without a word, the man took a lighter out of his pocket and flicked a flame to light in front of her nose. The heat spilled over her cheeks, but she was already too deep to care. Too far away from him. She wasn't afraid of fire, she was afraid of her mother.

"Hhm." he sat back. Looking over her body once more. Then held the lighter up to a lock of her hair.

"Andre!" The others protested.

She could feel the warmth pulling up from her chest. Growing exponentially in intensity until it burned cold against the edge of her cheek. A warble cry was fighting against her throat. In vain she fought the urge to swat at the fire wilting her hair into ash. Feeling her nose with a putrid acrylic scent. Her skin prickled and screamed at the agony.

"STOP IT!" Percy bellowed. "STOP IT!"

A sheet of water fell over her head. Soothing the torture. Bringing her back down from the verge. A heavy throb filled half of her skull. A deep uncomfortable burning sensation popped against her tight skin. One of the guards was recapping her water bottle.

"Load her up. We're going to have to run full diagnostics on this one." He pocketed his lighter. "She's too important to lose."

"NO!" Percy thrashed against his chains. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!"

Grumbling, one of the men hit a button on the remote attached to his chest. Percy jolted, screaming, then went limp. Hitting the ground like a stack of books. Still mumbling her name in protest. Shaking his head back and forth in slow swings as if he were trying to force himself alert again.

Thalia was hooting as if she were watching a hockey game.

A lady doesn't act on emotions.

Dizzy with pain, Annabeth fought the tears. Her nerves felt as if they were fried. Silently, she kept her mask up as they wheeled in a second stretcher. Heavy vinyl straps swayed on the sides.

"No." Percy uttered brokenly. "No. Please, no. Please."

She hoped they couldn't feel the way her insides were quivering when they lifted her from the floor. Unlocking her shackles and arranging her delicately on the stretcher. Securing her in the straps one limb at a time.

"She's all I have left." Percy cried into the ground. "She's all I have…"

I'm so sorry. Annabeth couldn't even squeeze her eyes closed. She had to keep her glassy stare even with the ceiling. If only she could send him a signal. Tell him that she was alright.

But his genuine reaction… it helps.

Barely breathing, Annabeth was pushed down the hallway, out of the cell room. Leaving Percy's weak cries behind them. In the corridor with the elevator, the crew veered right instead of going straight towards the silver doors.

A secret panel swished away from the wall. A new hallway. Lit with bright white lights and gleaming with tiled floors and white walls. Sterile smelling like a hospital. Annabeth counted the lights as they passed, trying to keep track of where she was and where they were going.

"I told the Director rushing the process would result in this." A new man approached. Thick black glasses framing his face and a curl of red hair over his forehead. He poked her cheek once. "Augh, if we can't get her back up and in manageable order soon we'll have no choice but to amputate."

Amputate?! My wings!?

"If we get her cognitive again we should pull her friend out of suspension. Do heavy therapy on him, and expose him to her. He's a good tool."

"I thought we agreed that he was too volatile. He's only manageable for a few hours until his memory reboots and he's spouting his prophetic freedom nonsense again."

"Then we'll cycle him out. Heavy drug therapy, expose him to her, then suspend him before his memory can be triggered."

"But that would kill him."

"Better him than her." The last one shrugged.

Annabeth's face was still scalding. Ironically she thanked her stars that she'd been burned. Her flush of anger scorching on her cheeks was being brushed off as an immune response to the flames that had eaten off a portion of her hair.

Him? Suspension? Luke. It had to be him. What were they talking about? Was he really alive? Her heart was beating so hard in her chest, how could they not see her thoughts rolling through the back of her gaze?

"But to kill our only successful subject?"

"Temporary success is not something to celebrate right now. The world is in uproar. They need to see her back and normal in order for things to be made right." The redhead said sternly. "Now… lets run her numbers. See what's really going on in there. I expect the blood test results in an hour."