GO FORWARD AND BE EATEN.
GO BACK AND REGRET IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
NOT MUCH OF A CHOICE, IS IT?
I just don't have anything to say.
Sally drove along the highway to Montauk, alone. Paul had to go to a meeting today, and she decided to take the opportunity to visit the old cabins. She arrived and parked the car, then got out and made her way down the beach, stumbling slightly in the soft sand.
The sound of beating wings made her look up.
A black Pegasus landed near her and a familiar voice called her name.
"Sally, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Annabeth," Sally responded, smiling at the young demigod, "I happen to own this place."
"I was just, you know, looking," Annabeth said tiredly, waving her hand around vaguely.
Upon closer inspection, she looked awful. Annabeth's curly blonde hair was unbrushed and wild around her thin face and sunken cheeks. There were cirles under her eyes and her hands trembled. There was a crazy desperation in her eyes that was a little scary.
"You know, I should really be getting back," Annabeth said, glancing up at the iron clouds, "I want to get their before it starts raining."
"But you can't go now," Sally said worriedly, looking at the sky too, "You'll get caught in the storm. Maybe you should spend the night here, with me."
"I shouldn't," Annabeth muttered, not looking at her, "They'll need me for the ship . . ."
"You can do that tomarrow when the rain has moved on," Sally said firmly, pulling her from Blackjack's back, "They can survive one night without you."
Annabeth seemed too tired to resist. She let Sally drag her to the cabin and sit her down on a bed. Blackjack setteled himself in a corner and tucked his head under his wing. As they crawled into bed, Sally asked, "How did you find this place?"
Annabeth's face was in shadow, so she couldn't see her expression. Finally she said softly, "Percy took me here a few times." Her voice was filled with such tenderness when she said his name that Sally felt as though she was looking upon something very private. But when she rolled onto her back and said no more, she new that Annabeth was done talking.
A few hours later, Sally woke up to screaming. Jumping up, she saw Annabeth thrashing in her bed, shouting and crying, apparently still asleep.
"Annabeth!" she rushed to her side and shook her shoulders, trying to get her to wake up.
Blackjack awoke and beat his wing frantically, neighing loudly.
Annabeth's eyes snapped open.
"Oh," she gasped, and then tears started pouring down her face. Her sobbing broke Sally's heart. She craddled Annabeth in her arms and rocked her back and forth.
"Shhh," she murmured, "Shhh, it's okay honey, oh baby, it'll be all right."
"It happens . . . all the time," Annabeth said, a little hystarically, "I see him . . . in my dreams. I can . . . can never tell if they are real or not."
"It will be over soon," Sally promised, "He'll come back."
"How!" Annabeth cried, "How can you know? Why don't you worry so much it hurts, every time you let him out of your sight?"
"Because of you," Sally said simply.
"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked, wiping away the tears.
"Well," Sally started, "Before he even knew about the gods . . . Percy was always a little depressed . . . like he was missing something."
"But that was because he wasn't at camp with all the people who could understand why he was different from the mortals," Annabeth protested.
Sally nodded, "That's what I thought at first . . . but when you were kidnapped and he called me . . . Percy looked exactly like he had before . . . like he didn't know what to do or where he fit in with the world. That's when I realized it could only be you. I know you don't see it . . . but he's changed a lot from before he met you. . . .You've always been the real reason . . . he's come back . . . or stayed alive . . . because you were always waiting for him back home."
"I guess," Annabeth finally said quietly, "In a way . . . you're kind of right. Thank you . . . Sally."
"No problem," Sally said cheerfully, "I always wanted a daughter, but I never thought the first time I would comfort her because of a broken heart would be because of my son."
"My heart isn't broken," Annabeth muttered, "Just missing."
"Yes . . ."
When your heart is broken, there is always a chance to fix it, and you can still feel love, even if it's painful. When your heart is missing, all you can do is wait for it to come back.
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