Ch2
"Please honey allow me to handle it," Frederick sighed as he looked up from his work as his wife who was pacing back and forwards in his room.
"I have had it with his attitude and her lying," his wife said throwing her arms up.
"I know honey he has been through a lot. Let me deal with them please," he begged. Things had been tense in the house for the past few months and he had been trying his best to resolve the tension but between work and being a dad it was not easy and he hated to admit it but fights had been common in his house.
His wife only looked at him and sighed, "Fine, I know it is hard for that boy but still. Your daughter complains and lies about spiders and he helps her. The marks on her arms are not from spider bites, he is hitting her plain and simple and she is lying for attention."
"I understand just try to be patient with him I'll go talk with them now," Frederick pleaded. His wife nodded and left. They had agreed that he would be responsible for both of them even though she would be their mother, it had not been easy with two demigod children and there had been frequent fights between Annabeth and his wife with Magnus usually kept to himself or stood up for his cousin.
Frederick sighed as he rubbed his face in his hands. I have to be strong he thought as he got up and stretched. Magnus had been with them for a while and even though his wife had been supportive there was still tension. After all, raising kids was not easy and Manus and Annabeth were special children.
It wasn't a money issue, even though the state had given them a small stipend for Magnus's needs he made enough to support his family. However, his wife was still under the impression that they were lacking even though they weren't. Magnus was a good kid an all, he was still withdrawn, and even though he went to see a counselor every week (which was state-funded) he was still pretty closed off to everyone outside of him and his cousin. Nevertheless, he still played with Annabeth and the two got along well with her half-siblings.
His wife had been supportive of him adopting Magnus and was more than willing to give him space and even read up on dealing with adoptive children. However, there was still the emotional cost of doing all of it and as much as he hated to admit it, he knew Magnus was taking a toll on her. Even if there were no problems financially, raising another child was a huge responsibility and he knew it and now they had four under their roof and they were all young.
He looked at his mirror before he exited his room and realized how exhausted he was, he had bags underneath his eyes from the nights he spent pouring over various books and writing and rewriting his book draft.
He quickly washed his face in the bathroom before heading to where Annabeth and Magnus slept. He walked in the doorway, which was open and found Magnus, his arm wrapped around Annabeth protectively. Annabeth looked as if she had just been crying and her face was bright red.
"Annabeth what's wrong?" He asked in a soft tone as he sat down on the bed across from them.
"She hates me," Annabeth said in a voice that sounded close to a sob. "She won't let me see you and she doesn't believe me about the spiders." Annabeth broke down as Magnus comforted her.
"They are real uncle," he said softly, avoiding his gaze. "I saw them, they came after her and bit her all over. But the bites are gone now."
"I believe you," Frederick said with a sigh. Annabeth looked down and cried while Magnus continued to comfort her. "It will eventually pass I am sure of it," he said. To be honest, he didn't know how to react, he knew something like this would happen but despite all the knowledge he possessed he had no idea how to respond or worse how to help her.
"Come on, why don't you both get ready and we will have breakfast?" He said with a smile. Magnus and Annabeth only nodded as he got up and left the room.
Man what am I to do he thought as he sighed he went back to the bathroom and looked at the mirror. Athena had given him a daughter and trusted him with her while his sister had trusted him with her son, yet he honestly felt as if he were failing them both.
He helped set the table as his wife prepared the food. He could feel the tension in the air, it wasn't much but it felt like it was building every day now. He set out the food and drinks before calling all of the children to the table. They all thanked their mom for the food and they all ate. There was an awkward silence at the table that the kids were too young to understand. Magnus joked and talked with his cousins while Annabeth sat eating her food shooting glares at her stepmother who ignored them.
After breakfast, he told the kids to brush their teeth before playing outside. Frederick then insisted on cleaning everything up and told his wife to take a break. His wife only nodded at him as she left for their room. Oh Athena your wisdom would be greatly appreciated he thought as he cleaned all of the dishes and cookware, everything was starting to become draining on him but he would try to make the best out of it. After he finished washing the dishes he washed the table and counter area clean before heading back to his room.
He found his wife resting on the bed watching some program, "Thanks for breakfast honey everything," he said trying to lighten the mood. "I talked to Magnus and Annabeth already, let me handle Annabeth and Magnus if things happen again."
"You are welcome dear," his wife said with a smile as he sat down next to hear. "I know Annabeth means a lot to you and I would have done the same thing with Magnus if one of my nieces or nephews had nowhere else to go. It just that sometimes I don't know if I am doing everything correctly."
Fredericks smiled at his wife and hugged, "You are doing everything well. I really appreciate everything you are doing."
"Its just that sometimes I feel so tired and I am just exhausted," she said sounding as if she were close to tears.
"Its alright honey you are doing everything correctly. It's not easy being a parent and we have four wonderful children," Frederick said as he patted his wife's back.
"I know, you do so much and I just feel so exhausted," his wife said with a sob. "I just feel like I am failing. I mean Annabeth is always complaining about spiders that aren't there and Magnus the other day destroyed a stuffed wolf toy that belonged to Matthew."
Frederick sighed, "I know dear, just let me try to deal with them. Annabeth is special and Magnus lived through something really traumatic." He wasn't wrong Magnus was deeply afraid of wolves; large dogs scared him and even smaller ones would frighten him if they ran up to him too fast.
"I know but I want us to shoulder this together. You work so hard and even harder since Magnus became a part of this family. You shouldn't have to shoulder this burden alone, I want to help you," she said looking in his eyes.
"Thank you, I know we can do this together, I know things have been tense in the house lately but things will eventually get better I promise." With that he kissed his wife before getting up and leaving.
However, as he got up to leave he heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall, the kids must be playing something, that's good he thought, "I am going to be in my study if Magnus or Annabeth need me to let me know." His wife nodded as he exited the room and headed back to his study.
Annabeth was drawing in her coloring book when her cousin walked in. "Magnus what's wrong?" She asked, her young cousin had just ran into the room and appeared quieter than usual.
"Nothing," he said softly as he went to his bed and picked up a book he was reading. Unlike her, Magnus didn't have a problem reading and always seemed to be involved in a book lately.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yes," was all he said without looking at her.
"Magnus, thanks for helping me with the spiders last night," She said with a smile.
Magnus looked up at her from his book, his face emotionless, and nodded, "You are welcome."
Annabeth smiled at him; her dad had explained that Magnus would be sad for a while since he lost his mom. She was glad to be with him; he was good company and he stood up for her whenever they fought with her stepmom. She still remembered last night when the spiders came, Magnus jumped up and began hitting them with a pillow. There were a lot but he hit a lot of them too.
She was glad whenever they played together, with Magnus she felt like she could be herself more than with her other brothers. Also, her mean stepmom wasn't as harsh with her playing with Magnus. In fact, she often felt that her stepmom preferred her being with Magnus, almost like she was going to burden or hurt her stepbrothers even though they never hurt each other.
The rest of the day went normal for her, she mainly built stuff with Legos though Magnus seemed more withdrawn than usual and didn't play with her as usual. So she was left alone to play, she shrugged off her cousin's behavior as he was probably remembering something about his mom.
Annabeth tried to make both of them happy to distract them from their troubles. However, even she was finding it harder to make herself happy. It seemed each night the spiders came in more numbers than before and each night ended the same, with her stepmother and her yelling at each other.
She was really starting to get fed up with everything. Her dad seemed oblivious to it all and only seemed to care about his work and his new kids. It was like she didn't even exist anymore. The only person she seemed to relate to was her cousin Magnus and even that at times felt strained. It wasn't that she hated him, far from it. He was just more withdrawn and only seemed to want to stay inside all day. However, she did have to admit that he was the only person right now who believed her about the spiders. Even though his way of helping her was to hit her with shoes and pillows at least it was something, and as much as it annoyed her at least he was trying to help.
She spent the day playing with her things; drawing buildings, building Legos, and trying unsuccessfully to get her cousin out of bed. "Come on Magnus lets play outside," she whined as she tried to get her cousin to play with her.
"No I don't feel like it," he said turning away from her and back into his book.
Annabeth frowned, "Fine I'll just play by myself," she said with a pout. Magnus did not react to her so she just turned away and went to play by herself. She didn't want to go bother her other brothers since her stepmom would just yell at her so she played by herself and occasionally showed Magnus the stuff she made though it appeared that he didn't care much for the stuff she made.
The rest of the day went about as if it were any other day for her. By the time it was nighttime she was getting nervous. She said good night to her father and stepmother before saying good night to Magnus who only nodded at her before she took a deep breath and got into bed. She took a deep breath; I can do this she thought. It was the same thing she told herself every night right before went to sleep, for that was when her real battle began.
As soon as the lights went out and she was in bed they came. There were many of them, the tiny spiders came at her and bit her wherever they could find her. She started crying and sobbing, why does this keep happening to me she thought as she tossed and turned trying to get the many spiders off. "Shoo go away," she cried as she hit and slapped at the spiders. Tears fell from her face as she felt them bite her she then began to yell and scream frantically.
Suddenly she heard Magnus get up, she looked saw that he had bolted out of bed pillow in hand. "Its ok Annabeth," he said as he brought the pillow down on her. She tried not to react but Magnus was hitting her hard to get the spiders off. The spiders did not seem to attack him, they were only in it for her.
"Come on Annabeth lets play a game to see who can kill the most spiders," he said trying to calm her.
Despite being a year younger than her she was often surprised at how he sometimes acted as if he were the oldest. Annabeth nodded slightly, adrenaline running through her body as she grabbed her pillow and started hitting herself trying to get rid of as many spiders as possible.
She then heard footsteps coming towards her room, Dad! She thought as her spirits were lifted. However, as her door opened and the light turned on her spirits sank as she saw her stepmom.
"You two what are you doing go to bed?" She said in an exasperated tone.
"But the spiders they were attacking me," Annabeth protested showing her stepmom the harm which to her surprise had nothing but the marks left from Magnus hitting her.
"Yes Auntie there were spiders all over her," Magnus said in a timid voice avoiding eye contact with her.
Her stepmom rolled her eyes as if they had just told a cheesy joke. "It looks like you hit her, you two should stop playing rough your dad is asleep from working so hard. He is tired from his work now for the last time stop roughhousing you two and go to bed," she said as she turned off the light and closed the door.
Annabeth felt tears fall down her cheek as her blood boiled. I hate her so much she thought as she felt Magnus's hands on her back.
"Its alright I believe you," he said in a soft tone.
"Thanks, Magnus but the spiders keep attacking me and they hurt me," she said.
Magnus looked at her with a sympathetic look and for a second she thought he was going to cry too. The rest of the night was the same as the last one and the one before that. Annabeth tried her best to be strong while Magnus stayed up to protect her. They did their best to not cause any noise and this time her stepmom did not come in.
But nevertheless, Annabeth felt as if she were going mad. I can't take it anymore everyone hates me she thought as she slowly felt herself go to sleep ignoring the spider bites or Magnus who stared at her with teary eyes.
The next few days slowly got worse. Her dad had a few lecturing assignments in another city and was gone for about two weeks. During that time the tension between her and her stepmom got worse and worse. Every night the spiders came, every night her stepmom berated her and Magnus calling them liars, and every night she was hating it all even more.
Things did not get better when her dad came home. In fact, she was starting to hate everything about him too. Her dad for caring for his new wife and kids more than her, it seemed he always had time for them than her and Magnus. Her stepmom for treating her like a demon and calling her a liar. The only person she cared about was her cousin and he was getting more withdrawn by the day to the point that she wondered if he resented her too. She was at her breaking point and she knew she could not take it anymore and felt like she was going crazy.
Her Dad's empty promises were of no use, they never solved anything and the tension between them seemed to grow by the day. She didn't know when it occurred to her but she decided to leave. She had to do it carefully though, she had to plan it well. I can't stay in a place I am not wanted she thought as she looked up at her ceiling. So she began to plan her escape, she was going to run away and no one could stop her.
The night she planned her escape she gathered bags and packed them. She put in clothes, snacks, and even a hammer to protect herself. She didn't know where she was going but she could not stay in a place where she was hated.
"Annabeth," said a quiet voice.
Annabeth turned to see Magnus looking at her from his bed. His eyes were wide as if not understanding what was happening. "What are you doing?"
She looked at her cousin and for a second the desire to stay came into her heart. But alas it too left. "I can't stay anymore," was all she said.
Her cousin stared at her with sad eyes, "Why?"
"Everyone hates me," she said as she got her shoes on.
"I don't,' he said in a soft voice his eyes wide and she swore she could see tears. "Annabeth its my fault you don't have to leave your family I'll go. I am the one causing the problems," he said in a hollow voice.
Annabeth stood in shock, "What do you mean? Nothing is your fault Magnus, it's me everyone hates."
Magnus only looked at her with sad eyes, "Don't go I don't want to be alone."
Annabeth sighed, "Fine get some stuff ready then I am leaving tonight," she said in a serious tone. To her surprise, Magnus nodded and quickly got dressed and pulled a backpack from his closet with some close in it. Magnus went to his dresser and pulled out some personal stuff and a few books before putting them in his backpack.
"I am ready," he said with a straight face. Annabeth nodded as they got a few more things and snacks before sneaking out. As she looked out into the night sky she noticed Magnus was holding something in his hand. "What is that?" She asked pointing to the hatchet in his hand.
"Protection," he said as he put it into his bag.
Annabeth sighed, "Fine lets go."
"Where to?" Magnus asked curiously
"Anywhere but here," she said as she headed to the bus stop. Magnus followed and so began their journey together.
AN :For this Chapter, Annabeth stayed a little longer with her parents since her father tried to be more attentive so she left about a year later. I know Frederick Chase did his best but raising Children is not easy and children can misinterpret things.
Also for the record Magnus is a year younger apparently than Annabeth and Percy.