dóro

gift

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Annabeth wrung her fingers together as she stared at the door Cameron had walked out of four hours ago. Though she couldn't explain it, she felt anxious about his disappearance.

Drew had just left her, saying something about having to do patrol for something. Annabeth acted as if she knew what Drew was talking about and let the girl leave. But now, she regretted it.

Every time there was a noise, Annabeth jumped in fear. Anytime the house was silent, Annabeth waited for something to break it. And she hated herself for it.

Her life seemed to have morphed from a living hell to waiting around for someone to come and save her.

"Thalia Grace," she whispered to herself, hoping that by saying the name it would trigger more memories about the girl. "Thalia Grace."

But she couldn't remember anything more than the pathetic shards of memories that she thought of earlier. Thalia Grace was a faceless female in Annabeth's mind. The only feature she possessed was a pair of electric blue eyes.

Annabeth fingered the ornate mirror Drew had given her earlier. She hadn't yet worked up the courage to look at her reflection. Although she was curious, she was also scared that she didn't even know what she looked like. Annabeth feared what would be staring back at her in that mirror.

The door slammed open, and Annabeth jumped so hard that she fell off of the bed.

"What are you doing on the ground?" Cameron asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

Annabeth sobbed, and lunged for him. She wrapped her thin arms tightly around his torso. Cameron sucked in his breath sharply, his stomach pulling inwards.

"Woah! I was only gone for a few hours, Annabeth," he said, not hiding the surprise in his voice. Cameron hesitantly hugged Annabeth back, and tried to ignore the sobbing noises she made.

Annabeth pressed her face into his shirt, not caring about the snot and tears that stained it.

"Were you alone?" he asked gently. Annabeth could only nod in response. "That won't happen again, Annabeth. I promise."

But his promise wasn't enough. When she had woken up earlier that day, Cameron said she wouldn't be left alone again, and then she was. Annabeth was slowly learning that promises meant very little.

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Several minutes passed by, and Annabeth was proving to be inconsolable. No matter how many times Cameron patted her back or whispered softly, her sobs continued to rack her body. Not for the first time, he found himself jealous of Chris and his kind and friendly demeanor that allowed him to be good with people. The only thing Cameron was good at was lying and fighting, and there was no way to do either right now.

Glancing down at the crying girl, he realized that Annabeth was wearing some of Drew's clothes. He almost laughed; they were so big on her, it was almost comical. But Cameron knew the reason behind the baggy outfit was nothing to laugh at. Years of being malnourished had reduced the girl to tight, pale skin revealing all her bones. Her individual blue veins were woven beneath her nearly transparent skin.

It was like looking at a skeleton. A skeleton of Annabeth Chase: nearly all the same outer features, but her soul and personality were gone, leaving a husk of the girl behind.

Cameron was brought out of his thoughts by the medallion digging painfully into his chest, pressed there by Annabeth. But if it meant getting her to calm down, he would gladly take the pain.

"Hey," he said softly to her, "I brought something for you."

Slowly, Annabeth pulled herself away from him, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. She didn't say anything; Annabeth merely stared at him with those startling gray eyes. Taking that as his cue to show her, Cameron removed the parcel from under his black jacket, and held it out to her.

Annabeth accepted it, but instead of tearing through the brown paper and revealing the present inside, she just looked at it.

"You can open it," Cameron nudged gently. Despite the extra care he put in to make his tone soft, Annabeth still jumped.

Realizing that she still didn't understand what he was saying, Cameron carefully tugged the parcel back into his own hands. Under Annabeth's wide-eyed gaze, he untied the twine, and pulled back the brown paper.

Annabeth reached out, her pale hands timid and slow. Her fingers stretched out like spiders, tentatively wrapping around the unwrapped package. Cameron watched her arm drop slightly at the weight of the parcel, and he frowned: It wasn't heavy in the least.

She brushed the flimsy paper away, and it drifted to the floor, crinkling as it landed. Cameron watched as she withdrew the sweater, and held it up, her thin arms trembling slightly.

"It's a sweater," Cameron said lightly. His voice captured Annabeth's silent attention. "I figured you'd want something of your own."

Annabeth nodded, glancing down at Drew's too-big shirt that hung loosely off her frame. She lowered the sweater. "Thank you," she said, her voice hoarse and raspy.

Cameron smiled and said, "it's not a problem, Annabeth. I'll get Drew to find you a pair of better fitting pants," he gestured to the jeans that were clinging to her waist only because of a tightened belt, "and some more clothes. But this should be good enough for now. Do you want to put it on?"

She nodded, and brushed a strand of long hair behind her ear. Slightly frowning, he added giving the daughter of Athena a haircut to his list of things that needed to be done for the girl.

"I'll get Chris," he promised her before wrapping his hand around the medallion around his neck. Keeping his eyes open to watch Annabeth and make sure she didn't have another fit, he sent out the signal. Within seconds, Chris' voice filled his mind.

"Yeah?"

"Come to Annabeth's room to keep an eye on her. I'm going to call a meeting with the others."

"I'm always left out of these things," Chris grumbled.

"Clarisse will tell you everything, anyways," Cameron reminded him. "As always."

"This is what I get for being so nice," the other boy teased. "I'll be right up."

Cameron released his medallion, and Chris' presence left his head. Annabeth was watching him with her empty eyes, her hair falling in limp strands in front of her face. Without even thinking, Cameron reached over and tucked her hair behind her ears. Annabeth's face was so close to his own, and he could make out the individual flecks in her eyes. Her breathing hitched.

Then, the door flew open. Cameron staggered backwards, feeling guilty. Chris was standing on the threshold, looking at him with an amused smile.

"You called?" Chris drawled, trying and failing to suppress a grin.

Cameron scowled. "Stay here with Annabeth. Help her put on the sweater."

Now Chris was smiling wide. "You got her a sweater?"

"Shut up," he growled in response.

Chuckling, Chris waved at Annabeth. "Hey, Annabeth. I'm going to hang in here, if that's good with you."

Looking a little alarmed at being directly addressed, she just nodded.

"I'm going to talk with Drew and the others," Cameron told her softly, "but I'll be back soon, okay? I know I'm irreplaceable, but Chris is going to try his best."

His humor was lost on Annabeth to his disappointment and Chris' amusement. Shooting Chris a final glare, Cameron left the two in the spare bedroom.

As he walked down the hall, he found himself worried. For Annabeth and her unstable condition, for the web of lies he was forced to cast, for the bright facade and nightly visitors Drew hid behind. For the newly added tremble to Clarisse's voice every time she said 'goodbye', no doubt fearing the last time she would do so. For the gentle patience of Chris, who was falling apart himself.

They were all falling apart, and Cameron, despite his best efforts, couldn't save them.

If anything, he was only making it worse.

Sighing, Cameron ruffled his hair with his hand as he entered the living room. Drew was standing on the back of the couch, a long sword held in her hand. She balanced there, not even slightly wavering. At the sight of him, she jumped down nimbly, not making a sound.

"How's Annabeth?" she asked. Her worry was visible in her eyes, despite the casual smile played on her lips.

Cameron shrugged. "As fine as she can be, I guess. What did you leave her for?"

"Damn, I forgot. I thought I was on patrol, but then this arrived," Drew waved a small piece of paper at him, "and said I didn't need to come. So I decided to train."

"You can't just leave her alone," Cameron said, his voice raising from the casual tone. "She's not okay."

"I know that, Cam, I was the one who rescued her!" Drew said loudly, rolling her eyes.

"What are you two fighting about now?" Clarisse grumbled, padding into the room from the kitchen. She had a steaming mug in her hand, and was taking cautious sips from it.

"Cameron's just releasing his hormones, nothing too usual," said Drew, shooting the boy a wicked smile.

Now, it was Cameron's turn to roll his eyes. "I was just telling Drew how to treat our guest."

"It was an accident, okay? It was one time!" Drew's voice was dangerous and, though she didn't say it, she was daring him to respond.

"Exactly. I'm here to warn you not to make the same mistake," said Cameron, matching her fire.

"Since when did you become in charge?" she challenged.

"Since we agreed to let him be," said Clarisse gruffly, glaring at the both of them. "Drew, you're an idiot, but you know better than to leave Annabeth alone. Cameron, you're also an idiot, and Drew got the message the first time around, there's no need to keep yelling."

Giving them both very pointed stares, Clarisse took another sip from her mug.

"It's good that you're here, Clarisse, because I was just about to call you. I sent Chris to stay with Annabeth. I figured you'll tell him everything later."

The girl shrugged. "I always do."

Cameron sat down in the arm chair, and the two girls took a seat on the couch. Drew placed the sword down on the arm rest, her hand resting on the hilt.

"Annabeth's condition is nowhere near where it should be," Cameron began, "and I don't know if we should tell the Seven."

"Why?" Drew demanded, her hand tightening around the hilt.

"I agree with Cameron," said Clarisse, much to the surprise of the other two. "We don't want to get their hopes up."

Cameron nodded. "Exactly. I say we wait and see how Annabeth does, if anything improves. But in the meantime, we need to find a way to contact Thalia and the Hunters. There has to be a reason for Annabeth remembering only her, and I intend to find out why."

"But what about Percy?" pressed Drew. She didn't notice how Cameron stiffened when she said the name, but Clarisse's narrowed eyes captured the movement.

"No one knows where he is," said Cameron, pointedly not looking at Clarisse. "He couldn't get a hold of him even if we tried. And the Seven has."

"If he told him we found Annabeth, and that she's alive," said Clarisse, "then he'd definitely come out of hiding."

Cameron sighed; even after all these years, they still weren't getting it. "Clarisse, there's a strong chance Percy Jackson isn't in hiding."

"No," she interrupted loudly, glaring at Cameron with her dark eyes. "He's not dead."

"For all we know, he could be. No one's heard from him in years. That doesn't sound like something Percy would do, is it?"

"Didn't sound like something the gods would do either, but it's been three years since they disappeared," Drew reminded him, turning to face him so fast that her silky hair flew in front of her face. She brushed it out of the way briskly. "Percy isn't dead, he can't be."

"Yeah, well there are a lot of people who shouldn't be dead," Cameron said angrily. An unwelcome lump formed in his throat, and he stared at a light to stop himself from crying.

"Cam," said Drew, her voice as soft as a feather, "what happened to her wasn't your fault-"

"But I couldn't save her, could I?" he snapped. "So it pretty much was my fault."

Silence greeted his harsh words. Drew looked like she wanted to say something, but she bit her lip and remained quiet. Clarisse, on the other hand, looked inclined not to speak at all.

"That's off topic," Cameron said quietly, "we need to talk about Annabeth. She's afraid to be alone, so someone's going to need to be with her at all times. We'll switch off every few hours."

"Sounds like another patrol," Drew said warily.

Cameron winced. "Yeah, but this one's different. This one will help us defeat Gaea."

"If she can get her memories back," Clarisse reminded him gruffly.

"She will," Drew responded confidently. "She was the smartest girl at camp. She probably just found a way to hide her memories from Dolos, and ended up hiding them from herself."

"Drew, right now, she doesn't want her memories back," Cameron told her, rubbing the back of his neck while doing so. "She's afraid."

"Alright, so we walk on eggshells around her for a while, let her get comfortable," Drew shrugged, unconcerned. "She'll be good as new."

"That's not how the world works. She was tortured daily. There's a possibility he shattered her mind," Cameron argued.

"No," Clarisse interrupted. She crossed her arms, and the action resulted in making her look even more tough. "I've seen madness before, with Chris. Annabeth may be a bit jumpy and unstable, but she's not mad. Scared, but not mad."

Cameron threw his hands in the air. "There's something wrong with her-"

"Yeah, and that something's called 'getting tortured every day for three years'," Drew shot back, "it would be enough to unhinge anyone."

Clarisse sighed. There was something so sad, so defeated in that small release of air that Cameron's heart pained.

"But Annabeth Chase was never just anyone," said Clarisse glumly.

"It's not the same Annabeth. She's different, now, and may never be the same. And we're going to have to be okay with that," Cameron told her gently.

Drew repositioned herself, and grumbled, "I'd be fine with just all of us being okay."

Cameron silently agreed.