πανικός

panic

• • •

There was no hesitation inside of her as Annabeth stormed into the kitchen early the next morning, a knife clutched too tightly in her scarred hand. Drew, Clarisse, Chris, and Cameron were all seated around the table, bowls full of cereal laying in front of them.

In a single movement that she had rehearsed several times in her room only minutes prior, Annabeth slammed a knife that she had stolen from dinner the night before into the wooden table. The blade dug deep into the wood, as if the table were made of something far more malleable than wood.

Chris dropped his spoon in surprise, and it clattered noisily to the ground. Clarisse stood up, a dagger in her hand, while Cameron winced. Drew, however, continued shoveling spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth, not giving Annabeth a second glance.

"I've made up my mind," Annabeth announced, fighting off the discomfort of so many people staring at her. The scars on her skin felt more visible than ever. "I want to train to fight."

A stunned pause of silence followed. Annabeth looked down at the ground, feeling the embarrassing weight of a blush settle over her face.

"I didn't know you were even debating something like this," said Cameron finally.

Annabeth raised her head, straightened her spine, and stared Cameron in his dark eyes. "I have. You all have been telling stories of all the things the old Annabeth has done, how she fought monsters and gods. At the very least, I want to be able to protect myself."

Dark memories of being trapped in the cellar rose up in Annabeth's mind, distant echoes of her own screams ringing in her ears. She forced them out before she could get drowned in them.

"I'll train her," Drew said through a mouthful of cereal. Clarisse gave her an exasperated look.

"You were half-dead yesterday, Tanaka," she said gruffly. "You're not allowed to so much as touch a knife until you're fully healed."

Drew shrugged her bandaged shoulders. "It'll take more than that to kill me."

"An empousa attempted to murder you," Cameron said harshly, "and she came very close to succeeding. You shouldn't even be out of bed, let alone train someone."

Drew rolled her eyes and ate another bite of cereal with the arm that wasn't wrapped in a sling. "Y'all need to stop worrying so much. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"If Chris hadn't have shown up when he had," interjected Clarisse, "you wouldn't be. So quit being cocky and start being smart."

Annabeth slammed her hand down on the table. The bowls rattled with the impact, and four pairs of eyes looked at her once more. A part of her liked this, liked the attention and small traces of fear that were poorly hidden in the eyes that were looking up at her.

"I don't care who trains me!" Annabeth said too-loudly, her voice close to a shout. "But I want to learn how to fight and I want to get out of this house!"

Annabeth felt as surprised as everyone else looked. She hadn't known that the latter part of her exclamation would come out. But now that she had said it, it felt right. Annabeth had already lost track of how long she had been saved by Drew and taken here.

"Alright," said Cameron, sounding level-headed and calm. More than that, his voice was gentle. Careful. As if Annabeth were a scared animal and he was trying not to startle her. "Clarisse can train you. Drew," he said as Drew made a sound of protest, "don't even start; you know you're in no condition to fight. And I'll help train you, Annabeth. It's the least I could do."

Annabeth nodded, but she still felt uncertain. Something was off. Suddenly, the attention was too much. Before anyone could say anything else, she turned on her heel and left the room, her face red and hot from embarrassment.

"That was weird," observed Drew, her voice audible as Annabeth walked up the stairs.

Despite herself, Annabeth smiled as she closed the door of the room Cameron had given her. Drew didn't know the half of it.

• • •

"So, what's the plan?" asked Chris, looking up at Cameron with a questioning look in his gaze. Dirt stained Chris' hands, a streak of it running across his forehead. "Or did you just come to say hello?"

Cameron shifted uncomfortably on his feet, feeling very wrong to be there. Cameron had never attempted to disguise his dislike of Chris' garden, and his presence there was rare. But this was the place that Chris seemed the happiest, and that seemed like the best place to hold this kind of conversation.

"What do you think?" responded Cameron with a disarming smile.

Chris sighed and dug his spade into the soft soil. "No one ever just says hi anymore. I don't suppose you're here to ask me to train Annabeth?"

"You know that I'm not."

Cameron sat down beside Chris, careful to avoid crushing any plants. Chris wiped the sweat from his brow, making the streak of dirt there even larger.

"I wanted to ask your opinion of Annabeth," said Cameron, carefully constructing his words. He watched his friend from the corner of his eye.

"She's not as scary as she used to be," offered Chris with a half-smile. "She's like a completely different person now."

Cameron fingered the hilt of a spade, the only visible sign of his nerves. "I don't want to come off as calloused —"

"But you want to ask me how I regained my memory, right?" Chris finished, a tired smile on his face.

Cameron smiled back at him, relieved to not have to bluntly ask the question. "Guess it's pretty obvious."

"Yeah, well Annabeth's case is very different than mine. I was driven to madness in that maze, Cam. The only thing that saved me was Clarisse and Dionysus, so it's really not the same thing."

"I know, but —"

"But it's possible that her memories are gone for good," interrupted Chris. "I'm no doctor, but it's also possible that she has post-traumatic stress disorder because of what happened, and it's important that we're careful about this. I mean, we understand that more than anyone, right?"

Cameron nodded, his mouth suddenly incapable of speaking. Because if he did, the horrors might never stop. Chris gave a small nod, like he knew exactly what Cameron was thinking.

"Thanks, Chris," Cameron finally said after clearing his throat. "I should probably go."

He turned around to leave, not all that surprised to find that his hand had subconsciously wrapped around the hilt of his sword.

"It's the similar experience that gets you, isn't it?" Chris' voice called out before Cameron even had the chance to open the door.

Cameron's heart short-circuited inside his chest. "What do you mean?" But the question was useless. Because Cameron knew exactly what Chris was talking about. And it terrified him more than anything else.

"It's like she's you, except prettier. There's something about the trauma that makes you feel safe, right?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Cameron protested weakly.

Chris grinned. "Yes it does. But she's not the same, and I don't think —"

Pain exploded inside Cameron's head, the agony enough to make him scream. Red-tinged images flooded through his mind, howling word accompanying them. And that voice, that damned voice that had been inside his head for too long. Gaea.

And then it was over. It ended as suddenly as it began.

"Cam! Cam, are you okay?"

"She knows," Cameron managed to gasp out. "Olympus above, she knows Annabeth is alive."

Chris' jaw dropped. "How? We've been so careful —"

"I don't know. But she knows where Annabeth is, just not that we're the ones helping her. And she's coming here now."

"How much time do we have?" Chris asked, his gaze steely and calm.

The ground began to shake slowly, as if there was an earthquake miles away. Cameron cursed as he drew his sword.

"We're out of time. Go find Annabeth, and get her the hell out of here. I'll try to persuade her that she was wrong, somehow. And if I can't," Cameron raised his sword, "I'll buy you whatever time I can."

Chris was already on his feet, halfway to the door. He was a healer, more comfortable with his plants than with any weapon. And after all he endured...Chris deserved safety more than anyone. But he still paused at the door, looking uncomfortable. "I'm not leaving you to fight them alone, Cam."

"Just go!" he shouted. "Protecting Annabeth is what's most important!"

Chris frowned, but he disappeared through the door, leaving Cameron alone with the carefully tended flowers. Cameron raised his sword, waiting for the inevitable waves of monsters that Gaea would send to kill Annabeth. He would fight them, of course. And he'd kill a lot of them. But even Cameron was no match for a monstrous army.

Cameron gripped it tighter as the Earth shook violently. Distant howls and screams pierced the air, drawing ever so closer. And all that Cameron could do was pray to the dead gods that Chris and Clarisse and Drew and Annabeth were gone and safe, somewhere far away from here. The place that was home.

But home was a dangerous thing in war; it could be so easily destroyed. And safety no longer existed.

Three hellhounds appeared, leaping towards Cameron with a murderous gleam in their near-lifeless eyes. He gripped his sword, leaping out of the way of the largest hellhound, stabbing the one furthermost right in the heart. He rolled to a squatting position, sword dripping with blood.

"Who's next?" he asked.

As if in response, a second hellhound growled and took a step towards Cameron. But now there were at least a dozen flying monsters circling above him, and a small pack of hellhounds were destroying Chris' garden.

"This is going to end well," he muttered to himself.

He didn't hesitate throwing himself at the hellhound, killing it with a well-aimed stab. With a shriek, one of the harpies dove at him, her sharp claws extended. Cameron sliced her out of the air, and the monster's dead body fell on top of a hellhound.

But there were too many. No matter how many harpies he killed, three more seemed to take its place. And the hellhounds had managed to surround Cameron so that no matter where he turned, black-coated death stared at him with a gaping fanged mouth. He wiped his bloodied sword on the ground.

Well, he thought to himself as the largest hellhound pounced on top of him. There are worse ways to die.

• • •

[ END OF
PART I ]