Sacrifices

Battle Amongst The Chase's

Annabeth brushed away a strand of blonde hair, tucking it behind her ear as her razor sharp gray eyes scanned the kitchen, trying to delay the probable fight she was about to bring upon her step-mother. She figured that if she couldn’t reason with her dad, might as well try his wife.

    She watched silently as the woman scrubbed away at the dishes, her hair pulled back in a high bun with a singular clip that matched her dirty work clothes. For a business woman, she looked even better when she was covered in muck, in Annabeth’s opinion. 

    The pair stayed like that for nearly a half hour. Annabeth stood in the doorway while watching her step-mother wash the dishes, shifting her weight onto each food absentmindedly as she fiddled with her necklace, that had a silver owl hanging between eight delicate orbs, four on each side. 

    When Keira, Annabeth’s step-mother, finished, she sighed deeply, standing there for a moment to inspect their backyard through the large window hanging just above the sink. Her soft green eyes danced across the window as they scanned every inch of the garden in the sunset lighting. Annabeth continued to watch silently. 

    “What do you need, sweetie?” Keira asked, her voice holding an overbearing amount of fake sweetness that turned Annabeth’s ears sour. 

    “I needed to talk to you about something.” Annabeth mumbled, looking down at the tiled floor to avoid Keira’s attentive face when she turned to face the blonde. 

    “What, is there another spider in your room?” The Asian woman asked, the sarcasm seeping from her lips and floating into the air. Annabeth clenched her fists tightly at her sides, but tried to ignore the comment and move on to her point.

    “It’s about the arranged marriage.” 

    Keria raised a suspecting eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the counter. Her sharp nose flinched ever so slightly, and her painted nails tapped against the side of her forearm as she continued to examine her step-daughter. 

    “Go on.”

    “I want out.” Annabeth briskly replied, trying to sound confident, to make it clear that she was serious, and she didn’t want to argue about it.

    “I’m afraid that isn’t up to me to decide.” Keria said, shifting her body slightly to make herself more comfortable. In the lighting, Annabeth could make out her deep red streaks of dyed hair amongst the midnight black of her long natural color. 

    “But you can talk to my dad about it. He won’t listen to me. I was hoping that he would at least listen to your reasoning.”

    “And what, exactly, would I try to reason his arguments with?” Keira shot, causing Annabeth to be momentarily frozen at the coldness in her tone.

    “Percy, he doesn’t want this either. That I know for a fact. He-” Annabeth caught herself. She was about to say that he had a boyfriend, but she knew that Gabe didn’t know anything about that, so she held her tongue on that argument. “He doesn’t like me. And I don’t like him. We aren’t meant for this.”

    “Oh sweetie, just give it time. You’ve only been together for- what, two months now? That’s not enough time to build a proper relationship. You’ll catch on eventually.”

    “No, we won’t. He’s too stupid for me. It’s like his brain is made of seaweed! And don’t even get me started-”

    “Annabeth.” Keira harshly growled, causing Annabeth to pause in momentary fear. Shivers ran up and down her spine, and the temperature suddenly seemed to have dropped. “Those are not good reasons.”