Anthízo, Percy Jackson

III. given more power than she could handle

AFTER THE THREE demigods returned back to the ship, leo immediately began to set course to venice, making sure no time was wasted to get to their next destination.

as for karina, well, she was stuck with piper.

"oh my gods!" karina heard a shout come from behind her, and as she turned, all she could see was a flash of pink before she was immediately engulfed into a bone-crushing hug, the smell of rich perfume immediately engulfing for senses.

karina stuttered back in shock, and slight pain, her arms extended awkwardly at her sides, suddenly not feeling comfortable anymore with the sudden displays of affection everyone was giving her.

piper felt karina stiffen under her touch, and immediately backed off, but her hands still rested on her arms, looking at her with glossy eyes, and a happy expression. "you're finally awake!"

karina knew that she looked extremely awkward and uncomfortable from piper's point of view, and she couldn't help but feel bad that she did. she didn't mean to feel this way— but, ever since she'd woken up, she'd felt nothing but emptiness and a cold demeanor. she couldn't help it when piper's touch made her go rigid.

"um," karina struggled for words, swallowing hardly. "yeah. i woke up yesterday."

piper could tell that karina was uncomfortable, and she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness rip through her heart that the sight of her broken forte. she could tell that it was mask— she could almost feel the bottled up pain and trauma that karina was holding in. but, karina pulled it off so well that if you didn't know her past, you wouldn't think of her as anything else but a blank person.

"well, i saw you this morning, and, well— " piper forced out a laugh. "you know how that went."

karina tried to laugh with her. she wanted to so bad. but she physically couldn't even conjure up a small smile. so, she settled for just nodding her head, her eyes flicking to the wooden floor of the ship instead of piper's calculating eyes.

they stood there awkwardly for a moment— piper investigating karina with only her eyes, while she tried her best to avoid eye contact with piper, keeping her eyes glued to the ground below them.

"hey," piper said, her voice dropping. "what's going on?"

karina kept her stare on piper's feet as her jaw tightened. "nothing," she said as calmly as she could. "nothing's wrong."

piper rolled her eyes. "don't lie to me, karina. you know i can tell when you're making stuff up."

karina felt her stomach begin to twist in annoyance, and she tried her best to keep her words calm. "i'm fine, piper, okay?" she said, beginning to walk around her. but, piper was not convinced, and before she could walk by her, she grabbed karina's wrist and pulled her back, giving her a unconvinced look.

karina felt the pressure on her wrist and immediately retaliated by gripping piper's wrist in her own, flicking it away from her body with ease, making piper look at her with a look of shock. now, karina's hand held her wrist, and a hard look was present on her face as she stared at piper.

"i said i'm fine," karina said lowly. "what other answer do you need?"

piper ripped her wrist out of karina's death grip and glared at her. "the real one," she said sternly.

karina's fists clenched at her sides, and she felt herself growing warm with irritation, gaea's influence getting the best of her. "it is the real one. now back off."

she didn't mean to snap at her like that. she could tell that she was getting close to going off on her before she'd even let the words slip from her mouth, but she thought that if she stayed quiet, the urge would go away. but the thing is, she wanted to snap at piper like that. the way gaea made her irritation levels rise and anger ten-fold was only making her get satisfaction from these situations of karina snapping at her friends. and she couldn't even realize that it wasn't her actual thoughts, because of how normalized the feeling has become in her system. it was as if it was a new normal to her.