LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XXXI.

AFTER DINNER, MIA was still on the crow's nest, eating the last pack of cookies in her backpack when she heard someone climbing up the ladder.

"You still eat those?" Annabeth asked, maneuvering herself so she was sitting next to Mia.

She shrugged. "They're good. And they hold good memories." She offered one to Annabeth, who took it.

It seemed surreal that despite all of their years together, now they were sitting there with an awkward silence between them, when there used to be comfortable silence. They looked the same, but they were so different from when they'd had a good friendship.

A year ago, Mia wouldn't have hesitated if she could decide between dying for Annabeth or letting her die. Now? She would.

"What happened, Mia?" Annabeth asked, staring out at the horizon.

"You're gonna have to be more specific than that," Mia said, attempting to hide her smirk.

"Sophia's a ghost." Annabeth said bluntly, which made Mia wince. "Because Luke blackmailed you."

"I thought you were smart," Mia quipped, staring down at her hands.

"How long?"

"Since we got captured by Dr. Thorn."

"You were too weak to say no," Annabeth realized. "Because we held up the sky — you held it because of me."

"I wouldn't have said no, because he threatened my sister," Mia snapped, then she buried her head in her hands. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Annabeth said, and it made Mia so surprised, she actually looked over to make eye contact with Annabeth. "If I hadn't been so reckless, if I hadn't cared for Luke so much — you wouldn't have held up the sky, and everything could've been different—"

"It could've been the same, Annabeth." Mia said, her voice holding a surprising amount of gentleness, but Annabeth had been her ride or die. Some things just don't fade forever, even if they had faded for a little bit. "I'm the one who's sorry. I left you. I abandoned you, just like a lot of other people in your life, I—" she choked back a sob, letting out a sigh. "I betrayed our friendship, and I'm sorry that I broke us. I'm sorry if I ever broke you."

Annabeth's face softened. "Thank you, Mia, for apologizing." She scooted closer to Mia so their arms were touching. "I think it'll take a little bit for me to forgive you, but . . . it shouldn't take as long as I thought it would."

Mia shrugged. "Whatever you want to do. But you deserve an apology. I just couldn't give it sooner because, well, it hurt."

"To return?"

She hummed in agreement. "I haven't been in New York in so long, let alone Camp Half-Blood. The last time I was there was when I came back to my house to grab Sophia's ashes. And there I killed my father. I literally couldn't come back."

"I knew that was you," Annabeth said. "You killed him, and you had to lie low."

"And it's not like I wanted to come back to camp because I'm a traitor, you guys would kill me on the spot."

Annabeth snorted. "That's because you wouldn't explain why you joined Luke."

"He told me to keep it a secret that I even joined him," Mia huffed out a laugh. "And, you know, I was so panicked that I shadow traveled to Amsterdam when I was revealed."

"Amsterdam?"

"The point is," Mia rolled her eyes, "is that you definitely would've killed me. And I've made some pretty big promises in order to not, you know, get arrested for murder."