'River Anise was like the morning sun. Her rays were gentle and calm, accompanied by a light breeze. Her light painted the skies with a beautiful array of colors that Percy thought no painter could ever truly capture.'
-
(Percy Jackson)
(The Lightn...
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chapter sixteen: when the summer ends
~
River thought she was going to be happy when she got home. That she would be excited to see her mom and spend time with her and all that. But she just couldn't force herself to feel that way with Luke's betrayal looming on the back of her mind.
Had he really been lying to her all this time? Had he hated her and was just pretending to care? Was it her fault? Could she have done something more to help him? Was she just not good enough?
Natalia had noticed the drop in her attitude. It wasn't the first time she had seen her daughter in such a depressed state. She thought of calling River's therapist. But not even that had helped much. River was too wrapped up in her mind to understand her logical viewpoint.
There was only one more person left that she could think to call. Percy Jackson.
Natalia had shown up at the front door of Sally's apartment one day, having remembered the address from having taken Percy home from camp.
Sally opened up the door to see the woman with a worried expression, "Natalia? Is something wrong?"
"It's River..."
"Is she ok?" Percy popped his head out from around the corner, his eyes wide with panic.
"I don't know. She won't talk about it. She won't tell me what happened, but I know it has something to do with camp. I don't know what else to do. She's not talking, and she's having a hard time eating and sleeping. I haven't seen her like this since... I thought you might know something, Percy."
Percy's expression fell as he realized what may have upset the girl so much. He hadn't even thought about how badly Luke's betrayal would have affected her. He thought because Annabeth had acted fine, that it would be the same for River because Annabeth had been closer to him. But they were two separate people. It wasn't that River wasn't strong, she just believed in people too much. River loved people deeply and truly. It must've been devastating to think that one of those people she loved so much could turn against her so easily.
"Maybe you should go see her," Sally suggested.
"Yeah, I will."
~
River was sitting out on the fire escape outside of her window, her legs were kicking back and forth while she fiddled with her camp necklace in her hands. Her fingers ran over the smooth beads. She felt like such an idiot. Like she was stupid for being so upset. But she just couldn't get past it.
"Riv?" a familiar voice called out.
River sat up straight, looking back towards her open window where she saw Percy wandering around her messy room. She made a noise to draw his attention, not feeling as if she could talk right then.
