Out In The Open

|Chapter 6| Hate is a Powerful Drug, Given Only to Those Who Seek it

WARNING: TORTURE, BLOOD, PTSD, CURSES,

ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THE ACTIONS TAKEN AGAINST ANYONE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ACCEPTABLE. I AM NOT SAYING ANY OF THIS IS OKAY. 

It was horrible what was being done to the young demigod.

She was being whipped, actually whipped. Every time the whip hit her back it made a sickening crack! Her hands were tied behind her back and she was on her knees, her head facing towards the ground. Her face was bruised and bloody, her tears soaking the mud beneath her.

Why were they doing this?

The young girl had been caught killing a hellhound. In most of the world this would have been seen as a courageous act, but not here. This was a small, predominantly white town. It was chock full of racist white people, who believed demigods to be demons from the pits of hell. It cared not for the laws of their country.

The girl was sobbing, pleading in a mix of Greek and English, begging her mother -Demeter- to save her, send anyone or anything. Her pleas for her mother eventually became pleads for Thanatos to kill her, to take away her pain and suffering.

Her begging caused them to taunt her, asking what her so-called gods could do. Many of them bathed in the mirth of hurting her, a young girl. They jeered at her, sending cruel words her way.

A shot rang out. She heard a thud behind her.

The whipping had stopped and the bonds were cut, which caused the girl to start crying at the relief of it being over. Strong arms helped her up. She attempted to stand on her feet, which caused a thundering pain to hit her. She screamed, only to feel a warm calloused hand cover her mouth and a kind voice quiet her .

She let out a whimper before collapsing and passing out.

Annabeth had not ended up revealing herself. It hadn't been her decision, but instead Chiron's. He had insisted that she should, she could only reveal herself when absolutely necessary. She had begrudgingly agreed so it was back to the normal order of things.

Wake up, eat, go to school, eat, go home, eat, sleep. Repeat.

Day after day, she went through the motions. Soon Annabeth was bored, finding joy in no part of her life. She felt like her twelve-year-old self again, longing for an adventure and a change. She wanted to fight, she wanted to run. She wanted to plan a battle, defeat someone in training. She wanted to hear the strangely melodic sound of a blade against another and the scrape of a blade being sharpened on a whetstone.

She longed for the dangerous vibrancy of a demigod's life, not the dull lethargy of mortal life. The life she found herself now leading was like a washed-out piece of paper, one that had lost all of its colour and fun.

In other words she hated it.

The one perk, however, was that Piper was at the same school as her. It allowed her to have one confidante, someone who understands her. Piper was always there to lend a hand and keep her from losing control at any point.

The loss of control was a real worry for the newly minted immortals. A large amount of power had been thrust upon them in a short time and they were still trying to find their footing. It was a terrifying prospect to all of them that if they were to lose control for even a split second, hundreds of innocent people could die.

But Piper was there to ground her, and vice versa. Piper was perhaps her closest friend seeing as Thalia was away in the hunt, Juniper could not stray far from her tree, Rachel was busy and lived far away, Grover was even busier, and Percy and her could seldom see one another due to him being an immortal and her being an assumed mortal. It was all in the name of caution.

Annabeth was in math class taking neat notes on a subject she had absolutely no interest in. She had small doodles of statues and temples in the margins but had run out of space so was resigned to actually taking notes.

The bell rang allowing Annabeth to finally leave the stuffy room and head to lunch. She picked up her lunch pail from her locker and headed to the outdoor tables she ate lunch at. When she got there she scanned the crowd for her friend eventually seeing her sitting at a small table in the back waving her hands wildly, trying to get Annabeth's attention.

She sat down at the table for two across from Piper, and the meaningless chit chat started. They discussed trivial matters, things that in the grand scheme of things were unimportant. They talked about their classes, what they thought their boyfriends were doing, the works.

They had to always be careful to not name their boyfriends or any of their friends for fear of a mortal overhearing and possibly connecting the dots. It was a far fetched worry but both of them tried to exercise an abundance of caution for things like these.

Gods know it would be bad if someone found out that they were Olympians. The chaos. The drama. But that wouldn't happen for at least a couple months, so Annabeth worried not about that.

Annabeth misses Percy.

She missed his warm hugs, his bright smiles. The sparring matches that always seemed to end with them laughing uncontrollably on the floor.

As the day passed, Annabeth became jumpier and jumpier. Every shadow seemed to expand, and every person started to look like a threat to her. Something was clawing at her, trying to take over her mind.

And eventually, while Annabeth was walking to class, she collapsed.

The nightmare wasn't the most gruesome, loudest or horrifying nightmare Percy had ever experienced. But it was probably the most terrifying one he'd had.

It started as a normal dream. He was with Annabeth and they were seemingly just talking. But he felt something surround his ankle and looked down to see a chain wrapped around it. He was pulled back and landed on his face. He looked up to see Annabeth in a similar position. He reached his hand out trying to reach her, but he was pulled back away from her. The same thing happened to her and she disappeared into the blackness.

He was now somehow on his back and he could see shadowy figures above him, jeering and taunting him, telling him he was nothing. He heard a voice that sounded like Gabe's saying that he should have killed him.

Percy awoke in his bed, chest heaving, heart racing and with tears in his eyes.

Why? Was his only thought.

A prayer, frantic and desperate, broke him out of his thoughts.

 Piper's voice said, Its Annabeth.

Percy was out of his bed in a second. Moments later, he appeared outside Annabeth's school and ran inside.