blurred | revised

IX • between the conception and the creation

Drew nodded, a feat not easy to accomplish while taking a sip of coffee. "Exactly. That's you and the rest of the Seven, then seven more. Olympus is as good a place as any to start looking."

"Wouldn't you four be part of that?" Annabeth asked. Silence greeted her question and she blinked at them in confusion. "What? You all have the mark of Hera; wouldn't that make you part of it?"

"Huh," said Cameron, his expression completely dumbfounded. "I guess I didn't think of it like that."

"How else did you think it?"

Drew glanced at Cameron, almost nervously. "It's weird, to think about us being heroes. We've been double agents, for lack of a better word, and I still don't know if Olympus will accept us, seeing as we've been posing as Her trusted lackeys for years."

"But you've been working against Her all this time, haven't you? You rescued Esperanza and I; shouldn't that be enough to convince them?"

"It should be," Chris said reassuringly, glancing over at Cameron.

A nervous silence followed, which Annabeth awkwardly broke occasionally through bites of cereal. Her crunching reverberated against the walls.

"To be completely honest," Cameron said, his eyes nervously flickering up to Annabeth and back down to the ground, "I wasn't sure we would ever find you."

Annabeth allowed the silence between them to grow; what was she expected to say to that? She had spent years wallowing in hopelessness, and she had never once expected to be rescued.

"I can't promise you anything," she said finally, "but I can offer my testament, if these 'Seven' truly need it. I can testify that all of you rescued me, and that I would still be trapped in that cellar if it wasn't for you."

Another silence developed, but this was more comforting than the first. The words had felt awkward leaving Annabeth's mouth, but they seemed to be significant to the others.

"Maybe it's just been a few too many rough years, but that might be the nicest thing anyone has ever offered to do for me," Drew said, fake sniffling and dabbing at her eyes.

Clarisse elbowed her. "I saved your life a week ago!"

Drew winked. "Sorry, Claire, Annabeth's got you beat."

Clarisse shouted in outrage, and all the graveness that had accompanied the breakfast was shattered and replaced by this comfortable atmosphere. Annabeth allowed herself to sink into it and merely exist beside the people who had saved her life.

Esperanza, having abandoned her donuts, made her way to sit beside Annabeth. Despite everything, it felt natural to have Esperanza near her; they had escaped the cellar, but this still felt right.

"I know you're scared," Esperanza murmured quietly enough for the words to only be audible for Annabeth, "but everything is going to be okay. You just have to trust me."

Puzzled, Annabeth frowned at the girl. She opened her mouth to ask one of her thousands of questions, but before she could even form a syllable, a loud noise from outside the house interrupted her. A buzzing sound filled the room, and Drew shot up immediately, as did Clarisse.

"Something tripped the alarm," Drew said unnecessarily. "There's something here."

The comforable atmosphere evaporated immediately. Cameron was the next to stand, grabbing the sword that had been discarded beside the table. "Hide Annabeth and Esperanza," he instructed, "I'll go figure out what it is."