~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Pen And Paper

    Annabeth approached her. They hadn't talked since that tea party with Venus/Aphrodite. Kiara wondered why Annabeth suddenly wanted to be physically close to her. Kiara also noticed the daughter of Athena had a nervous energy to her. Annabeth was one of the few people who acted like they weren't scared or unnerved of Kiara.

   "About what happened back in Fort Sumter," Annabeth started. "I'm sorry."

   "About what?" Kiara asked, turning to face Annabeth.

   Annabeth was very pretty. Her gray eyes gleamed with intelligence, her tan skin looked like bronze under the sun, and her blonde curls looked like gold. Silver, bronze and gold. But she wasn't Kiara's type. Besides, even if Kiara had a crush on her, Annabeth had a boyfriend.

   "I gave everyone orders to do something, but I..." She paused. She looked like she was weighing between two options.

   "Forgot about me?" Kiara guessed. She turned her gaze to the beach in front of them. "Don't sweat it, I'm used to that happening."

   "No, Kiara, I'm really sorry," Annabeth said. She really did sound apologetic. "I shouldn't have forgotten you were there. I know everyone does that to you, but they shouldn't, and I wasn't better than them." She looked down. "Nico is a lot like you, you know?"

   Kiara faced her. "Annabeth, I don't care if you forgot I was there. I really don't. You don't have to stress over that. We got out of there alive, and that's what matters. Not my crewmates ignoring me."

   She pushed herself away from the railing she was leaning on, and made her way across to the other side of the deck. She looked out to the sea. On the other side from Hercules's island, mountains rose from the ground like giant spikes.

   Kiara turned around to go below deck, and she saw that Annabeth was staring at her. The raven haired girl didn't say anything and averted her gaze. She just took the stairs down to her room, shutting the door close behind her.

   She threw herself on her bed. She felt empty and confused. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. She wanted to rescue Nico as fast as she could, and she wanted everything to go back to normal. What even was normal?

   There was a knock on her door and Kiara yelled, "Leave me alone!"

   She heard the creak sound of her door opening.

   "I said leave me alone," she said and rolled over so she could see the person who'd come in.

   To her absolute surprise, it was Frank.

   He was holding a plate full of Kiara's preferred fruits. She guessed that Frank had asked Hazel about that.

   "I brought you some food," he said nervously. "I noticed you have been eating less and less every time." He looked down at the plate he was carrying. "I asked Hazel what you liked to eat. So, um, here you go."

   He handed the plate to Kiara. The daughter of Pluto took it. "Thanks, Frank." That was the first time she'd directly talked to the boy.

   "No problem."

   There was an awkward silence between them.

   "I'll just go," Frank said and left Kiara's room, closing the door behind him.

   Kiara looked down at the ceramic plate in her hands. Pomegranate seeds, oranges and clementines. She smiled to herself, then remembered that night with the ghosts and her smile faded. She hadn't seen the ghosts since then, but she couldn't shake away the feeling she'd gotten: she had felt overwhelmed, overpowered.