I'm Sorry Isn't Enough, Annabeth

Thalia XIV

Well, maybe Thalia wasn't that shocked.

Sally Jackson and Katie Gardner were duct-taped to a firm tree trunk, a faint gush of blood was dried on Sally’s face, mixing with the tears running down her injured cheek; Katie's shirt was slightly torn under the duct tape, which showed that she’d obviously trying to frantically to wriggle out of the duct tape, but unfortunately did not work. 

Annabeth ran to Sally’s side and peeled off the duct tape as softly as possible. Sally winced slightly in pain, and when she was free, Sally collapsed into Annabeth’s arms. 

“Annabeth.” Sally spluttered, tears rolling down her brown eyes unceasingly. “Annabeth. He took him. He took Percy away.” 

Thalia walked to Katie’s side, peeling off the duct tape, not leaving her eyes from Annabeth. Annabeth was shaking furiously. Her grey eyes were filled with panic and fear, and Thalia could see that Annabeth was trying to force her tears down. 

“It’s okay, Mrs Jackson.” Annabeth choked on her own words. “Percy’s gonna be okay.” 

“And just a few months after he’s been…” Mrs Jackson gulped. “Tortured. And now… he’s… he’s…” 

“Mrs Jackson.” Thalia butted in, before Sally could break down. “Did you see the man’s face?”

Mrs Jackson was trembling slightly in Annabeth’s grasp. She shook her head.

“Only that he had red eyes.” 

Katie gasped slightly, and ran off from the forest. 

“I’ll be right back!” she called back. 

“Where do you think…” Thalia started in a small voice. “Where do you think that man took Percy to?” 

Annabeth shrugged. 

“The man carried Percy like he weighted nothing and walked away. I don’t know how did he pass one hundred-eyed guard, but I’m positive that he walked out of the forest.” Sally explained, sobbing slightly. 

Thalia nodded thoughtfully. 

“I’ve just asked Argus, you know? The one hundred-eyed guard.” Katie was back beside them, panting heavily. “Argus said that he only saw Connor, Will and Malcom leave the camp in the past 2 hours. Connor was holding a small sachet, in which Argus thought it was most probably the things that he stole for his mother. Will was holding a big suitcase, saying he had to go home to treat his sick mother, and Malcom, and Argus said that Malcom was acting pretty weird lately. 

Silence. 

“Like how?” Annabeth asked urgently.

Katie shrugged. 

“He said Malcom was always worried about small little things, and gets jumpy when people just tap him lightly on the shoulder, like something is threatening him. Oh, and by the way, Malcom was carrying a huge bag on his shoulder. Now, Argus said that, not me.” 

Thalia shook her head. There was no freaking way that Malcom, Annabeth’s stepbrother, would actually do that to Percy… or…? 

“Malcom wouldn’t do that.” Annabeth said quietly. “He’s my brother. He’s one of the closest. To me.” 

Nobody said a word. 

“Maybe he didn’t.” Katie suggested. “Maybe it was some other guy who knew how to disappear.” 

“Let’s forget about this for a moment.” Thalia shook her head, holding her palm out in a ‘stop’ sign. “Katie, why are you here?” 

Katie looked at Thalia, confused. 

“What do you mean, why am I here? I want to come back to camp, so now I’m at camp?” 

“But you were supposed to be dead!” 

Katie raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, I’m pretty much alive right now. Except there were a few monsters who were ‘patrolling’ my Dad’s house. Didn’t want to hurt anyone, so I stayed indoors.” 

“What about Travis?” Thalia asked. “Travis died too, you know. A few-uh-weeks ago?” 

Katie put her hands onto her hips bitterly. 

“He is very alive, thank you very much!” 

“But…” 

“No buts, Thalia, I just Iris-messaged him yesterday.” Katie explained, obviously offended. “He said he was joining me in a few days, becuse he said that Connor was gonna come back home today, so he wanted to give Connor a surprise or something. Brother stuff.” 

“So neither of you had died?” Annabeth asked, a tinge of hope shown in her voice. 

“I am feeling very safe and alive at the moment, and Travis should be fine. He can take care of himself. The question I wanted to ask is: why would you think we were dead?” 

Before anyone could answer Katie’s question, Sally’s mobile phone rang loudly. 

“Oh, it must be Paul.” Sally exclaimed. “I’ll just tell him-” she stopped. 

“Who is it?” Thalia asked curiously. Sally looked up, frightened brown eyes into electric blue ones. 

“It’s blocked.” 

“Probably some advertisement or prank calls.” Katie waved it off. “I get them loads from Travis.” 

“Turn on the speaker button, I want to hear it.” Annabeth suggested. 

Sally pressed the ‘accept’ button, then the ‘speaker’ button. 

“Hello?” she asked in a small voice. 

It was a female’s voice. A shrill voice of a laughing female. 

“You’ll never see him again.”