blurred | revised

V • shape without form

"Shit! Hey, hey, it's okay! You're okay! Annabeth, you're okay!"

Air flooded her lungs, not water. The girl felt her eyes peel open, and the ceiling greeted her, not the depths of the ocean floor. She took several hesitant sips of air, uncertain of where she was. A blank white ceiling stared down at her, not the open sky that she had been expecting. Her legs were tangled in a blanket, not seaweed.

"Are you okay?" asked a voice. The girl blinked, and forced herself to turn her head, ignoring the way that it pounded. A man stood at the side of her bed, eyebrows knitted in concern. His dark hair fell into his eyes, but he didn't seem to care; he was only looking at the girl.

"I-I'm fine," the girl said, surprised to find her voice to be hoarse and sore. "Where's Esperanza?"

The man gave a hesitant yet relieved smile. "She's with Drew and the others. She's safe, don't worry. You're both safe. You're at our safe house, after Drew brought you back. How do you feel?"

The girl blinked slowly, becoming aware of how much everything hurt; even her bones screamed in agony. Sunlight beamed into the room through a window, and the girl's eyes ached at its relentless shine. But she sat up nonetheless, ignoring the way her head swam at the motion.

"I feel fine," she lied. "Who are you?"

The boy ignored her question and instead poured an amber colored liquid into a glass. He dropped three ice cubes into it before gingerly handing it to the girl.

She regarded it suspiciously. "What is it?"

"Nectar," he said like that answered anything. "Just drink it; you'll feel better."

The girl didn't know if she could trust him, but his dark eyes were gentle, if a little nervous. She lifted the glass to her mouth, and took a hesitant sip. The liquid was completely tasteless. She felt fine, so she finished the glass.

The man eyed her as he plucked the empty glass from her hand. "What did it taste like?"

She blinked twice at the question. "It tasted like nothing."

"Oh." An unknown emotion flashed across his face, but it disappeared just as fast, and was replaced with a bland smile. "Do you want to see Esperanza?"

She did, more than anything. Her heart yearned for it, but something was wrong. Her head stopped pounding, and her body felt completely fine, despite being in pain mere seconds earlier. The man looked at her like she had hung the Sun in the sky, and it all felt horrifically wrong.

"Who are you?" she asked again.

"Right, forgot about the whole 'forgetting everything' thing. We've met before, but I doubt you remember."

She regarded him once again, as if she would miraculously remember him, but nothing about him felt familiar. She shook her head, and he gave her a sad smile in return.

"Yeah, thought so. I'm Cameron Skyes; we've met before, back at the Battle of Manhattan and then after at Camp. It's fine that you don't remember; I didn't really expect you to."

The girl nodded absently, ignoring the way that his eyes seemed attached to her. "Where's Esperanza?"

Wordlessly, he extended a hand to her. She took it, using it to extract herself from the tangled blanket on the bed. Cameron was careful to avoid touching the scars on her arms, and part of the girl was grateful to him. Every other part of her did not trust him.

Blood rushed to her head as she stood up, but she ignored it, and instead chose to follow Cameron out of the room. He led her into a narrow hallway, and the sound of voices echoed down the hall. Drew's laugh was loud and distinctive, and though the girl had not known her for very long, she was relieved to hear her. Drew had quickly grown to mean safety in a world fraught with dangers.