Finally, she was done. She wiped her mouth with the towel Piper gave her before leaning back in her bed. She shivered, and Percy must have thought she was cold because he tucked the blankets tightly around her. But in truth, she was sweating. The memory of the vision wouldn't fade from her mind. The way she had been so easily tricked and bound. The way the man's lips felt on her. The way it felt to die. She was still crying. It was pitiful sobs, ones that made no noise at all but came from deep within. She shook, and her arms wrapped themselves around her. She curled into the pillows, her back to Percy, who rubbed her back and shoulders reassuringly. Piper fussed around, getting another wet towel to place on Annabeth's forehead. "I must go tell the king and …show more content…
No one cared what the sick girl said, apparently. Chiron clapped his hands together. "Well, I came here to inform you that your parents are both swamped with meetings today. You most likely won't be seeing much of them." Annabeth nodded, and took another bite of soup to hide her happiness at Chiron's words. She loved her parents, she really did. The month that Percy had held her captive had been torture on them, and she had missed them terribly. But ever since she had returned, they'd been smothering her. She never had a moment to herself. She found herself looking forward to these rare days when her parents had to attend to their royal duties, and left her alone, as terrible as that seemed. Did that make her a horrible daughter? Yes. Did she care? Not really. She had other things to spend her time worrying about. And besides, it wasn't like she had pneumonia or the flu or something that required help and support from others. She had a tumor that would cause scary visions a few times a day. Nothing they did would help that go away. It was something that she had to deal with by