Repair (A Percabeth Chaos Army Fanfiction)

- Beckendorf I -

- Beckendorf I -

I stared at the twins for a second, before looking back at the tapestry. It was amazing.

"Chaos should put this in his art collection," Silena commented. I chuckled, wrapping an army around her.

"Can you imagine what he'll be like meeting the twins," I joked.

She laughed, and it echoed through the old house.

"Who's gonna look at the memory?" Reyna called. Everyone came together in an oval-like shape in the middle of the room. I glanced around to see if anyone was volunteering, and raised my hand. This got me a few weird looks.

"You guys forget I've known Annabeth since we were young. She used to complain about her dad to me, so I'd like to see it for myself," I explained gently. Reyna looked me up and down, before pulling the flat silver piece out.

"You should sit down. The repeating pattern is whoever touches it passes out. Okay?" I nodded and let my eyes sweep the room. It was mostly empty, except for the two looms and a few plastic covered pieces of furniture.

"There's a couch over here," Will supplied. Silena pulled me over and pushed me down. "C'mon lets get this over with. But Charlie, when I saw that memory in Percy's old apartment..." she trailed off, unconsciously rubbing her throat. "Just be careful," she suggested finally. I nodded and squeezed her hand.

"Are you ready?" Reyna asked gently. I nodded and pulled the piece out from the cloth.

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Annabeth was seven years old, alone in her bedroom in Richmond, Virginia. The spiders came at night. They crawled in waves from her closet and waited in the shadows. She yelled for her father, but her father was away for work. He always seemed to be away for work. Her stepmother came instead. I don't mind being the bad cop, she had once told Annabeth's father, when she didn't think Annabeth could hear. It's only your imagination, her stepmother said about the spiders. You're scaring your baby brothers. They're not my brothers, Annabeth argued, which made her stepmother's expression harden. Her eyes were almost as scary as the spiders. Go to sleep now, her stepmother insisted. No more screaming. The spiders came back as soon as her stepmother had left the room. Annabeth tried to hide under the covers, but it was no good. Eventually she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. She woke up in the morning, freckled with bites, cobwebs covering her eyes, her mouth, and nose. The bites faded before she even got dressed, so she had nothing to show her stepmother except cobwebs, which her stepmother thought was some sort of clever trick. No more talk of spiders, her stepmother said firmly. You're a big girl now. The second night, the spiders came again. Her stepmother continued to be the bad cop. Annabeth wasn't allowed to call her father and bother him with this nonsense. No, he would not come home early. The third night, Annabeth ran away from home.

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Two half-bloods crouched in the shadows—a boy about fourteen and a girl about twelve. I realized with a start that the boy was Luke. The girl was Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I was seeing a scene from back in the days when they were on the run, before Grover found them. Luke carried a bronze knife. Thalia had her spear and shield of terror, Aegis. Luke and Thalia both looked hungry and lean, with wild animal eyes, like they were used to being attacked.

"Are you sure?" Thalia asked. Luke nodded.

"Something down here. I sense it."

A rumble echoed from the alley, like someone had banged on a sheet of metal. The half-bloods crept forward. Old crates were stacked on a loading dock. Thalia and Luke approached with their weapons ready. A curtain of corrugated tin quivered as if something were behind it. Thalia glanced at Luke. He counted silently: One, two, three! He ripped away the tin, and a little girl flew at him with a hammer.