Percabeth just continued staring at him as if he was speaking Martian, while Pexy kept looking between the two of them.
Percy frowned. "Well... that's fine. Can we talk now?"
Pexy broke out of her trance. She shook her head as if snapping out of it.
Percy tilted his head, confused. "What's wrong?"
Pexy sighed. "You know how I told you I was going away for three weeks because I needed a break from school?" She took a moment to look over at Percabeth who simply nodded. "Well, that's exactly what happened. I was forced to take an extended break from school after I almost died on Friday. But I got lucky that the nurse gave me a full checkup, so I'm all right now."
Percy let his arms hang by his sides. He was clearly disappointed, but he didn't show it. Still, he kept quiet.
Pexy stared into his eyes, willing him to understand. "Percy," she said slowly. "This was a serious emergency and the doctors did everything they could do to save my life. But the damage was too much." She reached into her backpack and pulled out two pieces of paper. She handed one to him and went on. "There are pictures of me in this hospital room, on a respirator. There are a lot of bandages, needles everywhere, tubes running every which way. There are machines all over my body."
Percy looked down at the picture of Pexy lying pale and still on the hospital bed. His eyes flickered back to hers.
Pexy met his gaze and sighed. "Percy," she began. "When I went to the hospital, they removed all the monitors, the tubes, and the catheter. I can't feel anything. No pain, no numbness. I've lost the sense of touch and sight. I've completely forgotten what my arms look like, and I can't even remember whether I wore socks or sneakers on my feet. But all those things will disappear soon enough. When I go home, I'll start to feel pain, and the feeling will return. When that happens, they'll tell me that they need to give me more medicine to replace the medication the doctor prescribed. But it won't really matter. At least I won't be able to see."
Percy's jaw dropped at her words, as well as her tone. "But... how? What happened?" he asked softly. "How long have you been here? Is it safe for us to visit you?"
Pexy hesitated, then finally said quietly, "A couple of months now... Maybe more. I'm not sure myself."
His eyes widened in shock. After all these years of living together in a household filled with monsters, the thought of being separated once more terrified him. But what truly shocked him, however, was how easily she admitted that she'd been kidnapped. That she was somehow trapped within this mysterious world where magic was real and everything that surrounded them was fake. That she didn't know who was responsible. That it had nothing to do with her.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "That must've been horrible for you. Do they know who did this to you?"
She shook her head slowly. "Unfortunately, I don't know who did that." She shrugged. "All I know is that a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes came to me, told me she was a friend of yours, and told me that I would never see you again. I never understood why she didn't just tell me that you left me for dead, though. It's not like she'd ever know if I'd find out the truth on my own."
Percy bit his lower lip gently. "I don't understand," he murmured. "Why would a stranger come here and kidnap you? I mean... this isn't a normal kidnapping, right? This seems like an elaborate prank or something. A joke."
Pexy shrugged again. "I don't know," she said softly. "All I know is that this person knows me, and I'm pretty damn sure that I recognize her, too. I've been dreaming about her, waking up screaming, wondering where the heck she is. Sometimes she just stays beside me in my dreams, sometimes she doesn't, but whenever she does, I wake up sweating and shaking."
"It sounds like you've been having nightmares for awhile," Percy said quietly.
She pursed her lips and nodded slightly. "Ever since I went to sleep yesterday night, I've been tossing and turning in my bed, unable to calm down. Even when I try to fall asleep, I find myself awake again, waiting for this girl to appear somewhere nearby and try to convince me that everything is okay. In the end, I just give up and lay there thinking about her... until eventually I fall asleep, only to have my dreams awaken me once again. And that' s probably why I haven't been getting enough rest lately. My brain keeps going back to that girl, telling me that everything that happened to me has nothing to do with her, but it just feels like it does. I don't know what to think anymore."
Percy sighed, still holding her gaze. Then he leaned closer to her and grabbed her hands. "Can I ask you something?" He waited for her nod before continuing. "Do you remember anything from when I first met you? Anything about your life before you were kidnapped by this guy?"
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, tears started pouring down her cheeks. "No, I can't remember anything."
He squeezed her hands slightly. "That's okay. We don't need to go through all that right now. I want to know about you now. About how you're doing, why you're back here. Tell me everything."
Slowly but surely, she calmed down a little, and the tears began to disappear. As she did, she realized something; there was no hostility, resentment, sadness, anger... nothing... there was nothing in her voice nor in her eyes except a sense of relief. There was no hate, hatred, hatred or resentment... there was no anger either. The only thing left behind were the remnants of despair and grief. It was as if her mind had simply put her feelings aside, and she no longer had any reason to hold onto them.
Pexy turned her body so that she was facing the others. She smiled at them, a smile which seemed so real and innocent. So unlike the mask that she had worn for most of her entire life.
"Okay, well, first off, I think that there are some things that you should know. Things I never bothered to mention in my letters to you, which is a mistake on my part," Pexy stated with a sigh. "The only one who knew everything about me was my mother, and when she passed away, I found out that she couldn't tell me very much. So I figured that you guys wouldn't have to deal with everything on top of everything else that you're dealing with already."
Percy nodded slowly. He hadn't realized just how bad things really were. "And how long did you live here? In New York, I mean. Did you always live here before coming here?"
Pexy smiled, but only a small amount of warmth returned to her expression. "No, I actually lived here for quite a while before I was brought here.