Zero to Hero (Percy Jackson Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Seven - An Ally

Annabeth's POV

I was standing on sand. The ground beneath my feet sloped steeply upward. The sky was that way that thunderclouds make it, not truly night, but very dark. All was eerily quiet. The air was still. Too still. Around me were thousands of trees: pines, aspens, firs. The type of trees we had around Camp Hero. Sticking out of the middle of them was this giant mound of sand on which I was standing. 

At the top of the mound stood a tall man. He was buff in the body-builder sort of way that was sort of gross. He had huge bushy eyebrows that seemed to burn with the fury gazing out beneath them. His skin had a reddish tinge to it that made him look like he was glowing. Behind him hovered a small woman with translucent twilight skin. She wore a hooded robe that shadowed her face. Twinkling white orbs shined out beneath the hood, but that was all I could see of her face. 

Menoetius and Mnemosyne.

Menoetius beckoned me forward with his eyes. My feet slid on the sand and I didn't make much progress. After what seemed like an eternity of struggling up the mound, Menoetius finally decided I had come close enough that he could talk to me. 

"Cease your fruitless investigation, mortal. Your mother is paying for her treachery. I rule the heavens now. I created a good life for you and your friends. Enjoy it. Don't bother with things that don't concern you."

I glanced at Mnemosyne. Anger and Memory. Of the two of them, I was more scared of her. She had much more of a noticeable impact in my life than Menoetius had. 

I looked back at Anger. I threw all the sass I possibly could into my reply: "So by calling me here in a dream and showing yourself to me, you expect me to...not believe in your existence? That's your big plan to stop me looking into what you're doing?"

His scowl deepened. "It is a risk I must take. I depend on my partner's ability to make you forget this conversation ever happened.'"

"Then what's the point of even talking to me?"

"The emotions are the important part, child." Menoetius gestured to Mnemosyne with a beefy red hand. "An emotion tied to a memory, even when the memory has faded, can remain for a very long time. My goal of this little excursion is to frighten you into never pursuing me again."

I clenched my jaw in defiance. There was some truth to what he said: emotions did make memories stronger. However, it was very hard to believe I was going to forget this ever happened, but still be afraid of it. Even if it was a dream; I tend to remember most of my dreams. 

"I have done my research, mortal, and I know your fears. I know your weaknesses. This enterprize was not spontaneous. I have been planning for centuries, waiting for the perfect opportunity. I should have foreseen Athena's interference, but it doesn't really matter. I have a strong hold over Camp Half--er, Camp Hero." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Let me tell you something, little girl. The more you dig, the more of your friends you lose. You haven't even noticed the ones who have disappeared already. The more you remember of your past, the more your mind fights against the illusion we have so kindly concocted for you. I have brought so many of your companions back, and yet you still resist! My gesture was generous. You should have been content with your lot. Alas, the gods have more influence than I anticipated. Not to worry, what they have left will soon be stamped out."

My mind spun. You haven't even noticed the ones who have disappeared already. Who had disappeared? I hadn't noticed anyone missing. My mind quickly ran through a list of everyone I'd interacted with at Camp. Percy, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Leo, Malcolm, Nico, Thalia, Luke, the Stolls. Who was gone? Somebody close to me?

Menoetius had to be bluffing, I told myself, though a horrible sinking feeling told me he wasn't.

"Go, child," said the red Titan, "and cease your pursuit of these things. They are costing you your happiness."

The scene collapsed in a whirl of sand, at the center of which was Mnemosyne's face, gazing intently at me with those blazing white eyes. I could have imagined it, but it seemed to me as though she smiled encouragingly, though she had no visible mouth.

And that was the image I had in my head when I woke up: Mnemosyne's mysterious face surrounding by swirling sand. I stared at the underside of my bed, trying to call back the details of my dream, for I remembered it had been an unusually unsettling one. But the emotion was the only thing I could place except something about my friends disappearing...and Mnemosyne.

All concern over what the dream had been about left at the memory of disappearing friends. I leapt out of bed and threw on pants and a T-shirt, before hurrying out of the cabin, forgetting to be quiet so as not to disturb those who were still sleeping. 

Outside in the fresh air, I tried to run over a list of all my friends in my head. Not because I actually felt my dream real in any degree, but because dreams can be unsettling, and sometimes it's therapeutic to reassure oneself. 

Upon doing so, however, a face surfaced in my mind, familiar to me. The boy was about sixteen with dark skin, large round shoulders, and a kind smile. I'd seen him before...Chuck? Charlie? Then the name accompanied the face: Charles Beckendorf. It was that moment I realized I hadn't seen him in several days. 

I shut my eyes. I hadn't even known Beckendorf all that well. But now it felt that his disappearance was my fault. And nobody else had noticed he was gone either. I guessed Mnemosyne had been charged with keeping that from our notice too. Except...why was she letting me remember now? Was her control slipping? 

Again, the image of her face burned behind my eyelids, and I knew. Mnemosyne had no desire to hide our memories from us. She was not working with Menoetius out of choice. And if that was the case, then freeing her from whatever engagement Menoetius had forced upon her would free Camp Hero of whatever curse had come upon it. 

The gears started turning in my head. I needed to talk to Percy.