Zero to Hero (Percy Jackson Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Nine-The Flying Horses Are Missing!

Thanks for all the reminders to update, and sorry it took me so long. Senioritis is hitting me hard, and I barely have the motivation to do school work; I think it's affecting my writing as well. I'm so ready to be done with school.

Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go read my novel, The Sunset Stone, it would mean so much to me to see more of you over there. I appreciate your comments and your feedback. I love you guys. Thanks for being awesome. (Also, if you have any ideas for how to attract more readers to my original pieces, let me know.)

Annabeth's POV

Percy and his Halfbreeds friend met me outside my cabin. Rather, they ran into me outside my cabin, nearly knocking me over.

"Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed, quickly stepping away from me and shoving his hands in his pockets. "Hey! We need your help."

I glanced at his friend, who was nervously fiddling with a set of reed pipes around his neck. "I need your help too."

"Oh," Percy glanced at the other boy as if this was not going according to plan. "Can you make it fast?"

Glowering at his impatience, I said, "I have two questions for you. The first is, have you seen or heard of Charles Beckendorf lately? And the second is, do you know of any giant hills of sand?"

Percy blinked. "Charles Beckendorf?" he muttered, "Why does that name sound familiar?"

That was enough confirmation for me. Nobody had noticed he was missing, because nobody could remember him. How many others were missing?

"What about the hill of sand?" I asked urgently, "Do you know of any place like that?"

"Like, around camp?" said Percy's friend, growing more wary, "Do you mean the Myrmekes' Lair?"

"What's that?" I asked.

The boy swallowed. "Ants. Huge ants."

Percy grimaced in embarrassment. "Sorry. This is Grover, by the way. He's not normally afraid of insects. I think."

"Can you take me there?" I asked Grover, ignoring his fear. "To the Myrmekes' Lair?"

"Hold up," Percy said, before Grover could respond, "We have a favor too, remember, and it's super important. The flying horses are missing!"

The unexpected words were enough to distract me from my need to find Menoetius. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, and I can talk to horses too, apparently," Percy said very quickly. "Anyway, the horse's told me the pegasuses--"

"Pegasi," Grover interrupted.

"Whatever. The pegasi are missing. And Grover and I need your help to find them."

"Right..." I said slowly, "And neither of you found it strange that the horses told you this?"

"Well, yeah," Percy admitted. "But Annabeth, Grover remembers everything."

From his tone I knew he meant all the things that Mnemosyne had taken away. I narrowed my eyes in Grover's direction. "Do you know Charles Beckendorf?"

After hesitating for a moment, Grover nodded. "And you guys did too."

I moistened my lips. "Listen you guys, I think I know how to find all the people who keep disappearing, the horses, and I know how to get our memories back. And it starts with finding that anthill, apparently, unless you guys have a better idea?"

Grover looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut.

"What do ants have to do with getting our memories back?" Percy asked.

"I'm not sure," I said, "but you're not the only one who has strange dreams. I'm pretty sure the sand hill is important."

"Great!" Percy said, not super convincingly, "Let's get on with it then."

When we all wore our armor, and carried as many weapons as we thought we might need--Grover only wearing a wooden chestplate and carrying his reedpipes--we set off through the trees.

Grover seemed to know where he was going, so Percy and I followed him. The woods grew thicker and thicker, blocking out the sunlight. As we walked, I started to notice something.

"Have I been here before?"Percy asked with an edge to his voice. "I'm pretty sure I haven't been out this far, but it looks so familiar."

"I feel the same way," I said, moving closer to him in the near total darkness.

Grover looked back at us wistfully as though he wished he could answer our unspoken concerns, but didn't have the heart to do so.

Eventually, after an hour or so of walking, Grover stopped. "Listen," he was trembling, "do you hear that?"

I focused on the sounds around me and was able to pick up on a chattering, hissing sound coming from just ahead.

"We're here," Grover whispered pitifully, "I hate this place."

"Where is it?" I asked.

Percy beckoned me forward at a crouch. "In the clearing."

I peered through the trees to where sunlight pilfered through. Standing next to Percy, I could see an enormous mound of sand and dirt that towered almost to the treetops. And scrambling all over it, with miscellaneous pieces of junk lugging behind them, were the largest, most terrifying ants I'd ever seen.