The Girl He Forgot

Annabeth

The next morning, I felt like I was in my room, in my dad's house. I was warm and comfortable. I felt surrounded by hope and peace. I felt like I never wanted to leave, and I hoped I didn't have to. I hoped that tartarus was all a dream. That I was a normal teenager with a boyfriend. But alas, my luck was draining.

I woke up in the bedroom that Alexus had constructed for us. Percy was sitting up and... reading a book? Then I realized the cover. It said "Introduction to greek mythology" in greek. I never imagined Percy would read a book by choice, but here he was.

He looked in my direction and smiled, "You're a sleepy head aren't you? I've been awake for two hours."
"Shut up, seaweed brain." I grumbled. Percy had the nerve to chuckle.
"C'mon. Alexus might need help with breakfast."

I got ready and when we opened the door into Alex's room, Percy was sorely mistaken. The room was a mess hall with a dining table in the centre of the room. The table was set with various selections of breakfast foods. Pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, bread and butter, bacon, sausages, and fruit salad. The pancakes and waffles were blue (probably for Percy.)

"Woah." Percy said, and woah was right.
"Please, have a seat and dig in." said Alex. She smiled invitingly, but there was something wrong, something behind it. A twinge of sadness, maybe? There was definitely something that wasn't there yesterday.

Alex had found some new clothes that weren't weird. She was wearing the same navy blue sports leggings but with a matching grey sports hoodie with navy blue lining. She had put on a brown shade of eyeshadow and black eyeliner, which worked well with the outfit. Her sea green eyes sparkled in the fake sunlight. I'd only just realized the light freckles on her nose and the blackhead acne on her forehead. It made her look even prettier, more flawed, but prettier. More human.

Percy and I sat down at the circular table filled with food. Percy helped himself to the blue food, while I went in for the beef and eggs. Alex sat down and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"How was your night?" Alex asked.
"Dreamless," said Percy.
"It was odd." I admitted, "But thank you for the room."
"It's the least I could do."
"It's the most you could do." I corrected.
"Actually the most I could do is fly you out of here but the doors of death need to be closed." Alex picked up her ceramic mug and took a sip of coffee, "As for the nightmares, I have that effect on people. Soteria was a little generous with her gifts."
"Who?" Percy asked.
"Soteria is the goddess of safety and spirit." Alex explained.
"So that's why you have both." I concluded.

Alex paused in thought, "I should probably explain everything from my life." and so she did. She told us of her kidnapper, although she didn't say who she was, though I had a small hunch. She told us about her lions, that they usually roamed free, but helped her occasionally. She told of how she escaped to camp half blood, only to be asked if she was new every day that passed for almost ten years. She told us how she met the crew of the Argo II and met everyone. She told us of the night she was claimed and her fight with-

"Cetus!" I exclaimed, "That is one of the biggest sea creatures ever to exist! I- It was killed centuries ago! By Theseus!"
"It came back. Now please let me finish." She explained how she turned Cetus into water when it touched the blanket, causing the ship to rock and almost fall on top of her when she tried to stop it.

"That was stupid." said Percy.
"Well what else was I supposed to do!"
"Control the water to tip the ship back upright."
"There was too much water uncontrolled. Also, that's what Jason did. With the wind, not the water." She continued her story.
"Yay, blonde superman to the rescue." said Percy unenthusiastically.
"He says about the guy who saved my life."
"Stop making me seem like a monster."
"I don't have to." I'll have to admit, I giggled. I hate giggling. It makes me seem like one of those dumb blondes on television. But this was totally worth it. It was cool that Percy had a sister. Alex was awesome.

Just then, a realization hit me, "Alex, don't you think it's a little weird that you just happened to come across black and white lions?"
"Yes, I do. If you think it has something to do with Rhea then I already beat you to it." This time, it was Percy's turn to laugh. I stared at him. I stared blankly. He whimpered under my gaze and averted his eyes. I smirked and turned to Alex.

"Well, You named them Helios and Selene, sun and moon. Very fitting. They give birth to a golden lion with red streaks in its fur, you name it Auxo, after the goddess of summer. Also fitting. But it makes no sense. There have been no legends of such creatures. For the first time, this is something that has never been done before.

"I have another realization. You were gifted by the other gods, and nobody knows why they did. Some gave you powers, some didn't. I assume some are Roman, and some are Greek..."
"Oh gods..." She set down her coffee mug and covered her face in her hands. We sat in silence for a long time. When she lifted her head, she looked at Percy. "Give me the pancakes." she said simply. Percy passed the plate and she plopped five pancakes onto her plate and drowned them in newly conjured maple syrup. Before I could ask what was going on, she had finished the entire plate.

"Get you stuff and let's go. We have a long journey ahead and I have to go to the ship tomorrow." We did as she said. She talked with such neutrality in her it was as scary as spiders (and that's saying something). I packed some clothes, first aid for demigods (nectar, ambrosia, e.t.c.), and some food. Alexus gave me a silver dagger with a yellow bit at the end of the hilt that could heal wounds.

When we went back to her room, she no longer looked like Percy. Her beautiful green eyes had lost their sparkle. Her body looked limp. Her face was expressionless. Her clothes had turned from beautiful blue to black leggings and a black hoodie. I had to wonder what I did wrong. This was one of the things that I knew nothing about. Not one hypothesis formed in my mind about her. Her heart was the sun and there was a brick wall preventing my view of it. I wanted to break it, but she was the only one that could. I had to simply wait until she was ready, or find a small hole to peek through.

"After you." I said. Alex crawled through the tunnel like an inflexible cow. Three seconds ago, she was smiling and happy, but now she turned depressed and sulky. Percy went in after her, and I went after him. The tunnel seemed longer than last time. Either that or I was going slower. I wanted to go back into the comfort of a bedroom, but that was never the case with a demigod. We were always in danger. We reached the end of the chasm and found a very big surprise waiting for us. A 12 foot tall figure with wispy white hair and silver eyes. He was wearing a janitor's outfit and leaning against a broom.

"B-Bob?" I stammered. We hurt him the last time we saw him, why would he come back?
"You called?" he grinned down at Percy and Alex, who were standing shoulder to shoulder.
"Um, no, but it's great to see you again." Alex returned the grin, though she didn't look too happy about it. The titan didn't notice.

"Actually..." Percy started to say something, but Alex shot him a look to shut up.
"Bob, can you give me and my brother a moment?" Alex said the word "brother" like it was nasty stench. Percy winced. She led him away without waiting for the titan's response.

"Bob, why are you here? We- we hurt you?" I looked up at Bob. He sat down on the cave floor.
"I came because Percy sent me a message. He told me he was sorry and that he was my friend, so I came back." I glanced at the two siblings. Alexus had her arms crossed with a hurt expression on her face while Percy explained. He tried to grip her shoulders in the way you would say "Everything is gonna be okay" but she pulled away. She stared at the floor and her face turned invisible.

I looked back at Bob, "Thank you. For everything." I truly meant it. He smiled softly. Percy and Alex came back. Alex's head was back upright as she explained the situation. She explained she was going to go back to the ship early while Bob leads them to the doors of death. I was a little sad to see her go while she was mad at her brother, but this was her decision, and I knew better than to argue with it.

Then it struck me, "How are you going to get out of here? You couldn't possibly be able to fly here?"
"I'm going to the river Cocytus." she answered simply. I knew what she meant.
Alexus turned on her heel and began to jog away. The jog broke into a run, and she appeared smaller and smaller until she vanished out of sight. Once gone, I promptly punched Percy on the arm.
"OW!"
"What is wrong with you?" I demanded, "How could you do that to Alex?"
"I didn't mean for Alex to go!" He carefully phrased. It was clear he meant I didn't know Bob was going to come back.
"We should go before monsters come back." Bob said cheerily. I kept my eyes on Percy, but followed Bob away from the cave entrance.