Bloody Lover | Piper McLean

CHAPTER 9 : Bungalow 15

"Yes ?"

"I know I shouldn't be here. In this colony. That I'm in danger."

"Hmm. Close your eyes."

Jason glanced at Annabeth, who encouraged him with her eyes.

Despite his fear of snoring forever on one of those soft beds, Jason complied. His thoughts soon became confused, as if he were sinking into a black lake.

The next moment, he suddenly opened his eyelids again. He was sitting in an armchair by the fire. Clovis and Annabeth were kneeling beside him.

"...serious, indeed," Clovis said.

"What happened ?" asked Jason. "How long...?"

"Only a few minutes," said Annabeth. "But it was very strong. You almost dissolved."

Jason assumed it was a figure of speech, but Annabeth's expression was serious.

"Usually," Clovis explained, "When you lose your memories, there's a reason. They sink below the surface like dreams and, with a good sleep, I can bring them back. But now..."

"The Lethe ?" asked Annabeth.

"No," Clovis nodded. "Not even the Lethe."

"The Lethe ?" questioned Jason.

Clovis pointed to the tree branch that was dripping into the bowls above the fireplace.

"The Lethe is a river located in the Underworld. It dissolves memories and erases spirits permanently. This branch comes from a poplar tree in the Underworld and was dipped in the waters of Lethe. It is the symbol of my father, Hypnos. Lethe is not a recommended place to bathe."

Annabeth nodded her head in agreement.

"Percy went there once. He told me the river was powerful enough to completely erase a Titan's mind."

Jason congratulated himself for not touching the boughs.

"But... that's not my problem, is it ?"

"No," Clovis acknowledged. "Your mind has not been erased, and your memories have not been buried either. They were stolen."

The fire crackled. Drops of water from the Lethe fell tinkling into the pewter bowls set on the mantel. Another resident of Hypnos muttered in his sleep -- a story about ducks.

"Stolen," Jason repeated. "But how ?"

"By a God," said Clovis. "Only a God has the power."

"That we already know," said Jason. "It's Juno. But how did she do it and why ?"

"Juno ?" asked Clovis, scratching his neck.

"He means Hera," Annabeth explained. "Go figure, Jason is fond of Roman names."

"Um..." quipped Clovis.

"What ? Does it mean something ?" asked Jason.

"Um..." repeated Clovis, and Jason realized that this time he was snoring.

"Clovis !!!" he shouted.

"What, what is it ?" He fluttered his eyelids. "We were talking about pillows, right ? Ah no, gods. I remember. Greeks and Romans. Of course that could be important."

"But they're the same gods," Annabeth objected. "It's only the names that change."

"Not just that, no."

Jason leaned forward. Gone was his desire to take a nap.

"What do you mean, 'not just that' ?"

"Well," Clovis began with a yawn. "There are gods who are only Roman. Janus or Pomona, for example. And even the great Greek gods.... They didn't just change their names when they went to Rome. They also changed their appearance, their attributes. And their personalities changed slightly."

"I agree that people have perceived them differently over the centuries," Annabeth advanced in a hesitant voice, "But that doesn't change who they are."

"Of course it does."

Clovis was already nosediving, and Jason quickly snapped his fingers.

"I'm coming, Ma !" yelped Clovis. "Uh... I mean, yeah guys, I'm awake. Personalities. Gods change to reflect the cultures that host them. You know that, Annabeth. Right now, Zeus likes tailored suits, reality TV and Chinese on 28th Street, right ? Well it happened the same way in Rome, and the gods were Roman almost as long as they had been Greek. Rome was a great Empire, which lasted for many centuries. So, of course, the Roman traits of the gods are still an important part of their personality."

"Makes sense," Jason commented.

Annabeth shook her head in awe.

"Where do you know all this from, Clovis?"

"Oh, I spend a lot of time dreaming. In dreams, I see gods all the time, and they change shape all the time. Dreams are fluid, you know. You can be in different places at the same time, while constantly changing your identity. There's a lot in common between a dreamer and a god. Recently I dreamed that I was at a Michael Jackson concert and then I was on stage with him, we were singing a duet and I didn't have to remember my lyrics to The Girl Is Mine. It was so embarrassing! I..."

"Clovis," Annabeth interrupted him, "Are we going back to Rome ?"

"Right, Rome, okay. We call the gods by their Greek names because that's their original form. But to say they are exactly the same in their Roman identity is inaccurate. In Rome, they were much more warlike. They interacted less with humans. They were much tougher, more powerful. They were the gods of an empire."

"The dark side of the gods in short ?" suggested Annabeth.

"Not exactly," Clovis replied. "They stood for discipline, honor, strength..."

"Good values, then," said Jason, who felt inclined, without knowing why, to defend the Roman gods. "I mean, it counts discipline, right ? That's what made the Roman Empire last so long."

Clovis glanced at him puzzled.

"That's true. But the Roman gods were not very friendly. Take my father, for example, Hypnos. In the Greek period, he spent most of his time snoozing. During the Roman era, he was called Somnus. He liked to kill people who were dozing at work. If they took a nap at the wrong time, boom ! they never woke up again. My father killed Aeneas' helmsman when they sailed from Troy."

"Nice," Annabeth said. "But I still don't see what this has to do with Jason."

"Neither do I," Clovis admitted. "But if it was Hera who stole your memories, only she can give them back to you. And if I were to meet the queen of the gods, I would pray to heaven that she was more in the mood for Hera than Juno. Can I go back to sleep now ?"

Annabeth's gaze was riveted on the branch above the fireplace that let the drops of water from Lethe drip down. She looked so worried that Jason wondered if she was considering drinking it to forget her worries. Then she stood up and tossed her pillow to Clovis.

"Thanks, Clovis. See you at dinner !"

"Couldn't I be served in my room ?" The boy yawned and staggered to his bed. "I want to..."

He collapsed, his face buried in the pillow and his butt in the air.

"Doesn't he risk choking ?" asked Jason.

"Don't worry about him," said Annabeth. "You, on the other hand, I'm starting to think you're in a real mess."