Memories of a Hero

7

Annabeth and Rachel were sitting by the hills of New Rome, overlooking the entire camp. The sun was about to rise and Annabeth hadn't slept since last night.

"So," Annabeth said in a low voice. "You know this guy?"

Rachel sighed. "I'm having trouble believing that you – of all people – don't remember him." Rachel said as she twiddles with her fingers. Her red hair looked like it was on fire from the light of dawn. "You two were inseparable that it was almost nauseating. You've gone through so much together."

"You talk like I should know him," Annabeth pointed out.

"You should. You guys have been friends since, well, longer than we've been friends. You two were very close." Rachel gave a look at Annabeth. "Very close."

It made Annabeth blush, but she decided not to mention anything. "Then why can't I remember him?"

Rachel sighed. "I don't know how or why, but it seems no one remembers him."

"Except for you,"

"Not exactly." Rachel admitted. "I didn't even know him until the Oracle took over my body. Then the memories came back to me like a flood."

Annabeth found this strangely hard to believe. Sure, Rachel is one of her best friends and she's not the type to pull a prank like this. But the stories seems too ridiculous to be true.

Then again, they were living in a world where gods and monsters exist.

"Did you find out about anything?"

Rachel took a deep breath before reciting the prophecy that the Oracle had conveyed. She knew about what half what the prophecy is about and the rest was just confusing as your usual standard prophecy goes.

"I get some visions about Percy. He was with someone that I didn't recognize." Rachel shook the memory off of her head. "It won't end well. That much is guaranteed."

Annabeth remembered back to the moment in the vault. "There was one person with Percy that night."

"What did she looked like?"

"Her face was covered up, but she looked older than us."

Rachel was silent for a while. "I don't know, Annabeth. It's hard to figure things out now that no one remembers him."

Annabeth stared far into the horizon. "Is he on our side? Because after last night, he left a terrible first impression."

"He is. Or, he was. At this point, I don't know." Rachel said miserably. "But I don't know why he's doing this. And clearly, someone didn't want us to interfere with it."

"What do you mean?"

"On my way here, my helicopter was struck down by something. Luckily no one was injured as we crashed into the water right by the beach. The pilot told me that there was some sort of malfunction on the helicopter, but I knew better. Something tried to stop me from getting to you guys."

"Is that why you showed up smelling like seaweed?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "That's not the point. The point is that –"

Then, the sound of a conch horn could be heard from the camp. "Let's talk about this over breakfast," Annabeth said.

Line Break

Percy and Zoe waited nervously in a diner for Bianca. Zoe wasn't particularly surprised with the fact that she's alive, but Percy looked like someone had sucked the life out of him.

Bianca's death had been his fault. How was he going to face her? Is she mad at him? Will she blame him for her death? Even if so, she had the right to.

"Calm down, Percy." Zoe tried to comfort him. "She won't be angry at you."