The Lost Heroine (Heroes of Olympus/Kane Chronicles crossover) [2016]

Chapter 9: Annabeth

"LONG ISLAND SOUND?" Walt repeated. "That's not far! But how do we get there?"

"How many people are coming?" Carter asked.

Zia, Walt, Carter, Jaz and I all raised our hands.

"Freak can only carry four people," Carter said reluctantly.

"What about the portal?" Jaz asked, but Amos shook his head. "I visited the First Nome this morning, and came back via the portal. It will have to recharge until seven p.m."

Carter cursed in Ancient Egyptian. "I could turn into a falcon, but you guys can't fly. Can you fly, Annabeth?"

I shook my head. "I wish. The powers of a child of Athena don't extend that far, unfortunately."

"That would be cool if you could turn into an owl," Zia admitted. "But we've got to focus on what we have."

"You tried the scrying bowl, right?" Amos said. Carter nodded. "Sadie didn't show up."

"You know where she is now!" Walt pointed out. "Try Sadie Kane, Camp Half Blood, Long Island Sound, New York."

Carter smiled. "That could work!"

We all dashed up the staircase and into Carter's room. Carter waved his hand in front of the oil of the scrying bowl and half-yelled, "Sadie Kane! Camp Half Blood! Long Island, New York!"

We waited excitedly, but the oil didn't oblige. It stayed as black and impenetrable as ever.

Carter muttered another Egyptian curse. "It's veiled with magic. I can't get through."

"Do you have anything else that can carry people?"

"The boat's broken from when we fought those sphinxes in Manhattan a few days ago," Carter said.

I snapped my fingers. "An Iris message! That's what some of the Greek demigods use. Do you have something that can make a rainbow? Mist, or a prism?"

Zia nodded. "I've got a decoration in my room, that hangs from my window. It sends rainbows across the room, along the ceiling."

"Perfect!" I cried. I rummaged in my pockets and came up with a golden coin. I remembered that it was a drachma.

"Do you remember anyone else, other than Percy?" Carter asked.

"Nico," I listed. "Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper, Leo. Will. Rachel. Reyna. Calypso. Grover. Thalia."

"That's great!" Jaz exclaimed. "Your memory is coming back on its own!"

"I don't know anything about the Greek gods," Walt said. "You do. Who is likely to take someone's memory?"

I grimaced. "Hera. The goddess of marriage and family. And cows."

Carter looked surprised. "Cows?"

"Yes. She leaves little presents around for me, sometimes."

Zia wrinkled her nose. "Sounds like when Carter, Sadie and I fought Sekhmet using salsa and turned her into a cow."

I opened my mouth to question, but she held up her hand. "Don't ask. It's a very long story."

"Not asking," I agreed.

Zia ran into the other room and grabbed her window decoration, then ran back into the room. She held it up to the window. Sunlight streamed in. The crystal at the end of the chain on the decoration refracted the light, flashing every color of the rainbow. I prepared to toss the coin, and said the first words that came to mind: "O Fleecy, do me a solid, and show me Percy Jackson at Camp Half Blood."

Before I could toss the coin, Carter's form began to flicker. He gasped. "Percy's calling me! I have to go. I'll come back soon! Keep working! Take Freak, if you can! Remember--" Before he could finish speaking, he dissolved into thin air.