Stoll Her Heart: Tratie's Story

5. Voice of the Cyclops

Chapter 5

Campers all through the area freeze in their work and look to the source of the monstrous roar. A column of fire shoots up to the sky-our guard dragon.
Within a second, everyone is scrambling to put on armor and get their weapons. I sprint to get my own things. Percy and Annabeth are already suited up and heading to the border, Annabeth formulating some kind of battle plan. Others in the armor shack are trying to move as fast as possible. If the monster passes our dragon, the Golden Fleece is history. We can't seem to go a week without being attacked for no specific reason. I finally strap on everything and grab my sword just as Connor does the same. As we leave, Katie is just getting in. She is one of the last, along with some unwilling Aphrodite girls and a stubborn Iris guy, Butch, who is still angry about something or other. Even they are almost ready though. I don't want to leave Katie back here alone, what if something goes wrong? As another explosion rocks the valley, more important thoughts fill my mind. I sprint out to the border alongside Connor followed by Butch and a couple Aphrodite campers.
As we break through the woods, we're faced with a crowded scene of campers surrounded by Cyclopes and one huge cyclops. Many are trying to distract campers by talking in voices of humans, they seem to be ones targeted directly at one camper to disable them with their memory of that voice. Connor and I jump in to the conflict.
Things are going well for me and Connor until the cyclops starts talking.
"Travis! Connor! What do I do?! Help! Please!"
Jonas. How did the cyclops know? Jonas was killed years ago.
"Keep going! You'll find camp, I know you will!"
Coleman. But how? He suffered the same fate as Jonas.
With these voices, I nearly collapse. My vision tunnels, my hearing becomes slow. I manage to remain steady, just barely blocking a blow from the cyclops club. Connor leaps up and strikes a fatal wound to the neck. The monster is reduced to dust. How did Connor not get distracted by the voices? He doesn't seem surprised or shocked at all, moving right on to the next monster.
The battle rages on. I remain out of my element though, haunted by the voices I haven't heard in years.
Another cyclops moves in closer, followed by another. Connor and I split up, each of us furiously battling solo. I do have a way with a sword, so I twist and parry until the cyclops doesn't even know what happened to him.
I look around. Monster dust sweeps around the hill, and I look just in time to see Percy demolish the huge one amazingly.
"Well, we've done it again" Clarisse remarked, "see all you losers next time monsters attack".

_________ _____________ ________

Back at the Hermes cabin, Connor and I are the only ones left, everyone else went to the sword arena to re enact some cool moves they discovered during the previous battle. Connor and I are just finishing up planning a new prank, one we haven't tried.
"Hold on, you said the border of the woods kind of behind Demeter and Hephaestus would be covered in snow? Wouldn't that kill the whole Demeter cabin's little garden?" I ask, because I know that the Demeter kids, especially Katie, would totally flip out on us. Plus, the really good kind of tomatoes we have sometimes grow there.
"No, it wouldn't reach that garden. Just the parts on the tops of trees so everybody can see it and go in it there. Making it go all over is really not even worth ruining the tomatoes," Connor replies.
"Haha true that bro" We weren't going to do the prank today, probably tomorrow. I can't wait to see the campers faces when there's suddenly snow everywhere can't even wait.
~~~
That night, I dream again of Jonas and Coleman. The voices of the Cyclopes are always coming back again and again. I wake up startled and sit up on the bunk. I seem to have woken Connor up.
"Dude what are you doing how are you always waking up in the middle of the night?" He asks, seeming half concerned for me but the other half just wanting sleep. I wonder if he figured out what I keep dreaming. I've wanted to ask him about it for a long time but never had the courage to bring it up. Now, I decide, is the time.
"Uh..." I don't know how to start. I furrow my eyebrows and scratch the back of my neck, trying to form the memories into sentences. "Do you ever wonder...like, what happened to Coleman, Jonas...and Mom?" I glance up at him cautiously. I don't expect to see what I do see. He looks confused, like what I'm talking about is that of a fantasy.
"Who? Coleman and Jonas? And a mom, we really don't have one now, right?"
Now I look at him like he is the crazy one. "What do you even mean, of course you remember".
"What though... Wait, wasn't Coleman one of our cabin mates a while back?"
"Coleman Fierra? No not that Coleman, our Coleman. And Jonas. When we were coming here, we had them with us and then-"My voice catches and I can't finish my sentence. I look over, and Connor seems to have remembered. Instead, he doesn't look like he's recalling it, he seems nervous and...guilty? "What, Connor, what is it?"
"Look, Travis, there's something I have to tell you. I...don't remember any of that. That never happened, not to me, not in my memory."
"What?"
"I wasn't there, it doesn't count for me anymore. I don't know whoever you're talking about. I...I can't talk about it.
"Connor how can you not remember, Jonas and Coleman - they lost everything for us. Wha-"
"Travis. I guess I have to tell you something. Now. "
I freeze. Connor never talks in that serious a voice. Usually whatever he says is hilarious, with a laugh tied to the end of the sentence. Now he is dead serious. "Why? What is it? What did you do Connor," but Connor seemed reluctant. "Connor".
"Okay, okay. Just please, understand this. First, let me just tell you. Yes. I did always remember that. Those names sound familiar. But I couldn't tell you where I heard them, or if I knew them or not. It-"
"Hold on. How could you just not remember anything, it was literally how we got here, why we started the best thing we have" I can't believe what he's saying, he must be just joking. I didn't know Connor was such a good actor. Is that what I don't know? As I wait for him to tell me, the moon sets into the sky just outside the window. It's not quite full.
"Just listen I'm getting to that. Don't freak out though, just try to understand, promise?"
"Uh, yeah I... Sure"
Connor sighed. "So I think it was about a year and a half ago. For another night I woke up like you just did. I'd been dreaming about how we got here, and you know, everything that happened. I was tired of it. Over and over, I relived it. One day I couldn't stand it, Travis, I just couldn't. So I-" Connor's sentence broke. Tears filled his eyes. "I went to the Hypnos cabin. I talked to their head counselor and he understood. I don't even remember why he would agree, how horrible my memories were, but that's because of what I did. After I told him about the dreams and what we went through, he agreed".
"I don't understand, Connor. You did what!"
"I got those memories wiped, Travis. The whole thing. The Hypnos cabin has a spring from the River Lethe, the one from the underworld that makes you forget? The head counselor let me have some so I wouldn't have to live with the thought of, well, whatever it was."
I am completely and utterly speechless. I stare wide eyed at my brother who doesn't seem to know what to do. Is he lying? Does he really not remember? I can't comprehend how any of this would make sense.
We sit in shocked and expectant silence. Finally I figure out how to speak again. "Connor if you're lying I swear to the gods-"
"I'm not lying! I'm not!" Connor cried out, tears brimming over his eyes, threatening to spill. "You of all people should understand this! I know it's a horrible memory, but it's gone now! It didn't happen for me".
"I can't believe you! 'It's gone now'? You can't say that. The past just can't go away, it's permanent. Even if you don't like it, everything happened. Coleman and Jonas died for us Connor! The last thing we should do is forget it! That is the most revolting and uncaring thing you could do! Disrespect. Selfishness. And mom too? I suppose you forgot what we found about her right? Do you even remember why we started pranking? That's where we finally figured out how to live here. But I just can't believe most of all that you would just volunteer to forget about Coleman and-and Jonas!" I am fuming now, absolutely livid. Connor asked me to understand but I cannot fathom why he would ever do such a thing.
I realize this must be the reason he was unaffected in the fight with the Cyclopes earlier. When I was walloped by the voice imitation, Connor didn't recognize it. How could he?
"Travis? I-"
"Quit it Connor. I can't believe you."
"You promised you wouldn't freak out. I thought you would have understood."
"Why didn't you tell me? Before you went to the Hypnos cabin. The least, least, you could have done was tell me! This isn't fair, did you ever think about Jonas or Coleman, would they want you to forget them? No, then their sacrifice would be for nothing. You have to get your memories back. Go to the Hypnos cabin right now, I don't care if it's the middle of the night, go to the Hypnos cabin now and fix this!" I am furious, I too have tears bringing over my eyes. I'm just so angry at Connor, how could he do this?
"I can't. They told me, once you let the River take that memory, it's gone forever. I chose that memory to go away and it's gone. Permanently." Connor is sure of himself now, seeming to think back to his relief after he forgot. I can't try to imagine what that would be like, just a gap in your memory and thinking, 'oh, yeah, I had a terrible experience but it's gone now I don't care what it was.'
A few minutes of silence go by, both of us deliberating what to do next. Finally Connor breaks the quiet. "I-I'm sorry Travis, I didn't know you would think of it as bad. I just thought then that I wanted to not always be scared because of whatever happened".
"But didn't you hear the cyclops voices, it was Jonas saying-"
"Travis. I don't know what you're talking about"
As Connor outright speaks the truth of it, I just can't face him at the moment. "I'll be back later," I muttered as I slipped out of the cabin. I need the stars.