𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 Medusa victim—which is to say, like a rock.
He hadn't crashed in a safe, comfortable bed since...well, he couldn't even remember. Despite his insane day and the million thoughts running through his head, his body took over and said: You will sleep now.
He had dreams, of course. He always had dreams, but they passed like blurred images from the window of a train. He saw a curly-haired faun in ragged clothes running to catch up with him.
"I don't have any spare change," Percy called.
"What?" the faun said. "No, Percy. It's me, Grover! Stay put! We're on our way to find you. Tyson is close—at least we think he's the closest. We're trying to get a lock on your position."
"What?" Percy called, but the faun disappeared in the fog.
Then a curly-haired blonde girl was running along beside him, reaching out her hand. "Thank the gods!" she called. "For months and months, we couldn't see you! Are you all right?"
Percy remembered what Juno had said—for months he had been slumbering, but now he is awake. The goddess had intentionally kept him hidden, but why?
"Who are you?" he asked her.
Her mouth opened to answer but her face began to dissolve. She cried, "Stay put! It'll be easier for Tyson to find you! Stay where you are!"Then she was gone.
The images accelerated.
He saw a huge ship in a dry dock, workers scrambling to finish the hull, a guy with a blowtorch welding a bronze dragon figurehead to the prow. He saw the war god stalking toward him in the surf, a sword in his hands.
The scene shifted. Percy stood on the Field of Mars, looking up at the Berkeley Hills. Golden grass rippled, and a face appeared in the landscape—a sleeping woman, her features formed from shadows and folds in the terrain.
Her eyes remained closed, but her voice spoke in Percy's mind: So this is the demigod who destroyed my son Kronos. You don't look like much, Percy Jackson, but you're valuable to me. Come north. Meet Alcyoneus. Juno can play her little games with Greeks and Romans, but in the end, you will be my pawn. You will be the key to the gods' defeat.
Percy's vision turned dark. He stood in a theatre-sized version of the camp's headquarters—a Principia with walls of ice and freezing mist hanging in the air. The floor was littered with skeletons in Roman armour and Imperial gold weapons encrusted with frost.
In the back of the room sat an enormous shadowy figure. His skin glinted of gold and silver as if he were an automaton like Reyna's dogs. Behind him stood a collection of ruined emblems, tattered banners, and a large golden eagle on a staff of iron. The giant's voice boomed in the vast chamber. "This will be fun, son of Neptune. It's been aeons since I broke a demigod of your calibre. I await you atop the ice."
Percy woke, shivering. For a moment he didn't know where he was. Then he remembered: Camp Jupiter, the Fifth Cohort barracks. He lay in his bunk, staring at the ceiling and trying to control his racing heartbeat.
He sat up in his bunk. His roommates were sound asleep, snoring like an out-of-tune middle school band. Frank was tossing and turning in the bunk below him making Percy's bunk shake. Clearly, he was having a very similar night to Percy.
In a momentary lapse of judgment, Percy slipped from his barracks into the cool midnight air.
The sound of knocking woke Lea from her fitful sleep. A soft golden glow filled the medics quarter like a nightlight. The 16-year-old blinked a couple of times before realising the knocking was coming from her door, not the Valetudinarian's door.
She had relieved Pranjal from his shift only an hour or two prior. The younger boy had insisted on taking the morning shift the following day so Lea could attend the Senate meeting, which meant he had to get a proper sleep.
Wiping sleepy dust from her eyes, Lea pulled her door open and shivered from the rush of cold air.
Lit only by the faint glow of her room, Percy Jackson stood in her doorway looking like he had been run over by a giant. His usually messy hair stuck out in odd angles and one leg of his pyjama bottoms was rolled halfway up his leg. Dark circles sunk into his face.
"Lea." He breathed, running a hand through his hair. It only served to mess it up more. "I didn't know where to go."
"What's going on?" Judging by the darkness creeping in the windows, it was probably two or three in the morning. "Is someone hurt?"
"I just had a really bad nightmare. I couldn't wake Frank and I didn't know who else to go to. I figured you might have something to help me."
Even in the darkness, Lea could see how badly he was shaking. "It's okay. I'll get some stuff, make yourself comfy."
Doing as Lea instructed, Percy nestled himself into one of the golden sofas while Lea rushed off to gather supplies. He took the opportunity to study the photos on the wall. Some were in black and white and crumbling around the edges. Others looked like they had been printed mere months prior. Most of the medics in the pictures were either blonde or had black hair. The choice of photos seemed almost random, but that seemed to be the point. Each medic got space to represent what mattered the most to them.
The two demigods stayed in silence while Lea busied herself around him, procuring pillows and blankets as if from thin air. She passed a glass of golden liquid to him, before placing a relatively large pill in his open palm.
"What's this?"
"It's a herbal thing. It'll help you relax and sleep."
Percy raised an eyebrow uncertainly but nonetheless, he popped the pill in his mouth and washed it down with the nectar. His eyes fluttered shut momentarily. "Thank you." He breathed. When he opened his eyes once more, Lea had settled herself into the sofa opposite him. Her duvet was drawn tightly around her shoulders and she had a hot chocolate in her grasp. "No fair." Percy frowned. "Why don't I get one?"
Wordlessly, she gestured to the small table she had dragged into the room from beside one of the cots. Placed centre stage was a steaming hot chocolate. "This is where you say sorry."
"Yes, ma'am." Percy gulped the hot chocolate feverishly before he regarded Lea once more. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted."
"I had a dream." He began, swirling his chocolatey liquid in his mug. "I had lots of dreams, really but they were like snippets of dreams. There was a curly-haired faun in ragged clothes running to catch up with me. I told him I had no money but he was confused. He said his name was Grover and that someone was coming to find me. Then he disappeared and this blonde girl was there and she was saying to stay put and someone was coming too. But it wasn't a threat. It was like they thought they were saving me."
With a thoughtful hum, the daughter of Apollo rested her head on the back of the sofa. "Maybe, they think they are. What if they're from your life before? Y'know before you woke up with Lupa."
"But if they were so important, why can't I remember them?"
"That's like the whole point of amnesia, Percy." When Percy flashed his middle finger at her, she laughed. "Okay, okay. Maybe, y'know, they're just your friends. You remembered your dad, didn't you? You remembered apparently fighting Ares. You remember a lot of important things, maybe they just happened to not make the cut and will come back to you soon?"
Screwing up his eyes, Percy tried to dig through his very small collection of memories. Lea snorted. "What?" he snapped, opening his eyes.
"You looked constipated, sorry." She ducked to avoid the flying missile approaching her that was one of Percy's pillows. "Uncalled for."
"You said I looked constipated!"
"You did!"
The boy rolled his eyes and the room fell silent. The only sound was their sleepy breathing. "There was more." He yawned. "Scary things. Talking mountains, chess, and murderous shadows..." he trailed off. "I sound insane, don't I?"
Lea nodded, fighting a yawn. "I promise I really care about the spooky dirt, Percy, but maybe that's a tomorrow problem?" There was no reply from the other demigod. For a second, Lea thought he had fallen asleep on her.
"Am I a pawn, Lea?" Percy's voice was low like he was afraid.
Lea shook her head. "No more than the rest of us, I'm afraid."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Lea sighed. A mouthful of hot chocolate trickled down her throat in an attempt to quell the thunderous pit in her stomach. "It's complicated. Every demigod is a pawn for something or someone. Take Jason, and you, I think. Jason was Juno's pawn. He was sculpted to fulfil her every whim. He was only himself within secluded walls. Take Hazel, she's a pawn of Pluto. I still haven't fully figured that one out but Pluto doesn't allow his children to come here, he makes them stay alone. So now that she's here, she's here for something?"
"And you?"
"I haven't figured that one out yet. Someone has it in for me, that's obvious. My mom, Jason, and Reyna aren't a coincidence. Maybe, I've pissed off the god of happiness." Percy's mug froze halfway to his mouth and Lea clamped a hand over her lips. "Forget I said anything, please. Forget it."
"Lea..."
"Please, Percy." Through the dim light, Percy could make out the panic on her face. It took everything in him not to hug her. She looked like a frightened little girl.
He nodded, dropping his gaze from hers. "Did Apollo bring you to camp?"
Thankful for a slight change in subject, Lea's heart rate slowed a little. "Yeah. I guess we both got the godly treatment." She laughed. "Wait, that's so funny. We're both named after heroes and we both got escorted to camp by a god."
"Okay, Percy I get. Who on earth is Lea?"
"My name's Achillea. That's why Reyna called me Cilly. I just prefer to go by Lea like you prefer Percy."
This made Percy pause. He mightn't have any memories but he knew for a fact he didn't like coincidences. Macduff had an almost identical name to Macbeth and that worked out really well for everyone involved.
Suddenly, Percy was wide awake. "Annabeth. Her name is Annabeth."
"What?" Lea struggled into a seated position. The urgency in Percy's voice scared him.
Running a hand through his hair, Percy sighed. "The blonde girl in my dream. Her name is Annabeth. I remember her!"
"Look at you!" A smile graced Lea's freckled face. "I'm proud of you."
Then Percy frowned. "Ouch," he mumbled.
Cocking an eyebrow, the girl leant back into her half-lying position. "Do I want to ask?"
"Well, I remember being fourteen, deciding to do something stupid, kissing her and then afterwards she rejected me... Poor me..." He muttered the last line under his breath and Lea had to bite her lip to not laugh at his upset.
Lea took her time before answering. It seemed as if she was going through a rolodex of possible replies. She settled on, "Ouch... it's not me... it's you."
"That's not the phrase and you know it!" Another missile was sent in her direction and was swiftly dodged. "You're such a terrible person."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Will I kick you out into the cold barracks again? Will that make you happy?"
"Forgive me." Dramatically, Percy dropped to his knees. He clasped his hands together in front of Lea. "Do not abandon me, oh kind one."
"Shut up." Lea pushed him over with her foot. "It's too early for you."
"Can I..." Percy trailed off, motioning to the couch. "I don't want to..."
A flash of recognition darted across Lea's face as if this interaction reminded her of someone. She didn't try to fight the smile that tugged at her lips; she was far too tired. One of the previous missiles was tossed back at Percy. "If you snore I'll kill you."
"Yes, ma'am."