Annabeth's POV
"You have freed me," said Mnemosyne. "I thank you."
I grimaced, handing the nugget she'd given me to Percy. It wasn't ambrosia, but it seemed to reverse the effects of the venom. He scarfed it down. I studied him with concern. He looked pale and tired. He'd been jovial before, but I could see ghosts in his eyes. When we got back to camp, and everything got back to normal, we would have a lot to talk about.
"You could have been a whole lot more helpful," I gumbled, "I mean I get that Menoetius forced you or whatever, but you didn't need to take away all our memories."
She stayed silent for a moment. "I did try to help. It was difficult for me to give you the hints I did. Besides, who do you think it was that got you and Percy to meet at that school, and who was it that convinced you and your friends 'parents' to let you come to Camp Halfblood?"
I glanced at Percy, wondering how on earth all the teasing and name-calling fit into this. Would it put a permanent damper on his relationship with all the old crew? It didn't seem likely, Percy was usually a pretty easy going guy. However, it did make me concerned that my friends had so easily fit into the roles of bullies.
"I know your thoughts," Menoetius said, "Menoetius heightened your friends' emotions. It was not their fault."
Still, I worried. Even if that were true, it meant the emotions were still there. And that made me defensive for Percy's sake.
Menoetius was still standing there in her smoky glory. "Thanks," I mumbled, guessing that's what she was waiting for.
She nodded. "You have done well, Annabeth Chase." Then she melted away into mist.
Percy snorted, "Yeah, don't bother helping us get out of this place, or anything. We can handle it."
I huffed my agreement. "There's not much I can do about your ribs," I said, "but the axe wound is patched up for now."
Percy nodded. He lifted his arm with the dead hand. His fingers twitched. "I can feel my fingers! Sort of."
"Perrrrcy!" a quiet voice moaned from somewhere behind me.
"Grover!" I exclaimed, remembering. "Be right back," I said to Percy.
I hurried over to where I'd left our satyr friend. Grover was sitting up, looking around at all the mermekes with panic.
When he saw me, relief cruised his expression. "Oh thank the gods! I can't feel my hooves!"
"Can you usually feel them, Grover?" I asked, going over to him and draping his arm over my shoulders.
"Well..." Grover hesitated, "I think so."
I blinked. "Okay.... Let's get out of here, come on."
Grover wasn't heavy; he seemed to be recovering well. At least, he was attempting to walk with some success.
When we reached Percy, the idiot was trying to sit up.
"Percy!"
He winced. "We gotta go. The ants are almost done. Hey G-man, you good?"
Grover's face drained of color when he saw Percy. "Perrrcy! What happened?"
"Later," I said. "I have to figure out how to get the two of you out of here."
"I can walk," Percy insisted.
I gave him a look. "You lost so much blood!"
His eyes widened. "Too late! Help me up!"
With difficulty, still supporting Grover, I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, a pair of ants had stopped in their path out of the chamber and were approaching us curiously.
"Grover, you're going to have to crawl out of here as fast as you can," I said, carefully letting go of him and turning to Percy.
"Brace yourself," I told Percy, then hauled him to his feet. He grunted, putting a hand to his side, then together we hightailed out of the cavern like some sort of awkward three legged race. Percy was breathing hard next to me, and I knew he wouldn't be able to make it far. Before we even left the room, the mermekes shrieked, and I knew without looking from the scuttling noises behind me that more were following.
"Run!" I shouted compulsively, though none of us could really do so.
Percy stumbled, grunting with pain. I barely caught him, heaving him back to his feet, but the the ants were only a few yards away. I clutched at Percy as the mermekes closed the distance. Grover kneeled at my feet, and grabbed his reed pipes. He began to play a furious tune, but I didn't see how one satyr's song would stop the entire anthill.
"Fighting?" Percy asked, his hand going to his pocket.
We had no chance, but Percy was right. I was just going to let the mermekes tear us apart.
I drew the ivory sword from my waist with one hand, still mostly supporting Percy with the other.
All around us, shoots of ivy sprung from the earth, wrapping around the nearest ants and given the three of us a bit of breathing room.
"Just...like old times," Percy muttered bitterly, as he, Grover, and I stood facing this enemy we had no chance of defeating.
At least not alone.
As a mermeke broke through Grover's ivy, I raised my sword to fend it off. But I didn't have to. At that moment, there was a deafening crack, and the entire anthill shook, then the ceiling cleaved open as a jagged bolt of lighting blinded me.
When I could see again, I was surrounded by smoldering ant armor, and sunlight filtered through the cavern top, high above. Diving through the hole, were Jason, carrying Piper, and Frank in eagle form with Hazel clutched in his talons.
I laughed out loud. "Took you long enough!"
"Sorry," Piper grinned as she and Jason touched down. She pulled out her sword; there were plenty of ants left to kill. "Got stuck in traffic."
The ants didn't stand a chance. What with Frank morphing fluidly from an eagle, to an elephant, to a bear, to a dragon, Jason with the lighting and air, Piper screaming orders and stabbing with equal ferocity, and Hazel shearing down the monsters with her spatha, they were gone in a matter of minutes. Percy, Grover, and I barely had to do anything.
When Jason stabbed the last mermeke through the underbelly, Piper wiped her forehead and declared, "Those things have really tough armor."
Percy's knees gave out.
"Percy!" I said, lowering him to the ground. He sat, grimacing, and looked exhausted. I glanced up at the others. "We've got to get him back to camp."
"Wait..." Percy muttered weakly, "Just a little...break."
We were all panting, so we were happy to comply, though I did watch Percy with concern. He was still bleeding, though the quick bandaging did help. He leaned against my shoulder and didn't say anything.
"How did you guys know where we were?" I asked, clutching Percy's hand, mostly to reassure myself that his pulse was still thrumming through his wrist.
"Chiron," Jason said simply. "Turned out he knew what was happening all along, with the memory stuff." He groaned, "Ugh. I feel like I just got all my memories back, and then they were sucked out again."
"So..." Frank rumbled, "what exactly did happen. Chiron said something about Titans messing around, but I didn't really understand."
As best as I could, I explained what I had learned about Mnemosyne and Menoetius. It was hard, because looking at each of them, I was confronted with the friends I knew, and the ones the fake memories had made up. I couldn't help but remember that Piper specifically had doubted my theories, which seemed bizarre, as she was really one of my best friends.
"So why are we back?" asked Hazel. "How was the curse broken?"
I blushed, looking at Piper, who seemed to already know the answer. "I wouldn't be surprised if Aphrodite was involved," she said dryly. "I wouldn't put it past her to betray the rest of the gods just to toy with people's love-lives." She met my gaze and seemed to say, Especially yours.
Next to me, Percy let out an amused snort. "Are you ready to go to Camp Jupiter yet? I think...I'm done with this stuff...for like ever."
"You said it, Seaweed Brain," I muttered. Then I looked around at my friends and realized someone was missing. "Why isn't Leo with you?"
They all blinked, as though they had only just noticed too.
"Oh no," Piper said, her chin trembling. "I thought I just imagined that. Please tell me I just imagined that."
My heart sank, remembering. The sky exploding with fiery light, Leo and Festus disappearing in the explosion. I put a hand to my mouth, horrified that I had forgotten. How could I have not remembered?
Then a worse thought occured to me. "Luke," I whispered. "I have to see--"
"Annabeth," Percy said, gripping my arm as I tried to rise. "He's gone. Again. I'm sorry."