by Rick Riordan
‘Percy Jackson, you mean. Annabeth’s boyfriend, the one who’s missing.’
Chiron nodded. ‘I hoped that after he succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come.’
In the corner, the arcade game made a sad pew-pew-pew-pew sound, like a Pac-Man had just died.
‘Ohh-kay,’ Jason said. ‘So – last chapter, happened before, worst yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we go back to the part where I’m supposed to be dead? I don’t like that part.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t explain, my boy. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never …’ Chiron frowned. ‘But you’re here, in violation of the same oath. That, too, should not be possible. I don’t understand. Who would’ve done such a thing? Who –’
Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth froze, half open. The arcade game stopped beeping. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardening like red glass. The masks stared down silently at Jason with their grotesque grape eyes and leafy tongues.
‘Chiron?’ Jason asked. ‘What’s going –’
The old centaur had frozen, too. Jason jumped off the couch, but Chiron kept staring at the same spot, his mouth open mid-sentence. His eyes didn’t blink. His chest didn’t move.
Jason, a voice said.
For a horrible moment, he thought the leopard had spoken. Then dark mist boiled out of Seymour’s mouth, and an even worse thought occurred to Jason: storm spirits.
He grabbed the golden coin from his pocket. With a quick flip, it changed into a sword.
The mist took the form of a woman in black robes. Her face was hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders she wore a goatskin cloak. Jason wasn’t sure how he knew it was goatskin, but he recognized it and knew it was important.
Would you attack your patron? the woman chided. Her voice echoed in Jason’s head. Lower your sword.
‘Who are you?’ he demanded. ‘How did you –’
Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I’ve managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you.
‘You’re in prison?’ Jason decided maybe he wouldn’t lower his sword. ‘Look, I don’t know you, and you’re not my patron.’
You know me, she insisted. I have known you since your birth.
‘I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything.’
No, you don’t, she agreed. That also was necessary. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favourite mortal. You belong to me.
‘Whoa,’ Jason said. ‘I don’t belong to anyone.’
Now is the time to pay your debt, she said. Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory.
‘Is that a threat? You took my memories?’
You have until sunset on the solstice, Jason. Four short days. Do not fail me.
The dark woman dissolved, and the mist curled into the leopard’s mouth.
Time unfroze. Seymour’s howl turned into a cough like he’d sucked in a hair ball. The fire crackled to life, the arcade machine beeped, and Chiron said, ‘– would dare to bring you here?’
‘Probably the lady in the mist,’ Jason offered.
Chiron looked up in surprise. ‘Weren’t you just sitting … why do you have a sword drawn?’
‘I hate to tell you this,’ Jason said, ‘but I think your leopard just ate a goddess.’
He told Chiron about the frozen-in-time visit, the dark misty figure that disappeared into Seymour’s mouth.
‘Oh, dear,’ Chiron murmured. ‘That does explain a lot.’
‘Then why don’t you explain a lot to me?’ Jason said. ‘Please.’
Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper’s head lolled like she was unconscious.
‘What happened?’ Jason rushed over. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘Hera’s cabin,’ Annabeth gasped, like they’d run all the way. ‘Vision. Bad.’
The redheaded girl looked up, and Jason saw that she’d been crying.
‘I think …’ The redheaded girl gulped. ‘I think I may have killed her.’
VIII
JASON
Jason and the redhead, who introduced herself as Rachel, put Piper on the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a med kit. Piper was still breathing, but she wouldn’t wake up. She seemed to be in some kind of coma.
‘We’ve got to heal her,’ Jason insisted. ‘There’s a way, right?’
Seeing her so pale, barely breathing, Jason felt a surge of protectiveness. Maybe he didn’t really know her. Maybe she wasn’t his girlfriend. But they’d survived the Grand Canyon together. They’d come all this way. He’d left her side for a little while, and this had happened.
Chiron put his hand on her forehead and grimaced. ‘Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel, what happened?’
‘I wish I knew,’ she said. ‘As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera’s cabin. I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then – I just blanked out. Annabeth said I spoke in a different voice.’
‘A prophecy?’ Chiron asked.
‘No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me.’
Annabeth ran in with a leather pouch. She knelt next to Piper. ‘Chiron, what happened back there – I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve heard Rachel’s prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman. She grabbed Piper’s shoulders and told her –’
‘To free her from a prison?’ Jason guessed.
Annabeth stared at him. ‘How did you know that?’
Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, like a ward against evil.
‘Jason, tell them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please.’
Chiron trickled drops from a medicine vial into Piper’s mouth while Jason explained what had happened when the room froze – the dark misty woman who had claimed to be Jason’s patron.
When he was done, no one spoke, which made him more anxious.
‘So does this happen often?’ he asked. ‘Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?’
‘Your patron,’ Annabeth said. ‘Not your godly parent?’
‘No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life.’
Annabeth frowned. ‘I’ve never of heard anything like that before. You said the storm spirit on the skywalk – he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your mind?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Jason said. ‘If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She’s imprisoned. She’s worried about some enemy getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice –’
Annabeth turned to Chiron. ‘Not Kronos. Please tell me it’s not that.’
The centaur looked miserable. He held Piper’s wrist, checking her pulse.
At last he said, ‘It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But …’
‘But what?’ Annabeth asked.
Chiron closed the medicine bag. ‘Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later.’
‘Or now,’ Jason said. ‘Sir, Mr Chiron, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can’t possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?’
‘Oh,’ Rachel said in a small voice. ‘Oh, dear.
The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment.’
‘Hera?’ Annabeth’s snarl was even fiercer than Seymour’s. ‘She took you over? She did this to Piper?’
‘I think Rachel’s right,’ Jason said. ‘The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this – this goatskin cloak. That’s a symbol of Juno, isn’t it?’
‘It is?’ Annabeth scowled. ‘I’ve never heard that.’
Chiron nodded reluctantly. ‘Of Juno, Hera’s Roman aspect, in her most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier.’
‘So Hera is imprisoned?’ Rachel asked. ‘Who could do that to the queen of the gods?’
Annabeth crossed her arms. ‘Well, whoever they are, maybe we should thank them. If they can shut up Hera –’
‘Annabeth,’ Chiron warned, ‘she is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods’ family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. And if Hera has asked Jason for help –’
‘Fine,’ Annabeth grumbled. ‘Well, we know Titans can capture a god, right? Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago. And in the old stories, the gods captured each other in traps all the time. But something worse than a Titan …?’
Jason looked at the leopard’s head. Seymour was smacking his lips like the goddess had tasted much better than a Snausage. ‘Hera said she’d been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month.’
‘Which is how long Olympus has been closed,’ Annabeth said. ‘So the gods must know something bad is going on.’
‘But why use her energy to send me here?’ Jason asked. ‘She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip and sent you a dream vision to come pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send up an emergency flare to the other gods – let them know where she is so they can bust her out?’
‘The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth,’ Rachel said. ‘That’s right, isn’t it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods.’
‘That’s true,’ Annabeth said, ‘but Jason’s got a point. Why him? Why take his memory?’
‘And Piper’s involved somehow,’ Rachel said. ‘Hera sent her the same message – Free me. And, Annabeth, this must have something to do with Percy’s disappearing.’
Annabeth fixed her eyes on Chiron. ‘Why are you so quiet, Chiron? What is it we’re facing?’
The old centaur’s face looked like it had aged ten years in a matter of minutes. The lines around his eyes were deeply etched. ‘My dear, in this, I cannot help you. I am so sorry.’
Annabeth blinked. ‘You’ve never … you’ve never kept information from me. Even the last great prophecy –’
‘I will be in my office.’ His voice was heavy. ‘I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the infirmary, if you’d like. And Annabeth, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about – about the Greek and Roman gods.’
‘But …’
The centaur turned his wheelchair and rolled off down the hallway. Annabeth’s eyes turned stormy. She muttered something in Greek, and Jason got the feeling it wasn’t complimentary towards centaurs.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jason said. ‘I think my being here – I don’t know. I’ve messed things up coming to the camp, somehow. Chiron said he’d sworn an oath and couldn’t talk about it.’
‘What oath?’ Annabeth demanded. ‘I’ve never seen him act this way. And why would he tell me to talk to you about the gods …’
Her voice trailed off. Apparently she’d just noticed Jason’s sword sitting on the coffee table. She touched the blade gingerly, like it might be hot.
‘Is this gold?’ she said. ‘Do you remember where you got it?’
‘No,’ Jason said. ‘Like I said, I don’t remember anything.’
Annabeth nodded, like she’d just come up with a rather desperate plan. ‘If Chiron won’t help, we’ll need to figure things out ourselves. Which means … Cabin Fifteen. Rachel, you’ll keep an eye on Piper?’
‘Sure,’ Rachel promised. ‘Good luck, you two.’
‘Hold on,’ Jason said. ‘What’s in Cabin Fifteen?’
Annabeth stood. ‘Maybe a way to get your memory back.’
They headed towards a newer wing of cabins in the southwest corner of the green. Some were fancy, with glowing walls or blazing torches, but Cabin Fifteen was not so dramatic. It looked like an old-fashioned prairie house with mud-thatched walls and a rush roof. On the door hung a wreath of crimson flowers – red poppies, Jason thought, though he wasn’t sure how he knew.
‘You think this is my parent’s cabin?’ he asked.
‘No,’ Annabeth said. ‘This is the cabin for Hypnos, the god of sleep.’
‘Then why –’
‘You’ve forgotten everything,’ she said. ‘If there’s any god who can help us figure out memory loss, it’s Hypnos.’
Inside, even though it was almost dinnertime, three kids were sound asleep under piles of covers. A warm fire crackled in the hearth. Above the mantel hung a tree branch, each twig dripping white liquid into a collection of tin bowls. Jason was tempted to catch a drop on his finger just to see what it was, but he held himself back.
Soft violin music played from somewhere. The air smelled like fresh laundry. The cabin was so cosy and peaceful that Jason’s eyelids started to feel heavy. A nap sounded like a great idea. He was exhausted. There were plenty of empty beds, all with feather pillows and fresh sheets and fluffy quilts and – Annabeth nudged him. ‘Snap out of it.’
Jason blinked. He realized his knees had been starting to buckle.
‘Cabin Fifteen does that to everyone,’ Annabeth warned. ‘If you ask me, this place is even more dangerous than the Ares cabin. At least with Ares you can learn where the land mines are.’
‘Land mines?’
She walked up to the nearest snoring kid and shook his shoulder. ‘Clovis! Wake up!’
The kid looked like a baby cow. He had a blond tuft of hair on a wedge-shaped head, with thick features and a thick neck. His body was stocky, but he had spindly little arms like he’d never lifted anything heavier than a pillow.
‘Clovis!’ Annabeth shook harder, then finally knocked on his forehead about six times.
‘Wh-wh-what?’ Clovis complained, sitting up and squinting. He yawned hugely, and both Annabeth and Jason yawned too.
‘Stop that!’ Annabeth said. ‘We need your help.’
‘I was sleeping.’
‘You’re always sleeping.’
‘Goodnight.’
Before he could pass out, Annabeth yanked his pillow off the bed.
‘That’s not fair,’ Clovis complained meekly. ‘Give it back.’
‘First help,’ Annabeth said. ‘Then sleep.’
Clovis sighed. His breath smelled like warm milk. ‘Fine. What?’
Annabeth explained about Jason’s problem. Every once in a while she’d snap her fingers under Clovis’s nose to keep him awake.
Clovis must have been really excited, because when Annabeth was done, he didn’t pass out. He actually stood and stretched, then blinked at Jason. ‘So you don’t remember anything, huh?’
‘Just impressions,’ Jason said. ‘Feelings, like …’
‘Yes?’ Clovis said.
‘Like I know I shouldn’t be here. At this camp. I’m in danger.’
‘Hmm. Close your eyes.’
Jason glanced at Annabeth, but she nodded reassuringly.
Jason was afraid he’d end up snoring in one of the bunks forever, but he closed his eyes. His thoughts became murky, as if he were sinking into a dark lake.
The next thing he knew, his eyes snapped open. He was sitting in a chair by the fire. Clovis and Annabeth knelt next to him.
‘– serious, all r
ight,’ Clovis was saying.
‘What happened?’ Jason said. ‘How long –’
‘Just a few minutes,’ Annabeth said. ‘But it was tense. You almost dissolved.’
Jason hoped she didn’t mean literally, but her expression was solemn.
‘Usually,’ Clovis said, ‘memories are lost for a good reason. They sink under the surface like dreams, and with a good sleep I can bring them back. But this …’
‘Lethe?’ Annabeth asked.
‘No,’ Clovis said. ‘Not even Lethe.’
‘Lethe?’ Jason asked.
Clovis pointed to the tree branch dripping milky drops above the fireplace. ‘The River Lethe in the Underworld. It dissolves your memories, wipes your mind clean permanently. That’s the branch of a poplar tree from the Underworld, dipped into the Lethe. It’s the symbol of my father, Hypnos. Lethe is not a place you want to go swimming.’
Annabeth nodded. ‘Percy went there once. He told me it was powerful enough to wipe the mind of a Titan.’
Jason was suddenly glad he hadn’t touched the branch. ‘But … that’s not my problem?’
‘No,’ Clovis agreed. ‘Your mind wasn’t wiped, and your memories weren’t buried. They’ve been stolen.’
The fire crackled. Drops of Lethe water plinked into the tin cups on the mantel. One of the other Hypnos campers muttered in his sleep – something about a duck.
‘Stolen,’ Jason said. ‘How?’
‘A god,’ Clovis said. ‘Only a god would have that kind of power.’
‘We know that,’ said Jason. ‘It was Juno. But how did she do it, and why?’
Clovis scratched his neck. ‘Juno?’
‘He means Hera,’ Annabeth said. ‘For some reason, Jason likes the Roman names.’
‘Hmm,’ Clovis said.
‘What?’ Jason asked. ‘Does that mean something?’
‘Hmm,’ Clovis said again, and this time Jason realized he was snoring.
‘Clovis!’ he yelled.
‘What? What?’ His eyes fluttered open. ‘We were talking about pillows, right? No, gods. I remember. Greek and Roman. Sure, could be important.’
‘But they’re the same gods,’ Annabeth said. ‘Just different names.’