Wildfires, Heroes of Olympus ₂

051, bring me a little water sylvie

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
SILVIANA      DUVALL

Silviana was foolish to think that it couldn't get worse.

She'd forgotten all the memories. She'd been assaulted by chauvinist ghosts. She'd broken her ankle. She'd been tormented across a chasm by the horrible voices of her past. Now, in severe pain, with her ankle wrapped in duct tape and a dagger splint, and carrying no weapon except for her other dagger, she faced Mnemosyne—the ancient Titan goddess of memory and remembrance who wanted to kill Silviana and make Gaea proud.

In the last few hours, Silviana had shivered, sweated, whimpered, and blinked back so many tears that she wasn't even surprised that it did get worse. Honestly, she was more disgruntled by it than anything. Like, thank you, gods, for giving me the world's worst luck—oh, you want to give me some more bad luck? Thanks again! Really!

Maybe her memory loss could be a good thing here. Maybe, in her past life, Silviana was nothing but a timid Demeter kid who couldn't think past her anxiety. She wouldn't know, though. She couldn't be stopped by fear if she couldn't remember the fear ever being there.

Mnemosyne floated toward Silviana slowly, smiling in pleasure, her misty eyes glittering in the dark. Either she wasn't in a hurry, or she was slow. Silviana hoped she was slow, but considering she was a literal Titaness, it was probably the former.

Not that it mattered. Silviana was in no condition to run, and she didn't like her chances in combat. Mnemosyne was a divine force, and Silviana was just a simple half-blood—at least, she thought so. The Titan goddess probably had horrible powers that Silviana's could never amount to.

But there didn't seem to be any other option.

Silviana found herself repeating a thought she had back after breaking her ankle: You can't let this be the end. Not until you learn who you are.

The question was, of course, how could Silviana learn who she was? Mnemosyne had stolen all of her memories, and she doubted that the Titaness would ever think about giving them back.

Her eyes darted all around the room, looking for a solution that might help her. Ever since losing all her knowledge, she'd had to create her own using context clues around her. But for the most part, all she could see was books, ivy, more books, more ivy, and her mother's huge statue, surrounded by books and covered in ivy. Oh, and also the luxurious fountain.

"Help me out here," Silviana said. "You took all my memories, I get that. That's fine. But I just want to know what that is."

She was pointing at the misty fountain. Mnemosyne's lips curled. "Why do you care? You're about to die."

"Well, yes," Silviana said. "So I'd like to die knowing at least one thing. Share your memory with me, Oh Great Titaness."

Mnemosyne allowed herself a smug smile. "Not that it matters, because I won't let you anywhere near it. But it makes sense that you, a clueless fool, don't know what it is. My Fountain of Memory."

"Your..." Silviana's mind split into two different levels: one carrying on the conversation, the other madly grasping for a scheme to survive, "Fountain of Memory?"