Percy Jackson and the Dark Elites

VIII

Grover

Grover sat in the woods with Calypso.  They had become close since Percy and Leo disappeared. She was his last link to what happened to his friend.

One day Calypso shows up, and Percy disappears. She doesn't remember anything. The only way that any of them have been able to identify what happened is by watching her natural reactions. She panicked when they mention Los Angelos. 

Los Angelos: a single city in California. One day over twenty demigods arm themselves and take to the streets. Fifty percent went out, and fifty percent went in. The ones who went in ended up six miles away from the city and had no memory of what happened. They all had swollen marks in their necks, blown open pupils, and no memory of what happened.

The only one who might've known was his best friend Annabeth. She was beaten and tortured and left in a dumpsite away from he others. They brought her back but she wouldn't wake up. She'd slipped into a coma—for two years. 

Two years.

Today was the anniversary of Percy's disappearance. And they had nothing.

Calypso was all Grover had. He'd given up on getting information from her long ago. She was too unstable; driven out of her mind by some force they didn't understand. But today was a special day and Grover was willing to try again. 

Grover and Calypso sat in her favorite spot. While he showed her maps and photos of demigods in L.A.—not Romans—that they had taken over the last two years.

After she started to getfrustrated he walked her back, admitting defeat. He thanked her for trying and she offered a small smile.

"Did you get anything?" Jason asked.

Grover shook his head. "No. And I'm done trying. Annabeth—"

"She'd awake."

Grover stopped. "She's awake? What does she remember?"

Jason shook his head. "Nothing. She remembers nothing. One of the bruises on her neck must'vebeen the thing that wiped everyone's memory. But she's awake. She can't walk—"

"Annabeth stop!" Chiron called out.

"No! I don't care what you decided. We're not burning his shroud."

"Oh, no," Jason said.

Grover approached her. "Annabeth—"

"No! You may have decided that if I didn't know anything it was a dead end, but we're not giving up! He went missing yesterday!"

"Annabeth. He went missing two years ago." Chiron said. 

"I'm not going to give up! I can't. You may have moved on, but he went missing yesterday. Yesterday!"

Everyone tried to calm her down. The tears were streaming down her face, and she was pissed off. Yelling her head off. Quite a crowd had gathered around them. But they disperse almost as quickly out of respect. 

"Annabeth." A nine-year-old girl named Abigail stepped forward.

They hugged. Annabeth calmed down, only a little bit.

Annabeth, Grover, Abby, Chiron, Calypso, and what remained of the seven gathered around her bed.

"He chose today," Annabeth said. "Two years on the dot... And I'm almost in perfect health, I woke up today."

"Annabeth?" Piper asked. "When you say he, do you have any idea who you're talking about?"

Annabeth waited. "Octavian. He's alive."