The Third Camp

Chapter fifty: Neptuna

I wondered where Carrie had gone, but the thought was at the back of my mind as I began to stroke the neck of the beautiful black stallion I sat on.

"Hello," I spoke softly. "What's your name?"

"I'm Anchor." The horse huffed. "You are a child of lord Poseidon."

"Yes. He's my father." I began to comb through his mane with my fingers. "You have a lovely coat, Anchor."

"Thank you, ma'am. What is your name?"

"I'm Neptuna."

"You are very kind, Lady Neptuna."

"You are also very kind, sir."

"Dude, are you talking to the horse?" Natalie asked.

"Yes." I answered. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, it's just weird. It's not like he can respond."

"She must not know that the children of lord Poseidon can speak to horses and pegasi." Anchor whinnied. "She is not very knowledgeable."

I laughed. "No, she's not." I told him. Then I turned my head to look at Natalie. "Don't worry about it, okay? It's just a Poseidon kid thing."

"...Alright then." Natalie gave me a weird look then climbed on the brown mare.

"Can all children of Poseidon and Neptune do that or just you, mate?" Max trotted up next to me on his grey-painted mare.

"All." I replied.

"Wow, that explains so much, Regar always spends his free time either at the pond or in the stables. And all this time we thought he was talking to himself!" Alivia laughed.

I smiled. Natalie began to lead the way out of our makeshift camp after she had finished strapping her stuff to the saddle on her horse. I followed her, riding coming easily to me. Max rode next to me.

"So how'd you and Carrie end up together, mate?"

"It's a long story."

"We've got a long ride." Alivia called from behind us.

"I don't know it all."

"How do you not know it all?" Max frowned.

I bit my lip and looked down at my hands. They were still bandaged and I could see the blood slowly seeping through. I felt weak, very very weak.

"I can't say."

Alivia rode up on my other side and spoke,

"The gods wiped her memory."

That sentence drove me to tears. I don't know who I am, I don't know who I used to know, I can't remember my friends, I can't remember my family. I have no idea what my life used to be.

"H-how did you know?" I stuttered, the tears dropping from my face.

"Lady Neptuna, why are you crying?" Anchor whinnied, halting.

"D-don't worry, Anchor, j-just keep g-going..."

"Are you sure, my lady?"

"Yes, sir... Please, just keep going..."

"Dude, what's wrong with your human?" Alivia's horse whinnied.

"Do not call me 'dude'." Anchor snarled.

"Sorry, dude. Why's she crying?" The horse nodded it's head up and down as it looked me over.

"Do not ask me, for I have no clue."

"Dude, you gotta chill with all the formal talk."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but we are in the presence of our lord's daughter!"

"But our lady told us just to transport these demigods, that's all."

"At the moment, I am serving someone of more importance." Anchor huffed then looked forward again.

"Mate, are you crying?" Max asked.

"No." I whispered. Then the stress got to me. I knew of only one way to deal— Run. I leaned forward and spoke in Anchors ear, "Do you like to go fast?"

"Yes, my lady. Running is quite enjoyable."

"Run as fast as you want. Just get me away from these people."

"Of course, my lady."

With that, Anchor reared onto his hind legs. I latched my legs around the barrel of his saddle and held onto his mane as he landed and sprinted off past Natalie, who was ahead of the group, and kept going.

"Neptuna! What are you doing? Where are you going?" Natalie shouted after me, trying to get her horse to run after me. It wasn't going well, though, because her horse was doing as I had asked; Keep them away from me.

Anchor put on a burst of speed and soon we were out of the trees. We were riding over a vast field, open and shining in the sun. It looked untouched, like there had never been a human being there to pollute it. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back. The sun shined on the back of my eyelids and dried up the tears from my face.

I smiled.

"Thank you, Anchor." I said, not opening my eyes or moving my head.

"It's my pleasure, lady Neptuna."

I sighed deeply, let go of his mane, and lay back against Anchor's back. His black coat was warm from the sunshine, and he had obviously been brushed earlier that day.

I thought about what I remembered.

A boy named Percy, who is my older brother, with sea-green eyes and jet-black hair. But nothing else about him.

A girl named Hailey, with dark brown hair and a crazy smile. But nothing else about her.

A two-story school building with brick walls and many windows, where I probably used to go to school. I remembered the long hallways, lined with grey lockers and classroom doors.

But nothing more.

I was so stressed out by not knowing who I was.

And then there was the stress of Carrie.

Why? Why will he not just get over his stupid emotionless-rock self and realize that emotions aren't always a bad thing? I love him, I really do. But the fact that he won't let me help him, let me be me, is infuriating. I just want to take care of him. I just want to keep him safe. I don't want him to get hurt. I want to protect him. Why won't he just let me?

I opened my eyes to be blinded by the sunlight, but Anchor had taken me into the cover of the trees again. Green light filtered through the leaves above and shone down on me. Anchor was slowing down, but was not heading back to where Natalie and Alivia and Max would be.

I sighed and closed my eyes again. "Let's just stay here."