Awakened Memories

I Almost Kill My Best Friend

I Almost Kill My Best Friend

Annabeth

I froze, knowing exactly who it was Chiron was talking about. "No. I knew we couldn't trust him! Are you sure?"

Chiron nodded sadly. "I searched everywhere. I didn't tell the campers in the hopes that it wouldn't be a long term absence and to not worry them. He disappeared nearly two weeks ago."

I sucked in a large breath. "Okay. We'll keep an eye out for him. The next time Percy or someone from his team talks to me, I'll ask if they can look around."

"I will ask around as well. But let's steer clear of that for now. Why don't you show me around this place? It looks very impressive."

"I'd be happy to." I said, smiling as I led Chiron from the room and took him on a tour of the Amazon's facility.

I finished showing Chiron around the Amazon's little fortress--well, it wasn't exactly little--and I showed him to an extra room. "How long are you staying?"

"I packed for a bit less than a week. I wouldn't come here for only a day, it's been much too long for a visit that short."

"Great!" I smiled at my mentor, relieved that I would have something else to distract me for the next few days. "We'll talk more tomorrow." We started to say goodnight when we heard the footsteps of a person jogging towards me and my hand subconsciously went to finger Riptide in my pocket.

"Annabeth!" Tammy rushed up to me. "Come quick. We don't know what's happening. You're gonna want to see it." She ran off as quick as she had appeared and I had no choice but to follow her. I heard Chiron's hooves hit the ground and knew he was coming too. We dashed into the Amazon's lounge and I found a cluster of Amazons. They seemed to be circled around something, or someone.

I pushed my way through the crowd and they backed off, revealing what they had surrounded. Tansy was on the ground, flinching and whimpering, her eyes shut tightly. I thought she could be having a seizure, but that didn't seem to be the case. It looked almost as if she were having . . . a bad dream.

I knelt down next to her and held her. "Tansy, wake up. It's a dream. It's just a dream. Come on, wake up!" I shouted at her, but she still writhed in my lap. It seemed to get worse. I sighed, "Sorry about this." I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

"Pop goes the weasel!" Tansy shrieked and bolted upright.

"Everyone back up, give her some space. Let me talk to her." The Amazons obeyed and soon were in a large circle around us. "Tansy?" I approached her carefully. "Are you okay? What happened?"

She whipped her head around and looked at me. "Child of Athena. Wisdom. Smarts. Crafts. Camp. Greek. Misery." She turned and looked at the Amazons. "Warriors. Greek. Roman. Female. Dream. Death."

I was starting to get scared. Had some creature or god possessed her? What had happened? "Tansy?"

"The dream, Bell. It was horrible." Tansy looked around, as if she could hear something we couldn't. "The voices. Bell, make them go away. Make them stop!" She screamed and clamped her hands over her ears.

"Someone help me get her to the infirmary." Chiron bent down and I along with Tammy picked up Tansy and draped her over Chiron's back. He pulled me up onto his back with her and galloped off to the infirmary.

We placed her on one of the beds and she moaned, jerking her head from side to side, staring at nothing. "Can you do anything?"

"Possibly." Chiron held a syringe in his hand which he stuck in Tansy's neck. She stopped moving quickly after. "She is sleeping. Be quiet and gentle."

I sat next to her and looked at her warily. "Chiron, what happened?"

"She has gone mad. As for how, I am not sure. I have a hunch, but pray to the gods I am wrong."

I sat with Tansy the next day, and the next, but each time she was awake it was the same. She insisted on calling me Bell and spoke in one-word to five-word sentences. Nothing she said made sense. And there was no change, if anything it got worse. I prayed to Trivia and Hecate everyday. I wasn't quite at the point where I was willing to ask Dionysus for help yet.

I was walking along the grounds with Chiron after visiting Tansy. "Chiron, what are we going to do? We don't know what happened, and nothing has changed. I just--"

"My Queen!" An Amazon ahead of us yelled at us and gestured for us to come.

We ran over to them, and I was already guessing what had happened. Sure enough, when we reached them another Amazons was writhing on the ground. I bit back a curse after seeing that it was a young girl. I picked her up and carried her to the infirmary. Chiron sedated her and we put her in one of the beds.

"We have to do something about this. It's not a coincidence. It's not just a nightmare. Someone or something is doing this." I told Chiron.

He nodded. "I will do some research when I get back to Camp Half-Blood."

"I'll look around, too."

We left each other and I went back to my room. I might have a book in there that would tell me just what was happening . . .

I reached my room and walked in, immediately finding a folded piece of paper on the floor. On the front my name was sloppily scrawled upon it. Curious, I picked it up and unfolded it.

Annabeth,

I miss you. A lot. I want to come see you but I can't. With what's going on here right now, I can't find a lot of time to send more notes like this. I'm really sorry. I wish it was different. If something is going on there, just think about it to me.

Please, stay safe,

Percy

I sighed and folded the note. "Wrong choice of words Percy. I know you meant well, but that was not a good choice."

"Does he ever make good choices?"

Styx.

I whipped out Riptide and turned to face the intruder, Riptide outstretched in my hand. A horrible shield appeared and blocked what could have been a fatal strike. "Whoa, calm down."

"Thalia?" I asked. Besides my mother, there was only one other person I knew who used Medusa's face to scare off her enemies.

"Yeah!" Thalia tapped her shield and it shrank back down into a bracelet. "Who else would come in here without worrying that you bite their head off?"

I capped Riptide. "Percy."

Thalia paused for a moment before saying, "True, but the point is, let's start over. Annabeth! Hi! I haven't seen you in so long!" She jumped off of my bed and pulled me into a tight hug.

"I know! Why are you here? Does Percy know you're here?" I hugged her tight and blinked away tears at seeing my best friend again in two years.

"Nope. I wanted to visit and told Percy there was something I had to do on a certain planet. I think he suspected it was Earth but didn't ask for confirmation, because then he would come, which is a big no-no unless there's a war." We laughed and I tried to ignore the stabbing pain in my heart. "Anyways, it's so good to see you! Catch me up on everything. Any new prophecy, or war imminent?"

I hesitated, debating whether I should tell her about the weird dreams driving Amazons to madness. If I told Thalia, she would tell Percy and it sounded like he had his own mess to handle. So I pushed the thought far from my mind, grinned, and said "Not that I know of."

Thalia and I talked through the night, and I momentarily, blissfully, forgot about my separation from Percy.