The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Memories and Meditation

Lani

"Lani!" I heard a voice call from somewhere as the battle raged around us. The girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes from my previous memories appeared next to me. She had a shield with Medusa's face on it.

"Thalia!" I called back, my sword slicing through the monster in front of me.

"You up for a little electric rain?" She called. All I did was nod before I felt a tugging in my gut like I did whenever I manipulated water, such as the river or the water cannons.

There was a crack of thunder as a slab of water appeared over the battlefield. Lightning arced down from the sky, blasting the slab of water to pieces. Causing little droplets of electrically charged water to swarm the monsters around us.

I felt like I wanted to drop, but all I did was raise my sword and charge back into the fray. Then I woke up.

"Iris-message" Percy said. "Can you send one?"

Frank tilted his head as I pushed myself to my own two feet, fighting to stay awake.

"It's..." My brother faltered. "Isn't that something you can do?"

A woman studied my brother more closely, her eyes widening slightly when they fell on me, who was now awake. "The blessing of Psyche..." she whispered before turning her attention back to my brother. "Interesting. You're from Camp Jupiter and yet... Oh, I see, Juno is up to her tricks"

"What?" Hazel asked.

The woman pulled a vial from behind the counter and sprayed something in my brother's face, sending a bit my way too. "There, that should balance your chakra. As for Iris-messages— that's an ancient form of communication. The Greeks used it. The Romans never took it- always relying on their road systems and giant eagles and what not. But yes, I imagine... Fleecy, could you give it a try?"

"Sure boss!"

The goddess I recognized but had trouble naming winked at Frank. "Don't tell the other gods but Fleecy handles most of my messages these days. She's wonderful at it really, and I don't have time to answer all those requests personally. It messes up my wa"

"Your wa?" Frank asked.

"Mmm. Fleecy why don't you take Percy and Hazel to the back. Lani, dear go with them, your soul is out of synchronization with your mind, never good for you, especially if it were to reach your voice- Fleecy, you can get them something to eat while you arrange their messages. And for Percy... yes, memory-sickness. I imagine that old Polybotes... well meeting him in a state of amnesia can't be good for a child of P- that is to say Neptune. Fleecy give him a cup of green tea with organic honey and wheat germ and some of my medicinal powder number five. That should fix him up. Now Lani, go meditate, let your memories guide you instead of trap you dear."

Hazel frowned. "What about Frank?"

The woman I now knew to be Iris turned to him. She tilted her head quizzically. "Oh, don't worry" Iris said. "Frank and I have a lot to talk about."

With that Fleecy led us to a back room where she helped my brother and I listened to the advice Iris gave me.

I allowed my eyes to flutter shut, instead of allowing the memories to overwhelm me I created a safe space in my mind, like a bubble with me inside. The memories swirled around me, getting closer and closer until my memories were like a lake and I was submerged.

The first thing I saw was a dragon lunging at Zoe, she dodged, and the scene changed. I was laying on a beach with my brother, we were looking at the constellations and my vision was blurred from tears. A blonde girl, Annabeth, sat down by our heads and put a hand on my shoulder. She had a gray streak in her hair that matched the ones in my hair and Percy's.