Back at the Seattle Center it was easy to slip back into the lobby of the amphitheater and through the tiny door that looked like it led to a storage closet. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if I hadn’t already gone barreling out of it forty minutes before. I took a deep breath and clenched my sword in my hand before I carefully pushed open the door.
“Where’s Naida?!” I heard Nico demand.
Mnemosyne groaned and I got the feeling this wasn’t the first time he’d asked the question. “All of you just go back to sleep. Maybe I’ll let you relive happy memories. Don’t you want to remember your sister, Nico?”
From my hiding spot behind a grey partition I saw Nico flinch. Tyson was crying in the corner with Percy trying to comfort him. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover looked like they were having a wordless conversation through the looks they shot each other and I was sure they were trying to figure out a way out of the cell.
I knew without a doubt that I couldn’t beat the memory Titan on my own even if her psycho dog was long gone by now. Without being seen, I checked out the room and tried to come up with some way to get them out. There wasn’t much that could help me- the partition I hid behind, the chaise couch Mnemosyne lounged on as she flipped through a fashion magazine, the cell, and a simple water cooler that was maybe an eighth full, not enough to make a tidal wave or anything.
I froze as that thought flittered through my head. I remembered ice on the beach that had sent Laelaps sliding and again at the pool after my meet when Trevor had fallen to his butt. I’d already controlled enough water to send the demon dog into the ocean and this was nowhere near that big.
I let out a sigh and put all my limited concentration into what I wanted. Very slowly, water dripped from the nozzle and slithered like a tiny snake toward the cell and up the bars to the lock. Percy’s bright green eyes locked on my stream and widened before he quickly glanced around. He saw me and shot me a smile but didn’t say anything. I tried to smile back but I had to focus. A half-cup’s worth of water thickened into ice around the lock but only Percy noticed the trick. He winked at me before turning his attention back to the Titan while I focused once more on the water cooler.
“What’d you do with my sister?” he asked calmly. “You won’t answer Nico’s question about where she is so I’m guessing you don’t know.”
“She’s probably dead by now,” she answered without looking up from the magazine and making Tyson wail louder. I tried my best to ignore his crying as another stream of water puddled and froze near Mnemosyne’s couch. “Do you think she’ll end up in the Asphodel Meadows or will the little brat get sent to the Fields of Punishment? There’s no way she’s going to Elysian.”
“No!” Nico shouted. “I’d know if she was dead.”
“Ah, that’s right. You’re a son of Hades. You must know that not even you can bring her back once she’s dead.”
Percy dragged Tyson to his feet and pulled him toward the cell door. He caught Annabeth’s eye for a moment and subtly jerked his head toward the icy coat on the lock. Understanding lit up in the grey depths of her eyes and she started murmuring quietly to Tyson.
“Oh, I doubt that any of your monsters killed Naida,” Percy said as he jerked his hand up and the water cooler exploded.
“Now!” Annabeth ordered. Tyson punched the lock and the door swung open easily Mnemosyne screeched and jumped to her feet but not even a Titan could move gracefully on a patch of ice. She was losing her balance quickly and it didn’t help when Tyson stormed up to her, lifted both fists in the air, and bashed them down on her head.
“Damn,” I couldn’t help but say as the gorgeous woman that had been hunting me all day collapsed unconscious onto the couch.
Nico turned toward me and his black eyes were glittering with relief. Gods, I just wanted to run up and hug him but my better judgment kept my locked in place. Besides, as soon as Tyson was done kicking the crap out of Mnemosyne, he ran up to me and crushed me to his massive chest. I had to remind him that my ribs were breakable before he let me go.
“Did you freeze the lock and the floor?” Grover asked as he started collecting backpacks from the corner where the Titan’s warriors had stashed them.
“Um, yeah.”
“Awesome,” Percy praised me. I punched him. “Ow, what was that for?”
“You can control water better than I can. You couldn’t lead a jailbreak while I was gone?”
“Yeah, I control water. But the ice thing was all you, my annoying little sister.” He ruffled my red hair and I was half tempted to punch him again.
“So now what?” Annabeth asked. “The Fates aren’t here.”
I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth as I led the way out the door. “They were, though. The room where Laelaps found me was the exact same one from my first dream. Whoever has them knew that we’d be here. Rather than risk me succeeding, he moved them.”
Annabeth nodded. “But where do we go now? All the prophecy said was the needle’s eye.”
I wasn’t concentrating on where I was going. I was too busy thinking about any possible solution to our problem but so far all I could think of was waking up Mnemosyne’s sorry ass and I highly doubted that would help anything. I rubbed my temples as I walked out of the theater and into the rain. Being sidetracked, I bumped into someone. I glanced up quickly and my eyes narrowed dangerously at the tall man in front of me.

Notes

a special thank you to FJM818 Thalia grace and Evil espresso drinks
now question for my awesome readers: have you read the heroes of olympus series? who is (are) your favorite character(s)? :)
also, only a handful of chapters left for this one and then i'll start up on a luke story (so far unnamed) with thalia's help =D