I awoke with a start. I didn’t know where she was, who this lean, tanned, athletic, dark unruly haired, sea green eyed boy was holding my hand.. I didn’t know, but I knew that I wanted him to. I thought he was handsome in a sarcastic, rebellious way. When his eyes met mine a gigantic, infectious smile formed on his lips.
“Annabeth!” He shouted.
Yes, yes. That feels like that was my name, but why couldn’t I remember anything else? My head ached and it felt like I hadn’t eaten in days.
The strange, familiar looking boy was now standing over me, kissing my cheek. I screamed bloody murder and pushed him away. Immediately afterward I felt horrible, like I did something terrible. The boy in the orange tee shirt that I could now make out said “Camp Half-Blood” had hit his head on the shelves behind him and obviously looked confused at me.
“What was that for Wise Girl?” He knitted his eye brows together in a cute, worried way.
My heart skipped a beat. I knew that name. It belonged to me. I knew that look the boy was giving my too. I felt like it also belonged to me.
Some other girl was my other side. She had chopped, uneven brown hair with a braid down one side. In the braid was a small feather. I could tell that she was beautiful without trying. Her smile and then look of worry when I pushed the boy away concerned her. She obviously knew me.
“Annabeth? Are you okay?” She looked over at the boy, “Percy, did you hit your head?”
The boy, Percy.. super familiar now, but I still couldn’t place him.. threw a grin to the girl and then looked at me worriedly, “I’m fine Piper, but Annabeth you’re scaring me sweetheart.”
Sweetheart? My heart skipped another beat. What was wrong with me? I curled myself up on the bed wrapping my arms around my knees and burying my face on the other side. I left my eyes exposed so I could still see what was going on.
“Who are you guys?” I managed finally.
“I’m your best friend and this is your boyfriend. Don’t you remember us?”
“..No,” I whimpered. “I remember getting out of a black river. Walking across a plain and being attacked by this guy.” She pointed at Percy who looked like she had just stabbed him in the gut.

“Came out of a black river? Oh Gods Annabeth! You had the nightmare again, but something is different this time. You usually just forget who I am for a split second.”
“Percy?” The other girl looked at him confused.
“Yeah, sorry, Piper.” He started apologizing to her, “we never told anyone about the nightmares because it involved our little trip to Tartarus.”
Saying those words made Percy and me shake involuntarily. Why had I done that?
I felt like I was remembering things slowly as this Percy guy was talking. A quest to save the world, seemed familiar. Trapped in a dark underworld? seemed to match up with the dream. Bob the Titan? I didn’t know why, but I thought he was a cat. Damasen the giant? Not ringing any bells.
The more this guy talked, the more I was waiting for him to say something stupid. I wasn’t quite sure where that feeling was coming from, but I was sure he said stupid stuff al the time. “Seaweed brain,” I muttered.
I did not realize it at first, but Piper and Percy had stopped talking and stared at me.
“What?”
“Nothing, thought I heard that somewhere.”
Percy gleamed with a lopsided grim. “Well Annabeth’s memories are still in that Wise Girl head of hers.”
Piper chuckled and I did something I didn’t expect. I laughed until I was crying a little. Percy just smiled the whole time.
“Don’t make me wipe that grin of your face. I can tell it’d be easy.”
“I am never, ever going to make things easy for you”
Something about the way he said that was so familiar. I just wanted to grab his face and kiss him. Where did that come from? Damn this amnesia.
Piper smiled between the two of us. Like she knew what I was just thinking
“So, back to the story. Annabeth has been having nightmares most nights where I don’t fall into Tartarus with her. She says she falls forever, plunges into a river, and forgets everything right before she wakes up.”
“The Lithe. Percy, you said Bob got his memories back when his brothers talked to him. Do you think it can work that way with Annabeth?”
“I hope so. I’d hate for this to turn into 50 First Dates. That movie was just bad!”
“That movie was so sweet!”
“Aphrodite kids.” Percy shook his head.
Fidgeting around ignoring those two again, I found a neckless around my neck. I ran my fingers along the beads. i noticed I had more than Percy and we had five of the same ones, but Piper had none. Next I looked at the ring hanging on there. I knew it was my fathers college ring. I started crying when I fumbled with the last item on the neckless. I had a flood of memories come back playing with the blue coral pendant Percy had given me. Oh Gods, Percy. I remembered everything.
Percy and Piper were still talking about that stupid Adam Sandler movie when I got up, grabbed Percy’s shirt, pulled him over to me, and gave him a kiss that I was sure made a certain daughter of Aphrodite best friend of mine blush.
I absolutely love that look on his face when I do something completely unexpected and his ‘brain melts’.
“Seaweed brain.” I said as seductively as I could, then I punched him in the gut so hard he fell over. Piper, red faced, was staring at me trying not to laugh.
“Ow! What the heck?”
“You left me.” I glared with all my pent up anger. I’m sure his face was going to melt off at any second.
“Sorry, blame your mom. She abducted me to Olympus.”

I felt a slight ping of jealousy. I had followed the Mark of Athena to Rome and found the Athena Parthanos, something none of my other siblings had ever done. Yet my mother appears to my boyfriend. Without so much of a “Thanks Annabeth, I knew I could count on you.” Sometimes I thought Luke was right. Maybe the Gods didn’t actually care about us. Maybe they just wanted us to do their dirty work and die off quickly.
I couldn’t stay mad at Percy. It was too much like staying mad at a puppy who peed all over the floor. They really can’t help what they are.
I did feel a lot better then he told me what my mother had said to him. I laced my fingers through his and smiled at him. When he started talking about what he said about Bob, we both had to choke back tears.
I never thought I would love a Titan or a Giant, but I loved Bob and Damasen. Without them.. well I don’t ever want to think about that.

At dinner Percy and I finally opened up to our friends. I felt like I had a huge weight lifted off my chest telling our friends and Percy’s parents, Sally and Mr. Blofis, via Iris message about our ordeal in Tartarus and the nightmares we had both been having. Sally cried in both terror and relief pretty much the whole time saying things like “my poor babies,” “I love you both so much,” and other muffled sobs into Paul’s shoulder. I wish I could have been there with Sally. We grew so close while Percy was missing. We were each others rock during that time. I would never say this aloud and I doubt thinking it is much better, but I feel like Sally is more of a mother to me than anyone else including my actual mother and step-mom. Do NOT let Athena know.
Oh, don’t let Percy fool you either. He put on a strong front, but he was just as broken as I was from a month in literal hell. He had nightmares just as often as I did, but that boy, I love him despite and even because of his faults. At least it finally felt like we were putting our pieces back together, and by some miracle of the Gods we survived to be there for each other. For the next 3 nights, neither one of us had a bad dream.

All of us got together in the mess hall for one last dinner before we got home and separated into our own cabins or camps again. Sometime tomorrow afternoon we would not have to look at the enchanted walls of the mess to see camp. There was a lot of crying. Percy, Frank, Hazel, and Jason would be going back to New Rome on Blackjack, a couple of his buddies, and Tempest. Piper wanted to go with Jason, but he promised her once Frank got installed as Praetor in his and Percy’s place that they would return to us. I didn’t want Percy to go, but we both knew he had to as a Praetor of New Rome. My going was out of the question as I was the face of the Eidolon possessed Leo’s unprovoked attack on New Rome to.

I knew this was the last chance to be truly alone with Percy until winter break. I had made special plans for the night. All I can say without blushing too much is that it was pretty much the best night ever with my boyfriend.

Notes

I may write more. Maybe not. We'll see. Thanks for reading this everyone.