The last thing I remembered before the world went dark again was glowing red eyes appearing from under the hood of the cloaked figure. When I woke up, a pair of curious, silver eyes stared back at me. "I know you," the girl in front of me declared. I wanted her to explain, but I was too busy trying to remember her. "The people around here call me Art. You must be the latest project. They are very excited about the latest project." I shuddered at the thought of all the things that she could mean by that, but she still didn't seem to understand my body language.
"What do you mean? How do you know me? Where am I?" I asked, realizing that I needed to be clear and direct with her if I wanted to get my point across. Just before she answered, a group of people who looked like guards came in and threw their captive to the ground. "Percy!" I yelled pushing my way towards him as the guards explained that he had been found sneaking around their headquarters. No, no, no!
"Parker? What are you doing here?" he asked weakly, trying to get off the ground. I tried to help him, but the moment I moved towards him, one of the guards pointed a knife to my neck and asked Percy, "How do you know him?" What is it with people and threatening my life? I can't seem to go a day without having my life on the line anymore!
"That's Parker. He was leading a quest I was on but ran off without warning." Percy sighed, managing to save my life while telling me off at the same time. "He's the demigod son of Zeus." They all sneered, but thankfully, the knife was taken away from my fragile neck. They all laughed as they walked away, locking the steel door behind them. "Percy!" I half-sobbed, hugging him. "I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"
"Never scare me like that again, Parker!' he laughed. "Guess what? I found out what is going on in this place!" I nodded, urging him to continue. He happily obliged, telling me, "Everybody other than us two are actually former gods, but these guys have somehow wiped their memories." The hooded figure that had tricked me was standing in front of me at the Maenads' base, my hand was holding his. "I don't think we've properly met. I'm Parker Johnson, son of Zeus. My friends, Pollux and Percy, are asleep right now, so you won't be able to meet them right now," I was boldly declaring.
"I think whoever did this has messed with my memories. This is not just about the greek gods, this is personal now." I realised angrily. I walked around, taking a look at my fellow prisoners with new eyes. "That one's Artemis, goddess of the hunt. She introduced herself ast Art. When I was captured by these other guys that might just work for this place, I met this guy I have faint memories of. I believe his name was … Lester," I mumbled.
"Apollo. Lester was the mortal he became in his most recent punishment. How will you have known him?" Percy wondered. I only half-listened to his response, too busy looking around. I quickly got distracted from the task when I noticed that they had let me keep my bag.
"Hey, Percy!" I laughed, "Have a drink!" Before he could answer, I drank the soda and threw him a bottle. In hindsight, I should have probably wondered why my cans of soda had been replaced by bottles of soda. Instead, like the naive idiot I was, I just drank it. It was the second time in this one quest that I let myself get drugged. I swore in ancient Greek before I slumped to the floor and started losing consciousness again. This is getting really old.
I woke up chained up in an interrogation room with a bright light shining in my face. "How are you doing it? How are you remembering?" somebody angrily screamed. "Tell me! How?" I shook in fear at the sound of his loud, booming voice that reminded me of my father far too much.
"I don't know," I whimpered, closing my eyes and trying to escape from the bright light and load voices as much as I could. "You think that the punishment was not harsh enough, %$*!^? Maybe I should give one to you and see whether it will work any better than your current one!" a glowing white light boomed. "I don't know!" I repeated.
"He's useless," the voice growled, "Kill him before he causes more trouble." I shook as I heard the sound of a gun being loaded. "Let him go!" Lester yelled as he broke in through the window. "Let him go or your boss gets a bullet hole through the head!" The henchmen scrambled to release me and I practically crawled out of the window.
"Hey Lester, I owe you one," I sighed.
"Good, because you are going to save the day this time, Park," he snapped, not even looking at me as we were walking.
"Sure!" I laughed, too happy to be alive to care about nicknames and obligations. "Where do I start?"
"... Finding the cure for whatever they've done to the gods." he answered.
"Already trying. Just tell me where the base is and I will get in," I declared. I realized that I had become quite the expert at ignoring the odd looks Lester almost constantly gave me. It was time for me to follow a shooting star.
Sorry about how short this one is. I always seem to get a writer's block around these stages of a story. I will try update as soon as possible, but please don't hold your breath!