Chapter 44 - My Hopes Are Dashed (Again)

I walked up to the Jacksons' door but realized that something was wrong. The lights were off and the door was ajar. I drew my knife. I wished I could put on my magic cap and slip inside, but, well, I'd left it locked in my chest at Camp. And it still wasn't working - I'd tried it on again that morning. Carefully, I nudged the door open with my foot, ready to fight whatever was inside. My instincts buzzed. I felt for the light switch with one hand and readied my knife with the other. I flicked on the lights.

"Surprise!" Yelled several voices as I stabbed the one nearest me. Thank the gods Rachel is fully mortal, as I'd stabbed her directly in the heart with my knife.

"Annabeth!" She said, sounding shocked and hurt. "You stabbed me!" Ok, so I left out the curse words. Rachel knows many - in several languages. She used most of them.

"W-what's going on? What's wrong? Where are the monsters?" I stammered, glancing around the room for an attack.

"Uh, no monsters." Paul said, sounding scared. "It's a surprise party. For you. Since you'll be away on your actual birthday."

My mind was racing and totally confused. A surprise birthday party? Friendly advice to everyone reading this - NEVER throw a surprise party for the demigod in your life. As I might have mentioned, we're used to surprises being bad things. Kill-you things. And, well, most will probably react like I did - stab first, ask questions later.

"Uh-" Rachel said and I realized I was still holding a knife in her chest.

"Right. Sorry." I pulled the knife free and we both checked her for damage just to make sure. Thank the gods, Rachel was completely fine.

I looked around the room. It was a small party, just Sally, Paul, Rachel and -

"Tyson!" I said excitedly.

"Annabeth!" He gave me a tight hug.

A hand tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to see the last person I'd expected in that room - My dad.

"Happy Birthday." He said shyly.

"Uh, thanks. What are you - how are you -"

"Uh, Mrs. Jackson called and asked if I wanted to come see you before you, you know, go into battle again. And I did, and, well, I was hoping you'd be happy to see me -"

I broke off his explanation with a tight hug. I felt the others in the room relax, now that it seemed I was less likely to stab them.

We played board games and had an ice cream cake. It felt wonderful, after all the bad that happened last night to have all these people around me, reminding me that not everything was horrible in the world. Not everyone was going to disappear.

I spent the whole day at the Jackson's apartment, enjoying my party and trying not to think that it was the last birthday I'd ever have if the world ended. When I'd managed to shake that thought, I'd then remember that by my birthday I'd probably have found Percy. The mix of hope and dread nearly drove me insane. I slept that night at the Jackson's apartment, being far too tired to make it back to Camp safely. After another night full of nightmares (come on, Mom, you could take a break), I spent the next day ensuring that Percy and I's cabins were ready aboard the Argo II. I also drank more coffee than I am willing to admit.

That night, Grover and I were at the Hypnos cabin. It was our third try that week. We'd ended up in some random mortals' dreams each time and had to duck out before they found us. Grover was still getting occasional, tiny feelings from his empathy link, so we knew Percy was alive. Alive, and probably somewhere on the west coast. So we decided to wait until about midnight each time to try, to account for the time difference. Sinking into the dream world felt strange. Imagine sinking into waves of the ocean, except they are both lighter and more solid than the ocean. I really can't explain it. It isn't a bad feeling, just very odd. When I could tell we were under, I opened my eyes to look around.

We were in a new clearing. It looked fairly empty, just light flickers of dreams. People who weren't dreaming deep enough for us to join with. Grover headed off to my right, and I was inclined to follow, seeing as he had the empathy link.

Grover led us to a bubble that was flashing like crazy. He stared at it for so long I worried that it might be causing a stroke or something.

"I think this is it." He muttered.

"How sure are you?" I asked him.

"Solid 18%." He assured me.

I whistled. "So pretty sure."

Grover and I grinned at each other. We clasped hands, and took a deep breath. Shakily, we touched the dream.

In front of us was a train, traveling quickly. It took me a second and I realized what it was. The train Percy, Grover and I had rode west on our first quest to find the Master Bolt. It was the same train. Hope flared in my chest. Could this be it? Could this be him, and he remembers the quest?

"Come on!" I yelled as I started to run towards the train.

"Annabeth! You can't catch a dream-train on foot! What the heck did I even just say?"

But he ran to catch up. Soon he passed me - those goat hooves are fast when he wants to be - and started trying to talk to someone on the train. The walls of the train blurred, sometimes present, sometimes just fog.

It started getting hard to breathe. I wasn't sure why the dream was flickering so much, and I'd never tried running in a dream before. It felt like what I'd imagine running on the top of Mount Everest felt like - each breath left me light-headed and was harder than the last.

Grover stumbled away from the train, trying to catch his breath. As I passed Grover he gasped to me, "It's him!"

Hope surged into me so much I wanted to fall down and cry right then. But I shook my head and pressed on, determined to get to him. I got to the spot of the train and saw him, staring out the window. Then the train flickered and we were in a foggy area, running beside each other.

I nearly choked on a sob. He was close enough to touch. Would he even know who I was? Maybe I should introduce myself, but I wasn't sure I had time. I held out my hands, trying to grab onto him.

"Thank the gods. For months and months we couldn't see you. Are you alright?"

Percy looked confused and my heart sank. He didn't remember.

"Are you real?" He called out to me. He had that same worried expression I loved where his eyebrows knit together.

I remembered what Percy's mom had told me - Percy had told her memories of me that first year to assure himself that I was real. I faltered. I was falling out of the dream. I couldn't keep up this pace - my lungs felt like they would pop. "Stay put!" I begged him. "It'll be easier for Tyson to find you! Stay where you are!"

I fell down. I was out of his dream, back in the forest of the dreamscape. I laid there, trying to catch my breath.

I rolled over and lifted my head. Grover was several yards behind me. We looked at each other and smiled.

"He's alive." I croaked to him.

Grover just nodded, a grin on his face. "Told you." We both fell back, letting Clovis bring us back to the land of the awake. Neither of us had the strength to do anything else right now.

When we woke up and had finished tucking Clovis back into bed, Grover and I left the Hypnos cabin. I was supposed to go straight back to my cabin after each session - strict orders from Chiron - but I wanted to talk to Grover. I gestured to the campfire on the green, still burning, and we sat together on a log. We were silent for a few moments before I mustered up the courage.

"Did he remember you?" I asked it, feeling both hopeful and scared at the same time.

"No." Grover said sadly. "He said he didn't have any spare change. I can't think of why he'd say that."

I nodded sadly. "He asked if I was real. He didn't say my name. I don't think he remembered -"

My voice caught. All this time, I had been hoping, even knowing what Jason had gone through, that Percy would remember me. He would see me and call out to me, pull me into a hug and call me Wise Girl. But instead, all of our history had been wiped out. I knew I could help him remember as Jason had, but I also felt like the task in front of me may just be too hard. Go to Greece. Save the gods. Oh, and on the way, you'll be spending time with the love of your life who no longer remembers you. Enjoy that pain every day. Now let's add an impossible quest from your mom. And you get no help. Have fun!

I started to cry. Thankfully, so was Grover. We sat and held each other for some time. Finally, I got up and headed back to my cabin. I snuck in as quietly as I could - all my siblings were back for the summer and I didn't want to risk waking any of them. Demigods, as I may have mentioned, tend to stab first and ask questions later.