Chapter 46 - Phone Calls on a Greek Trireme

It was early the next morning when I heard a strange noise. Or at least, it was a strange noise to hear when you are on a magic flying ancient Greek trireme. A cell phone. MY cell phone. I got up and pulled open the desk drawer I kept the phone in. I looked at the display. Sally Jackson. I couldn't think of any reason she would be calling me so early. It wasn't even 8 AM back in New York. I quickly accepted the call.

"Sally, wh-"

"He called me." Came the breathless reply. "Annabeth, Percy called me."

My heart raced. "He… he called you?" At the moment, I was too excited to care that he hadn't tried my cell phone. "What did he say?"

"It was on the machine this morning. It's from an Alaska number." Alaska? If Percy was in Alaska, why were we flying to California?

"We'll play it for you." I heard some fumbling on the other end of the line. Then, Percy's voice.

"Mom? Hey, I'm still alive. Hera put me to sleep for a while, then she took my memory, and... anyway, I'm ok. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest. I'll make it home. I promise. I love you."

I sat back in silence, tears once more finding their way to my face. Clearly I needed to dust my room.

"Annabeth?" Came Sally's voice.

"I'm here. I just…"

"I know, sweetie." Came the voice from the other end. And I knew she did.

"He remembered." I still couldn't believe it.

I heard a sob on the other end of the line. Then Paul got on. "You'll be there… when?"

"Tomorrow morning, we think. We had hoped for today, but well, monsters and the ship kept threatening to explode and -."

I could tell Paul was grinning. "Annabeth. Thank you. Thank you, for, well, everything." A lump formed in my throat. After all those two had done for me, I was the one who needed to thank them.

"I'll try to call you when we can." I said instead.

"I'd appreciate it. Goodness, it's probably the middle of the night where you are. Sorry to wake you." Sally's voice said.

"It's ok. I… I'm glad you woke me."

"We'll wait for your call."

"Ok. And, guys, uh…. I love you."

There was a pause on the other end. I wondered if I had overstepped.

"Annabeth, we love you too dear. So, so much."

After breakfast and my first watch of the day was over I went back to my cabin and pulled the duffle bag out from under my bed. This was the bag I had saved, in case Percy remembered his old life. I trotted it across the hall, humming to myself. Jason saw me and came to see what I was doing.

"Annabeth? Is everything -"

"Percy remembered!" I said, turning to grin at him. "He remembered Tyson and he remembered his mom and his mom's phone number and -" I clapped my hands over my mouth. I couldn't help it, I was grinning that huge, crazy grin again. I may or may not have done a tiny happy dance.

Jason grinned back. "That's great! So what are you -"

"I, uh, didn't want to put this stuff up until I knew he remembered his life, you know?" I pulled out the photos I'd taken from his cabin. The drawings that Rachel had made. Jason came over to look. He picked up a photo.

"Are these his parents?"

"Yeah, that's his mom, Sally, and his step-dad Paul. That was at their wedding."

"They had a blue wedding cake?"

I grinned, remembering it. "Yeah. Sally and Percy love blue. Percy's last step-dad said there was no such thing as blue food, and, well, she wanted to prove him wrong."

Jason grinned at me then selected another photo. "Is that my sister?"

"Yeah. She, Percy and I went out for burgers after the Titan War."

"Is her leg broken?"

"Yeah, uh, Hera made a statue fall down and nearly crush me but Thalia took the hit instead. She healed up pretty fast."

"She must've hated being on crutches."

I shrugged. "Actually, she seemed to take it as a challenge. Like, she spent a lot of time learning how she could fight using the crutches as weapons and stuff."

Jason chuckled at that and looked through the other photos as I pinned the first two up.

"Is this Poseidon?" He asked. I turned and saw him holding up the photo of Percy and Poseidon together. I nodded.

"He doesn't look very godly." Jason muttered.

"A lot of gods don't."

He flipped to another photo. We kept talking and for the first time in a long while, it felt good to talk about my memories with Percy. Not bittersweet or sad or anything - because now I knew that he remembered.

That night I had all blue food again, to the confusion of the others. Jason understood, now, and grinned at me. I also talked to Leo about sending one of his magic scrolls ahead of us in the morning so that the Romans wouldn't blast us out of the sky. After a quick fight - Leo wanted to stop to paint the hull with a greeting and a smiley face, which I vetoed - he assured me he'd program one tonight and record it in the morning before we were in blasting distance. Jason and I went over the arrival plans once more - I was still scared we wouldn't be able to find the camp. Lastly, I went to my cabin and slid my phone out from my desk drawer. Even though our relationship was better, I was still nervous about what I was about to do. I dialed the number and waited for the voice to pick up.

"Hi Dad."

"Annabeth! Is everything ok?"

"Uh, yeah, we're almost to San Francisco -"

"Did you find Percy?"

"N-not yet, but he called his mom and we, uh, we think he remembered."

"That's great!"

'Yeah. I just wanted to call and let you know, uh, that if I have time I'll try to stop by to visit, ok? But…. I'm not sure I can."

There was a moment of silence. "I understand Annabeth. Is there anything I should do?"

"Uh, can you tell the boys I love them? And I hung up their pictures in my cabin on the ship and…. That I love my stepmom? You know, just in case -" I took a breath, not wanting to mention the 'just in case'.

"Of course. Annabeth - we love you too. The boys are here, do you want to talk to them?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I would."

After a quick talk with my mortal half-brothers and stepmom, I spent the rest of the day reviewing my notes on all the Roman leaders. Reyna would be the one I'd need to convince the most, Jason had said. But he'd also spoken highly of her, and that she might be willing to work with us. I looked over all the names and details Jason had given me. Finally, I went to find Piper.

"Hey." I said, knocking on her open door.

"Hey! What's up?"

"Kinda nervous." I admitted.

"About the Romans attacking us?"

I shook my head and bit my lip. "About Percy." I murmured. She patted the spot next to her on the bed.

"What about him? You said he remembered his mom and Tyson and maybe you, so -"

"What if he found someone else?" I whispered. "H-he did before. Before the Titan War, I'd wanted to spend the whole summer with him, but he kept running off to be with Rachel and I thought -"

"Hey. It'll be ok. That worked out, didn't it?"

"I mean, the competition kinda became an Oracle who isn't allowed to date anyone, and I'm not sure that's an option again."

Piper laughed a big, full laugh. "Ok. But still, Percy chose to be with you."

"Yeah. But it was close. And this other time, he ended up on Calypso's island and almost stayed and I'd thought he was dead and -" I buried my face in my hands. Piper gently wrapped an arm around me.

"Annabeth. Come on. It'll be ok. You've been searching for Percy for months now, try not to give up hope at the last minute."

"I k-know, I j-just -"

Piper gently hummed a song and stroked my back. It felt strange, but comforting. Slowly, my breathing steadied.

"Thanks Pipes."

She grinned at me. "No problem. Annabeth, you don't always have to be perfectly in control, you know?"

"I'd like to be." I admitted and she grinned at me. "I guess that's my pride talking again. I just feel like if I could control everything the world would be a better place."

"Hey, I'm not going to argue with that. You'd probably do a pretty good job ruling the world. But you'd also probably run yourself ragged each day. How about we pick something you can control?"

"Like what?"

"Like….. Have you decided what you're going to wear when you see Percy again?"

"That is hands down the most child-of-Aphrodite thing I have ever heard you say."

"I'm serious! That's something you can actually control, right?"

"Yeah. I guess so." I shook my head. "I'll just wear my normal. Orange shirt. Jeans. Hair back. No need to freak him out." I bit my lip. "I can't believe he actually remembered. It's….. More than I could possibly hope for. I…. I'm really going to see him tomorrow. Get Percy - MY Percy - back." I couldn't stop smiling. My face hurt from smiling all day, but I just couldn't stop.

She grinned at that and I stared across the room into a small mirror Piper had above her desk. I was pretty sure Leo had installed it as a joke because it had a pink sparkly rim, but one can never be sure with Piper. I put my hand to my hair and traced the spot where I'd lost my grey stripe.

"You never told me, what was the grey hair about?" Piper asked. "Some kind of fashion statement?"

"Uh, no. But I still miss it 'cause Percy had one too. We got them years ago because we both held up the weight of the sky. Like, the Titan Atlas's curse."

"Yeah. More information, please." Piper said, hugging a pillow to her chest and looking very interested. I'm not sure I mentioned recently, but Piper McLean is a great friend.