Percy Jackson - Cursed to Forget

An Unexpected Visitor

You know, keeping track of time is really weird when you live like I do. At some points it feels like the weeks fly by, other times it feels like they don't go by at all. But that has led me too now. Sitting outside my family home, hidden in the shadows on the fire escape, watching the party inside. 5 years old, my baby sister is now 5 years old. Time has really gone by quickly. It seems like just last week she was crawling around the apartment. Now I'm sat in the warm spring evening watching that same little girl blow out the candles of her birthday cake, surrounded by her friends, their parents and of course, our parents.

While time hadn't been very kind to me, it seemed to favour my mother. Although you could tell she was slightly older then when I had to leave, she had aged with a grace that even the gods would be jealous of, should they actually age that is. Paul hadn't done too badly either. But this day wasn't about them, it was about the little girl with the salt and pepper hair and the sparkling green eyes who was giggling with her friends whilst having chocolate cake smeared on her mouth. It was a beautiful moment, one that would be remembered forever, but one that I was not a part of. Despite that fact I am happy that I at least share one thing with my sister. Those green eyes seem to be the jewel of the Jackson children. Although that was another thing that time had changed. While they both resembled the ocean, hers were a sparkling green like on a nice sunny day, mine had changed slightly. They were now slightly darker and held something in them, call it a mix between a sorrow and a rage. I think the best way I've heard them be described was from an old sailor, "like the calm ocean before a storm," he had said to me. A bit cliché given I was a son of the sea god but still strangely accurate. Still I'm grateful that they are the thing I share with Estelle. It was something of mine that she could see every time she looked in a mirror, even if she had no idea who I was.

As evening slowly turned into night, and her friends started to leave, I figured it was about time I left as well. I gave one last look back through the window at my family who were waving to the last of Estelle's friends as they left, then I was gone. A small cloud of mist the only remnant of my being there.

Although it was dark I knew where I was. It was a beach and I wasn't too far from camp half-blood, figure I'd see how everything was going tomorrow. Instead of pulling out my torch from my backpack I moved around using the water molecules to see. It was a neat trick I had learned and it basically removed my need for light. I had tried fighting monsters in the dark using the same trick but it was at those times that I had gained quite a few scars that probably could have been avoided. I made my way further up the beach until I found an area where nothing would bother me and pulled out my sleeping bag. I lay it out and climbed in. Listening to the sounds of the waves crashing upon the beach and looking up to the stars, I finally seemed to ever so slightly relax. It wasn't long until I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I don't know how long I had been asleep for but I soon arrived in a setting I had become all to familiar with, Tartarus. I was also face to face with someone I had become some what well acquainted with these past years, Tartarus. "Is it that time of the month already?" I asked the primordial in front of me. You see, ever since that first visit all those years ago, once a month Tartarus would show up in my dream to inflict one injury of unimaginable pain. "I so wish I could cut that tongue of yours out," he replied.

"I bet you do," I said, "so are we going to do this thing or do you want to continue to play catch up?" If looks could kill, the one he was giving me right now would definitely send me to Hades. I don't know why I was antagonising the person who was about to torture me, call it some sort of defect in my character but I couldn't really help it. Tartarus composed himself and let out a deep sigh. "How many did you save this month?" he asked me.

"From monsters, 3, in general, 5," I replied. Tartarus brandished a sly smile, and I braced myself for his response. "Looks like I beat you this time, my monsters sent 4 straight to hell," he laughed. I grit my teeth as he laughed. I hated this game he played. I don't know when it started, but at some point he started asking me how many demi gods I saved each month, then he would tell me how many the monsters killed. Most of the time I saved more then he killed, and when he didn't ask me the question I knew I saved them all. Those were the months I liked, seeing the all powerful primordial be beaten at his own sick game was the source of what kept me going. But it wasn't all good, rarely months like these happen. The months where he manages to kill more then I save, it's the worst feeling in the world. I had accepted the fact that I couldn't save everyone long ago, even before I was on my own. But it didn't change the fact that I blamed myself for every single death that I couldn't prevent.