CHAPTER TWELVE ━━ MEMORY LOSS WHO?

SHE BLINKED RAPIDLY, being pulled through the crowd by Nico di Angelo's small hand. He rushed through the crowds, she was almost afraid that his little newsboy cap would fly off his head. She could almost feel the blood rushing to her head when they suddenly reach the arcade games.

Nico stood next to few, at least five inches shorter and gave her the largest grin she had ever seen. "Bianca!" He called out as he rushed towards one of the machines. He rushed over to a confused looking girl off in the distance. Eurydice followed behind him, realizing the boy had let go of her hand to reach his sister.

Immediately when the young boy shouted, a girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes turned to stare at them. Looking up and down at them in cofusion. A suspicious narrow of her eyebrows. Eurydice could feel her face pale slightly. She wasn't sure why she let the boy drag her here. Actually.. she wasn't sure what she was exactly doing here at all.

Nico waved his hand excitedly as his older sister as he ushered her towards his sister. She blinked in some confusion. Nico grinned, getting ready to properly introduce them. "Bianca." He grinned at his older sister. "This, is Eurydice." He cheerfully introduced.

She immediately blinked. "Oh, right. That's my name" She murmured in realization. She had nearly forgotten. How weird.

She wasn't sure why she had forgotten that for a moment. She was supposed to know her own name, right? There was something she was supposed to be doing.

She wasn't sure how she had forgotten that. The girl turned to look at her, Eurydice could notice there was a sprinkle of freckles on her olive skin.

The girl wore similar clothes to her brother, faded brown clothing and a green hat. Her hair was noticeably a lot longer than Eurydice's. Bianca narrowed an eyebrow at the other girl unusually. "Nico!" She chided him. "What did I say about taking random strangers in?" She huffed, pointing her finger at him accusingly.

Nico immediately defeated. "But Bianca..." He complained, pouting. "She has nowhere else to go. She lost her friends!" He frowned. Eurydice winced uncomfortably, Bianca turned to her with a narrow of her eyebrow. "Is that true?"

Eurydice nodded. "Yes, Uh.. I don't know where they went. He was just making sure.. I wasn't alone." She winced as she spoke. Half-forgetting her manners. She could see the way Nico smiled at her words. Bianca frowned, her face softening at her younger brother's expression.

The girl seemed about the same age as her, only that Eurydice was an inch taller. The girl and boy were undoubtedly siblings, they both had splashes of freckles on their faces. Matching clothing with dark patterning and old looking hats. They looked like they were wearing old-timey clothing.

Maybe it was Halloween before they came to stay there? No, wait. That's stupid. She must be losing her mind. Their outfits reminded her of the costumes she had seen in a musical someone had taken her to.. wait who took her?

Bianca let out a soft sigh. "Okay, fine. She can play with us until she finds her friends! And that's it, okay Nico?" She stares at her little brother pointedly, who just nods in response. "Yes, Bianca. I promise. Can we play pac-man now?" He grinned as he walked towards the arcade machine next to his sister.

Eurydice felt a little on edge, for some reason she couldn't remember why. She was supposed to be doing something earlier.. wasn't she? She was looking for someone? Who's Grover again? Nico interrupted her with a grin, grabbing her hand and pulling her the bright yellow arcade machine. "Play with me!" The boy yelled excitedly. She smiled slightly, now she couldn't say no to that! Plus.. it's not like she's supposed to be doing something...

She grinned slightly as the younger boy as she helped him maneuver the controls and together press the buttons to run away from the ghosts and gather power-ups. Eurydice can't remember ever having played a game like this before. But she's not sure why... the game was a little older. But that seemed normal for.. wait, where was she again? Her brain felt fuzzy every time she tried to remember.

She could see Nico grinning at her as they handled the game controls. She wasn't sure how long they kept playing, but it felt wrong.

It was like time was passing by quicker than she realized. How long had she been here again? She shook her head quickly at herself. It probably hasn't been that long! She could stay here playing with Nico for a while until... until. What was she doing again? She can't remember.

All she can focus on is the push and shove on the game screen in front of her. She fixates on the colours on the screen as she moves the controls left, and right and left and right. She was supposed to be doing something right now, wasn't she? Oh well. She'll remember later. It's probably not that important.

She's not sure how long she's been playing now. Nico went to play another game beside them a while ago. She tells herself that she'll stop playing when she makes it to the end of the game. But she just keeps going. Like some unforeseen force pushing her. She doesn't fight back against it too much. The game is too fun.. and she's sure that she'll have enough time to do whatever she was supposed to be doing.

She can hear children screaming in the background. Running through the halls. But she can't take her eyes off the screen. She's not sure how long she kept playing for.

Maybe a few minutes. Maybe a few hours. She doesn't know.

All she can focus on.. is that game. She's sure that her fingers are numb at this point, but all she wants is to finish the game. Music drowns out her thoughts in the background. A tune humming softly in her ears that she can't make out.

She ignores it. And keeps playing the game. She wasn't sure how long she kept playing for. But the familiar presence of the two di Angelo siblings beside her soothed her enough that she didn't care. Nico was ranting about whatever to his sister in the background as Eurydice's eye stayed glued to the screen. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so relaxed.

She was supposed to be thinking about something... wasn't she? No she would have remembered by now. Would she have? The game on the screen looked much more enticing to her than finding out whether or not she really was losing her mind. Well.. it wouldn't hurt anyone if she just stayed a little longer.

Her body was going on autopilot by the time she landed her first high score on Pac-man. Her eyes widened with barely concealed glee. Her yellow avatar on the screen buzzing with every step away from the fluorescent ghosts colouring her screen. Pixels made up of pink, orange, red, and blue. She was just getting to the end of the game's labyrinth to catch the cherry for a power up. Putting her on another high score.

She craved beating the latest high score on the system. Eyes glued to the screen like a zombie. The more desperate kind of zombie. She could hear the sounds of a thousand voices blaring on behind her. It all became static inside of her head. Her desperation to be the high scorer on the game was palpable. The di Angelos had left to get snacks. Leaving her to the game. Which she decided wasn't so bad.

Despite the fact that she barely knew anything about this game other than by cultural osmosis, and general knowledge. She realized how much she missed being so carefree like this. Not having to check her back in fear of being followed. Not having this utmost constant feeling of dread configure every single facet of her life.

She felt that her body hasn't relaxed like this in a very long time. Maybe possibly not ever.

She had never liked arcades anyways. Something about them being too crowded. Game stalls always smelling of sweaty kids and teenagers. She wasn't sure if this was the exact reason why she had never liked them. Actually... she couldn't remember much about why at all. She blinks silently at the screen in front of her.

There's a moment where her focus breaks. But then it's back again. Her mind feels numb. Endlessly pressing on the buttons and dials up against the arcade machine. The reward of a high score was so close. If only time could go faster—

"Eurydice!"

Suddenly, someone seemed to be shouting a name. Her name? Eurydice flinched, turning to face where the voice came from. Someone was shaking her shoulder. Grover. Wait, Grover? She turned to face the satyr in slow realization.

She blinked in confusion. Her eyes widened in an almost indescribable emotion. "Grover?" She forced out in confusion. Hands stopping at the arcade controls. The game over music blared on the screen behind her. She barely even realized that Grover had started shaking her shoulders.

She frowned slightly in confusion. "What just–what was that?" Eurydice's voice wobbled with confusion. Fully aware of what just happened. Grover, Percy, and Annabeth were all staring at her in concern. Grover shook her shoulder slightly. "Come on, dude! We gotta go." The others looked like something serious had just occurred. Eurydice was completely lost.

She shook her head wildly. "Wait, wait!" She interrupted. "I wanna finish my game." She shouted. "I was so close!" She snapped her fingers. "I had it, Grover, I had it!" She ranted desperately to the satyr. Eurydice had a look of utmost seriousness in her eyes.

Grover groaned in annoyance. "Oh, gods. Was this how I was too?" He sighed deeply. Percy shook his head with silliness. "I know, it was so painful taking Grover away from his game." He was being serious too. Percy gets it! He always gets it. Annabeth sighed. "Neither of you are helping! We have to go." The seriousness in her tone brought the other two back towards reality.

Grover attempted to grab her by the shoulder again. "You're being unreasonable, Eurydice!" He argued. The girl shook her head at him. "I just wanna finish! Grover, please!" She begged, clutching hard onto the game controls, the overhead game over screen mocking her. She was clutching on the controls for dear life.

Grover got spooked and finally let go. Eurydice defensively ranted. "If I don't finish someone else is going to have that high score! I need to beat Greg!" She insisted. "The game is mocking me! You guys don't understand." She glared daggers into the game over screen. The letters seemed to only get bigger than longer she stared at it.

Annabeth finally lost her patience. Deciding it was better for her to do this herself. "We are all going to run out of time if we don't leave!" She insisted calmly. Eurydice's tone immediately turned into one of whining. Suddenly getting dragged harder by the other girl. "But I was so close! My high score. I had it, Annabeth, I had it!" She sounded like a madwoman.

On the way out of the arcade, all she did was whine. "I need this, Annabeth! You don't get it." She ranted. But this didn't stop the other girl by walking her down the hall like a stubborn child. She felt utterly humiliated. And by Annabeth of all people! This was so embarrassing!

If they had just let her have 5 more minutes to get that high score—Percy unhelpfully added. "I get it, I hate it when someone does that to me." Grover winced a little. "It's really time to go now, I still can't believe Percy was the sober one out of all of us.." He trailed off. Eurydice was confused. "Huh?" She said.

The others stared at her like she had grown a second head. "Where are we going again?" She mumbled in incomprehension. Grover nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I agree. Who even are we? When are we? How are—" Percy cut him off. "Not again." He mumbled. "Now you're both forgetting? Seriously?" He asked.

Annabeth looked annoyed. "Grover we literally just went through this. You're on a quest, we're your friends, and we told you to get Eurydice!" She had no patience for them loosing any more time in this quest. Percy sighed slightly. "Okay, guys," He turned back at Grover and Eurydice looking back at each other in non-clarity. "We're on a quest! Remember?" Percy reminded.

Grover shrugged his head slightly. "Uh.. nope. I've got nothing." He shrugged. Eurydice nodded in agreement. "Yeah, what he said." She grinned, swinging her feet as they came to an abrupt stop at the lobby. She could see the blond boy and the darker haired girl exchanged loud sighs with each other. What were their names again??

The blond winced, grabbing her and the other guy's shoulders. "Okay, so." He explained as carefully as he could. "We're Percy and Annabeth." He pointed at the other girl to try and get some recognition into their systems. "We're your best friends. Both of you! And I can't stress this enough." He said. Grover smiled. "Really?" He asked.

Eurydice however was not easily convinced. She narrowed a confused brow at the two of them. "I know your names but... y'know. I really think you guys are taking me for someone else! I know I'm great but—" Percy's face fell. "Oh boy." He groaned. Clearly frustrated."Guys, we're on a quest. We can't do this without you guys. We're short on time and we gotta go. Right now!"

Percy seems stressed. He tried again her again. "Eurydice, I've known you since we were like, two. So come on! Don't say that you don't know me, we had baths together!" Grover and Annabeth stared at him. "What?" Percy blinked in confusion. "What?" He asked again, confused. "We were babies. Our moms made us." He added. Annabeth's eyes widened slightly. "Ohhh, well—that makes more sense." She said.

Eurydice blinked in stark confusion. "Yeah... I don't see it." She said. The others staring at her "Our moms sound really codependent, not gonna lie." She said. Grover laughed. "Whoa, brutal!" He chuckled. "Also, I'm sorry, what was your name again?" He added.

Annabeth sighed. "Percy, I think we should just go." She decided. Percy sighed loudly. The finally agreed on something. "Yeah."

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The next thing she remembers is being dragged down to the parking lot underneath the casino. Grover was dragging her along as they walked across parking spots. He was much more keen on going on this adventure than she was, apparently.

Percy's eyes scanned across the open parking spaces. Lined across the pavement in neat rows. "Okay, god of travelers." He mused aloud. "What kind of car does the god of travelers have?" Eurydice blinked. "God of what?" She asked. Grover interrupted her before she got her answer. "Guys, I gotta say,"

Grover was cheerful. "So far, this quest is really exciting." He grinned. "Really hoping we find that car." They just kept walking. Completely ignoring Eurydice's perfectly valid concerns! They were basically kidnapping her here! It wasn't like she wanted to be here. She doesn't know these people.

Annabeth sighed. "Finding the car isn't the quest." She said. Grover blinked. "There's more?" He asked again. Percy winced. "Geez..okay. We'll explain on the way. We're in a bit of a hurry here actually." He told them. Eurydice frowned in suspicion. "Why? Are we late to something?" Grover added. "We're late?" He said.

Percy sighs. "Yes." He muttered. "Very, very late." He replied. She noticed that Annabeth walked on up ahead. Frustrated by the situation? Maybe? She wouldn't know!

Grover frowned. "Are we late because of me?" He asked Percy. Clearly concerned. Percy took a breath in, and patted him on the back. "It's okay." He reassured him. "We're gonna be okay." He said. Grover nodded, seemingly believing him. Eurydice just wanted to get back to Pac-man.

Percy stared at her and Grover. "Although, I  hope the games you guys were playing was amazing." Grover nodded in agreement. "I was hunting for Pan!" He said. Eurydice nodded in agreement. "I was so close to beating Gregory.." She had her head in her hands. Percy nodded, like he didn't really understand. "Sounds great."

Grover shook his head slightly. "No, I mean, like I actually felt I was about to find him." He said. "That-- that I'd be the first. That I'd help save the natural world." His eyes widened slightly. "It just.. felt so real." He said. Eurydice was still confused, again.

Annabeth called out to them within seconds. "Guys!" She shouted, standing at the front of a bright yellow taxi. Eurydice went on taxis all the time. She should know! Percy stared at the car in surprise. "Hermes drives a cab?" He muttered. Annabeth shrugged. "And he left us a note." She added.

Percy stared in suspicion at the cab. "How do we know it's for us?" In response, Annabeth shoved the letter into his face. The signature reading, to the dumb kids. To the dumb kids?

Wait.... "We're the dumb kids!" Eurydice shouted, in more realizations than one. "My mom dated a taxi driver once." She blurted out. It had been a while since she had properly been herself. "Why did I remember that?" She mused slightly, hand on her chin. Annabeth seemed relieved. "Well, at least someone remembered." She said.

Percy sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness you remember, because I was going to actually die if you didn't." He said. Eurydice winced. "Right.. sorry dude." She chuckled. "Oh, it's okay." He shook his head slightly. Grover still seemed lost, mostly. Maybe he remembered something. She actually wasn't sure because she wasn't paying attention.

Percy glanced at her in response. "Just don't like, die or something. Then I'll also die, okay?" He said. Eurydice nodded in agreement. "Oh, yeah. Fair enough." She laughed. They shook hands in agreement. Annabeth stared at them for a moment. "You guys are dorks." She said. Which was true, and more of a statement if anything.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Anyways. I should've known the god of thieves noticed his pocket getting picked." She opened up the letter to show to the others. "Bad door to the Underworld, magic word, map in the glove box." She read. "And he says we'll become travelers once we're on the road, and the the car will take us wherever we wish to go."

Eurydice's eyes widened slightly. "Ohh.." She trailed off. "So, one of us just has to drive it out of the garage." Percy muttered. At this notion, the three of them (minus Grover) turned to stare at Grover. "Oh, I'm still not 100% sure what we're doing here." He mumbled. "Which seems disqualifying, right?"

Percy blinked. "Yeah." He had that same look he had whenever he had gotten any particularly bad ideas. "Yeah, sure, I mean... I killed the Minotaur on my first try, right? How hard could driving a car be?" He was already playing with the car keys in his hand. Eurydice suddenly had a very bad feeling about all of this.

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Eurydice shrieked bloody murder. Clutching at Grover's sleeves for dear life. She kept her grip tight against her friend's jacket. The car was always teetering and bumping into stuff. And they had just gotten inside! "Jesus christ!" She shrieked again. Holding onto her seatbelt and Grover at the same time.

The tires were screeching. Percy was at the front wheel, with Annabeth in the passengers seat. Despite the fact everyone's seatbelts were on... they weren't doing too well. Because of how much Percy was crashing into. "Dude!" Eurydice shouted, out of breath. Terrified. "This was an awful idea! Why did you let Percy drive Annabeth? Why god why!" She shouted.

He already crashed their car, and they hadn't even left yet! Percy grimaced. "My fault, that was me!" He was getting more increasingly freaked out the more things escalated. Percy's face paled slightly. He looked extremely confused. "How do you make it go backwards?"

Annabeth stared at him. Mostly stunned. How should any of them know this? Eurydice started ranting. "How would any of us know that! We're not supposed to be learning how to drive until we're at least sixteen! Maybe eighteen the latest, or we can go and use the public transit for the rest of our miserable lives if we live through this!"

She stopped talking, out of breath from the sudden rant. She was glad she got that out at least. She was less freaked out, weirdly enough. Percy then moved something in the car and they started moving again. This time they went backwards. Hitting another thing.

Grover cheerfully grinned. "You're doing great." He encouraged Percy. Grin not faltering once even though Eurydice was latched onto him. Annabeth blinked. "Maybe try aiming for the middle." She added. Percy tried again, tires starting to loudly screech. Swerving the four of them to the left. Percy was still attempting to drive.

Eurydice groaned in frustration. "You're doing an awful job of this!" She shouted. "Look, you're welcome to give this a try." He said. "No way!" Eurydice said in response. The others felt similarly. The tires started to screech loudly again at another driving attempt by Percy. She hoped he wouldn't be this bad at it when they grew up.

Slowly but surely, they started to actually get somewhere! Thank you whatever god is out there. Nevermind. Another car passed them, which nearly caused an accident. She could hear the other car blaring as they came to an abrupt stop. "Holy shit." Eurydice murmured under her breath. She decided she hated driving lessons.

Annabeth took a shaky breath in. Snapping Percy out of his shock. "Okay, just keep going." She said. "Up to the street." She confirmed. Eurydice shut her eyes to avoid looking. "I don't even wanna look anymore." She muttered to herself. Annabeth was attempting to help him as the drive further into the parking lot.

Eurydice kept muttering obscenities to Grover. Grover clearly didn't understand the severity of the situation. "Grover you don't get it. We're so dead." She anxiously muttered. Percy started to suddenly focus on the road, and they were actually moving. She kept clutching at her seatbelt. Just like she had the day before they got to camp.

She muttered quietly to herself. "I can't look, I can't look." She kept mumbling. Head in her hands. The car swerving and turning like a never-ending carousel.

She shouted in relief. Her eyes opening wide as the car stilled. They were driving securely up the parking ramp. "Oh my god! You did it, Percy!"
She said. "I'm not gonna have a heart attack anymore! Isn't this great?" She turned to look at Grover. Who just nodded. But still looked completely lost. "Sure!" He beamed at her.

They drove out of the parking lot, well... they were almost out. The moment they started getting there. All hell broke loose. The car started hit lights that miraculously went out. Percy sent the car swerving back to the middle of the road. Instead hitting the poles separating the back and front sides of the exit. Oh dear god.

Percy was clearly freaked out. His eyes widened like saucers. Eurydice could see the exact moment in which the four of them had their lives flash before their eyes. (Maybe other than Grover who was probably not remembering he even had a life at all.) They were swerved around the road again. Right at the exit bar. Driving right into it, it broke with a loud heavy metal sound.

She could make herself and the others out as screaming. A truck's horn blared on loudly as they drove out into the street. Percy desperately pressed on the car brakes, they came screeching loudly as the truck nearly ran them over. The tires screeched lock. "So, someone hates us!" Eurydice said loudly as the car finally came to a halt.

The four were panted loudly in a mixture of relief and shock from almost getting into a car crash. This would have been the second this had happened to her. She was glad it didn't actually!

She immediately started to notice that it was raining outside. Rain pattered loudly against the glass of the car. She was glad they weren't getting rained on, at least. Knowing their bad luck the should have been getting rained on right now. "Where are we?" Percy panted out. Turning to the others.

It was so dark neither of them could see each other. Eurydice could barely make out Percy and Annabeth's figures in the distance. She still could feel Grover next to her. Which she was relieved about. Annabeth forced out stiffy. "Turn out the lights." She said to Percy. The boy listened and turned the ignition out.

Thunder rumbled on in the background. It was much louder than she had anticipated.

She took a shaky breath, forcing herself out of the car. Dragging Grover along with her. Who looked thankful that she did. Grover suddenly realized something. "Percy, Annabeth, Eurydice... wait. You guys- I know you. I know all of you!" He said. Relieved. "You guys are my best friends." She muttered soberly.

Eurydice was glad they got out of the taxi. She would have died if they spent a minute longer in there. She turned back to look at Grover, who winced. "Little weird that I forgot a lot more stuff than you guys did." He mumbled. "Wait." He stopped. "What even triggered you to remember?" He turned to look at her.

Eurydice shrugged. "My mom dated a taxi driver." She said lamely. Annabeth blinks. "That's it? Really?" She said. She shrugged at the other girl in response. Why should she question the gods will to make her remember random things?

Grover blinked. "Huh." He said. "Wonder what that's about." He murmured. Annabeth hummed. "We weren't alone. It's easy to forget what's important when you're alone." She pointed out. Eurydice's eyes widened. She was mortified . "And we got separated." She said with a grimace.

She felt awful. If she hadn't been so scared—"I'm so sorry Grover." She said. "It was my fault." She frowned, looked panicked. She can't believe she had gone and gotten lost. If they had stayed together Grover wouldn't have forgotten that much, and Eurydice wouldn't have been so obsessed with pac-man.

Grover shook his head at her, his eyes softening. "Eury, it's okay." He said. "Promise. Okay? It wasn't your fault." He comfortingly muttered to the girl, who still seemed stricken. She frowned. "But—" Annabeth interrupted her. "No, there's no but, okay?" She said. Eurydice winced softly, and nodded anyways. She was still ashamed of herself for getting so carried away.

She often freaked herself out with how paranoid she could be. She'd act irrational once she was scared. Latching onto the easiest thing she could grad. At the time.. getting sucked into the game had seemed safer than being alone with her thoughts.

The four of them stared out into the ocean. It was still raining. Eurydice carefully pulled her hand out. Folding the sleeve of her jacket down. Pressing her hand against the rain plattering from up above. Percy turned to them. "I think I gotta go meet my dad now." He said.

Grover nodded. "We'll be here when you get back." He said. "Then after that, we're gonna meet yours." Grover turned to smile at Eurydice. Despite how reassuringly it felt, she didn't feel any better. He always liked to make sure she felt included, in whatever they did. She guessed that included meeting deadbeat fathers now.

Eurydice winced slightly. "Oh, yeah. great." Her face paled. The others didn't question it. She hated being reminded that in less than 48 hours she was going to be meeting her own father. In the flesh. Oh god.

Percy frowned deeply. "What do I say to him?" He sounded lost. That even asking that admitted it. Eurydice didn't have an answer for him. Grover didn't either. But Annabeth did. She was always smart like that. "You'll know." She said, and she smiled at him. She smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly, Eurydice thought.

It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you might come across four or five times in your life. It faced, or seemed to face. The whole world for a second, and then concentrated on you with a belief in your favour. Eurydice hadn't seen smile like that a lot, at least to her memory. That smile understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that you were right where you should be.

Eurydice always thought that Annabeth had a nice smile.

She watched as Percy walked towards the sea. Leaving the three of them behind as he went to go talk to his father. The three of them shared a quiet look. As soon as Percy was out of view.

Eurydice turned to the others. "Wanna play mythomagic while he's gone?" She asked hopefully. Already pulling the cards out from her bag. Eliciting two loud groans from her audience.

█⠀⠀⠀. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ RAI SPEAKS!! . . .
              ◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡     Words: 4951

oh my god i'm back??? this chapter was much shorter than i wanted so you're welcome for double updates... because this one was really short and I fear i have a better chapter name for the next chapter and it's funnier so i actually have to do the next parts in the next chapter because the name of the chapter is funnier

still with me?? I'm gonna finish writing s1 and then we'll get to s2 babey!!!!!!!!!! i hit writers block but it's winter break so. happy early merry christmas! this is my gift to you. next chapter will be out by tomorrow... hopefully. if i stay up all night today and finish it. fingers crossed! anyways, hope you enjoyed reading. mwah. <33