I Jinx Myself

                                    

                                          
A week had gone by since Mnemosyne appeared to me. Since then, nothing had happened. No more visits, no more monster attacks, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened. And it was driving me crazy.

                          
While she still didn't remember me, Annabeth seemed to like me. Or, at least, we had become colleagues, allies in the same war. It probably helped that I was trying to act nicer to her. She did her best to keep me calm, but since she didn't know me, it didn't help much. Instead, I Iris-Messaged my Roman friends once a day to try to keep my mind focused on something other than Mnemosyne.
                          
Mr. D was no help, so I didn't bother with trying to talk to him. I told Poseidon, Paul, and my mother about everything I'd found out from Mnemosyne, but they didn't have any ideas either.
                          
So I tried to live a normal Camp Half-Blood life. I scaled the rock climbing wall every day, took shifts protecting the border, and occasionally did a few chores. Since I didn't have much to do, Annabeth convinced Chiron to make me the temporary sword-fighting instructor.
                          
I was currently teaching a lesson to the Athena cabin. After demonstrating a few moves, I paired everyone up to spar. Of course, Annabeth was the only one left in the end so she and I sparred again. But this time she was using her dagger, so I figured it would be a much longer fight than the last time.
                          
Annabeth began the fight, lunging forward and twisting around me, trying to slice me several different times. I spun out of the way and deflected her last attempt before bending my knees and readying my sword, staring her down. She returned the look.
                          
I sprang forward, going for her head and rolling underneath her feet at the last second. She tried to jump over me but one of her feet hit my legs and she just barely regained her balance when she landed.
                          
I swung my sword at her side and she caught my blade with the hilt of her dagger, and we stood breathing in each other's faces for a few seconds.
                          
"I've been meaning to ask," Annabeth said. "Where did you really learn to fight? I looked up your step-dad, even if he did learn swordplay in college, he couldn't have taught you to fight like this. You fight like a Greek, maybe even a Roman. Paul Blofis was a Shakespearean actor, he couldn't have taught you those styles. So who did?"
                          
I pushed Annabeth's knife down and spun as I attacked her again. Once again, she stopped my strike easily. "Would you believe me if I told you one of my teachers was Luke Castellan?" I asked.
                          
Annabeth faltered and I was able to free my sword and give her a small cut on the arm before she recovered enough to kick me away. I did a backward somersault and rolled away as her dagger whipped by me.
                          
"I knew Luke before he came to Camp Half-Blood, and you were never here before he joined Kronos and left us. You couldn't have been taught by him," Annabeth growled, narrowing her eyes.
                          
Annabeth lunged forward and I blocked her strike but wasn't fast enough to keep her from raking her blade across my cheek. I elbowed her away and wiped away the blood. "All right, I guess you won't believe me. So let's just say I had a private instructor who taught me a few different forms."
                          
"Fine," Annabeth said. "But I expect you to tell me the whole truth about everything later. Whenever it is you think you can."
                          
We couldn't speak for a few minutes as we continued sparring. We had both silently agreed to pick up the pace and step up our game. The only sounds were a few grunts and groans as well as the sparking of metal against metal.
                          
Annabeth ducked low and swiped her leg out to knock me off of my feet. I jumped over her leg and simultaneously kicked her in the face. She fell on her back but kicked me in the knee.
                          
I fell to one knee, grimacing, while she brushed blood away from her nose and stood up. She brought her dagger down toward my head and I raised my sword to stop her. Annabeth held her dagger with both hands and pushed down as hard as she could, but I pushed back just as hard and slowly got to my feet.
                          
By now, the rest of the Athena cabin had finished their duels and were watching our fight with immense intrigue. Annabeth took a split second to notice them which gave me the chance I needed. With my free hand, I grabbed her wrist and body-slammed her at the same time. She stumbled back and tried to stay on her feet but my grip on her hand made her fall over. I twisted her hand and she was forced to drop her dagger.
                          
I pointed my sword at her throat as Annabeth lay panting on the ground. The campers around us began clapping as I capped Riptide and helped her to her feet.
                          
"Whoever it was that taught you," Annabeth said as we each grabbed a bottle of water, "they did a good job. Luke would have had some competition." We were silent for a few seconds and then she said, "Look, I still don't know all your secrets and there's still a chance that you could be playing us, but, after all of this is over, if you need a place to stay . . . well Camp Half-Blood would be lucky to have you."
                          
I smiled sadly. "Thanks."
                          
"So you still haven't heard anything more from Mnemosyne?" Annabeth asked, taking a sip of water.
                          
I sighed, squeezing my bottle of water in frustration. The water didn't drip down the sides though—I used my powers to make it float to my mouth. After taking a long drink, I said, "No, and it's driving me nuts. When she left after talking to me, it sounded like she would be back soon. And it didn't sound good. She said something about 'what I would sacrifice.' I don't want to find out what she meant by that."
                          
"I guess this isn't your lucky day then, is it?"
                          
My blood went cold. I pulled out Riptide, fully prepared to stab her in the face as I spun to face Mnemosyne in the middle of the arena.
                          
Instead, my breath caught in my throat. Tyson stood trembling in front of Mnemosyne with a celestial bronze blade against his throat. Mnemosyne held him against her.
                          
I lowered my sword as Annabeth gasped. "Tyson, are you okay?" she asked.
                          
Tyson sniffled but carefully nodded. "Annabeth, who is this lady, why did she bring me here?"
                          
"I don't know, Tyson, but you're gonna be okay. I promise," Annabeth said, glaring at Mnemosyne.
                          
"Let him go," I demanded. "He has nothing to do with this, let him go!"
                          
I took a step forward and Mnemosyne pressed the blade closer to his throat and I stopped. "I'm going to leave, and I'll be back later with a proposition. If you don't accept, your little Cyclops here will die. I hope you'll make the right choice."
                          
"Please, I'm begging you, let him go!" I capped Riptide.
                          
Mnemosyne simply smirked and vanished. I growled and kicked at a dummy before stalking away without saying anything to Annabeth. Mnemosyne made a mistake by taking Tyson. He may be a Cyclops, but he was also my brother.
                          
And nobody threatens my baby brother.