Every mortal was dead asleep. The invasion was starting, and after looking through Annabeth's video shield, things didn't look good. Three hundred on the enemy side, compared to the forty campers here. But they had to defend Manhattan somehow.
"They have boats." Michael Yew pointed out to Percy.
"I'll take care of it." He answered.
"I'll help too." Andy stepped forward from the crowd, and received a demanding look from her brother that almost sent her back into the mass of campers. But he'd have to worse than glare at her to get her to back down. She'd already killed a person, and she knew loss well enough, so why keep sheltering her?
"No Andromeda, you'll stay with the campers. Pollux, keep an eye on her. Andy, you can take one of the bridges with another cabin. The water will be right there to use at your disposal." He then turned his attention to the whole camp, and gave different cabins different entrances to guard. Thalia and the Hunters joined them to take the Lincoln Tunnel, but one major entrance was still forgotten.
"Percy, the Queensboro Bridge." She reminded him. She only remembered because it was so close to their apartment.
"Fine, Andy, take Queensboro. Bring a few others. That bridge shouldn't be much of a threat. Once finished there, call for your pegasus and head to whatever section needs your help." He faced everyone. "For Olympus!"
Andy immediately headed towards her destination as soon as the crowd broke up, and only paused when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to look and saw Pollux there, along with a Hephaestus cabinmate and one from Hermes. "Alright, I guess you guys are my crew. Let's hope there's no one at the bridge. That way we can help the others."
But there were indeed a few monsters there. A few half-bloods as well. Angry, reminded of the half-blood that had killed Castor, Andy stepped onto the bridge and raised her arms, the East River coming up on either side of the bridge in two giant waves.
"You don't think I'm about to allow some stupid monsters destroy my home, do you?" she yelled to the enemy, grinning, excited at the rush of power she felt surge through her. Some half-bloods tried to run, but most of the attackers went forward anyway. Shrugging, Andy let the waves crash down together on the attackers, and with one swift movement from her hands, they were pushed back further and further from the bridge itself, back into Queens.
The monsters weren't really affected though, and began to charge again. Andy touched the ring on her necklace, and it immediately shifted into her pistol in her hands. She fought them off for a while, with the other three campers helping. Andy could have fought all day. Her gun never ran out of bullets, and she wasn't tired at all. She finally got to use all her training. This is what she had missed out on the Labyrinth for. But then something went wrong.
She saw a monster about to defeat Pollux from the corner of her eye, watching as Pollux's sword clattered to the ground. Dionysus' words from the campfire last summer rang out in her ears, and without thinking she turned away from her opponent to shoot the monster Pollux faced.
Pollux watched the monster disintegrate in front of him and grinned to Andy to thank her, but then his eyes went wide and he started running towards her, snatching up his sword along the way. Andy had no time to block the attack with water as the half-blood she'd been fighting took advantage of her distraction to stab her. She gasped, and crumpled to the ground, her hand on her abdomen, covered in blood. Next thing she knew, Pollux had killed the half-blood and whistled for a pegasus to come.
"It'd take too long to run back. We have to get her nectar, an Apollo cabinmate, or something, and fast." Pollux told the other two campers with them as Coral arrived. "Fight off these last few monsters and head to another location to help others." Pollux then cursed under his breath as he helped Andy onto the pegasus. Only three monsters left, so why did this have to happen now? Pollux clambered onto Coral and they took off.
"Oh Gods, you don't look too hot." Coral told Andy, and instead of answering, she only groaned. Coral set them down in front of the home to Olympus and Pollux wasted no time in getting her help. Andy kind of wanted to sleep all of a sudden, but Pollux kept shaking her which was really annoying her.
"Don't you dare. Gods, there's a reason Percy keeps trying to protect you and look! He's going to kill me for this." Pollux shook his head and then Will Solace entered the makeshift bedroom, and examined Andy.
"First Annabeth, now you. Percy's going to have a heart attack. Pollux, go fetch some nectar from Room 203-"
"Andy?" a panicked voice called out. It was Percy. He knelt down on the other side of Andy and looked to Will. "You can fix her right? Just like Annabeth?"
"Sure. The wound isn't poisoned like hers was. I just need a little nectar." And on that note, Pollux ran back in with a canteen of the stuff. Will did his thing and made Andy drink the nectar, and a minute later, he stood and smiled. "She'll be fine. A few hours of rest and she'll be good as new." He left and Pollux followed after him, knowing he had to do something whether it be fighting or running around for supplies since the enemy had drawn back at sunrise.
The Poseidon kids were left alone, and Andy, regaining her consciousness now, sat up a bit and looked to her brother. "I can explain-"
"I shouldn't have let you fight. You're not ready." He interrupted.
"Percy, we need as much help as we can get, and another Big Three kid sure helps a lot." Andy fumed.
Percy's eyes became like daggers as he glared at her. "I don't care. You're my sister."
"So what? Everyone else out there has a whole cabin full of siblings!"
"But you're my Andromeda. Andromeda Prince-Jackson. You're just twelve-"
"But isn't that how old you were when you first came to camp? How old you were when you fought Ares?" she didn't give him a chance to answer. "If I hadn't done something back there, Pollux would have been monster meat. I'm not that homeless, lost, confused little girl you found at Westover Hall anymore, Percy."
"I know that-"
"Do you? Because it doesn't feel like it. Gods, you're so stupid, Percy. Why is it that I'm not allowed to get a single scratch on me, but you can sacrifice yourself for a stupid prophecy?" Andy's voice got louder and louder as more emotions bubbled beneath the surface.
"You…you know?" his face softened. "Andy, that's the last thing I wanted you to worry about." He sighed.
"Percy…" she started, but she had no idea what to say, so she shut her eyes, trying not to cry. "Percy, you should go back to Annabeth now."
"But Ands-"
"Go!" she yelled at him, taking a pillow to smack him with, and he quickly left the room the herself. Talking to him about his inevitable death was too painful. She slumped down and put the pillow over her face as she broke down, muffling her cries so no one would hear.
"I have some more nectar and ambrosia. You'll need it if you want to fight tonight-" Pollux entered speaking, and cut himself off when he saw Andy. He put the items on the table and sat on the edge of her bed. "I'm guessing you two talked about the prophecy." He sighed.
"How come he can do dangerous stuff when he doesn't let me do anything? I hate him!" she screamed, throwing the pillow across the room. Pollux had no answer. Instead, he picked up the ambrosia square and gave it to her.
By twilight, Pollux and Andy were both outside with all the other head counselors when Percy and Annabeth came jogging up to them. All the cabins were to split up again.
"Pollux, take Andy and stay with whatever cabin you've chosen to guard with." Percy said, not even glancing once at his sister. Andy didn't bother looking at him either, instead looking out towards the Resevoir. Andy and Pollux went with a cabin towards the Lincoln Tunnel, and Andy inwardly sighed. Even with her gun and her water powers she couldn't fight off the enemy. Later, everyone was being pushed back by Kronos' army until they were only a block away from the Empire State Building. But just then, as Andy shot a half-blood to wound him, the sound of a stampede was heard. Andy jumped out of the way and saw a herd of centaurs screaming weird phrases and such, carrying NERF guns of all things. Wanting to know the source of this, figuring Chiron was here, she told Pollux to keep fighting, and she raced down the sidewalk to the Empire State Building.
She spotted Chiron then, but Percy ran straight past her with grave intent and she whirled around to see what she'd passed by that had got Percy's attention. It was a blue Prius. Paul's blue Prius. She knew it by the license plate, and she too, following in Percy's lead, by sprinting over to it. Inside were their mom and their step-father, asleep like the rest of the mortals. He two kids pulled on the doors but they were locked.
"I can't just leave them here!" Percy sounded like he was starting to lose it and Andy looked to him with fear and concern in her eyes. Just as Chiron galloped over and Percy cut through the driver side window to put the car in neutral, there was the sound of a helicopter overhead. They both looked up and Andy recognized the red hair that could only belong to Percy's friend from school, Rachel.
"Andy, resume your fighting station. I'll take care of this." Percy said, without looking to her. Andy thought about arguing with him, but knew better than to do so, as now wasn't the time, and he was letting her fight. So she took off down the block, her gun at the ready.
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