Andy was in shock. Paralyzed. She'd seen Nico, a son of Hades, barely survive down there. How would Annabeth? How would Percy? She really couldn't have both Nico and Percy at the same time. Always one or the other. Her brother was in Tartarus, all for this stupid statue.

"I hope you're happy Athena," Andy muttered, "Your stupidity brought them to Tartarus." She knew it was a horrible decision to call Athena to stupid, she'd probably end up cursed, but she didn't really care at this point. She felt cursed enough as it was.

"It's my fault." Leo said and Andy didn't even look up, just dazed, staring straight ahead of her at nothing. Her green eyes reminded everyone of Percy, but they were so dark with grief, it was like the pair didn't share the same eyes at all.

"They're not dead. If they were, I could feel it." Nico told everyone. Suddenly, when Jason pounded his fist against the rail, Andy was there, clutching him in the same fashion that she had when they'd first met.

"You could have saved them! Where were you?" Andy yelled. It was silent until Nico put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Andy, we'll meet them at the Doors of Death. You'll see them both again."

Andy listened to Nico, backing off of Jason, and then gasping for breath, she wrapped her arms around Nico, burying her face in his chest, listening to his heartbeat. And for a minute, the sounds of her muffled cries were the only sounds from anyone.

Nico was on lookout duty, keeping to himself, way up high like that, alone. Andy tried to keep him company, but it was evident he didn't want a distraction. Then, the attacks began, with the alarm bells ringing.

Everyone flew into action, and Andy wished she had navigational powers like Percy did to help them at sea. "What can I do to help?" she yelled to Leo.

"Be the daughter of Poseidon!" he yelled back, heading to the steering wheel. She did just that, and soon boulders were being tossed at the ship. A boulder sailed over Andy's head, crashing into the foremast, causing the sails and Nico to crash to the deck.

"Nico!" Andy rushed to him, helping him up, and soon after, they were out of the monster's range.

"Andy, are you okay?" Nico looked at her sternly.

"Of course I am." Andy answered, puzzled. And then she remembered the promise to Percy Nico had made. Andy forced a smile at the thought of her brother, and touched the pendant he'd given her on her necklace.

Hazel took off on Arion, returning later with news of meeting Hecate. Andy had a feeling that Hazel hadn't told them everything, and when Nico pushed her for more information, Hazel clammed up. Andy shut her eyes. What if Percy and Annabeth…No. They had to be okay.

"You should get some sleep." Nico advised and Andy shook her head.

"I have to help out on deck-"

"Which you can do in the morning." He interrupted, causing Andy to glare at him. "Go ahead, get mad. But I've known you longer than anyone else and you'll just fall asleep on deck and find yourself in your cabin the end."

"You've been back like, a day, and you're already lecturing me," she joked and pecked him on the lips before agreeing begrudgingly. "I'll go. But you can have my cabin. I'll sleep in another cabin. Two have been recently vacated after all." She tried to make the situation sound light, but it didn't work, and she left on that note. She was going to sleep in Annabeth's room, just as she had slept in Pollux's cabin at camp when Percy had gone missing. But when she realized how precise and exact Annabeth's room was, she decided it'd be better not to mess anything up, and went to Percy's room. She sighed. "Dad," she said aloud, looking up at the ceiling, "Whether you're Poseidon or Neptune right now, you're still my dad. But more importantly, you're Percy's dad. And he needs to make it out of Tartarus alive. Please keep him safe. That's all I ask." She realized her cheeks were wet with tears as a sob escaped from her mouth, and she grimaced. "Percy has always been the prodigy. He needs to be here, not me…" she bit her lip, letting darkness close in on her. A voice seemed to be whispering these words to her and with a small gasp, she realized it was Gaea. "You can't win Gaea," She thought.

"But soon, you will come to my side willingly. The futures of your friends, their fate, are doomed. I could show you…" Images flashed past Andy's eyes of a lifeless Nico at Camp Half-Blood with Octavian cackling over him, Leo falling endlessly with his eyes closed, Jason and Hazel being through off a cliff, Frank and Piper surrounded by the undead, and Percy and Annabeth lifeless in front of the Doors of Death.

"Get out of my head!" Andy screamed, tears pouring down her face. The room seemed to close in on her and she ran into the hallway, wiping at her tears. She looked back, and anxiety bubbled up inside her.

"You will be abandoned. The feeling of loneliness never truly went away Andromeda, did it? Always second to her dear Perseus. Everyone chooses him, and you are always cast in the shadows of his spotlight. All you ever had was Nico, but how can you be so sure he won't leave? He always does. He lost faith in that jar. He lost faith in you. If he didn't ever leave, well, you wouldn't have spent more time apart than together. You wouldn't give second glances to that Hephaestus boy."

"Shut up." Andy muttered, and tripped over the end of that dumb statue.

"Andy?" she heard and immediately, she tried to cease her hyperventilation. Leo trudged over to her and squatted down to look her in the eye.

"Too bad you're something he can't fix. You can't fix something that's always been broken." Gaea whispered, fading away.

"Sorry." Andy rasped to Leo and lowered her head, shutting her eyes. She could feel Leo's gaze on her.

"Do you want me to get Nico?" Leo asked, beginning to stand, knowing at the moment, Nico was the only person who seemed to get through to Andy. The girl who obviously missed and needed her big brother suddenly grabbed at his wrist.

"Don't. Please." Was all she said. Leo sat beside her then, and unsure of what else to do, he opened his arms to her, and she went, leaning against him trying to ignore how warm his embrace felt compared to Nico's.

The next morning was filled with sadness too. The images of Camp Half-Blood on the wall in the dining room were just as painful as staring at the empty seats around the table. She shivered and felt someone draping something over her. Andy looked up to see Nico putting his aviator jacket around her shoulders before sitting down. She smiled at him gratefully, trying to ignore how empty Nico's eyes looked. He had gone through Tartarus, and it had changed him.

Andy didn't hear a word of the meeting, only replaying all that Gaea had said last night in her mind. When she'd finally gotten to sleep, Gaea was there, telling her there was a way to get her mom back so she wouldn't be lonely anymore. Just then, the ship lurched and Hazel yelling for Nico woke Andy from her reverie. Andy pulled her arms through the jacket and headed to Nico, who groaned from the floor.

Hazel, go. I'll watch him." Andy promised. Hazel didn't need to be told twice. Just by looking into those green eyes gone dull, she knew Andy would never let anything happen to Nico. Andy returned the jacket to Nico then with a weak smile, glad he wasn't hurt.

Andy missed the battle, with Leo and Jason returning to tell the story of how they'd retrieved their stolen goods. But Andy didn't care much for the story. But she did care for her friends, especially Nico. So when he, Hazel, and Frank offered to go track down the owner of some book Jason and Leo had obtained, Andy jumped at the chance to go. She couldn't speak Italian, but it was Venice, the town of water canals, so she could be useful there. At least, that's what she told herself. "It'll be like a double date." She had joked.

The monster cows killed any chance of romance. Lemures were around apparently as well, and Nico explained that his mom used to tell him and Bianca stories about ghosts in Venice. Frank asked about Nico's mom, and Nico told them how his mom and Hades had met in the 1930's in Venice, and how she had fled Europe with her children when World War II approached. Andy then took Nico's hand in hers firmly.

"Must have been hard on your mom. I guess we'll do anything for the ones we love." Frank said.

"Yeah. I guess we will." Nico sounded bitterly, pulling his hand from Andy's grip. That stung. But she didn't know what Nico was thinking, or even half of what he was going through, so she let it go. Was it Bianca? She knew it hurt her that Percy would sooner choose death over his own sibling, just as Bianca had done.

Then, they realized the cow monsters were staring at them. "Run!" Andy yelled, and the Underworld kids sprinted for the side street. Andy summoned water to fight, but it only seemed to make the cows angry. She whipped around only to get blasted in the face by green gas. She tried to make it over to where Nico and Hazel were, but her eyelids felt heavy, and she swayed, before toppling over, unconscious. Last thing she heard was Nico calling out frantically for her.

When she came to, she was in a greenhouse sort of place, with Nico looking just as out of it as she felt. "Andy." He said, actually smiling, and hugged her.

"Let's get out of here." Hazel said, after they'd gotten what they'd needed, apparently barley to survive in the House of Hades, and Andy agreed with Hazel.

More terror awaited the next day when a giant turtle attacked. A giant turtle. Andy tried to control it, but she didn't have the power, the strength, the practice to do so, and only when they got into a strait did the turtle cease its attack. Just then an arrow whizzed by Piper's head, with a note attached, saying they were about to be robbed.

Jason wished aloud that he wished Percy was there to retrieve his sword for him, since Jason had lost it. Andy's mood fell at that. She was about to volunteer to find it when Hazel did her thing and pulled the golden sword to her, and she handed it to Jason. Together, that pair headed up the cliff to greet the robber.

Andy gasped then, seeing an image different from the scene in front of her. It was Percy, bleeding from all sides, being cursed, looking like he was on the verge of death. "Give up now. He's done for." Gaea whispered in her ear, and the image faded, leaving her on the Argo II once more, just in time to see Jason fall off the cliff.

"Jason!" Piper wailed. Leo sounded the alarms and Andy pitched forward, and leapt off the ship into the water below. She didn't even go underwater, she just used her power to propel her forward across the surface of the water. Just as it seemed like she'd catch Jason, the turtle reappeared, swallowing him whole. Andy watched it sink beneath the waves, stunned for a moment. Then, with one swift movement, she plunged beneath the water to retrieve her cousin.

She saw the turtle down below shudder suddenly and spit something out. "Jason." Andy said through the water, and swam to him. Immediately, she put an air bubble around him and pulled him to the surface. His eyes then shot open and he whispered for Piper. Her charmspeak must've woken him.

"Andy." Jason blinked.

"You should probably fly back up the cliff and kick some butt," she told him and he nodded in agreement before shooting up into the sky, leaving Andy to swim back to ship.


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