Disclaimer: I do not own Rick Riordan, the Percy Jackson books, characters, series, movies, or anything else you may recognize.

Chapter Eleven

Keep Moving

"You're not alone, together we stand

I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand

Just stay strong

Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you."

"Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne

I sat in the Apollo cabin, looking at the box Val had sent. I already knew what was in the box, without even opening it, which was why I couldn't bring myself open it.

"Lee said you'd be in here," Annabeth said, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. Annabeth and Lee had been spending a lot of time together lately, and I don't think it was because they were worried about my mental state anymore. Were they dating? Oh gods, I hoped so. They'd be so cute together, and I really think they'd be good for each other. Annabeth could bring Lee's ego down a few notches, and Lee could remind Annabeth to take things a little less seriously sometimes.

"Are you dating him?" I asked.

"Who?"

"My brother."

"Oh," Annabeth said, her cheeks uncharacteristically red. "Would that be a bad thing?"

"No!" I answered. "Are you dating?"

"Yes," Annabeth admitted. "It's not official or anything, but we've been seeing each other for a few months. We've been spending a lot of time together…and kissing."

"A few months?" I asked in disbelief. "How did I not know this sooner?" Annabeth just grinned. "Usually I'm more on top of these things. Did he go to prom with you?" She nodded. "Did he give you a corsage and treat you like a lady?"

"Of course he did," Annabeth said.

"Do you have pictures?" I asked. Annabeth laughed and nodded, pulling out her phone and showing me. "Oh my gods, you guys are so cute. I'm so happy for you! Welcome to the family, θυγάτηρ." Annabeth smiled and hugged me.

"So what's in the box?" she asked, scooching closer to me on the bed. I had a bed in the Zeus cabin and the Apollo cabin, so that if I ever felt lonely or needed a little inspiration, I could stay with my brothers. My dad also insisted that if the main cabin I stayed in at camp was my grandfather's, that at the very least, I had my own space in his.

"School stuff."

"That's so exciting!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Why haven't you opened it yet?"

"I don't know if I'm going to go anymore," I said quietly.

"WHAT?" Annabeth yelled.

"I don't think I'm going to go to Julliard anymore," I said slowly.

She glared at me before storming out of the cabin. Well, that conversation was unusually short. Especially for Annabeth. I continued my starting contest with the box for only a few moments before Annabeth came rushing back in, followed by Lee (who was holding her hand which was super adorable), Will, Phoibe, Jason, Mel and Delia.

"Do you want to tell everyone what you just told me?" Annabeth demanded, putting her hands on her hips. She sounded like a teacher that just overheard me saying something rude to one of my classmates.

"I don't think I'm going to go to school in the fall," I said. Everyone gave me these looks – I couldn't tell what they were, but they didn't make me feel very good.

"Are you serious, Andee?" Delia asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Why? Why don't you want to go anymore?" Annabeth asked. "It's been your dream for as long as I can remember and you are going to start the new 'Triple Threat' program. Why on Earth would you turn that down?"

"Because it's not going to be the same without Percy. We talked all year about going to university and we planned which weekends we'd stay in each other's dorms and which weekends we'd spend at camp or with our parents. He busted his ass to get accepted into Stony Brook and was so excited," I said. I finally understood why they were looking at me like that – they were looking at me with pity. Poor Andee, she can't do anything without her boyfriend. How sad. "Stop looking at me like that! I'm fine, okay? We know where Percy is and we're going to get him. All I'm doing is delaying my post-secondary education for a year – it's not that big of a deal. Most people take gap years between high school and university."

"Andee, you can't stop living because Percy's not here," Annabeth said. "This is your dream, you have to go."

"We were supposed to do this together," I told her firmly. "We talked about it all year and it just doesn't feel right to do it without him."

"Honestly, I think you're being stupid," Jason said bluntly. Lee turned to him with an impressed look on his face. "We know where Percy is and we're going to go get him. It would be stupid to put your life on hold. There are enough of us who will be staying at camp year-round to get the ship done."

"Jason's right, Andee," Annabeth agreed. "Besides, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Not like I didn't have a billion other things on my plate. "Okay, fine! I'll go," I said, which seemed to please my friends and brothers. Once everyone was completely satisfied that I was going to Julliard, they left the Apollo cabin to continue with their training and camp activities. Annabeth stayed behind, sitting on my bed with the unopened box on her lap.

"Are you going to open it or what?" Annabeth asked excitedly.

"Yes! Gods, you're such a pest!" I teased, pushing her a little before digging my keys out of my bag. I pulled my dagger out of the sheath on my thigh to open the box and pulling out the contents. A few textbooks for my music and acting classes, a school hoodie, some stickers to put on my laptop and car, and a brand new pair of Pointe shoes with a note from aunt Val.

I figured you should have a new pair. Better start breaking these in. I love you and I'm so proud of you, paidaki mou.

"I should have opened this sooner," I said, more to myself, as tears started to well in my eyes. Val was only just starting to become more open about her emotions, so this meant a lot to me. I immediately threw off my running shoes and slipped my feet in the ballet shoes, tying the soft ribbons up my calves.

"Now that my spur-of-the-moment intervention is over?" I asked, standing up on the points of the shoes. Ouch, I forgot how much it hurt to break in these bad boys. Thank the gods I healed quickly.

"Yes," Annabeth said, and something in her voice changed. I did a pirouette and kept spinning in place as Annabeth spoke. "You can tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, not even Chiron."

"I swear on the River Styx," I said, still spinning and using Annabeth to spot.

"During my last search for Percy, before Jason returned and we figured out that Percy was at the Roman camp, I saw my mother."

I fell out of my turn, stumbling a bit. Her mother would be one of the gods who was splitting. I had only told Val about seeing my dad and grandfather at gradation, but even then, I hadn't told her what they said. I didn't feel like I should. "How was she?"

"She was…she was off. Like, really off. She was in the subway and she looked really lost. She didn't recognize me as her daughter, which I guess was because she was in her Roman form, now that I look back on it. She kept going on and on about how the Romans destroyed her and that she needed revenge. When I asked her if she knew where Percy was, she told me he was with the Romans and that I had to forsake him – that he should perish with the rest of them. She…she gave me something." I sat down beside her with a tug of my heart, knowing what she was about to show me. She pulled out the silver drachma with the owl on it. The Mark of Athena.

"Oh, Annie…" I said, dread filling my entire body. Athena had sent so many of her children to follow her Mark, but they had all lost their minds. Not a single demigod had returned unscathed.

"She told me to follow her Mark and avenge her or I was no longer her child." Annabeth's voice cracked as she tried not to cry. "You know what this means."

"You're going to be the successful one, Annie," I said, trying my best not to cry too. "I will help you every step of the way, even if it means healing your mind over and over. You're not going to end up like the others."

"I thought you said that even as children of Apollo, you could heal 'illnesses of the mind'," Annabeth said, hastily wiping away a few stray tears.

"I'm more powerful than them, and we're connected. It will be like healing myself," I told her. "I promise, I'm not going to let you end up like the others. You are going to be successful because I will be by your side every step of the way."

She nodded and I hugged her tightly, hoping and praying to whatever gods were listening that Annabeth would make it through this. We were going to have to depend on each other a lot over this coming year.

When school started in the fall, I split my time between home with Johnny, Val and Dimka, Camp Half-Blood, school and work. My schedule was so busy that I never really had a moment alone, which distracted me from having to think about the Prophecy of Nine, Percy, and the Mark of Athena.

I got to be really good friends with Piper once she figured out that Jason and I were related. I helped her train with her dagger, teaching her the best ways to get in close with getting hurt herself. She was a quick learner, which was great, and she was actually pretty good. I also tried to teach her that beauty was powerful and that she should use it to her advantage when she fought.

Silena had always been such a good example of that.

We talked about Jason a bit too, and I told her that whoever this Reyna chick was, that she was in Jason's past. Piper could be his present and future, but she had to make a move if she really wanted him.

I was at camp one weekend just after Christmas and winter break, sitting on the edge of Argo II, lost in thought. The ship was coming along great – I had no doubt that it would be ready in time at this rate. It felt weird to be doing it all without Percy. Not just the quest and the ship, but everything. It made me so sad to think about all those times we had stayed up late planning our futures, for him to not be here living it with me.

"Are you okay?" someone asked behind me. I turned to see Leo standing behind me, looking at me nervously.

"I'm fine – just have a lot on my mind," I said.

"You're not going to jump, are you?" Leo asked, a bit of panic slipping into his voice.

"No. And besides, I would regenerate," I said. "I was just thinking about Percy and how if he were here right now, we'd be doing homework together and sneaking around camp to spend as much time together as possible."

"Is Percy really as great as everyone says he is?" Leo asked, taking a seat beside me.

"I'm a bit biased, but he really is wonderful. He's funny and charming and so hot and an amazing fighter, but he's pretty stupid sometimes, too," I said, laughing a little. "Some of the younger campers think he's perfect, but he's definitely not. He's perfect for me, though."

"You really miss him, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I love him more than anything, and it's like a huge chunk of my heart is missing," I said. I could feel myself start to get emotion so I needed to change the subject. "You're doing a really good job with the ship. You're what, sixteen, and you've built an entire warship? It's very impressive."

"Thanks," Leo said, blushing at the compliment. "I just wish I had more hands. Everyone's been really helpful, but I usually end up re-checking everything that's been done by someone else just to make sure it was done right."

"Ah, so you're a perfectionist," I said, laughing a little. "I never would've thought that."

"When it comes to building things, they need to be perfect. One thing wrong and the whole thing is useless. Or it explodes, which is also bad," Leo explained.

I nodded before asking, "How are you coping with the whole pyrokinesis thing?" He shrugged a little, staring at his shoes. "It's not a curse, you know."

"Yes it is," Leo said quietly. He told me everything that had happened when he was little, all because of Gaea trying to break him at a young age, because Medea had told her he would be one of the Nine responsible for her downfall. He tried to use his pyrokinetic ability to protect his mother but he lost control, and she ended up dying in the mechanic's garage that she worked in. After that, Leo's extended family refused to take him in, so he was forced to move from foster home to foster home all his life.

I was lucky. I was so lucky that Val had taken me in. She never had to. She could've dumped me with my grandparents or into the foster system. She was barely nineteen and had barely started her own life, let alone would she know if she could take care of another life. Another life that had killed her best friend and the only sister she had known. But she took me in without a moment of hesitation.

I was so, so lucky.

"I'm sorry about your mom, Leo, but you have to know that wasn't your fault," I said and Leo shrugged. "That was all –" I couldn't say her name, especially when her power was growing "- that woman's doing, not yours." I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If it's any consolation, I actually killed my mother." Leo looked at me in horror. "Not on purpose, but technically speaking, I am the one who ended her life." He gave me a look telling me to explain. "My mom was a demigod – a daughter of Zeus. So having a child with Apollo wasn't her brightest idea, especially when there was a prophecy saying that she would die before she turned nineteen.

"I had no way of releasing my powers when I was in the womb, so the moment I was born, they exploded and killed my mom. The moment she would have turned nineteen was the moment I was born and she died. My dad lost his wife, my aunt lost her best friend, and I never got to know my mother because of something no one had any control over."

Leo was silent for a long time before asking, "How do you control it?"

"I don't – at least, not since the war," I said, holding my hands up so he could see the twin bracelets on my wrists. "The Athena and Hephaestus cabin made me these bangles after Kronos destroyed my control that I'd worked my whole life to get, and these are the only things I have keeping me from destroying everyone and everything."

"I'm sorry," Leo said.

I shrugged indifferently. "You just have to work with the cards you've been dealt with."

"Thank you," Leo said suddenly, before adding, "for talking to me. I mean, you're a pretty big deal as it is, in both the mortal world and the demigod world, apparently, so it means a lot. It gets pretty lonely spending all my time on this ship. I mean, I've got Festus here, but you know, talking to humans is also a nice thing to do sometimes."

I smiled. Leo was really sweet and unfortunately, had been through some really tough things in his life. I could relate. "Give me your arm," I said. He gave me a weird look, but complied. I pulled a marker out of my bag and wrote ten numbers across the length of his arm. "If you ever need an extra pair of hands, or just some company, give me a call and I'll be here."