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

Chapter Eleven

We Get To Our Mystery Destination

In case you were wondering, Andee did get to finish her yoga in peace. But we had to skip breakfast to pack everything up to get to our mystery destination as quick as possible. Andee led us through the forest, skipping and singing at the top of her lungs. She tried to get us to sing along but that didn't really work as she planned. She shrugged it off and kept going.

"Andee, where are we going?" Grover complained after about two hours of walking.

"We're almost there, don't get your panties in a bunch," Andee said as she continued down the path. We eventually came up to a bunch of really old-looking Greek villages where all the houses were crowded on a cliff top with winding stone streets just like you'd see in the movies. Andee stopped about an hour later in front of one of the many look-a-like houses that had the traditional Greek style to them.

It was pretty far from the other houses, though. It was right on the coast, so close that you could see the startling blue of the Aegean Sea behind it. It had blue window panes and red roofing. There were green plants hanging down from the roof, and around the back you could see orange and lemon trees. Overall it was a really beautiful place.

"It hasn't changed at all," Andee breathed, her smile reaching from ear to ear.

"So you've been here before?" I asked and she winked at me before taking a deep breath and walking up to the front door. She knocked a few times before waiting. An older lady opened the door. She had grey hair that was tied back in a loose bun, and her skin had definite wrinkles, but she looked so loving and caring. You could tell she had been attractive when she was younger.

"Oh my…" the woman said in a thick Greek accent upon seeing Andee. She brought her into a tight hug and when she pulled away, I noticed the lady had tears in her eyes. "You look just like your mother did at that age."

"And your accent's gotten even thicker!" Andee said with a laugh, making the older woman laugh as well.

"How have you been, love?"

"I've been okay," she said. "I'm so sorry to surprise you like this, but it's one of those times where we need somewhere to stay," Andee said quietly as an older man appeared behind the lady.

"Come on in," the older lady said. "All of you, come in." We all piled into the little foyer at the front of the house. "Why don't you all go get cleaned up and when you come back downstairs, I'll have something ready for you all to eat."

Andee led us in and showed us where all the bathrooms were so that we could get changed and showered. Grover and I would be staying in a room together while Andee and Annabeth both had their own separate rooms. Andee and Annabeth would be sharing the bathroom between their two rooms, and Grover and I would share the same one down the hall.

Everyone quickly showered and re-dressed. When I saw Andee again, she was wearing a light blue, silky tunic-style shirt with a golden floral embellishment around the neckline. The shirt had a split neckline that revealed just a hint of cleavage, had balloon sleeves and an empire waistline. She also had on a pair of destroyed, cut-off short shorts that were almost completely hidden beneath her shirt. She wore a pair of high-heeled gladiator sandals on her feet and had her sunglasses resting in her now wavy hair.

"You look really great," I told her. She just smiled and took my hand before leading me back downstairs. I didn't understand why she was holding my hand, but I definitely didn't mind.

"Yaya, Popa, this is my friend, Percy," she introduced as we walked into the kitchen while the elderly couple continued cooking. They turned around and smiled at me.

"It's very nice to meet you, Percy," the lady said, a strange knowing smile on her face. "Just call me Yaya, and my husband Popa. Why don't you take a seat while we wait for the others to come down?"

"Okay," Andee said, sitting down at the table and signaling for me to join her. I looked out the back door and all I could see was the Aegean Sea sparkling just a few yards away. "You can go down soon, I promise."

I looked at Andee who was trying to hide her smile behind her hand. "How did you know?"

"Percy, you are the son of Poseidon and you absolutely love water – it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you want to go to the seat. And also, you're playing a symphony on my thigh," she said, her cheeks turning pink. I looked down to see my hand fidgeting on Andee's bare thigh.

"Oh! Um…sorry about that," I muttered, bringing my hand back as my own cheeks became hot.

"Don't worry about it," she said just as Annabeth and Grover came downstairs. "Yaya, Popa, you know Annabeth, and this is our other friend, Grover."

"Hello again, Annabeth," Popa said in an accent even thicker than his wife's. "And Grover, it is nice to meet you."

"Isn't Papou the Greek name for 'grandpa'?" Grover asked.

"That's correct!" Popa said. "When Andee was little, though, she always got it mixed up and it just stuck over the years."

Yaya brought over a plate of something I didn't recognize. "Batter-fried zucchini," Andee said to Grover and me.

"So Andee, what is going on?" Yaya asked and Andee glanced at Popa nervously. "Don't worry, I told him everything a few years ago when you weren't able to come every summer anymore."

"Okay, well…" Andee went into a long-winded description of the quest we had been given and what we'd done so far, which unfortunately, wasn't much. "And now I just have to wait for another sign, but I have no idea when that might come."

"Well, you can stay for as long as you need, Egoni," Yaya told her and Andee smiled.

"If you need help with anything around the house or anything, please let me know because I'd love to lend a hand," Andee volunteered.

"Thank you, Paidi Mou," Popa said, smiling at his granddaughter. "If you'd like to explore the area some more, I want you all to feel free to. Just try not to bring anything back here, if you understand what I mean."

"Sounds good, Popa," Andee said.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going for a swim," I announced.

"Have fun with that," Andee said, taking another bite of zucchini.

"What about you two?" I asked Annabeth and Grover.

"I think it's smarter if I don't go swimming," Annabeth said. "The whole Poseidon-Athena thing. And besides, Val left a lot of her books from when she'd come here with Andee's mom and I can't not read them."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm going to go either. I'm more of a land-dweller," Grover said. "I can help with your garden, though, Yaya and Popa, make sure everything is growing healthy."

"That would be lovely, thank you Grover," Yaya said.

"Andee," I said when everyone had dispersed, grinning at her.

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"You know you want to."

"You know, I really don't."

"I could get eaten by a sea monster if you don't come out with me."

"You're too salty for to make a good meal for any sea monster," Andee said offhandedly, standing up to walk away.

"Funny," I said sarcastically, standing up as she went to leave the room. I picked her up by the waist and tossed her over my shoulder.

"Let me go!" Andee shrieked, pounding her fists on my back. I could tell by the way she was hitting me that she was joking around. If she really didn't me to take her outside, she would have knocked me out already.

"Yaya, Popa, you know, you've got a really great granddaughter, but I think she just needs to cool down a bit," I said as we passed them in the garden. They just laughed and continued on with their gardening with Grover.

I continued walking outside with Andee on my shoulder, as she kept laughing and 'trying' to escape. Andee's grandparents had a large backyard with multiple gardens that had different fruits, vegetables and flowers growing in them. The one thing that stood out from everything else was a big tree that was entirely covered with light purple flowers that looked like little bells.

There was a little metal nameplate on the trunk that I couldn't see from where I was standing, but it really intrigued me.

"Percy, please put me down! I'll go swimming with you, okay?"

"That's all I wanted," I said, putting her down at the top of the stairs that led down to the little pier. She shot me a sly grin and went sprinting down them. I was certain she was going to trop and go flying, so when she reached the bottom of the stairs, I let out a breath of relief I didn't realize I had been holding.

I whipped off my short and jumped into the ocean. When I resurfaced, Andee had just taken off her shorts and was just in the process of taking off her own shirt. When it was off, she was standing in just a gold bikini. I got the intense feeling that I was going to need to get in the water sooner rather than later.

She had a completely toned stomach with a sun-shaped bellybutton ring dangling from her navel that matched her necklace almost exactly. She had a tattoo on her lower back that said "Ανδρομεδη" (I knew it was Ancient Greek, but I've never been the best at reading it) with some stars surrounding it, as well as a fancy sun design on her shoulder. My eyes drifted to her hip where there was a huge scar, marring her otherwise flawless skin. It looked like something had tried to take a bite out of her.

"You're not very subtle," Andee muttered, leaning over to take off her shoes.

"I thought you healed…" I trailed off. It wasn't really an excuse for staring at her, but more my thoughts being spoken out loud.

"I do…well, most of the time," she said, slipping out of her shoes. "Every hero has their weakness, right? Superman has kryptonite, Spiderman has his sense of responsibility, the Dragonfly with titanium steels, and Achilles' has his one spot of vulnerability – his heel."

"So what's your weakness?" I asked as she sat on the ledge of the pier, dipping her toes into the water. I swam closer and rested my arms on the pier beside her.

"Hellhounds," she said quietly, like she was afraid something would happen if she spoke louder.

"So what happened to give you that scar?" I asked as she touched it, gently rubbing it. I had to admit, it was probably the worst scar I had ever seen on someone.

"When I was about ten, I was walking home from school by myself for the first time. I was about a block away from home when something attacked me. I did my best to try and fight it off, but at that point I had barely finished learning how to control my powers – not so much of how to fight.

"It grabbed me in its mouth by my hip and started shaking me like some sort of…dog toy, I guess. My aunt heard me screaming, came running and killed it. But I was dropped to the ground.

"I started losing blood really fast and Val didn't know what to do because I had never been hurt this badly before. I was taken to the hospital and…and I nearly died there. My body had never been sick or hurt before so my body was affected really badly.

"My body started shutting down part by part and it was terrifying because one day I could do something or remember something, and then the next day I couldn't do anything. I was on life support and everyone thought I was going to die, but you know me, I like to surprise people. So once it had been stitched up and I had been given some mortal drugs as well as some ambrosia and nectar, I eventually started healing. And as you can clearly see, I made a full recovery – it just took much longer than it normally would," Andee explained. "But now I'm terrified of dogs – especially hellhounds, or any dog slightly resembling one."

"Wow," I said after a few moments of silence. I remembered that when I was talking to Annabeth about Andee before, she mentioned that something could hurt Andee, but refused to say what it was because it had been so traumatizing for her. But she had just chosen to tell me everything about it. "That must have been terrifying."

"That's a bit of an understatement," she said simply, staring out at the ocean in an odd way.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked and she nodded.

"It's just a very hard thing to talk about," Andee said.

"Well, thank you for talking to me about it," I said and she smiled a little. "Now, time to swim!"