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

Chapter Twenty-Three

Plan of Attack

"There are so many ways we could attack but it means nothing unless we know where they are!" Annabeth argued, slamming a pencil down on the table.

"Good thing I found them, then, huh?" a voice said from the doorway. Everyone looked back to see that Clarisse was standing there, a smug look on her face. She had been gone for a week to find where Luke/Kronos was hiding. Our main plan was to stop Kronos before a war could started to save as many lives as possible. So if Clarisse found Kronos and where he was hiding, we could launch an offense and hopefully stop the war before it happened.

"You succeeded in finding it then?" Chiron asked.

"Of course," Clarisse said, casually walking up to the table and sitting down in her usual seat. "They're on the Princess Andromeda." Andee squirmed at the mention of the name and I put a hand on her knee, trying to wordlessly tell her to relax a little. Her fingers started tapping rhythmically on top of mine. "Their numbers have tripled from what we originally thought, and they're heading straight towards New York."

"Then we must go with Plan Sigma," Chiron said. I agreed with Chiron on that one. Plan Sigma entailed sneaking onto the enemy's territory (the boat) and planting explosives, and once our side was out, detonating them and ultimately wiping the enemy out. "We'll only need two or three people for this mission – the fewer people, the lesser the chance of being caught – and as much additional help as possible to get the explosives prepared. Beckendorf, I'd like you to take the lead. As senior counselor of the Hephaestus cabin, you have always shown great leadership skills, and you are one of the most skilled campers with explosives. I will leave it to Charles to choose the one to two other campers to join me."

"Andee, you're immune to fire too, aren't you?" Beckendorf asked, and she nodded. "Then I'll take Percy and Andee. I'll train Andee how to put all the explosives in place just in case something goes wrong. If it gets too hot down there, or the explosions start before we're ready, she'll be able to handle it because she's fireproof."

Fireproof. That was an interesting way to describe my girlfriend.

"I'm going to start right away. We need to keep eyes on the Princess Andromeda in the meantime – we can't afford to lose its location," Beckendorf instructed. "Andee, I'll start teaching you the basics right now. Otherwise, it's just a matter of waiting until we have enough explosives ready."

Everyone agreed and we were dismissed, Andee leaving with Beckendorf for a few hours to learn how to use everything, and quickly fix something if it went wrong. I had had a few lessons myself on this, and knew it was not something that could be learnt in just a few hours, but Andee was going to try anyways.

When Andee came to dinner that night, she was mumbling to herself, making subtle hand movements as she did.

"A lot to remember?" I asked.

"A lot." She let herself fall into my arms as we walked to the dining pavilion. "I don't know how the Hephaestus kids remember all that stuff."

"The same way you can remember any song or dance or poem someone shows you," I said.

She glared at me, and I just hugged her tighter. "You know," I said quietly, "we could just skip dinner and go do some…other things."

"No thanks, all this memorization and learning has me famished," Andee said, wriggling out of my arms and grinning impishly before sprinting away from me to the dining pavilion. I ran after her and grabbed her around the waist, swinging her around in the air as we both laughed hysterically.

This was the Andee I knew and loved. She was still withdrawn at times, getting lost in the thoughts of her Prophecy. But she had let me back in. She occasionally told me when she was thinking about the Prophecy and how she felt about it all, which was a start.

I knew she still wasn't comfortable with it – I wasn't really, either. I didn't like how I was prophesized to break her heart for the rest of her life. I would try to do everything in my power to avoid that, and right now, she was happy. And that's what mattered.

I gently put her back down on her feet and pressed my lips against hers. She instantly wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her tiny body against mine.

Someone coughed from behind us and we broke apart to see Chiron standing a few feet away from us in full centaur form, looking unimpressed. Andee just grinned and skipped over to the Apollo table, constantly looking back at me and smiling. Chiron gave me a look expecting an explanation but I just quickly walked over the Poseidon table and avoided it.

After a long and boring dinner, we were finally released to finish our last minute training and head to bed. Andee had that very focused look on her face as she fiddled with her phone.

"What's on your mind, gorgeous lady?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her from behind.

"Too many things," she mumbled, her fingers flying across the screen of her phone. "Oh, and don't tell Chiron I have a cell phone because he'll take it away and I really need this."

"Oh yes, I'm totally going to rat you out," I said sarcastically, lightly kissing her neck.

"I would rat you out," Andee said in a sing-song voice. "Hold on, I want a picture of us." She held her phone up and we took a couple selfies, smiling and with me kissing her cheek. "We are so cute. This is going to be my lockscreen," she said, looking at the one of me kissing her cheek. She had the cutest expression on her face.

"So back to my original question –"

"Chiron met with me a couple of days ago because he thinks I should go home for a while and spend time with Val and Johnny. Val is extremely pregnant and could pop out a baby any time now, and so I think while we wait for Charles to finish with the explosives and final preparations, I should be there to make sure the birth goes okay. Or at the very least, go see her before she gives birth," Andee said.

"That sounds like a good idea," I said.

"So you're going to come with me, right?" she asked, suddenly turning to look at me.

"Seriously?"

"Well, Val and Johnny-boy want to move to New York because Val was born here and it's closer to camp for me. I also have a standing offer at one of the best private schools for 'the gifted' in Manhattan, and we need more room for the baby. And seeing as Val can't really bend over right now, an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt."

"You want me to fly all the way to Vancouver and back to New York?" I asked.

"That is indeed what I was asking," she said.

"Zeus has made it very clear that if he sees me in the sky, I'm toast," I said.

"Do you really think he's going to knock a plane for the sky carrying his precious granddaughter?" Andee asked. "Of course not. As long as you're with me, you're safe."

"Isn't that what I should be saying to you?" I asked.

She smiled. "I need to call my aunt to finalize all the arrangements," Andee said.

"Go right ahead. I'm just going to stay here and kiss you, and touch you…"

"Percy Jackson, if you lay a single finger on me while I make this call, I will end you," Andee threatened, pointed an angry finger at me. "I mean it. And you know I can kick your ass."

She dialed a number and held the phone to her ear before starting to talk in rapid Greek. I snuck up behind her and tickled her sides, making her scream. She turned and glared at me, finishing her conversation before hanging up and tucking her phone in her back pocket.

"You're dead."

"I love you so much."

"Are you sure that's what you want your last words to be?" Andee asked, advancing towards me before pouncing and tackling me to the ground. She started hitting her fists against my chest, not very hard, but just hard enough to make an impact. "You're so stupid! My aunt thinks I'm having sex now!"

"You are."

"She doesn't need to know that! She's already freaking out about your name and your father, and if she finds out we're having sex, she will kill me, let me come back to life, and then kill me again!"

"She can't do that – its child abuse."

"Oh my gods," Andee said frustratedly, rolling her eyes and standing up. "I'm going to bed. Pack what you need so you're ready in the morning."

"I think I need help with that," I said, winking at her.

"You'll do fine," Andee said flatly, almost through the door of her cabin before calling back, "Love you!"

"Love you too," I said with a smile.

The next morning, I was woken up to rapid knocking on my cabin's door. I slouched out of bed and opened it to see Andee standing there, looking impatient. "Why aren't you ready?"

I grunted. It was too early for any living creature to be awake and functioning.

"Percy! We have to get to the airport early to check-in before our flight! We can't be late!" Andee stormed past me and started throwing stuff into a duffel bag I had lying on the floor.

"Andee, it's too early," I moaned, flopping down onto my bed.

"No, we're officially running late!" Andee sad. "Now get your lazy ass out of bed and get dressed!"

I moaned loudly but she just walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Yup, that was the love of my life.