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

Chapter Thirty-Three

Surprise

I grabbed Will Solace, Michael Yew and Lee Fletcher and after finding some nearby motorbikes, we raced towards the Plaza Hotel. How lucky was it that Andee had kind of taught me how to drive one this summer while we were in Greece?

It took us only five minutes to reach the Plaza, a huge old-fashioned hotel made of white stone and had a gabled blue roof. I had never been in the hotel before, but as I ran through the lobby, I noticed the crystal chandeliers and passed out rich people in suits and fancy dresses.

A couple of Hunters gave us directions to the elevators, where we rode up to the top floors. Apparently the campers had taken over the top floors as our headquarters away from Olympus. I was relieved to see so many of my friends had made it through the night alive, even if they were pretty beat up.

"Where's Annabeth?" I asked before anyone could say anything else.

"On the terrace," Jake said, glancing over his shoulder nervously and turning a shade paler. "She's still alive, but…"

I pushed past Jake and ran onto the terrace, noticing for the first time that it was already morning. The sky was blue and clear. Annabeth didn't look nearly as cheerful and bright as the sky. Her face was extremely pale and beaded with sweat. She was swaddled in blankets, but she still shivered like it was snowing outside. Will and Lee unwrapped Annabeth's blankets a bit to show the wound, which looked deep and was a horrid shade of green.

"Annabeth…"

"There was poison on the dagger," she said, her voice quiet as she took deep breaths. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

Will examined the cut closer. "It's not as bad as it looks, Annabeth. If we'd gotten here a few minutes later, maybe, but the venom hasn't gotten very far yet. Just lie still and somebody hand me some nectar."

Lee sat next to Annabeth and held her hand. "I've got you," Lee said quietly and Annabeth smiled at him. I felt like my head was exploding.

"Wait a second, are you two –"

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain and get Andee's bag from the closet," Annabeth mumbled, making a motion like she was going to hit me but she was too weak to lift her free arm very high. I stood up and headed over just as Will started pouring nectar into the wound. The black bag was sitting in the closet just like Annabeth had said and I stare at it for a moment, remembering that Andee had sent it back to camp before we went on the boat. Like she knew…like she knew what was going to happen.

I rushed back out to the terrace and dropped the bag in front of Lee. He immediately reached in and pulled out a small kit I hadn't seen before. He unzipped it and inside was a small tube of silver paste, as well as several needles full of dark red blood.

"What are those for?" I asked as Lee took one of the needles out and pierced it into Annabeth's arm, slowly pushing the stopper down.

"It's Andee's blood," Will said as Lee started rubbing silver paste all over the wound and singing a hymn to Apollo in Ancient Greek. "All of us – Apollo's kids – are universal donors, but Andee's blood has regenerative properties. When it's injected into someone else, it can heal injuries and most ailments."

I watched the wound push a black substance out and close as we spoke. It was amazing what the Apollo campers were capable of. "She's healed me before and she never gave me her blood," I said.

"She hardly ever needs to use it," Lee said. "Usually she can heal with a touch and a song, but the blood takes less of a toll on her."

"Speaking of Andee," I said, deciding that now was as good a time as ever to bring it up. "She knew what was going to happen on the boat, didn't she?"

Annabeth looked to Lee before the two of them nodded. "She didn't want to tell you because she knew you'd try to stop it from happening," Annabeth said. "Percy, she really loves you but she knows just as well as you do that you can't change fate. No matter what you had done to try to protect her, there was no way she was making it off that boat."

I let that sink in a bit. I had known something was off with Andee that night, but I hadn't thought she was hiding something that important. Even though every part of me wanted to believe that I could have and should have protected her, the logical part of me – and yes, there was a logical part of me – reminded me that Annabeth was right. Once the Fates made a decision, it was near impossible to escape it.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said quietly. "She made me a promise." I nodded to show I understood. Andee was stubborn, and she would have known if someone had told me ahead of time. And she would have been pissed. Annabeth looked up at Will and Lee and the two of them got up to leave, Lee giving Annabeth's hand a quick squeeze. "There's something else I need to tell you about, Percy."

"You should rest," I said. "Unless it's about what's going on between you and Lee, and then I want to know. I'd love an excuse to kick his ass for a change."

She gave me a warning look. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain. We're not dating or anything – we've just gotten close over the years." She paused for a moment. "I want you to know why Hermes is mad at me. It's been bothering me for a long time."

"Annabeth –"

"Just listen. Last year, Luke came to see me while I was staying at Andee's," she said softly. "He came under a flag of truce in the middle of the night, saying that we only had five minutes to talk and he looked so scared. He told me that Kronos was using him as a stepping stone to take over the world. He wanted me to run away with him, like the old days, but how could I trust him? So many things had changed, but I can't help but feel that if I had done something, anything, maybe none of this would have happened. I had a knife and he was unarmed…"

"And what would you have done, Annabeth, killed him?" I asked. "We both know you could never do that."

"But the way he used the phrase 'stepping stone'…I think Luke's body may only be a transitional phase. What if Kronos is planning to become even more powerful? I could have stopped him."

"Andee was there when this was happening? What did she do?"

"She never knew," Annabeth said. "Luke waited until he was sure she was asleep before approaching me. When Andee woke up and noticed I had left, she tried asking me about, but I've learned how to work around her lie-detecting abilities."

Connor Stoll rushed back into the room. "Percy, the hellhound – Mrs. O'Leary? – just got back with Grover. You should probably go talk to him."

I looked at Annabeth and she shooed me away, assuring me that she'd be fine, that she was already feel a lot better. When I walked back into the living room, Grover was lounging on the couch in full Greek armor with his reed pipes hanging at his side. Unfortunately, 'lounging' on the couch meant that Grover was eating the couch.

"Are you okay? How's Annabeth?" Grover asked as soon as he saw me.

"I'm fine and Annabeth is healing," I told him and he breathed a sigh of relief. He gave me his report about getting as many nature spirits as he could to help, but that they had already lost about twenty satyrs to a squad of giants before the river spirits could drown them. He also mentioned a large, powerful titan in golden armor. Just another problem to add to the growing list. Thalia came in while Grover was talking and informed me that all the subway entrances were blocked off, and that there were gods who wanted to be there to help them fight, but that Zeus wouldn't let them leave his side.

Then Jake mentioned how every time we did something, Kronos was able to attack us at our weak spots. A few people wanted to frisk everyone to see who had the scythe charm, but I told them to just ignore it. As long as we kept fighting as hard as we were, the spy didn't matter. It was no use to turn on each other now.

So after organizing a sentry duty schedule, I ordered all the others to rest while they could. Thalia ordered the same thing of me, insisting they needed me in good shape for the fight this evening.

I was so exhausted from everything that I didn't bother arguing. I found the nearest bedroom and crawled under the covers. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was out. And of course, being a half-blood, I couldn't just sleep and recuperate from the day's events. No, I had to have a stupid vision.

The vision showed much younger versions of Bianca and Nico di Angelo playing in a hotel lobby. A woman who looked like she was straight out of a 1940's movie and an oily-haired man in a pinstripe suit sat a few feet away, watching the children play. I figured the couple was Hades and Maria di Angelo, the mother of the di Angelo siblings. They were discussing a war in Europe that was turning Poseidon and Zeus against Hades, and that Zeus would not let his children live to see seventeen because of the Prophecy.

Hades suggested another option, a place where time stood still and for a while, they could hide the children there while Hades brought Maria to the Underworld. Maria left for a moment to grab her purse and then as if sensing something, Hades was up on his feet, erecting a black stone wall around the children, unable to reach Maria in time before the hotel exploded. Hades was furious and he knew exactly who'd done it – Zeus. He ordered Alecto – aka Mrs. Dodds – to take Nico and Bianca and wash their memories clean in the River Lethe before taking them to the Lotus Hotel.

A women appeared with short black hair and a rainbow dress. With a shock, I realized this was the Oracle. Hades was really pissed off at her, blaming her for what had happened before cursing her so that as long as his children lived as outcasts, the Oracle would never have another mortal host.

The vision changed. It showed a younger Andee, only about ten years old, standing in Olympus in front of the gods. She was wearing full body armor, and covered in soot and dirt, out of breath and looking completely exhausted. She had a tough look on her face, despite how young and otherwise innocent she looked.

Val stood beside her, her face tense and one of her hands clasped tightly around Andee's. Her eyes constantly flicked between her goddaughter and the gods. She looked extremely pale and the worry in her eyes was apparent.

"I don't think she'll ever be truly capable of controlling her abilities," Ares said. "Look at her, she's a child."

"Children are capable of incredible things, we all know that," Athena said. "She is intelligent. She has learned and she has learned fast. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. But she has been forced into a short timeline and she has done a remarkable job."

"Besides, she has such an interesting future ahead of her," Aphrodite said, crossing one leg over the other. "We wouldn't want to rob her of the Prophecies that await her."

The arguing continued back and forth between the gods.

"I think it would be safer for everyone – the mortals, the world, us – to end her," Hera said. "I just don't think one little girl with a fatal flaw of control is worth all the hassle." She paused for a moment. "I think this should be a lesson to everyone why we should not fool around demigods."

"I DID NOT FOOL AROUND WITH A DEMIGOD!" Apollo roared, leaping off his throne and standing in front of Hera, the queen of Olympus. "I feel in love with the most beautiful, strong and amazing woman any of us will ever meet and I married her. She was…she was the best thing to ever happen to me." Apollo was on the verge of tears as he looked behind him at his daughter. "Well, until Andromeda was born." Andee smiled at her dad. "Father, are you really willing to murder your granddaughter? You've barely gotten a chance to know her!"

Apollo shrunk down so he was down to mortal size so he could embrace Andee. "I love you, Andee, so very much."

"I love you too, Daddy," Andee said, returning the embrace. "Are they going to kill me?"

"You passed. They can't hurt you – they swore on the River Styx."

"Let's vote then!" Hera said.

"We don't need to do a vote," Athena said in exasperation. "Andromeda passed the test with flying colors. That's it. End of story. Andromeda le Fay will continue training, and living her life."

"Agreed," Zeus finally said. "And my decision is final." He cast his wife a look. "Andromeda le Fay, my grandchild – my beloved grandchild, you have passed your test and you will be permitted to live so long as you keep your abilities under control."

The scene changed to show one of my good friends, Rachel Dare, walking along the beach. I remember when I last talked to her that she had said something about going on vacation with her dad and his girlfriend to their villa in the Caribbean. She stopped and started writing in the sand and after a moment, I realized she had written in Ancient Greek and had spelled my name.

Something parked in her mind because she went running back into the house, demanding that her father take her back to New York because I was in trouble. Her father didn't seem to believe her no matter what she said, so she promised that if he took her back to New York right now, she'd go to Clarion's Ladies Academy in the fall with no fight. That was huge for Rachel because it was something she'd been refusing for years now. Her dad must have realized how big that was too because he started organizing a jet right away.

I woke up and despite the half-blood dreams, I did feel a lot more rested. However, when I saw Thalia standing in the doorway, I knew there was trouble. "A titan wants to see you under a flag of truce with a message from Kronos."

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around.

"Late afternoon," Thalia said. "Now come on, we need to go meet this guy."

The huge white flag was the fire thing I saw, and it was as big as a football field. That must've cost a lot at the fabric store. That being said, it was also being carried by a thirty-foot-tall giant with bright blue skin and white hair.

"Wait, are the Na'vi real?" I asked, looking at Thalia.

"What?" she asked.

"The blue cat-people things from Avatar."

"What's Avatar?"

"A really long movie directed by James Cameron," I said. "Sorry, I forgot you were a tree for a few years. Besides, I think the Na'vi had dark hair."

"Okay," Thalia said, looking at me weirdly. "Those are Hyperboreans. It could be where they could the idea for that movie, though. They're giants of the North and there's a particularly large colony in Alberta, Canada. They're usually peaceful but if they're siding with Kronos, it's really bad news for us."

As they got closer, I saw the giant had a half-blood in armor, an empousa in a black dress, and a tall man in a tuxedo with her. The empousa held the man's arm like they were about to go watch a musical on Broadway or something. Grover appeared beside me. "Is that the titan?" I asked.

Grover nodded. "He looks like a magician. I hate magicians. They usually have rabbits."

"You're afraid of bunnies?" I asked, staring at my friend.

Grover blushed as the three of us began the walk to the park where the meeting would take place. As our two groups grew closer, I saw the man was seven feet tall, had black hair tied in a ponytail and had scratches all over his face like he'd been attacked by a squirrel. Or maybe a bunny. You know how vicious those bunnies can be (Grover just informed me that I'm a horrible person).

I also noticed that the demigod accompanying the titan was Ethan Nakamura. I hadn't recognized him in his new helmet, but he still had quite angry-looking marks from our fight. That made me feel a lot better.

"I am Prometheus," the tux dude said before I could comment on Ethan's appearance.

I remembered him from the stories. He stole fire from the gods and then gave it to the humans. As punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock where vultures would attack him for all eternity.

"How did you get free?" I asked.

"Hercules did that for me eons ago, hence why I have such a soft spot for heroes like yourself. Please, let us sit." He motioned to the picnic table and Thalia, Grover and I sat across from him. The Hyperborean, empousa and Ethan went over to the park bench a few feet away. "Your position is weak, Percy. There is no way your forces can take another assault."

"We'll see about that."

"I'm the titan of forethought. I can see what is going to happen."

"You're also the titan of crafty council, 'crafty' being the key word," Grover mentioned.

"True enough, satyr, but I was on the side of the gods in the last war. I told Kronos he couldn't win, and alas, I was right. I know how to pick the winning side and this time around, I'm backing Kronos." I gave him a knowing look. "Yes, Percy, partly for revenge but mostly because it is the wisest choice. I'm here because I hoped you might listen to reason." Prometheus paused, drawing a map on the table with his finger, golden lines appearing everywhere his finger touched. "We have armies here, here and here. We outnumber your forces twenty to one."

"Glad to know the spy is keeping you posted," I said darkly.

Prometheus grimaced. "Our forces are growing daily and tonight, Kronos will attack. Kronos has even acquired a secret weapon of sorts. I can guarantee that none of your own forces will be able to defeat it – he has made sure of that. You have fought bravely, but there is no way you can hold Manhattan. You will be forced to retreat to the Empire State Building and it is there that you will be destroyed. I have seen it."

"I'm not one for letting the future play out as others want it to," I told him.

"Understood, but you must realize that this is the Trojan War all over again. Patterns repeat over history, Percy. Surely you of all people know that."

He was referring to my relationship with Andee. I could have punched him in the face.

"If you stand down, Percy, your forces and New York will be spared. I will personally make sure you are safe. Who cares if Kronos takes Olympus? Typhon will destroy the gods anyways."

"Yeah, like I really believe Kronos will spare the city," I said doubtfully.

"He only wants Olympus. The gods' power is tied to their seats in Olympus and once those are destroyed – poof!" Prometheus said, making an exploding gesture with his hands. "Kronos has attacks planned every night until Typhon arrives, which is the day after tomorrow. After that, Olympus and the gods will be destroyed. It does not matter what you do because the Titans will rule once more."

"I serve Lady Artemis and the Hunters will fight to our last breath," Thalia snapped, glaring at the titan.

"Your courage does you credit, Thalia Grace."

"That is my mother's surname, not mine," Thalia hissed.

"At any rate, we need not be enemies. I have come on a diplomatic mission. I have a gift for you." He made a jar appear and my stomach filled with fear. "This used to belong to my sister-in-law, Pandora."

"As in Pandora's box."

Prometheus grinned. "Mortals have gotten it mixed up over the centuries, but I guess Pandora's pithos doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? This jar released all the demons and evil into the world. Another part the mortal have gotten mixed up is the intention of the jar. It was a trap set upon my entire family by Zeus. He knew Pandora would open it and punish the entire human race along with us."

I thought of the di Angelos, how Zeus had been so willing to destroy an entire hotel just to kill two children who might've been children of a prophecy he was scared of. I thought of Andee, being threatened by her own family with death unless she could get her powers under control by the time she was ten. And then there was Luke, who felt like he'd been abandoned by his father Hermes.

"But do you know what's left?" Prometheus asked.

"Hope."

"Yes. Elpis, the Spirit of Hope, refused to abandon humanity, but cannot leave without the permission of a child of man. I give you this to remind you what the gods are truly like. If you let Elpis go, I will take that as a sign of surrender. I promise Kronos will spare the survivors."

"I don't want it."

"Too late, Mr. Jackson, the gift has been given. We will see each other soon," Prometheus said, and just like that, his entire party walked out of the park.

Thalia, Grover and I walked back to the hotel in silence. As we were about to go into the makeshift headquarters. Thalia touched my arm, sending a small electrical wave through me. "Percy, you should get more rest while we have the time. You're running on nothing and there's no telling when you'll get another chance like this," Thalia said. I knew she was right, and that she wouldn't let me argue.

"Can you lock this in the hotel vault then? I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to pithos."

Thalia smiled and took the jar from me. "Of course. But if you're not sleeping…"

"I'll sleep, I promise," I said, finding the nearest bed and closing my eyes. Would you be surprised if I said I had another half-blood dream? Because I wasn't surprised when it happened.

The first dream showed Poseidon's palace and the attacking armies had gotten closer, and the fortress walls were completely destroyed now, It focused on the armory where Tyson and the other Cyclopes were on break, eating from giant jars of peanut butter. A Cyclops warrior stumbled inside, but as soon as he landed on the lunch table, he dissolved into sea silt. Tyson picked up his brethren's club and shouted "For Poseidon!" but with a mouth full of peanut butter, it sounded like his battle cry was for peanut butter instead.

The scene shifted to show Ethan Nakamura at the enemy camp. I shuddered a little when I saw they were using Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. There were many, many tents and campfires set up, and Prometheus walked up to Ethan said, "The master would like to speak to you."

The other demigods with Ethan looked as if Ethan was going off to his death. They were probably right. In the snack bar area, the picnic tables had been moved aside to make room for two golden thrones. Kronos lounged in the one on the left, his scythe lying across his lap. Ethan kept glancing at the other throne nervously. "So Nakamura, how do you think the diplomatic mission went?"

Ethan started to try to get him to talk to Prometheus instead, but Kronos refused. Ethan told him that he didn't think I would ever surrender, which was true, Then Kronos asked him about what happened on the Williamsburg Bridge, trying to figure out where Ethan was aiming. Somewhere Ethan had known where my mortal spot was, but he wasn't about to admit it to Kronos, which just pissed the titan off. Just as he was about to threaten Ethan, he froze and spoke like Luke. Kronos came back in an instant and refused to admit that had happened. He told Ethan that if he ever repeated that 'lie' to anyone else, he'd cut off his tongue.

"You!" Kronos said, pointing to one of the dracaenae. "Queen Sess, is it?"

"Yessss, my masssster," the snake-lady said.

"Is our little surprise ready to be unleashed?" Kronos asked.

The reptilian woman smiled evilly. "Yessss, my lord. And what a lovely ssssurprisssse it issss."

It was Kronos' turn to smile. "Excellent. Tell her that we're moving our main source to the Manhattan Bridge. The half-blood will be in such disarray that they won't be able to defend themselves."

The scene switched once more to show May Castellan standing with Hermes and Chiron at the Big House. After listening to the conversation between them, I realized why May was the way she was. Because she could see through the Mist, she had tried to become the Oracle and it had failed, leaving her…insane.

I jolted awake to see Annabeth in full armor, sitting in a chair at the other side of the room. The color had returned to her face and she looked good as new. "You look a lot better."

"Thanks – I feel a lot better," Annabeth said, stretching her previously injured arm a little. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright," I said.

"Good, because we need to start assembling everyone. There's an army –"

"- heading to the Manhattan Bridge, I know," I said, getting out of the bed and instinctively reaching into my pocket for Riptide. We made our way down to the bridge where the rest of the campers and Hunters were waiting. On the way there, I told Annabeth about the dreams I had, leaving out the parts about May Castellan and Ethan's thoughts on Luke fighting Kronos from the inside.

"Any ideas about what this surprise is that Kronos is talking about?" I asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "I didn't see anything in the shield, but he could easily be hiding it."

I nodded as we approached Thalia and the head counselors. "They're coming," Thalia said, notching a silver arrow and aiming it north. "One of my scouts just reported that they're almost here. The army's huge – there's no way to stop them."

"We'll hold them on the Brooklyn side," I decided. "You ready, Grover?" Grover nodded, but he still looked a bit pale as he got out his reed pipes. "Okay, so here is the plan," I said. The Apollo archers were going to stay farther behind the group with the Hunters, all of whom would take out as many monsters as they could from the distance. The rest of us would fight on the frontlines. We still had several campers and nature spirits staying at the other entrances into Manhattan, knowing that his use of an army this big could be a trick. So once we were all in position, we waited.

We didn't have to wait for long because a noise like a cannon erupted across the area. The enemy vanguard led the way to the middle of the bridge, but strangely enough, there was no leader. What was this surprise that Kronos was planning for us?

"Positions!" Annabeth yelled. We wanted to make the enemy stop before they got anywhere near our side. The Hephaestus campers had managed to plant quite a few Greek fire traps along the middle and sides of the bridge, so that any movement by them would set them off. Greek fire erupted along the bridge, incinerating the fire few lines of monsters, but it didn't stop them as well as we had hoped.

The fire extinguished and the group continued to march forward, completely unfazed. Annabeth and I exchanged shocked looks. Especially when the leader finally came forward. I don't think any of us were ready for that, because emerging from the sea of monsters in front of us was Andee.