For the next five years, I became Olympus' protégé, personal assistant, and punching bag. Not necessarily in that order.

The fourteen Olympians – including Hestia and Hades – trained me in every method of combat under the sun, and for the six eldest gods, they taught me how to use my powers. The only thing that I was forced to learn on my own was my time manipulation, and the majority of the time it was under Athena's guidance, who was determined to figure out how chronokinesis worked.

As for my missions, they usually consisted of bringing demigods who were either in danger or neglected by their mortal parent to their respective camp. Yes, the Olympians had entrusted me with the secret of the Romans, even though I already knew of its existence. But between you and me, there were way more Greek demigods than Roman.

Then there were the handful of times where all the gods were so busy that I got a few days to myself. That's when I'd catch up with Percy, who had recently been expelled from his fifth school in five years after blowing up a school bus, and hang out at camp for a bit, recounting stories with Chiron while some of the younger kids I saved clung onto my legs like iron shackles.

Salina had gone silent about two years ago, no longer sending me any messages in person or through my dreams. The same thing had happened with the Fates as they no longer sent me visions. I didn't know whether that had to do with my prolonged time on Olympus or if that had been their initial plan, but needless to say, I was extremely worried when I no longer felt those presences in my mind anymore.

Regardless of her absence, Salina continued providing me with my monthly allowance even though I no longer had use for the majority of the money. I typically ended up donating most of it to the treasuries of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter while keeping only a hundred bucks a month in the off chance I needed to go into the mortal world.

And to my joy, today was one of those days.

I'd been spending this week with Aphrodite, who had been determined to teach me how to properly apply makeup, when I saw Ganymede, Zeus' cup bearer, give the love goddess a message. She had set down the eyeshadow palate she'd been trying to get me to use, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as she read the scroll.

"Oh, joy," Aphrodite had muttered, snapping her fingers to change her clothing. We had gotten close enough that she didn't care about looking perfect around me, usually lounging around in old t-shirts and sweatpants in the comfort of her own home. She was now in a flowy white chiton with a simply leather belt cinched around her waist. Simple, yet she was still absolutely stunning. "A council meeting."

"Do I have to attend?" I had asked, hoping that I had, so I could get out of this makeup session. Next up was eyeliner, and I already knew I was going to poke my eye the second I saw how pointy the pencil was.

Aphrodite shook her head, reaching up behind her to pull her hair out of its messy bun. Of course, it fell around her shoulders in perfect ringlets, like she'd hired someone to do her hair for her. "Zeus specifically indicated that you are not to come," she said as she bent down to lace up her sandals.

"Does that mean I have the day off?" I asked, hope seeping into my voice. By this point in time, I hadn't had a day to myself in over six months, literally having become Hermes 2.0 and constantly running errands and messages all over the country. Thankfully, Blackjack had been up to the task every time, and I always rewarded him in the end.

Aphrodite didn't need to look at me to know that I was smiling at the prospect of going back down to the mortal world, having a chance to act my age, even if it was only for a day. "Just go already," she told me happily, gesturing a perfectly manicured hand towards the front door. "Be back by midnight, though. I'd hate to see Zeus lose his temper over your curfew."

I rolled my eyes, already halfway to the door. "Yes, mom," I replied sarcastically, giving Aphrodite one last smile as I set my sunglasses on the top of my head. "I'll be back later."

"Have fun and stay safe!" Aphrodite chirped enthusiastically before disappearing in a whirlwind of rose petals, transporting herself to the throne room for that meeting.

I made my way down the elevator to the mortal world, the security guard choking on his coffee when he saw me. His name was Reginald Brown, something I only knew after several interactions with him involving his coffee flying into his face, multiple static shocks, or vines holding him down as I reached over for the keycard he kept hidden under his computer.

"Hello, Reginald," I said innocently, giving him a wave as I walked out onto the street, hearing him cough as the door shut behind me. Let's just say he knows me well enough that I don't need to hear his whole "There is no six-hundredth floor" spiel anymore.

The wind was blowing much harsher than I had expected, my hair whipping behind me despite the fact it was pulled back into a ponytail. Newspaper and garbage tumbled across the streets, but both people and traffic were indifferent, continuing on with their day. I joined the crowd, heading for the nearby subway in the hopes of spending the rest of my day with Percy.

But Andy, if Percy's in boarding school, how are you supposed to spend the day with him?

Fear not, dear reader, I know my way around various boarding schools well enough by now. And yes, Percy Jackson was currently enrolled in Yancy Academy, forced to breathe in the same air as the dreadful Nancy Bobofit. I'd only met the girl once, purely accidental, and she was about as nice as a plague-ridden rat.

For May, the weather had been really nasty. At least, that's the word in the marketplaces, where I keep up with gossip in the mortal world. Word sure does travel fast amongst the nymphs. Apparently, there'd been a growing number of storms near Manhattan, ones that were strong enough to spawn tornadoes and inundate major roads. There'd also been an increase in the number of storms over the ocean, Hades having ranted about how people had been dying more frequently because of downed planes or drowning.

Glancing down at the watch I'd made – with the help of Hephaestus, of course – I looked at the date and knew exactly why the weather had been this gross. Plus, I knew enough about Yancy Academy. I'd been the one to recommend the school to Sally, after all.

Okay, before anyone attacks me for that decision, hear me out. Grover had already been sent to Yancy Academy two years before Percy was finally admitted, so I already knew if something weird happened, there was a satyr I trusted within the school. Plus, Hades had told me about Alecto's new post a few weeks back, ensuring that Percy would come face to face with Mrs. Dodds, exactly as Rick Riordan had recorded.

I reached Yancy Academy twenty minutes later, sighing at the overkill entrance that the school had. This wasn't a military school, yet there were still four security guards armed with rifles standing outside the brick wall that led into the commons area. Then after sitting through ten minutes of security screening – x-rays, background checks, ID verification, et cetera – I walked to the front office, where they did the exact same thing again.

Good to know that Percy, and all the other students, would be extremely safe, but honestly, this was such a pain to do every time I came to visit Percy. Next time, might as well shadow-travel in and keep my visitor's badge.

The secretary waved me over towards the faded blue couches that adorned the front office, telling me that she'd just called Percy out of class and that he'd be here shortly. I'd gotten her to be cooperative by using a little mind manipulation trick Zeus had taught me about a year ago.

Apparently, his domain of electricity even reached into the nervous system of living things. So in the same way Poseidon could control someone with their own blood, Zeus could send messages to someone's brain via electrical impulses. He was powerful enough to completely take over someone's mind entirely, but that was too much in his opinion, and he made a vow on the Styx to never go that far. However, the electrical impulses could also influence a person's thoughts as well.

Zeus told me he'd never used that power to intentionally hurt people, using it more as a way to persuade people into doing things he wanted. The only setback to this was that the person already had to have some inkling of whatever was trying to be persuaded, so it's not like he could persuade someone into running up and down the streets of New York in a chicken costume if they weren't thinking of that.

So, with that little trick in mind, I had simply asked for Percy to be released for the day, and that seemed to have worked in my favor. Percy showed up a few minutes later, a puzzled look on his face until he saw me on the couch.

"Andy!" he exclaimed, launching himself at me, giving me a bone crushing hug. I laughed at his enthusiasm, messing up his hair, much to his annoyance.

"How are you?" I asked Percy, giving him one more hug before signing him out on the clipboard on the secretary's desk. We then walked out of the office, towards the direction of the heavily fortified exit. "It's been, what, two years since I've seen you?"

"Yup," Percy replied, popping the p. "Got kicked out of two more schools and ended up in here. Other than that, nothing else has really changed."

"Really? Because it looks to me like you got taller." I broke off my conversation to show the guards my visitor badge and Percy's school ID, allowing for us to leave the campus without a problem.

"Well, duh. I'd be embarrassed if I was still four-nine in sixth grade!"

I laughed at that, his concern over his height being one of his biggest worries for as long as I remembered. I wanted to tell him that he'd end up being six-two by the time he was sixteen, but I figured this still gave me time to tease him about it.

"So, now that you're free from prison," I started, staring at Percy as I noticed something had changed, "what do you want to do?"

"Can we visit Mom?" he asked, his sea green eyes lighting up in pure joy. "Please?" Percy went so far as to make a pouty lip and his puppy dog eyes, acting more like he was eight rather than twelve.

I paused like I had to think about it, causing him to grab my arms and shake them back and forth as he asked, "Please, please, please?" dragging out the last syllable much longer than I would've liked.

"Of course," I finally told him, earning an elated cheer from the young boy as we walked to the subway that I'd gotten off at a little earlier. We were on the train for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, Percy speaking animatedly about Grover and Mr. Brunner and complaining about his upcoming field trip to a history museum.

Good, so that means he hasn't learned the truth yet. When Percy wasn't facing me, I realized that I was watching him with a mixture of concern and sadness. These next few days would be the last of his normal life before he got flung headfirst into the craziness and chaos that is the godly world. Speaking of which, I had something of Percy's that had been entrusted into my care a long time ago.

I was broken out of my thoughts when Percy asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I blinked. "Like what?" I asked, starting to fiddle with my bracelet.

"Like something bad is going to happen? Here I am talking about myself, but I haven't heard anything about you, Andy." Percy turned in his seat to face me, his sea green eyes burning into my own. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd grown accustomed to that look from Poseidon, I would've flinched at the intensity of this twelve-year-old's gaze. "Where have you been the past two years?"

"I've been studying abroad," I quickly lied, thanking Hermes for all those lessons he'd given me over the years. "Spent my last four semesters in Greece and now, I think I'm going to finish college here in New York."

Percy held my gaze for three more seconds before breaking out into a smile. "That's so cool! Tell me about Greece."

At this point, I was practically spewing out information I'd read from a textbook Athena assigned me, making sure to make it seem like I had been there in person. I told Percy about the Greek islands and how beautiful the Mediterranean Sea was, his eyes lighting up at the end. Guess his love of the sea hadn't died down over the years.

"I'd love to visit Greece," Percy said wistfully, standing up as the garbled voice of the computer announced that we were at our stop. "But we don't have the money for that."

"You'll visit Greece someday," I promised him, inwardly wincing at the circumstances that would result in that wish being fulfilled. Okay, Gaea could wait for the time being. I was more concerned about Kronos at the moment.

We reached Percy's apartment a couple minutes later, Percy clinging onto my back like a koala the whole time. Basically, after we'd gotten onto the sidewalk outside the subway, he yelled, "Piggyback ride!" and hopped on, almost sending the both of us tumbling down the stairs. He laughed as my motherly side came out and admonished him for that, but whatever anger I had melted away the moment Percy said, "You know you love me," ending his statement by ruffling my hair.

With the way the wind was blowing, I figured my hair couldn't possibly be any messier, so I sighed and adjusted Percy's legs around my waist so that his heels weren't painfully digging into my hips, allowing him to stay on my back as we went into the elevator of his apartment building.

We normally would've taken the stairs – they only lived on the fourth floor, after all – but if I had, Percy would've asked me to carry him. While I could've easily done this, I had hurt myself doing gymnastics with Artemis last week, pulling a muscle in my lower back. Apparently, I'd messed up my back so badly that the best Apollo could do for me is untwist the muscles so they could heal properly and give me as much ambrosia as I could consume without spontaneously combusting.

Thankfully, the water in the showers I took seemed to help as well, but I'd been warned to take it easy for what felt like the umpteenth time by Apollo. Anytime I'd walk into his infirmary, he'd shake his head knowingly and say, "What'd you do this time?" before treating me for whatever mess I'd gotten myself into.

Percy bent down to the little potted plant that was outside the door and grabbed the key that had been taped to the bottom. He unlocked the door and put they key back in its place before walking in and yelling, "Mom, I'm home!" at the top of his lungs.

"Percy?" Sally asked in confusion, peeking her head from around the corner. She then noticed that I was standing behind Percy, answering how her son had managed to leave Yancy without receiving any notification.

In my opinion, watching the two of them hug was one of the purest acts of love I'd ever witnessed in my life. Sally and Percy would do everything for each other, sacrificing the world if it meant that the two of them would stay together.

Watching them was kind of bittersweet, though, because I was reminded of the fact that I never had that type of maternal love. Mrs. Stetson did the best that she could when it came to raising me, but there was only so much attention she could give me when there were twenty-nine other girls that she was in charge of. Even growing up, the most motherly thing I remember Mrs. Stetson doing was rocking me back and forth in her lap as she read me Charlotte's Web.

Even my time with Salina seemed to fall short of what I thought a mother should act like. Don't get me wrong, I loved and cared for Salina with all my heart, but sometimes it'd be nice to talk to someone about my day who wasn't the god or goddess in charge of my training that week.

And it's not like I could go visit my few friends whenever I wanted. Ever since I turned fifteen, a year after coming to Olympus, Zeus kept me on a tight leash, watching over my every move and expecting weekly reports from me and whoever I'd spent the week with.

For example, a day off like this would have him set on edge until my feet were back on Olympus. But I knew I wasn't being watched today because of that council meeting, which would preoccupy Zeus too much to be paying me close attention.

"Hi, Andy," Sally greeted me warmly, smoothing out the wrinkles in the periwinkle bathrobe she was wearing. "Excuse my appearance, I wasn't expecting anyone today."

"Sorry about the sudden visit," I apologized, redoing my ponytail in the hopes of taming my frizz. "I got an unexpected day off. You know how it is."

Sally nodded before telling Percy that she had made blue cookies yesterday. She hadn't even told him where in the kitchen they were before he bolted, returning a few seconds later with a cookie dangling from his mouth and a plate in his hands.

"Want one?" Percy asked with his mouthful, earning him a, "Percy Jackson, don't speak with food in your mouth," from his mother.

"I'd love one," I giggled, picking one up and sighing in joy as I took a bite. "Sally, you must give me this recipe. This is better than-" I caught myself before I could say anything else, realizing that I had almost said ambrosia by mistake.

Of course, Percy chose today to be detail sensitive and asked, "Better than what? Because I agree one hundred percent." The way he said it so seriously brought a smile to my face, but it wasn't enough to make the slight fear that I was feeling disappear.

"These cookies are better than shawarma," I said, cursing myself for my choice of words. I mean, at least that was a Greek dish, which would match up with my story about studying in Greece for the past two years. But honestly, I blurted out shawarma, because I'd been thinking about the Iron Man poster I'd seen plastered against a building on our way here.

Percy seemed satisfied by my answer, stuffing another cookie into his mouth.

Sally then inhaled sharply, causing for Percy and me to look at her in confusion. "Percy," she said cautiously, "where's your necklace?"

Glancing at Percy's neck, I noticed that the chain Sally had kept my charms on was no longer on Percy. I knew something had been out of place when I first picked him up, but I hadn't noticed the missing necklace until now.

I felt myself pale. How long had he gone without the necklace? I mean, his scent wouldn't be as powerful until he realized the truth, but without Smelly Gabe's pungent odor, it was only a matter of time until a monster showed up at their doorstep.

"Back at school," Percy answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Some kids were making fun of me, so I took it off."

"When?" Sally demanded, clearly frightening Percy. "When did you take it off?"

"A month ago." He looked between our expressions and frowned, setting down the cookie that was in his hand back onto the plate. "Why does that matter?"

"Di immortales," I swore, standing up abruptly. "Where did you leave the necklace, Percy? Be as specific as possible."

"Why do you guys care so much about a dumb necklace?" Percy continued pressing on, but at Sally's insistence, he told me that it was inside his sock drawer back at Yancy Academy.

I asked to excuse myself to the bathroom, leaving behind a very confused and distraught Percy. The moment I locked the door behind me, I faded into the shadows, reappearing in Percy's dorm room, which caused for someone to yelp in fright.

I whirled around, expecting some mortal to be in the room, but sighed in relief when I recognized that it was only Grover. Of course, the curious satyr attacked me with a barrage of questions that I quickly answered as I opened all of Percy's drawers until I finally found the one containing his socks. I pushed the socks around until my fingers closed around the silver chain, the cloud and star charms dangling directly in the center of them.

"Keep Percy safe, and don't tell him about this," I told Grover as I melted into the shadows again, reappearing back in the Jackson's bathroom. I stumbled a bit from the two consecutive jumps, feeling slightly light headed. Thankfully, that hadn't been as draining as shadow-traveling usually is since I was relatively close to Yancy.

I splashed some water against my face and walked back out into the living room, where Sally was lecturing Percy on why he shouldn't care about what other people were saying about him. He looked uncomfortable to say the least, but he didn't speak up against his mother, allowing her to rant without interruption.

Sally stopped when she saw me and the necklace dangling from my hand. "How'd you get that?" Percy asked, sounding horrified at the prospect of my having gone into his dorm room to retrieve what appeared to be a simple necklace.

"Magic," I shrugged, which to be fair was technically the truth. I held up a hand, preventing Percy from asking anything else about what I'd done. Handing him the necklace, I told him to put it back on, telling him that he shouldn't ever take it off ever again.

"Why?" he asked as Sally helped him clasp it around his neck. "It's just a necklace."

"Because it belonged to my parents," Sally lied, genuinely sounding sad at bringing them up. "My parents gave each other those charms to show how much they loved each other, and once you were born, I gave them to you to show how much I love you. Please, don't take off the necklace," she finished, her eyes wet with unshed tears.

"Okay," Percy said, glancing at the charms reverently. "I won't do it again, Mom. I'm sorry."

Sally enveloped Percy in another hug, whispering "I love you" over and over again while he did the same. When they finally pulled apart, I told them that I had one other thing that I needed to give Percy.

This time they were both confused, as I hadn't mentioned what I was about to do to either one of them. I had asked Poseidon a while ago about how I should approach giving Percy Riptide, and all he said was, "When the time is right, you will know." Maybe Poseidon should be the god of prophecy instead of Apollo.

I reached into my pocket – I hadn't been wearing my bag when I picked up Percy, and I wasn't going to have him start questioning me about that right now – and pulled out the blue ballpoint pen.

"It's a pen," Percy deadpanned, unimpressed about all the tension I'd caused over it.

"It's a gift," I corrected him, handing him the pen. "Use it wisely, Percy, and be careful not to hurt anyone with it."

"This is a pen!"

"If you have any questions about it, Mr. Brunner will know how to answer them."

"Come on, Andy," he scoffed. "I think I know how to use a pen at this point in my life."

"Not this one," I said with a shake of my head. "This is a gift from your father."

Sally gasped and stumbled back, bumping into the wall in shock. Percy, on the other hand, looked up from the pen so quickly I thought he was going to give himself whiplash. All of a sudden, he was holding Riptide like it was made of glass, setting it down onto the coffee table gingerly.

"My father told you to give me a pen?" Percy asked, growing increasingly angry. "He disappears for twelve years and all he has to show is a stupid pen?!"

"Percy, your father was a busy man, even when we dated," Sally said, trying to mollify her son's anger.

"But he had enough time to tell Andy to give me this dumb pen!"

"If it makes you feel any better, he told me to take care of it long before I ever met you. I didn't even know he was your dad until I met you."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Alright," I muttered under my breath. "This clearly wasn't the right time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Percy demanded, his eyes glowing in anger.

"We'll have this conversation again, I promise, but at a later date."

I waved a hand over Sally and Percy, the both of them glowing gold as my time bands, as I liked to call them, appeared around my wrists and surrounded the two in the form of gold ribbons. While frozen, I picked up Riptide and stashed it away in my pocket again. Then, I moved my hand in a counterclockwise circle, reversing the conversation to the point before I had mentioned that I had something else to give Percy.

When the time bonds broke, the two were back to hugging, completely unaware of the fight that had been brewing between the three of us moments earlier. We spent the next few hours cooking with Sally, listening to her speak about the novel she was working on while we answered her questions about how we were doing.

Percy and I headed out a quarter past five after Sally reminded me that I needed to get her son back to school. He'd groaned at being reminded of that gods awful place, but Sally placated him by sending him back with a container full of freshly baked cookies that we had made that afternoon.

After dropping Percy back at Yancy, I shadow-traveled into the school, making sure that my visitor's badge was pinned on my chest. While all students had to be back on campus by six, visitors were allowed until nine, so no one batted an eye in my direction as I followed the directories on the walls to "Mr. Brunner's" classroom.

I swear, Chiron nearly had a coronary when I walked in, dropping the stack of papers that he'd been holding moments earlier. I shut the door, locking it behind me to make sure that none of the students could come in or overhear what I was about to ask of Chiron.

"Andy," Chiron said, overcoming his stupor as he began organizing his papers once more. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need some help," I said, setting Anaklusmos right in front of Chiron for him to see. "This is to end up in the hands of Percy Jackson when the time is right. I majorly screwed that up today, but I have a feeling the reception will go better from you."

Recognition flashed over Chiron's face as he picked up the pen, treating it as if it was made of dynamite. He nodded in agreement, placing Riptide into the front pocket of his tweed jacket that he wore as a part of his teacher's disguise.

"Will you be visiting camp anytime soon?" he asked, finally looking up from his papers. "Trust me, it's much better to receive those beads along with others."

I gritted my teeth, reaching up to touch the leather string with five clay beads that were strung around my neck. I'd only been at camp as a camper for four days before living on Olympus for the past five years, destroying any chance of being able to make other demigod friends other than the ones I'd met prior to my extensive training.

Hestia had been the only one to voice this concern to the Olympians, saying that by doing this to me they were robbing me of my childhood, to which they all turned a blind eye. The next time I'd visited Hestia, she was so upset that from her hearth, she gave me a leather necklace with the first bead I'd ever receive – Thalia and Luke's pine tree.

Over the past couple years, I got four more beads: a Centaur in a prom dress, a Greek trireme on fire, silver arrows sticking out of a helmet, and a skolopendra washed up on the shore of Long Island Sound.

"I can't, and you know that," I said, bringing my hand back to my side. "Please, watch out for Percy for me. Things are very tense on Olympus right now. Heck, I probably shouldn't even be here at the moment."

"Is it something major?" Chiron asked, setting aside his grading to give me his full attention.

"I'm afraid so. All I know is that Zeus and Poseidon are angry." I sighed in frustration. "No one will tell me what's going on, but something's definitely wrong."

"I see. Stay safe up there, will you? I don't want you to get caught in a fight between the gods, especially since they've all taken time to train you. The last thing you want to seem is ungrateful."

"I know. I promise, I'll visit the next time I have a day off." And with that, I stepped into the shadows, reappearing in Aphrodite's palace as the clock struck seven.

ANDROMEDA! I heard Zeus shout in my mind, his voice so jolting I fell to my knees and clutched my head. COME TO THE THRONE ROOM IMMEDIATELY.

"As you wish," I muttered under my breath, once again allowing myself to step into the shadows for the fourth time that day, mentally preparing myself for the shouting match I was about to go into.