After Chiron nearly had a coronary once Annabeth picked her companions, the meeting adjourned, and the rest of us went our separate ways.

Well, not all of us, anyways.

The moment the council was over, I told Silena to follow me, earning me a weird look from Beckendorf. He knew I was aware about his crush on Silena, but once I waved him off, he understood that I was keeping my mouth shut and that what I was doing was something else entirely.

Silena was visibly confused, her eyebrows scrunched together and her lips pursed into a fine line. But she nodded anyways, saying, "Lead the way."

We walked over the other side of the arena, standing under the arch of one of the entrances, far away from everyone else. It's not that I didn't trust the people in the arena, but if anyone overheard this conversation, they'd hurt Silena and then lose their trust me.

"What's wrong, Andy?" Silena asked, sounding so genuinely concerned that I realized how the daughter of Aphrodite lasted so long as an undercover spy. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd read the books, I honestly wouldn't have thought Silena was capable of being a traitor.

"I know your secret," I said bluntly, watching as all the color quickly drained from her face.

"About my dad's chocolates?" she asked weakly, but when I shook my head, she paled even more. Silena glanced towards the arena, seeming relieved that the only other people were Percy and Quintus, and they were both too busy talking with each other to pay us any attention.

"More like I know about your extracurricular activities that involve a certain traitorous son of Hermes and his leader."

"I-I don't know what you mean."

"Don't act coy," I scoffed. "Where's the scythe charm? And why are you selling out our secrets?"

"I've never betrayed camp," Silena whimpered, her kaleidoscope eyes brimming with tears.

Don't get me wrong, I like Silena, but I can't stand it when people lie to me. I pushed Silena up against the stone of the arch, keeping her in place with my forearm across her chest and my knees positioned to jab her in the hips if she tried to make a break for it.

"Stop lying, Silena. I'm not going to hurt you or reveal your secret, if you give me that gods-forsaken charm and swear on the River Styx that you'll stop selling us out to Kyle."

"I-I can't do that."

"Why not?"

Although Silena wasn't in any pain – at most, she was uncomfortable, because I wasn't hurting her – she grimaced like she'd just sprained her wrist, a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks. Then those tears turned into full on sobbing, and I backed off, watching as the usually confident daughter of Aphrodite curled in on herself, saying that she was sorry over and over again.

"He'll kill Charlie if I stop," Silena said at last, her voice strained and laced with pain. "He said fewer people would be hurt this way."

"He's lying to you," I told her, handing her some tissues. "He'll use you for information, and the second you're no longer of any use, he'll kill you, Silena. Please, if you give me the charm, I promise that I will kill anything Kyle sends to hurt either Beckendorf or you."

Silena gave a watery laugh. "You're powerful, Andy, but I wouldn't make such rash promises."

"I'm as good as my word, Silena. Please, let me help you."

"Why do you even care? We're not even friends, more like friendly faces in a crowd."

"Because this is my home, and the Olympians, as dysfunctional as they are, are much better rulers in comparison to the Titans. The latter will lay waste to the world, hunting demigods to extinction and using mankind as playthings. I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in that type of world."

Silena appeared absolutely miserable, her face still unnaturally pale with fright while her eyes were bloodshot from crying. She'd tugged at her perfect hair so much that it was starting to frizz up, something I knew many Aphrodite kids would freak out about. Her makeup had started to run from her tears as well, leaving black streaks from her eyeliner and mascara running down her cheeks.

"Okay," Silena whispered. She reached under the sleeve of her shirt, fumbling with something for a few seconds before I saw the silver chain with a scythe charm dangling in the middle. "Here it is. So, you promise to help Charlie and me if Kyle tries to hurt us?"

"I promise."

I took the bracelet and shoved it deep in my pocket, not wanting to look at the charm longer than necessary. It was a slap in the face, honestly, for my father to identify his spies with charms. Unlike mine, his held no power and meant nothing but chaos, while mine were meant to help others or conceal weapons.

"This conversation never happened," I told Silena, handing her some more tissues and a compact mirror. She nodded so quickly I thought she was going to give herself whiplash, before hastily wiping away at her ruined makeup and running as fast as she could away from me.

I pocketed my mirror and walked over to Mrs. O'Leary, giving her a belly rub as she flopped onto her side, causing for the ground to shake underneath her. Being around the world's only friendly hellhound lifted my spirits, distracting me from the somber conversation I'd had moments earlier. I played with Mrs. O'Leary for a little bit longer, tossing a badly dented shield like a Frisbee for her and giving her last summer's dummies to gnaw and drool on.

Eventually I had to go back to my cabin to change into my workout clothes for my hand-to-hand combat class that Chiron had put me in charge of. I knew he was wary of Quintus, so when the old man said he was a swordsman, Chiron hired him as such immediately, even if it meant I had to change activities.

After the initial confusion, I really didn't care, because hand-to-hand combat was just as essential for any demigod to master as it was to learn to wield a weapon correctly and efficiently. And honestly, it could've been much worse. I mean, I had Luke as a training instructor as well, so we'd be able to handle and teach our students correctly.

Luke and I taught three different classes throughout the day, each with its own various skill level. By the end of the day, we were both exhausted and covered in bruises and scrapes that we'd given each other during spars, which we held while the other campers trained.

To make it fair, I didn't use any of my powers, making me realize how grateful I was for them. I was skilled at hand-to-hand combat without my powers – Salina and Artemis had made sure of that – but it was much harder to fight someone like Luke, who never did anything else but train.

That night, I found Percy sitting by the fountain, his face as expressionless as a marble statue as he stared aimlessly at the abalone walls. He was playing with his hands, but other than that, there was no indication that he was aware of anything going on around him.

Tyson hadn't come back from the forges yet, which didn't make much sense. He should've been trying to get some sleep, since he was chosen as a companion for Annabeth's quest. Come to think of it, Percy should've been sleeping, too, but here he was, staring at the wall.

"What's bothering you?" I asked, throwing my sweat soaked clothes into my laundry basket as I tugged on a sweatshirt.

"Hmm?" Percy replied, seeming to break out of his stupor. "Oh, nothing."

"Percy."

"You know, you're worse than Mom when it comes to this type of thing," Percy said in exasperation. "I swear, the both of you have this sixth sense that let you know when I'm lying."

"It's a gift," I chuckled, watching Percy pout. "Now, spill. It's not a good idea to go on a quest with a clouded mind."

"I've been getting these dreams," he confessed. "And alongside Annabeth's prophecy…I can't help but think that this quest is going to end up with someone dying."

"Usually does."

"Wow, that's so encouraging," Percy sassed, making sure to roll his eyes and head so I'd get his message. "Seriously, you're right up there with Chiron in my top ten list of people who give amazing pep talks."

"Okay, okay, sarcasm aside, you know I'm only telling you the truth," I said, not taking any offense to Percy's sass. I'd practically become his older sister, so there was nothing he could really do short of betraying me that would hurt my feelings.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Percy sighed, his hands finally stilling in his lap. "I don't want anyone to die, Andy. No one here at camp deserves to die."

"You're right, Percy. Everyone here is amazing and unique, but sadly, we can't prevent all deaths. We're going to war against one of the cruelest beings to ever exist. He doesn't care about hurting us, because we're the only thing keeping him from taking Olympus."

"Because I wasn't aware of that already. Just another thing I need to worry about."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Percy, this isn't some burden you bear alone. We're all here, and for better or worse, we're going to fight. Don't you dare feel responsible for anything that's about to happen."

"But I should!" Percy shouted, abruptly standing up, his hands clenched into fists at his side. "If I hadn't been born, none of this would be happening! He would still be in the pit, and Olympus wouldn't be in danger of falling!"

"That's not true," I argued, watching as Percy turned his back to me. "This was prophesized over seventy years ago, meaning even if you'd never been born, this would still come to pass. Hell, it should've come to pass four years ago with Thalia, but she got turned into a tree because of Hades and Zeus." I stopped myself before I could accidently say anything about my involvement in that. "My point being, Percy, is that we'll stand by you when the war begins."

"Why would anyone follow me? You or Annabeth or Luke would be a better leader; you've been training most of your lives. Me, I just started three years ago. Why me?"

"Because you have the purest heart of anyone I've ever met," I said truthfully, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder. "I would follow you to the ends of the Earth."

Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, and Grover left at dawn the next morning. Luke, Chiron, Juniper, Quintus, and I all went to wish them luck before they disappeared into the crack within Zeus's Fist.

The second they were gone, Juniper began to cry, green tears staining her cheeks. While I comforted the crying nymph, the rest of our little party disbanded. I could've sworn I saw Chiron shooting Quintus curious glances, but with all the morning fog, it was possible I was mistaken.

When I finally left Zeus's Fist, I decided to mist-travel back into camp proper, wanting to avoid the traps the Hephaestus kids were whipping up. James and Beckendorf had brought out some tents for their cabin mates as they worked on digging trenches, building traps, and placing spikes into the ground. They also served as the guards meant to watch the pile of rocks, armed with giving us the signal should anything suspicious start happening.

I met up with Luke later on, discussing plans for our combat class, when suddenly my phone began to ring.

"Is that-?" Luke gasped, and I put a finger to my lips, telling him to shut up before he announced it to the whole camp that I had a forbidden phone.

"It's monster-proof," I told him, ducking into the space between cabins one and three, frowning at the words Unknown Number that blinked on my screen. Hephaestus had told me that only the gods could contact me via my phone, but apparently, that was no longer the case.

"Hello?" I asked, accepting the call.

"ANDY!" someone shouted, and I had to pull my phone away from my ear to prevent permanent hearing loss. "What's up, sister?"

Absolute horror flooded my body. "Pete?" I asked in shock, the blood draining from my face. "How the hell did you get this number?"

"You're not an easy person to find, A, but I did it anyways!"

"Answer the question," I snapped, ignoring Luke's worried expression as he stared at my phone like I'd brought cocaine into camp. "How did you find me?"

"I minor in engineering and computer sciences, remember?" Pete pointed out. I bit back a curse. "Plus, I have a friend who's a whiz with computers, so when I told him about your phone, he was really excited to put his skills to the test."

"Okay, so you're friends with a hacker, great. Now, why are you calling? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."

"Is this a bad time? 'Cause I'll call back if you need me to."

I internally sighed. "It's fine, Pete. So, what's up?"

"Well, you know how I told you about my other friends from back home?"

"Patrick and Andy?"

"Exactly! Anyways, they came to visit, and I'd like you to meet them. Plus, Andy's a single pringle ready to mingle."

"You're worse than Joe," I groaned, slamming my head back against cabin three. "I don't want a boyfriend. And as much as I'd love to meet your friends, I'm kind of busy right now."

"Doing what?" Pete asked, sounding hurt that I'd turned down his invitation. "You're never around anymore, Andy. I miss hanging out with you."

"So do I, but things are…complicated, to say the least. I'll visit when I can, Pete."

"Which will be…?"

"To be determined." I looked up, watching Luke tap at his wrist like he was wearing a watch and mouthing the words, "Our class." I paled and checked the time, realizing that we still had to set up the training mats and gloves in under five minutes. "Okay, I really need to go, Pete. But do me a favor, let me reach out to you first next time."

"Why?"

"Bye, Pete."

I hung up, silencing my phone and slipping it back into my bag before converting it back into a charm. I'd check the phone's circuit board later, because there is no way Pete should've been able to get ahold of my number.

"How'd you get a phone?" Luke asked as I deposited us outside of the arena via mist, giving us three minutes to set up before our first class showed up.

"Gift from the gods," I said, throwing the mats across the floor in a haphazard mess. I'd fix them in a second, but I needed to get the other twenty-something of them out of storage.

"Seems more like a suicide device than a gift."

"That's why Hephaestus encrypted it – to keep monsters from tracking me. But my friend shouldn't have been able to call me. I was told only gods could contact my phone."

Luke dropped the gloves he was holding. "You were talking to a mortal?!"

I rolled my eyes at his overreaction. "Yes, I made mortal friends while at college. Why is everyone so surprised about that? I can be friendly, you know."

"Yeah, but you're kind of intimidating – no offense."

"None taken." I kicked the mats into position. "Now, will you please stop freaking out about my life outside of camp and focus on our class? The kids are here."

"Fine, but this conversation isn't over yet."

"Whatever you say, Luke." I bent down to help Luke pick up the gloves he dropped, taking two for myself and strapping them on. I turned to our students, ten in total, all under the age of thirteen. "Welcome to hand-to-hand combat."

I cursed as I ran into a wall, overshooting my landing as I appeared in the middle of an alleyway by Goode High School. Chiron had told me about Percy's mishap during freshman orientation and sent me to fix it.

"But, I thought," I'd said, bewildered that someone was actually asking me to use my chronokinesis for once.

"No more smothering of your powers," Chiron had promised me, giving me the address of the school. "We'll need everything at our disposal, and that includes your time manipulation."

Just to make sure, I'd sent Apollo a quick text asking if I could use my powers, and he replied with a thumbs up emoji. I was going to assume that he asked the council, but if he didn't, oh well. I'd deal with it later.

Outside the perimeter of the school was a guard detail of four cops, one at each corner. There were two more cops standing by a massive hole in the wall, yellow tape blocking off the majority of sidewalk.

From where I was standing, I could see inside of the band room. The window was completely shattered, and scorch marks littered the interior walls and tiled floor. Glass glittered on the sidewalk like millions of diamonds, but the cops didn't seem to mind, standing right by the hole with their arms crossed over their bullet proof vests.

I didn't want to hurt them, but I was definitely going to need to get these cops away from the school if I was going to fix the band room using my powers. But the only feasible way was to do it from the inside, posing as a teacher or a student.

An idea immediately formed in my mind. I'd have hell to pay from Percy later on, but hopefully he'd understand why I did this.

I needed to contact Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

0o0o

For the daughter of such a successful business man, Rachel was surprisingly easy to find. She was outside of the Marriot Marquis, hunched over a sign-up table that read: URBAN ART FOR KIDS VOLUNTEER SIGN-UP. There were a couple other kids behind her, excited to sign up.

I watched her from a nearby lamppost, casually glancing up from my phone every once in a while without blowing my cover. But Rachel was extremely attentive, looking over her shoulder every few seconds, like she was afraid she was being followed.

Technically, she was being followed by me, but the way that she guarded herself made it seem like she was expecting to be kidnapped by an enemy of her father's or some creepy person that was into human trafficking.

That look of fear in her piercing green eyes seemed to disappear the moment she saw me. I was wearing sunglasses, but I knew that she could tell I was watching her even though I was staring at the hotel instead.

Rachel walked over, twirling her blue hairbrush in her hand before stopping next to me. She fished out a pair of sunglasses from her paint-splattered bag and put them on.

"Why are you following me?" she asked levelly, calmly taking her phone out and scrolling through her emails like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Because Percy needs your help."

I saw her hesitate, her fingers stilling over her keyboard as she'd been searching something. I'd clearly thrown Rachel for a loop, which could play in my favor if I was careful.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Rachel lied easily, returning her attention back to her phone.

I opened up my photos app, glad that I could still take pictures on my phone even if I couldn't use it to call my friends. I quickly pulled up a picture of Percy and I at Montauk last summer, a trip we'd taken after we'd come back from the Sea of Monsters.

"You two met at the Hoover Dam last December, didn't you? He accidently slashed at you with his sword when you were blowing your nose?"

Rachel paled, her freckles standing out like a case of bad acne against her skin. "How did you know that?"

"Percy told me. I'm his aunt, after all."

"But you're so young!" Rachel blurted out.

"Not for a half-blood," I commented, which made Rachel choke on air. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine." Rachel coughed until she could breathe normally again. "So, you're really like Percy? Who's your godly parent, then?"

I winced. "I have a Titan for a father, but don't worry about that right now. Look, Percy needs your help."

"Then he should call me," Rachel flippantly said, tucking her phone into her bag. "I gave him my phone number."

"Yeah, well, demigods avoid phones as much as possible. They're like sending up flares for monsters and asking them to rearrange our faces."

Rachel glanced down at the phone I was holding in my hand. "But you-?"

"I'm an interesting case," I interrupted. "Anyhow, I need your help to go fix Goode High School. That's why I'm here."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought you said Percy needs my help."

"He does. I need to fix Goode, or he's going to be expelled before the school year even starts."

Rachel was silent for a three count. Then she sighed and began to brush her frizzy red hair, eventually ending up pulling it back into a ponytail. "Fine, I'll help. But I have one condition."

"Name it."

"I want you to explain everything to me."

"Done," I said, watching as Rachel's mouth made an O shape in surprise. "Now, let's go break into high school."

My backup plan had been to knock out the guards and tie them up somewhere while I fixed the band room. But Rachel's plan was much better. After a quick stop at the thrift store and two phone calls, she arranged for the two of us to get a tour of the school from Paul Blofis, who had witnessed Percy escaping from the band room.

Although the two of us hadn't met, I knew about Paul from the books, Percy, and Sally. I knew he was a good man and would make an amazing stepfather to Percy in the future, but for the time being, he was in the dark about all the mythological craziness.

Speaking of which, Rachel seemed to take all the information so well. I answered her questions while she handed me a black lanyard, saying that I'd need that to be let into the school. She slipped her own lanyard over her head, her picture showing her fiery red hair in all its glory.

"What about the photo?" I asked her, gesturing to the blank card she'd attached to the end of the lanyard.

"Can't you control the – what did Percy call it? – Mist? I don't think Mr. Blofis is clear sighted like me."

"Oh, yeah," I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. I waved a hand over the card, my picture shimmering onto the card. If I squinted my eyes, I could see through the Mist, but Rachel looked at me expectantly, asking, "Well, can you?"

"Already done."

She didn't seem convinced, but she shrugged her shoulders and led me to the front of the school anyways. After showing the secretary our school I.D.'s, we met up with Paul Blofis outside the office, where he was holding two pamphlets that read Goode is Good on the front.

"Welcome back, Miss Dare," he said respectfully, shaking Rachel's hand and handing her one of the pamphlets. Then he turned to me. "And you are?"

"Andy Collins. Nice to meet you, sir." I shook his hand and also received one of the pamphlets.

Paul led Rachel and me around the school, telling us about Goode's history. Apparently, Goode had been around for eighteen years and had some of the best sports teams in the city of Manhattan. The only team that was doing poorly was the swim team, which I knew would be fixed when Percy started attending school here in the fall.

Eventually, Paul led us to the band room. Well, to the hallway that led to the band room, anyways. The entire hallway was blocked off with more yellow tape, but there were no guards, and I could easily take out the security cameras.

I gave Rachel a look, and she began to ask about Goode's art programs. The good news, the art department was on the other side of the school. I waited for Paul to turn his back to me before placing my hand on the fire alarm, sending a quick burst of electricity into the wiring.

Sure enough, the alarm began to sound, causing for the emergency lights to flash as well. I shot two more energy blasts through some outlets in the wall, watching as the red rings in the security cameras died, letting me know that they had been fried.

By the time Paul noticed I was gone, I'd already mist-traveled to the band room. The two cops that had been standing guard outside had come in, their hands already on their guns as they watched me appear in front of them.

"What the he-" one of the cops asked, but before he could finish his sentence, I knocked both the cops out by throwing tubas at their heads. I then dragged the cops back outside, careful to not cut them with the glass shards before darting back into the band room.

I glanced over my shoulder, making sure the door was locked behind me before I started. Once I was sure I was clear, I held my hands out, feeling a rush of adrenaline pour through me as my fingertips tingled with the pins-and-needles sensation after not using this power in so long.

It didn't take long to fix the wall – approximately forty-seven seconds – but I was sweating bullets afterwards, an effect from not training my power in two years. When I'd been serving Olympus, I could reverse up to thirty minutes without breaking a sweat, but like any muscle, a power could return back to its normal state without the appropriate training.

I wiped my sweat away with the back of my hand before mist-traveling back to Rachel's side, where a very confused and worried Paul Blofis was standing over the school's security guard, demanding for him to go over the security camera footage again.

"Mr. Blofis?" I asked, watching as he practically jumped out of his skin as he turned to face me. Rachel bit back a laugh, hiding her smile behind her hand.

"Miss Collins!" Paul exclaimed, relief flooding his expression. "Where have you been?"

"I had to use the bathroom, and I saw one next to the band room. When I came out, the fire alarm was going off, and you were nowhere to be seen."

"Oh, my apologies, then." Paul blushed down to his Adam's apple. "Would you like to see the rest of the school?"

I smiled, aware of the fact that I was still playing the role of an incoming freshman. "I'd love that, Mr. Blofis."

I spent the rest of my afternoon with Rachel after Paul finished giving us a tour of Goode, which she used to bombard me with even more questions about the gods, but she also asked a lot about Percy. I told her what she wanted to know about the gods but didn't divulge much about Percy. If she wanted to know more about him, she'd have to wait until they were face to face.

I was supposed to come back to Camp Half-Blood after fixing Goode High School, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that was telling me to go to the beach. Maybe Poseidon was calling me while being too proud to use my phone.

So, after saying goodbye to Rachel, I vanished into mist, heading for Montauk.