The next day, we burned James's shroud, which went as well as a funeral could go. The Ares and Apollo cabins called a temporary truce to attend the service, showing just how much James had meant to everyone at camp.

He'd been safe for years, having left camp to go to college the same year that I started going to school. He and Lucy had made plans of having a future together, but because I asked him to come back and help with the war, he was gone now.

Lucy was sobbing in the front row, Silena holding her friend in a tight hug while Clarisse guarded the both of them, as if daring anyone to so much as look at the daughter of Demeter.

Chiron asked me to burn the pyre, saying that I'd known James the best out of anyone at camp, excluding Lucy. But what kind of person would ask Lucy to burn her own boyfriend's shroud? So I numbly accepted, realizing that this would be the fifth shroud burning I was a part of, which was five more times than I would've liked.

I silently lowered the torch onto the metal chains, watching the flames slip through the loops, causing them to heat up and eventually turn to smoke. My heart ached as I heard Lucy whimpering James's name, praying to Olympus that he made it to Elysium.

Afterwards, I pulled Lucy aside, giving her the dog tags and the ring I found in the debris of the explosion, which only made her cry harder. "There was nothing you could've done?" she asked me, wiping away her tears.

"I'm so sorry," I replied, unable to meet her gaze. "But he really loved you, Lucy. I hope you know that."

Then I left the campfire pit, anger towards my father fueling my actions. I needed to break something, or I was going to go insane.

I walked deep into the forest, lugging a huge crate full of discarded pottery from the arts and crafts shed and set up shop in a nearby clearing. After setting the pottery on different branches in the trees, I took out my bow and began shooting, a feeling of satisfaction filling me as I heard the clay shatter like glass.

I didn't stop shooting even after all the pottery had been destroyed, instead finding some fallen logs and firing arrows until they split apart. I would've kept going too if it wasn't for the fact that Luke found me and placed a gentle hand on my arm, lowering my bow to face the ground instead of my target.

"You're bleeding," he said, taking my bow out of my hands. "How long have you been out here, Andy?"

I glanced down at my fingertips, surprised to see that Luke was right. My fingers, and therefore my bow string, were coated in a thin layer of blood from how long I'd been out here. "Since the shroud burning," I said, tugging on the charm that made my bow and quiver disappear.

"That was-"

"Four hours, twenty-seven minutes, and fifteen seconds ago. I know, Luke." I sighed. "I just needed to get away from it all for some time. I've been dreading this moment for years, and now that it's here…"

"You're afraid," Luke realized, his eyes widening in shock.

"Terrified," I agreed. "It's one thing to read about the atrocities that your father committed and know his punishment than actually having to face the bastard for myself."

"I'll be here when you need me," Luke assured me, gently taking my uninjured hand and leading me back towards camp. "Now, let's get Will to take a look at that hand."

"There's no need. I'll be fine after I wash my hands."

"Are you sure? Do you need anything?"

"I need for my father to go rot in hell, but I think I'm good otherwise."

Luke blinked twice. "Right, then I think you should know that Nico's here."

I froze dead in my tracks. That meant Percy was going to bathe in the Styx sometime tonight as well as be captured by Hades. Maybe I should've included Percy as one of the people that Hades should be nicer to. Whoops.

"Where is he?"

"At the grove of the Council of Cloven Elders, I think. Andy, what's going-?"

"I've got to go," I interrupted before vanishing into the shadows, landing on top of Mrs. O'Leary by accident. As if I needed to scare more people than I already did, Juniper and Leneus nearly jumped out of their skins when I appeared.

"Gods of Olympus, girl, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" the old satyr accused, wagging a crooked finger at me.

"Judging from how long you've been alive, I think your heart hasn't suffered any damage from a jump scare." I slid off Mrs. O'Leary's back, laughing as she licked the side of my face, causing my hair to stick up from her slobber. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Percy here tell you to go be a leader and rally up the satyrs?"

"How do you know that?"

"I have ears everywhere, Leneus. Now, scram!"

The poor satyr almost had a cow from how badly I'd scared him, tripping over tree roots as he tried to run away. I saw the traces of an amused smile on Nico's face, making me smile as well.

"A little much, don't you think?" Juniper asked, shaking her head in exasperation. "You shouldn't join his list of people he antagonizes, Andy."

"I don't care," I shrugged. "He doesn't believe Grover and is rude about it, so he's already on my list of people I antagonize." I turned to Nico, who was scratching Mrs. O'Leary behind the ear, causing her to thump her hind leg against the ground so loudly that it sounded like a freight train was headed towards camp.

"So, I'm guessing you're here because it's time to take Percy on a trip to our favorite river?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Could you say that louder? I don't think the Titans in California heard you."

Percy chewed on his lip. "Nico, I don't know. It seems pretty extreme."

"You've got Typhon coming in, what…a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on our grandfather's side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."

"He's right, Percy," I agreed. "We need you to be on par with Kyle, to have the same power as him."

"Why haven't you done it, Andy?" Percy asked, sounding genuinely curious. "You're the gods' greatest weapon, not me. So why haven't you bathed in the Styx?"

"I'm not eligible to," I explained. "For one thing, I don't know if girls are allowed to bear the curse of Achilles, though I think they can, and secondly, I can never get the blessing I need."

"What blessing?"

"That's why I'm here," Nico said. "The story is very fuzzy about whether a blessing is needed or not, so we've got to investigate Kyle's family before we go through with this."

Percy sighed, deflating like a balloon. But he agreed to go follow through on the plan and hopped onto Mrs. O'Leary's back. "So, where to?" he asked.

"Atlanta, Georgia," I answered. "To the house of Heidi Martin."

I took Nico's hand, and before he could protest, I pulled the both of us into the shadows, traveling from New York to Georgia.

Heidi Martin's house was just as nice as I expected the houses in the south to be. I mean, I'd only been to the southeastern U.S. a handful of times, but from what I'd seen, they were typically nicer and larger than the houses you'd see up north.

Her home was two stories tall and painted beige, fitting in with the color scheme of her neighborhood. There was an American flag hanging from a pole on one side of her garage, flapping wildly in the wind. Her garden was blooming with bluebells, honey suckles, and irises, showing that they were well cared for. Hanging on the wall next to her door was a large wooden cross that had the word FAMILY written across the middle.

Once Percy and Mrs. O'Leary arrived, I knocked on the door, praying that we wouldn't be dealing with a May Castellan type of woman. No offense to Ms. Castellan or anything, but I didn't feel like having burnt cookies and moldy PB&J sandwiches shoved in my face at the moment.

"Hello?" Ms. Martin said, cracking open the door enough so that she could see us. She was much shorter than Kyle, standing around five feet exactly, but I could tell that her personality made up for her physical stature. She had shoulder length hair that was light brown with blonde highlights, making her look extremely young to be a mother. She was also wearing a light blue cardigan and a flowy skirt that reached the floor. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Kyle Martin's mother?" I asked, plastering a gentle smile onto my face.

That seemed to put her on edge. "Yes," she answered warily. "And you three are?"

"I'm a friend of his from summer camp," I said. "These boys are just my cousins, but I was wondering if I could talk to you about Kyle. He's in trouble."

"My son's in trouble?" she gasped. "What happened?"

"He's left camp, and we haven't been able to find him. I was hoping that you might have seen him recently?"

Ms. Martin nodded vehemently. "Yes, I saw him last month. He was here with his girlfriend, Holly. He asked me for my blessing for some reason, but I thought he was going to elope, so I said no. But he came back a few days later, begging for the blessing, so I finally said yes. I haven't seen him since."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Martin," I said, lacing my voice with my own compulsion. "Now, I'd like for you to forget that we were ever here. You'll forget our faces and how we know your son."

"What are you doing?" Nico hissed in Ancient Greek, tightly gripping my wrist.

"Goodness me, who are you?" Ms. Martin asked us, her eyes glazed over as she looked at us.

"Sorry, miss," I said demurely. "Wrong house."

"Oh, I see. Well, have a good night." She closed the door, and I led the boys back to Mrs. O'Leary.

Nico didn't hesitate to rip his hand free of my own grasp, his glare as steely as his father's. "You're lucky I don't hit girls," he muttered, the shadows swirling around him in response to his agitation. "You could've blown our cover! What were you thinking?"

"Kyle is extremely good at getting information from his sources, including his mother. Trust me, she would've called him and asked him about us. We couldn't risk being found out."

"So, I do need my mother's blessing then?" Percy asked.

"I believe so," Nico said, still scowling at me. "Next time you plan on doing something like that, let me know."

"Whatever you say, Neeks."

"Don't call me that!"

Despite how scared Percy clearly was, he was struggling to hide his laughter from the son of Hades.

"Fine," I acquiesced. "But I'm shadow-traveling us this time again."

"I hate being touched," Nico bristled. "You know that, Andy."

"Yeah, but I also know that tonight's going to end with you and Percy in the Underworld, meaning that you'll need your strength."

"Where will you be?" Percy asked.

"I can't be in the Underworld tonight. There's something I have to do elsewhere." I twirled my bracelet. "Things are getting worse, and seeing that there's no one protecting Olympus, I've been asked to evacuate the people that live up there."

"Asked by whom?" Nico demanded. "All the gods are either fighting Typhon or dealing with Titans in their own domain."

"The Fates, Nico," I replied in the same tone, annoyed how rude Nico was being. I knew he was desperate for answers, but as far as I knew, I hadn't done anything recently to piss him off. "I was asked by the Fates to evacuate Olympus. Now, do you have any more questions about things you have no need to involve yourself with, or can we go?"

Nico, realizing that he'd hurt my feelings, kept his mouth shut, unable to meet my eyes. I grabbed a hold of both boys' hands and vanished into the shadows, depositing us into the living room of Percy's apartment. Seconds later, Mrs. O'Leary appeared in the apartment as well, nearly crushing us under her enormous paws.

After adjusting Mrs. O'Leary so that all of us were sitting in the kitchen, I said my goodbye to Percy, Nico, Paul, and Sally. I pulled Percy into a tight hug, pressing my lips gently against his forehead, whispering a prayer as he dropped his arms back to his side.

"I will see you soon," I told Percy. "I promise."

Sally, who looked like she was trying not to cry, nodded weakly, fiddling with the necklace I'd given her last Christmas. "Thank you, Andy, for everything."

I gave her a small smile. "It's been my pleasure, Sally. Stay safe, squirts," I said, ruffling both boys' hair before walking into my own shadow.

I stepped out in the middle of the throne room, watching Hestia tend to the flames all by her lonesome. Above the room, the dome that protected Olympus was visible, little blue lights bouncing off the dome like moths flying into fly zappers.

Every time that something hit the dome, Hestia shuddered, and the flame flickered slightly. It was eerily quiet in the throne room without any of the gods present. Somehow, the room seemed even more intimidating being empty, the large thrones casting ominous shadows on the floor.

Hestia's hearth was visibly dying, the goddess shivering as she prodded the coals with her stick, hoping to keep the flames alight. Although she kept adding wood, the fire would catch only for a moment before immediately fizzling out, as if she replaced fuel with water.

"Hestia," I said, approaching the hearth, frowning at how cold it was. Usually the fire was so hot and in your face that you'd start sweating within ten feet of the burning brazier – not to mention that the flames could leap to twenty feet high if Hestia so wished. "How can I help?"

The goddess gave me a weak smile, pausing for a moment to tuck one of her curls back underneath her shawl. "I'm glad you're here, my dear. It's getting harder to tend to the fire as my father draws near." She shuddered again at the thought of Kronos, and honestly, I didn't blame her. As the first child of Kronos, she spent the longest time in his gut, having to raise her other brothers and sisters as they were devoured as well.

Reaching into the fire, I thought about the good memories I had with my friends in my past life, offering up those memories as a sacrifice while channeling my energy into the hearth. When I pulled my and away, I saw streaks of blue and green lacing the flames, watching as the wood Hestia had recently added caught fire as well.

"Thank you for your offering, young one," Hestia said kindly. "Perhaps the fire won't die tonight."

"I won't let the fire die, not as long as I'm here." I pulled my hair out of my face, tying it back into a ponytail. "I'll be back soon, my lady, but I have to get the others to safety. We'll soon be under siege, and I'd like to prevent as many casualties as possible."

Hestia nodded in understanding. "Go, daughter of Olympus. Be the hero we always knew you'd become."

I bowed in the direction of my godly sister before taking off running from the throne room, shooting my sonic arrows into the sky at every couple intersections in the market place. Years ago, when I was sixteen, Athena and I had come up with a plan about how to warn Olympus' inhabitants should a threat ever bypass our first lines of security.

Though it took a few years, by the time I was eighteen, every nymph, satyr, and god that lived on Olympus knew what the sound of multiple sonic arrows meant: we were under attack. My arrows acted like the sirens used during a tornado, and people took heed of my warning, grabbing their emergency kits and running towards their safe houses.

One of the nymphs, Lilac, stopped and clamped her hands around my arms, her purple eyes glowing with fright. "Please tell me he isn't here," she begged, squeezing so tightly that I thought she was going to cut off the circulation to the rest of my arms.

"No, but he'll be here within the week. Tell your friends that they still have time to evacuate if they wish, but I think you will all be safer here, in your bunkers."

Lilac nodded her head vehemently. "Okay. I trust you, Andy." She gathered her belongings and took off running to the nearest safe house, which just so happened to be a bunker underneath a statue of Artemis.

Athena and I had managed to get Hephaestus on board with our plans as well, so after the two of us promised to work on any project he gave us for the next month, he helped us build bunkers all over Olympus, hidden in the most obscure of places.

There was one underneath the library, one built into the gardens that surrounded the amphora, and one built under the seats of the amphitheater. There were countless others as well, but those three were the largest and the furthest from the main city, which would hopefully mean that the people who took refuge there would be safer.

For the next thirty minutes, I kept shooting my sonic arrows, waiting for the streets to be completely void of life. Huh, this is what it must've felt like during the bombings of London during World War II.

Afterwards, I returned my bow to its charm and began running around the city, checking that everyone had evacuated to the nearest bunker. I'd found a couple stubborn immortals who refused to leave their homes, saying that they would be perfectly fine where they were. I tried to convince as many people to leave as I could, but I knew just how stubborn people could be, especially immortals, so I gave up and moved onto the next building.

Once I did my sweep of Olympus, which took a total of thirteen hours, fifty-seven minutes, and eight seconds, I returned to the throne room, heavily swaying on my feet. Hestia frowned at the state she saw me in, patting the ground next to her.

"Rest, Andromeda," she commanded softly, a sleeping bag appearing where her hand had touched the marble floor. "You'll need your strength for what is to come. And fear not, I will watch over you as you sleep."

I didn't put up a fight, knowing that I would be of no use to anyone if I became a liability from sleep deprivation. I climbed into the sleeping bag and fell asleep the moment my eyes closed, drifting off to dreamland to the sound of Hestia humming an Ancient Greek lullaby.

In my dream, I found myself back in Salina's library, sitting at a large, circular table with a mountain of books piled in front of me. However, there was one book that was already open, sitting right in front of me, as if its sole purpose was for me to read it.

"Welcome back, daughter," Salina said, appearing from behind the books, her eyes shining with unbridled joy. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Mom!" I exclaimed, launching myself at the goddess, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist. She laughed at my enthusiasm, gently running her fingers through my hair, humming the same song that Hestia had been humming when I fell asleep.

"It's good to see you, Andy," Salina said, backing up so that she could give me a once over. "My, how you've grown! I still remember when I first adopted you all those years ago."

My face was burning. "Gods, adolescence wasn't exactly the best time of my life," I muttered, returning my attention back to the only open book. "What is this?" I asked, pointing to the page that the book had been open to.

I had no clue what language the book was written in, because instead of Greek, Latin, or English, there were symbols, almost as if I were reading Mandarin or Japanese. But I knew this wasn't either of those languages, either. These symbols seemed to be much older, more powerful and unrefined than any modern day language.

"That would be my copy of The Guide to the Universe," Salina said, her fingers skimming across the rune covered page, stopping at the caption underneath the picture in the middle of the page. "This was a gift from the Creator herself. Recently, we've been in contact, and, well, she believes that it's time that we tell you the truth about your mother."

"My mother?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "From which planet?"

Salina sighed. "It appears that the same woman gave birth to you in both timelines, although she definitely met a kinder fate on your home planet than here. Would you like to see her?"

"She's alive?"

"Not in this timeline, I'm afraid. Your father made sure of it." Salina flipped the page, revealing a picture of a man brutally slaughtering his wife. "After what happened with Rhea and the gods, Kronos wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be conned out of another child, so he killed your mother in cold blood, hoping that he'd get a chance to raise you himself.

"But seeing that he was still chained to the depths of Tartarus, he had to leave the man he possessed to avoid being noticed by the gods. Instead, he sent his minions after you with the promise that you would be raised in Tartarus, taught to hate Olympus and everything the gods stand for."

"That psycho," I muttered, my eyes scanning the picture on the next page. "Who's that?" I asked, pointing at the woman who was holding a bundle in her arms, shielding the baby's eyes from the gruesome murder scene in front of her.

"That would be Lady Rhea. Once she heard that Kronos had impregnated a mortal woman, Rhea searched everywhere for your mother, wanting to protect her child from meeting the same fate as the Olympians. Unfortunately, she arrived too late to save your mother, but she kept you safe until your father's minions had been dealt with. Afterwards, you were placed into foster care, and the rest is history."

I nodded, trying to absorb everything I was hearing. "But what about the woman who was really my mother, the one from my planet? I mean, I guess it's good to know how my father came to be my father, but I want to know the truth about my parents."

Salina cringed, her hand stopped mid flip from turning the page. "Are you sure you want to know? Your parents' tale is more tragic than anything you've witnessed on this planet."

"I've been waiting twenty-five years to learn the truth, Mom. I think I can handle this."

"All right," Salina agreed, "but if it becomes too much, let me know, and I'll stop."

As she went to turn the page, the house shook violently, as if someone had just thrown a grenade at the building. Moments later, both her husband, Taurus, and Rick Riordan came running into the library, decked out in full battle armor, swords gleaming in their hands.

"They've found us," Rick panted breathlessly, sweat pouring down his face.

Salina paled. "It can't be. This place was enchanted to-"

"Yeah, well they did," Taurus scowled. "And if we don't go right now, they're going to kill us all, starting with the girl." He gestured towards me, nearly stabbing me with his sword.

Salina pursed her lips and twisted one of her rings, her own armor materializing onto her body. Then, without so much as a second thought, she pulled out a match and pressed the flame against the nearest book case, watching the pages catch on fire.

"No one must ever find these books," she told me, scooping up her copy of The Guide to the Universe before the flames could reach it. She then shoved the book into my arms, nearly knocking me off balance. "Keep this safe, Andy. I'll come get it back one day." She then kissed my forehead. "I give you my blessing, daughter of mine."

"Wait, what?" I asked, clutching the book tightly against my chest.

The building groaned again. A window shattered, spewing glass all over the floor.

"It's time to go," Rick said, hissing as he plucked out a piece of glass from his wrist. He turned to me and gave me a wry smile. "We'll all see each other again very soon, I promise. But for now, good luck against your father."

Then he stepped forward and placed his index finger against my forehead, causing me to jerk awake in my own sleeping bag, slamming my head against the underside of Hestia's hearth. I groaned as I rubbed the forming bump on my forehead, swearing under my breath.

When I got to my feet, I looked around the throne room, surprised that Hestia was nowhere to be found. Somehow, the hearth was still burning, though the fire seemed a smidge colder without the goddess' presence.

Hestia appeared five minutes later, her expression one of apprehension and slight fear as she took her rightful place by the hearth. Being by the hearth seemed to make her feel better, but I could still see her visibly shaking, making me wonder what the heck she'd been doing while I was sleeping.

"Hestia?" I asked. "Are you all right?"

She nodded weakly. "I am fine, my dear. Do not fret about me." She gestured towards the front doors of the throne room. "Your friends are here."

"My friends?"

Not a moment later, I saw Percy leading the rest of Camp Half-Blood into the throne room of the gods, a mixture of fear, nervousness, and maybe even a little bit of awe on everyone's face.

"Andy," Percy said, his voice extremely business like. "We need to talk."