The next morning, I woke up at the break of dawn to ensure that I would reach Olympus by eight in the morning. I had no doubt in my mind that if I was late Athena would turn this week into a complete nightmare for me, so after shoving my sleeping bag into my bag, I left my cabin and went towards the Big House to tell Chiron I was leaving.

As for the cleaning harpies, I wasn't too concerned about them at the moment. They were much harsher at night, but they typically didn't attack campers once the sun was up, especially since there were a couple of the older campers that preferred to train in the morning by themselves without the distraction of little kids.

Chiron wasn't surprised about my early morning visit, but he was still half asleep as his tail curlers were still in and he hadn't made any move to remove them. I said nothing, fighting the urge to smile the whole time as he added some cream into his coffee. He cleared me to leave, and I headed for the borders, the scent of strawberries weakening as I got closer to the outskirts of camp.

I hadn't even crossed the borders yet when I found other demigods, all of whom I recognized as the trio of questers. Cleo was standing off to the side, watching in silence as Luke and Thalia argued, both of them using their hands as they spoke, causing for the daughter of Apollo to flinch whenever they got too close to her.

I waved at Cleo, getting her attention and a weak smile from her. Her gaze shifted to the fighting duo before returning my gaze, making a gag-me motion with her hand as the two began to argue louder.

In a silent conversation, I asked her what was wrong, to which she replied by rubbing her fingers together in a sign that could only mean one thing: money, or lack thereof. I guess Hermes forgot to provide anything that could be of use to his son on this quest, including money or transportation.

"Oh, great," I heard Thalia sneer as I began walking down the hill, not wanting to get involved unless I absolutely had to. "You're here."

"Good morning to you too, Thalia," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes at the venom in her voice. "I was just leaving. Don't mind me."

I made it a couple feet away before hearing Luke say, "Wait, Andy!" Turning around, I watched as Luke ran down to meet me, careful not to trip over the long tree roots that covered the ground. "You said you'd always have our backs, right?"

"I did."

"And that you'd always help us?"

"Yup."

"Great," Luke sighed in relief. "Hermes didn't give us resources for this quest, and Chiron could only give us a hundred dollars in mortal money. Do you have anything that could help us?"

I blanched, more out of anger than fear. How did the gods expect their children to survive off a hundred dollars when quests could last weeks and usually had three people on them? Hades, in food alone, that hundred dollars could be spent within three days.

"Give me a sec," I told him, rummaging through my bag for the rest of my allowance. Salina gave me a monthly allowance of five thousand dollars a month, much more than I ever wanted or asked for, but I had used the majority of that money while on the run with Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth and helping Sally Jackson escape from Smelly Gabe.

Apartments in New York were extremely expensive, so I had given Sally four thousand dollars to help her with rent and food, but she'd have to deal with mortgages herself. And while on our way to camp, I had used five hundred dollars to provide us with food and supplies when we needed it.

I pulled out my remaining wad of twenties and kept two bills before handing the remaining four hundred and sixty dollars to Luke, who stared at the cash incredulously. Honestly, Luke could've probably made do with the hundred dollars, what with being a child of Hermes after all. I'd seen firsthand how amazing Luke was with sweet talking people and picking locks, but having a little back up cash couldn't hurt.

"That's all I have left," I said, closing his hand so that it wrapped around the cash wad. "I hope that helps. Oh, and one other thing, too." Reaching into my bag, I felt my little pouch of drachmas that I had collected from places I'd rather not mention. I pulled out ten and handed them to Cleo, who had moved to stand next to Luke.

"What are these?" Thalia questioned, picking one of the gold coins up and holding it up to the sunlight. "Solid gold?"

"These are drachmas, made of pure gold. You might need them for immortal transactions."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cleo asked, placing the coins into a leather pouch that hung on her waist.

"Iris-messages, Hermes express, bribery, and the like," I explained, brushing off the concern in her voice. "You'll know when you need them."

That seemed to satiate the trio's questions, and after making sure that they were all set, I made my way to the road and started walking alongside it, planning to hail a taxi as soon as I reached a more urban area. While I had no doubt that New York cabbies would pull over on the side of the road if it meant getting paid, I didn't want anyone to get hurt because of me. I would rather walk through the summer heat instead.

After an uneventful taxi ride and a verbal fight with the security guard that made the poor guy almost pee himself, I was on my way to Olympus via the elevator while some gods awful music played. I vowed to ask Apollo to change this music during my week with him, because hearing some Italian guy moan didn't exactly earn someone's respect when visiting Olympus.

Eventually I found Athena's temple with Salina's guidance, the familiarity of her presence indicated by some pressure I felt behind my eyes. I had learned my lesson about asking for directions from the nymphs and satyrs before, and I would be damned if I was going to be late to meeting one of my favorite goddesses of all time.

One time for Halloween, I had dressed up as Athena after making the dress myself. I had gone to Goodwill along with some of the other girls, including Rebecca, Leah, and Jade to find costumes we could wear. While my friends found their costumes – a ninja, steam punk, and Alice from Alice in Wonderland respectively – I only found pieces I liked, nothing really catching my attention.

Then I had the great idea of combining costumes, and with the little money I had, I bought all the accessories I needed to be a Greek goddess and a long flowy dress that flowed from gold to blue. But the dress was almost in tatters, so I bought some more blue fabric and spent the next couple days sewing up what I could.

Needless to say, my friends and I had an awesome Halloween that year, excited with our costumes as Mrs. Stetson took us to the annual Halloween Dance that the high school threw every year for everyone in our town. Hey, we were a small town.

When I reached Athena's palace, I stood outside the white fence for a few moments in complete awe of the palace. The entire building was entirely made of polished Carrara marble, a stone that could only be found in Italy. But instead of being an open aired building like the Parthenon, it was built like any modern home with a ton of cool features like the different gears that covered the doors and the garden of olive plants that grew defensively around the perimeter.

Owls flew freely across the entire front yard, completely indifferent about my presence. My favorite owl by far was a snowy owl that was perched on the porch of the palace, its yellow eyes shining with intelligence as it shook its head.

"You're early," someone said from behind me, and when I whirled around, I realized that my daggers were already in my hands, ready to fight. Of course, just as it had happened with Salina, I was standing face to face with Lady Athena, who merely looked at me like a roach she could crush under her shoe.

Her steely gray eyes were cold and unforgiving, but I could still make out that glimmer of curiosity as she examined my posture. Once I came to my senses, I kneeled and sheathed my daggers. "Lady Athena, forgive me for my actions."

"And why would I do such a thing?" she questioned, setting aside the scrolls that had been in her hands. "You just demonstrated magnificent instincts and form, something that is rare in many demigods. It's clear that you've had training before."

"I have, my lady," I answered, standing up while keeping my gaze on Athena's nose. I didn't want to insult her by looking her in the eyes if she was against that sort of thing. "When I escaped from my adoptive parents, I found refuge with a man who owned a dojo for some time. Turned out he was a demigod and helped train me."

"I see. Follow me, Andromeda, we must begin."

For the next couple of weeks, I couldn't even stand without all my muscles crying out in agony. My week with Athena had been as brutal as I had expected. She pushed me past my breaking point every single day, forcing me to fight her even after all my strength and adrenaline had faded and there was nothing else holding me up other than sheer will power.

I didn't even get time to rest with Athena. Towards the end of our week together, she started training me by attacking at random times. For example, one time I'd been sleeping after a long day of training followed by battle strategy class, and I'd barely rolled out of the way before Athena's spear almost imbedded itself in my chest.

I'd lost count of how many times she'd done that, but by far the most mortifying was the shower incident. Let me just say, fighting the goddess of battle strategy while sopping wet and wearing nothing but a hastily tied towel was an experience I wouldn't wish upon anyone. Afterwards, Athena and I both promised to never speak to another living soul about that, especially since my towel had fallen off halfway through the spar.

Yeah, not exactly my best moment.

After Athena came Apollo, who was surprisingly drill sergeant like when given the opportunity. Don't get me wrong, he still was flirty and annoyingly bubbly at times, but when it came to archery and healing, he wouldn't accept less than perfection. One day he had forced me to heal every injured nymph and satyr on Olympus using only my water and fire powers and some gauze.

"How's fire supposed to heal?" I had asked him as I had poured some water over a deep cut on a satyr's shoulder and forced the water to knit his skin back together.

"There are two types of flames demigods can inherit," Apollo had explained, shooting me a blinding smile once the satyr was fully healed while I was sweating buckets. "Hephaestus only gives this blessing out once every couple centuries, and his blessing can only harm. God of forges, after all, not exactly conducive to recovery. Anyhow, the second type of flame is the one Hestia controls. Like Hephaestus, her fire can be just as devastating as his, but since she is also the goddess of the Hearth, which is a peaceful domain, her fire can also heal."

During the day, when Apollo was strongest, we practiced archery until my fingertips bled from the amount of times I'd drawn back the string on a forty-pound bow, to which Apollo would hand me a bucket of water, tell me to get over it, and get back to practicing.

At night, Apollo began teaching me things that med students wouldn't need to know until their third or fourth year of med school, only skimming over the basics, leaving me to pick up where he left off. Never in my wildest dreams did I plan of becoming a doctor, but Apollo wanted me trained in field medicine to the best of my ability.

"I can't learn all of this in a week," I told him seriously one night as I reread a chapter on every type of cardiothoracic disease I may encounter in my life, trying to retain as much as possible. Honestly, all I could remember were the basics and some names, but that wouldn't do me any good if I didn't know what the names corresponded to.

"And I don't expect you to," Apollo replied, just as serious, not a hint of his joker-self present. "You're only fourteen, for one thing, and even most doctors don't know what I want you to know. One step at a time, Andy, starting with the cardiovascular system."

Of everything that I learned in my short time with Apollo, his behavior is what shocked me the most. While Rick Riordan described him as an immature playboy, after realizing the gravity of my presence on Olympus, Apollo shed that façade, acting more like an adult than a teenager.

But the most terrifying I'd witnessed in my week with Apollo was when the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi hijacked him in the same way the Fates tried to show me something. However, while the Fates usually did this while I was asleep or in a safe place, the Oracle's spirit swarmed Apollo in an eerie green light, wrapping him up in smoke.

He fell to his knees, his eyes glowing green as he screamed, the words of the Oracle known only to the sun god. I had screamed Apollo's name repeatedly, stopping when his hands lashed out and closed around my throat. I kicked and punched him all to no avail. He was a god with unlimited strength, and even with all my powers, I was still a demigod.

Thankfully for me, the Oracle of Delphi finally released Apollo from her hold as I was about to pass out. Apollo had blinked twice before immediately releasing me, his hands trembling in fear of what had just occurred.

I coughed repeatedly until I could breathe again, and after receiving a barrage of apologies from Apollo – something that seemed very out of character for him – he healed me by humming a simple hymn in Ancient Greek.

"Does that happen often?" I had asked, gingerly rubbing my neck, glad that Apollo's healing had done its job.

He set his jaw and glared at me, his gaze so piercing that I wanted to go crawl into a hole and never come out. Okay, so this was a touchy subject for him. Got it.

Then, he sighed, pushing his long blond hair out of his face. "Only when a threat is rising," Apollo answered softly, wiping his hands on his shorts. "But you don't need to worry about that right now. Just know that if the spirit of the Oracle seizes control, don't touch me until it's passed or else I may unintentionally hurt you."

"Noted."

That had been the end of that conversation, and Apollo and I acted like I hadn't watched his own Oracle take control of his body within our first week of training. After that experience, I understood why Apollo acted so immaturely what with all his pranking with Hermes and trying to woo every girl, and the occasional guy, he came across.

As the god of prophecy and the sun, Apollo saw everything that happened during the day as well as the future. He alone witnessed every evil and despicable thing humanity did on a daily basis as well as be forced to experience the future. He's stuck between the present and the future while watching the worst atrocities unfold right in front of him, and he can't do anything about it.

So he hides behind his jokes, his smile and makes everyone believe that he's perfectly fine when that's anything but the truth. One time, when I'd gone to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I heard Apollo's singing echo through his palace. His words were so depressing as he expressed his anguish about what appeared to be the death of one of his children, the haunting melody fifty times sadder than anything Adele could ever hope to write.

I had burst into tears where I was standing, the raw emotion too much for me to bear. I don't think Apollo knew I had heard him, but after that night, he was as cheery as ever, telling me that today was going to be awesome since I'd be with him for the next couple hours. There was no evidence of the amount of pain he was in in his eyes – that's how good he was at hiding the truth.

Needless to say, I'd grown extremely fond of Apollo and didn't want to leave, but I still had twelve other gods that expected me to show up for training.

Next was Hermes, who had somehow managed to convince Apollo to take over his duties for the week. I had a sneaking suspicion that a large number of drachmas were involved in this decision, but if it meant I'd have the messenger's god undivided attention, I figured it couldn't be that bad.

I was proved wrong within the first twelve hours.

My "warm up" had been twenty-six miles around a track that Hermes created in his backyard with a wave of his hand. Yes, I was to run the length of a marathon for a freaking warm up. I think I'm actually going to die.

I got as far as mile twelve at my pace before wanting to keel over from exhaustion, but I could feel Hermes' gaze on me as he watched from a metal bench he had summoned while I ran. As much as everything hurt, I was going to get at least halfway.

I knew with a hundred percent certainty that I wasn't going to get the full twenty-six miles today, but if I could get halfway, that would be a success in my books. And sure enough, I got past mile thirteen and promptly collapsed, panting heavily as I tried to stave off the dark spots in my vision.

"We've got our work cut out ahead of us," Hermes said, giving me a helping hand and a bottle of blue Gatorade.

I took little sips of the Gatorade, remembering what Apollo had said about drinking too much fluid after extreme exercise. Personally, I didn't feel like throwing up at the moment, so I drank the Gatorade slowly until my vision returned back to normal.

Hermes also handed me a little piece of ambrosia, telling me that I'd need my strength for what he had planned next. Basically, Hermes spent two days treating me like a track and field athlete, making me do long distance running, sprinting, hurdles, and shotput to name a few.

On day three, which is today, he wanted to have me try to reach seventeen miles around the track. "Set achievable goals, and you'll perform better," Hermes told me while I stretched, hopping on one leg as I pulled my other leg with my hand to stretch my hamstrings and quadriceps.

Once I finished warming up, I started running, setting a comfortable pace for myself. As I ran, music played from Hermes' radio, and to my joy, he was playing some of my favorite bands like Green Day and Blink-182. Honestly, I think that's the main reason I felt normal when I finished my seventeen miles. Sure, I was breathless and dripping with sweat, but I wasn't on the verge of passing out like I was a few days ago.

Hermes gave me a look of approval and went to say something, only to be interrupted when his caduceus suddenly appeared in his hand, signaling that George and Martha had a message for him. The two snakes slithered around the gold pole while Hermes nodded his head, his face contorted into one of almost concern but could just as easily be played off as indifference.

"Everything okay, my lord?" I asked as I wiped my sweat away with a towel I'd brought from Hermes' palace.

"Everything's fine," he replied, his answer audibly strained.

"How's Luke doing?"

"That does not concern you, Andromeda," Hermes said, the underlying threat in his voice evident in every word he spoke.

I held up my hands in surrender trying to placate him. "Just asking. I mean, if he needs help, I'm allowed to run on missions for the gods seeing that I'm not restricted by the Ancient Laws."

A look of understanding crossed Hermes' face before glancing down at me as I unscrewed the cap of my water bottle and started to drink it. He gave me a genuine smile before saying, "Andy, I send you to go aid my son in his return to Camp Half-Blood. All we need is to tell Zeus, and you can be on your way."

"As you wish, my lord," I said, bowing my head in reverence before walking into the little field house Hermes had added by the track. I took a lightning fast shower and threw on a plain t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and laced up my combat boots.

Hermes then placed his hand on my shoulder and flashed the two of us to the throne room. Seeing that the throne room was empty with the exception of Hestia, I looked at Hermes in confusion, who only shot me a knowing smirk.

Moments later, Zeus appeared in a bolt of lightning, gazing down at the both of us in indifference. I got down to kneel. "So, you have your first mission I presume?" Zeus asked, turning his attention to Hermes.

"Yes, Father," Hermes answered, patting my back so hard he almost knocked me over. "We just need your permission and she'll be on her way."

"Yes, yes, the girl may leave Olympus. Is that all?"

"Not quite, Lord Zeus," I said, getting back up to my feet. "I have a serious matter that I must discuss with you," – I turned to Hermes, suddenly uncomfortable about what I was going to ask – "alone, my lord."

"Andy, what's going on?" Hermes asked me. And while it was evident he wasn't done interrogating me, Zeus held up his hand, forcing the messenger god to bite his tongue.

"I'll allow it," Zeus said, shooing Hermes away with a flick of his hand. Hermes gave me one last look before disappearing in a flash of white light. "Now, tell me what is so urgent that it must be kept between the two of us."

"Let's just say it's about Thalia, my lord."

"That went about as well as I expected," I said as I spat out the mouthful of dirt I'd just gotten thanks to Zeus. He could say he agreed with me all he wanted, but I knew he was still upset by my abrupt landing on Earth.

I had told him everything about the vision I had, excluding the part about Percy and replacing that information by keeping my description of him extremely vague. I even told him that I had a sneaking suspicion it had been Kronos or one of his minions to show me that, which Zeus didn't appreciate, telling me that I was crazy to believe our father was that powerful already.

But I managed to use Zeus' paranoia to my advantage, and he finally consented for me to finish what he had attempted the day I got Thalia across the border and into Camp Half-Blood. While he clearly cared for Thalia very much, he'd sacrifice a child of his any day of the week if it meant postponing the rise of Kronos.

"Now, where am I?" I asked myself, brushing the remaining dirt off my ground and jumping the fence of the backyard I had just landed in.

Wherever I was, it was clearly a residential area. While the houses weren't exactly next to each other like you'd see in a movie, they were close by, separated by some land or bushes for privacy but still completely accessible if you were to walk.

I wandered on the sidewalk, trying to figure out why Zeus had sent me here of all places instead of to where Cleo, Thalia, and Luke were. It wasn't until I reached the end of the road that I realized where I was.

Swearing in every language I knew, I ran towards the sprawling colonial house situated at the end of the road, half expecting for black smoke to be pouring from the windows. And sure enough, as I reached the outside porch, I could smell something burning from the other side of the door.

I rang the doorbell and waited for a few seconds until Cleo opened the door, visibly jumping back at the sight of me. "Andy?" she questioned, gesturing for me to come in. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to help you guys," I said, following her as she made her way through the house like she lived here.

Mirrors covered every possible surface – against the walls, leaning on the fireplace mantel, glued to the ceiling, and even in the corners of all the rooms. It was like walking into the mirror room in a fun house except there were ten times the amount of mirrors and at least fifty reflections of yourself wherever you looked.

And in the little space that was void of mirrors were plushies of the different gods and monsters. I saw a couple of Minotaur and hydra stuffed animals tossed haphazardly throughout the house, one even taped to the back of the front door to cover the peep hole. Creepy, to say the least, but I guess it wasn't the worst case scenario when entering into the home of a mentally unstable woman.

Cleo opened another door, revealing a kitchen that was overflowing with burnt cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and pitchers of bright red Kool-Aid. Black smoked flowed from the oven, but the window had been opened, preventing the fire alarms from going off.

Sitting in the attached dining room was Thalia, Luke, and an older woman who I didn't initially recognize. She appeared to be in her late forties, possibly even into her early fifties, with bleached blonde hair that stood up in every possible direction, like she'd stuck her finger into an electrical outlet. She wore a simple gray nightgown and matching slippers, making her seem like a harmless woman.

It wasn't until I caught a glimpse of her eyes that I was truly afraid. They were a light shade of green, the color of grass in the springtime, but whatever beauty used to be in them was utterly destroyed by the visible fractures in her irises. It was if her eyes were made of glass and someone had broken them.

"Oh, I knew you'd come back!" May Castellan said excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Isn't that right, Mrs. Medusa?" She picked up a Medusa stuffed animal from the table and forced the doll to nod.

Luke was watching his mother with…pity? Anger? Honestly, I wasn't all that sure. His jaw was set in a way that he wasn't expressing that much emotion, the only give away that he was uncomfortable being the dangerous glint that would appear in his eyes whenever she would mention his father.

Thalia was sitting to Luke's left, her right arm in a makeshift sling while she held Luke's hand, most likely hoping to comfort him. She was squirming uncomfortably in her seat as Ms. Castellan doted on them, shoving platefuls of burnt cookies and moldy sandwiches in their direction.

I watched as Cleo bent down and picked up a burnt cookie, mouthing the words, "Can we leave?" to Luke as Ms. Castellan ran to the kitchen, returning with a pitcher of freshly made Kool-Aid.

It wasn't until Ms. Castellan bumped into me that she acknowledged my existence, gripping tightly onto my shoulders as her eyes started to glow green in the same way Apollo's had when the Oracle of Delphi hijacked his mind.

"His fate!" she rasped out, her voice low and sounding like there were three of her. "No, not my son! Save him!"

Then May Castellan promptly passed out in my arms.

School is slowly sapping my will to live!

Other than that, how are you guys?

Thanks for reading! I love you all!