Needless to say I spent the rest of my summer running around like a chicken with its head cut off, constantly running back and forth between gods in an attempt to keep them allied with Olympus. Some goddesses like Nike and Iris promised to stay faithful to the gods while others, like Nemesis and Mellinoe, said hello by trying to kill me.
Such charming personalities, right?
Anyways, as the summer drew to a close, I cut myself off from the gods again, reminding them that the school year was about to start up again and I hadn't touched any of my summer work that was due in two weeks.
But before I devoted myself completely to biology and chemistry again, I attended two last major events: the bead ceremony at camp and Percy's birthday.
The Hephaestus cabin, who had been tasked with designing this year's bead, chose to etch a gold maze onto a gray bead in honor of the Battle of the Labyrinth. On the backside of the bead were the names of the fallen demigods. I couldn't help but swallow a lump in my throat as I ran my finger over Cleo's name, wishing that she were still here, before sliding it onto my leather necklace with my other eight beads.
On the last day of camp, I rode into the city with Percy and several other campers that were catching Greyhounds to go back home. Annabeth said she was going to stay behind a little longer to take care of Chiron as his leg recovered, and Luke promised her that he'd be the one to drive her to San Francisco once she was ready. As for Will, he was staying for the year as well, saying that he needed more practice in first response care for the upcoming war.
War, such a dark, nasty word, but we all knew it was coming, especially now that Percy was about to turn fifteen.
Not to mention the fact that my dreams had been getting significantly darker, what with my father contacting me every chance he could, telling me every night that I was a traitor and that he was going to take great pleasure in killing me for siding with the Olympians. And every night, my nightmare would end with someone or something shoving me into Tartarus, my father's cruel laughter echoing in my ears as I fell into the deepest, darkest pit in the mythical world.
Even now in the van, which had no air conditioning and was driving in the middle of a sunny day, I shivered, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. Percy gave me a worried look, but I waved him off, which only made him more suspicious.
"Everything okay?" he asked, his hand subconsciously reaching for Riptide as Argus drove the van into one of the many tunnels that were a part of New York's highway system. I knew he'd had some bad experiences with tunnels, but not all of them were monster infested.
"Yeah," I lied, hearing Kronos' threat replay over and over in my head like a broken record. "I'm fine."
You will pay dearly for your transgressions, daughter, he'd said. I will allow you to watch as I kill every one of your demigod friends before chopping the gods into a billion pieces as they did to me, scattering their remains into the depths of Tartarus. Then, daughter of mine, we shall have our fun, where you shall learn the consequences of your mistakes. PERISH FOR YOUR ACTIONS!
I shook my head in attempt to rid myself of his voice, choosing to stare at the bricks lining the inside of the tunnel as we passed through. At this point, almost everything was better than my nightmares, including having to do about five hundred questions, five essays, and three research papers for school.
Ah, the joys of college.
Percy shrugged, but he didn't look convinced.
About thirty minutes later, Argus dropped Percy and me off at the bus stop. Now, I could've just shadow-traveled or mist-traveled us, but Chiron had been warning me against using my powers so much, telling me that I was drawing too much attention to myself amongst the monsters and turned gods.
"They can't know about all your abilities," Chiron had told me earlier in the morning before I left. "If they find out your true heritage, they will hate you even more, not resting until you're dead. Please, Andromeda, be careful."
I told him I'd do my best, and I'd try, but life gets messy sometimes, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Anyways, I hailed us a taxi from the bus stop, and Percy told the driver the direction to his mom's apartment. I'd made plans with Sally a few weeks ago about spending some time with the Jacksons before school started, which she seemed absolutely thrilled with.
"Mom's been going on and on about your arrival ever since you told her you were coming over," Percy said, smiling at the thought of his mother. "She said she was going to make you all your favorite treats, which she somehow knows but I don't."
"I told her that wasn't necessary," I said, a little overwhelmed by how much Sally was doing. "I should be the one bringing you guys stuff. I'm staying for two weeks, after all."
He shrugged. "You know how Mom is. Even if you brought something, she'd insist on spoiling you."
"I've met a lot of people in my life, Percy, but your mother is one of the best on the face of this planet."
Percy began beaming with pride. "Yeah, she is."
"Andromeda! Goodness, how you've grown!" Sally exclaimed, giving me a hug that rivaled Tyson's. Percy was behind me, snickering softly as I finally hugged the older woman, relaxing from merely being in her presence.
"It's only been eight months," I said, feeling my cheeks burn from so much motherly affection.
"Eight months is too long," she said before rushing over to smother Percy.
He whined about her messing up his hair (like it could get any messier), but I knew that he was really glad to see her, especially after everything that had happened at camp this summer. While he may have known he was a demigod for three years now, this was the first time he really had to face a lot of death, and that's not something you just dust of your shoulders and casually move on with your life, especially not at fourteen, almost fifteen.
Like the amazing mother she was, Sally pursed her lips together, immediately sensing that something bad had happened from the way Percy was describing this past summer. Somehow, his dumbing down of his story only made it sound more terrifying, not to mention the fact he'd already scared the hell out of his mom when he went missing and was presumed dead for two weeks.
"Percy," she said in a soft voice, pulling her son close, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Are you alright?"
Percy turned to me, his eyes lighting up with panic, as if he didn't know how to answer the question. I gave him a silent nod, which he responded with a sigh of his own and pulling away from Sally's embrace.
"Percy," Sally said again, sounding seriously concerned about his actions. He was such a mama's boy and would usually never pull away from his mom's hugs unless Annabeth was around (it made him blush, and he hated for Annabeth to see him like that), so Sally knew something was wrong.
"I'm fine," Percy croaked out, his back facing the two of us, though I could still tell his arms were crossed over his chest, as if that was the only thing preventing him from falling apart.
Sally and I shared a look, one that said we both knew he was lying.
However, Sally didn't press on anymore, merely pressing a kiss to Percy's forehead before going into the kitchen and returning with a plate of blue chocolate cookies. While she did that, I found the Disney version of Hercules, so as a joke, I placed the DVD into the media player and motioned for Percy to take a seat next to me.
"Why'd you pick Hercules?" Percy asked, curling up with a fuzzy blanket and the Nemo stuffed animal that Sally had given him for his tenth birthday. "Why not Finding Nemo?"
"Because we watch Finding Nemo every time I'm here," I said, starting to skip through the previews onto the main movie. "And even then, we'll watch it over five times in the same day."
"Because it's an amazing movie!"
I rolled my eyes, smiling at Percy's enthusiasm over what was considered a kid's movie. I know, it's cliché for the son of Poseidon to be obsessed with the Disney movie about a fish, but he'd loved the ocean long before he knew about his father. For example, I still remember when I found him reading a book about fish when I visited Sally at her Sweet on America job, the day Gabe had come in and tried to kill Percy.
Ah, good times, good times.
Finally, once the movie began, the audio was drowned out by our constant commentary, picking out every single mistake that the directors and animators made.
"Hera's not that nice," Percy grumbled when he saw the pink goddess cry over the fact that Hercules had been kidnapped. "And Hades doesn't have henchmen named Fear and Panic, that's Ares."
"Yeah, Hades has skeletons," I said, casually shoving a cookie into my mouth. "Plus, there are other ways to kill an immortal."
After the movie finished, and Percy had fallen asleep on the couch, I helped Sally with the dishes. I kid you not, between the three of us, we finished four entire plates of blue cookies, with each plate having held around twenty at a time. And, apparently, there were still more in the kitchen.
"Why'd you make so many cookies?" I asked, accepting the dish Sally had just washed off for me to dry.
"I know how much you two love them," she said as she moved a soapy dish under the running water, "so I decided to make a ton. Turns out I was right, huh?"
I felt myself blush as I dried off another plate.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" I asked, still uncomfortable with the feeling of having someone do things for me.
Even when I lived with Mrs. Stetson, I did the majority of things by myself, only being taken care of one-on-one whenever I was seriously ill. So whenever I stayed with Sally, I never knew how to act, because she'd fuss over everything and tell me to not worry about stuff like washing dishes or doing laundry even after I'd offered to help.
Sally closed the cupboard after putting away the plates, her hands freezing for another moment as she registered the question. Then she sighed and looked me right in the eyes, her hands twisting the dishtowel as if she were trying to wring someone's neck.
"Maybe," she said softly, chewing on her bottom lip. "But I'm not sure if I want to know."
"Know what?"
She raked a hand through her hair, her body slumping forward, almost as if in defeat. "What's going to happen to my baby boy? What do the gods want with Percy?" she asked, her voice cracking on her son's name.
I winced at the question, thinking of the hundreds of things that the gods harass him for (cough, I'm looking at you Apollo, cough). But I knew what she was referring to. How could I not? If I was a mother, I'd put my child's well-being above my own in a heartbeat.
"I can't tell you all the details," I said carefully, not wanting any dream visits from angry Olympians that night. "But the prophecy will come to pass on his sixteenth birthday, and a decision he makes will decide the fate of the world."
Sally swallowed. "Oh, so just another Wednesday."
Now she was gripping the countertop, clearly trying to keep herself upright. All the blood had fled Sally's face, leaving her whiter than Nico di Angelo, which is saying something since that kid is so freaking pale. Seriously, the next time I saw him, I was going to have to convince him to get some more sunlight, dear God.
"If it means anything," I said, moving next to Sally in case she accidentally fainted, "I'm sorry."
"This isn't your fault, so don't you dare blame yourself." Sally sniffed softly, dabbing at her eyes with the dishtowel. "I should've known better than to think that nothing would come after Percy."
"Sally, I-"
She held up a hand, silencing me at once.
"It's okay, Andy. I know of everything you've done for us, and for that, I will always be indebted to you. But as a mother, this is a fear I wouldn't wish on anyone else. Percy's my world. I don't know what I'd do without him."
And with that, Sally left the kitchen, leaving me to contemplate what she'd just said.
I'd already told her time and time again that she didn't have to pay me back for anything I did for them, because I would lay down my life for the Jacksons in a millisecond. Excluding Salina, Sally was the closest thing I had to a mother, something I'd wanted ever since I was a little girl.
Not to mention the fact that Rick Riordan never went into depth about Sally's feelings about all of Percy's "adventures." For God's sake, that woman married a totally abusive asshole to keep Percy safe, so the fact that he might leave home one day and never come back was a completely reasonable fear, especially since Percy had one of the most powerful auras in the entire mythological world.
Now it was my turn to sigh as I took a seat at the bar, pulling out my ginormous chemistry textbook and a new spiral notebook, beginning to work on the first of five hundred questions.
My two weeks with Sally and Percy flew by incredibly fast, and though classes started Monday, we were able to celebrate the culmination of summer with Percy's fifteenth birthday.
It was a small affair, Percy having invited Tyson over and Paul coming after Sally had asked him to. When Paul saw me, he nearly had a heart attack, having remembered the fact that I posed as a student with Rachel Elizabeth Dare earlier in the summer to fix the band room at Goode High.
After some vague explanations, he agreed to drop the subject, but I knew I'd left the English teacher with more questions than answers.
In the meantime, the five of us celebrated by playing charades and Monopoly. Charades were amusing as we mainly looked like interpretive dancers, but Tyson, bless his soul, would tell us what he was acting out while doing the motions, earning smiles and laughs from the rest of us. As for Monopoly, Tyson was a champ, knocking Percy and me out within the first five rounds.
I thought the party was going nicely, what with the handful of blue balloons Tyson had blown up and taped around the apartment, the punch Percy and Paul served, and the three blue cakes Sally had made. As for me, I'd helped in decorating by getting Percy one of those dorky birthday hats and forcing it onto his head, much to his chagrin. But when he saw how smiley it made his mom, he stopped complaining, promising he'd get me back later on my birthday.
"You don't even know my birthday," I'd replied, laughing as he choked on his punch at the realization.
"When's-?" Percy began but got cut off by the doorbell.
"Who could that be?" Sally asked, standing up from where she'd been playing Monopoly to get the door.
The moment the door opened, Sally Jackson gasped, her face flushing bright red. Standing there, as I expected, was Poseidon, dressed in his typical Bermuda shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and a battered cap with fishing lures that read Neptune's Lucky Fishing Hat across the brim.
"Pos-" Sally began before stopping herself. She was blushing to the roots of her hair, which made me wonder when she'd last seen the sea god. "Um, hello."
"Hello, Sally," Poseidon said. "You look as beautiful as ever. May I come in?"
Sally made a squeaking noise that could've passed off for a "Yes" or a "Help." Poseidon took it as a yes and came in.
Paul was watching the entire exchange, gauging our expressions. Well, Percy's and Sally's, anyways. I was already reading my book. Finally he stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Paul Blofis."
Poseidon raised his eyebrows as they shook hands. "Blowfish, did you say?"
"Ah, no. Blofis, actually."
"Oh, I see," Poseidon said. "A shame. I quite like blowfish. I am Poseidon."
Way to be subtle, I thought in my mind, shooting the god a pointed look. He noticed, shooting me a disappointed stare so guilt tripping that I forced myself to look away, scowling at what he'd done.
"Poseidon?" Paul asked. "That's an interesting name."
"Yes, I like it. I've gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon."
"Like the god of the sea."
"Very much like that, yes."
"Well!" Sally interrupted, clapping her hands together. "Um, we're so glad you could drop by. Paul, this is Percy's father."
"Ah." Paul nodded, though he didn't look real pleased. I didn't blame the guy, I mean, he'd asked Percy's permission to marry Sally earlier, after all. "I see."
Poseidon smiled at Percy. "There you are, my boy. And Tyson, hello, son!"
"Daddy!" Tyson bounded across the room and gave Poseidon a big hug, which almost knocked off his fishing hat.
Paul's jaw dropped. He stared at Sally. "Tyson is…"
"Not mine," she promised. "It's a long story."
"You can say that again," I whispered, flipping to my next page.
"I couldn't miss Percy's fifteenth birthday," Poseidon said. "Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!"
"And also sent off to war," I added, earning myself a glare from the god and a look of confusion from Paul. "What? The Spartans recruited boys starting at age seven. Is it so hard to believe they'd send a fifteen-year-old to war?"
"That's true," Paul said. "I used to teach ancient history."
Poseidon's eyes regained that mischievous twinkle that Percy had inherited from him. "That's me. Ancient history. Sally, Paul, Tyson…would you mind if I borrowed Percy and Andy for just a moment?"
I had enough time to bookmark my page before Poseidon placed an arm around me, steering the both of us into the kitchen.
Once we were alone, Poseidon's smile faded.
"Are you all right, my boy?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. I guess."
"I heard stories," Poseidon said. "But I wanted to hear it directly from you. Tell me everything."
And he did, with me filling in the bits of information he forgot to mention. Don't worry, I was careful only to add detail about the parts where I was actually there with him. When we were done, he nodded slowly.
"So Kronos is indeed back." I flinched at the mention of his name. Seriously, I think I flinch more around the name Kronos than as if I were in the Wizarding world around the name Voldemort. At least Voldemort didn't gain any actual power when people said his name. "It will not be long until full war is upon us."
"Don't say our father's name," I said instinctively, glaring at Poseidon for speaking our father's name. "Not to mention that we're already at war. Well, you are, anyways."
Percy looked shock. "What do you mean by that?" he asked me, glancing between me and Poseidon. "And what about Kyle? Is he really gone?"
"I don't know, Percy. It is most disturbing."
"But his body is mortal. Couldn't you just destroy him?"
"Percy, Kyle's no longer mortal, not fully anyways," I explained, fiddling with my charms. "For someone to prepare himself to host a Titan," – I shuddered at the thought "– well, it's not a pleasant process, to say the least."
Now both the men in the room were confused.
"How can someone prepare to host a Titan?" Poseidon asked, pensively stroking his beard.
"Have you not been paying attention to my debriefings?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip. At least Poseidon had the audacity to appear to be embarrassed. I shook my head before continuing. "Anyhow, other than pledging one's fidelity to the Titan he is hosting, one must bathe in the River Styx. That is the only way to prevent an immortal's overwhelming power to prevent from burning the host body from the inside out."
Percy was clutching his stomach and pale, like he wasn't sure if he was going to pass out or throw up first. "Oh gods," he muttered, steadying himself with the countertop. Like mother, like son, I guess. "Then how do we defeat him?"
"He will not be easily killed," Poseidon warned. "And yet, I fear he must be killed if we are to send Kro-" – I cleared my throat, preventing the god from finishing that word – "sorry, Father, back to the pit. Happy now, Andy?"
"Not necessarily happy in this situation, but more at ease."
He shrugged. "Same thing. However, I'm currently having other problems of my own that would be less chaotic if someone had decided to come."
I rolled my eyes. Poseidon had a flair for the dramatics today, it seemed.
"You know damn well why I refused your offer, Poseidon, so don't you dare guilt trip me into this," I seethed.
"It's not my fault that Cleo was killed in battle."
Anger burned in my chest like I was about to spontaneously combust. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, desperately trying not to deck Poseidon in the nose right then and there.
"That's not why I turned down your offer," I said, my voice tight and clipped. "I said no, because Triton told me Amphitrite put a bounty on my head. Or are you unaware of your wife's jealousy when you're around other women?"
Poseidon scowled. "That doesn't make any sense. First of all, you are much too young for me, and secondly, you're my sister."
"That hasn't stopped you before."
His face darkened. "And what do you mean by that?"
"Um, have you forgotten that you became a horse to have your way with Demeter?"
"Oh, that."
Percy shuddered with disgust. "Really, Dad?" he asked, his face a sickly shade of gray. I handed him a bucket from under the sink just in case. "Lady Demeter?"
"Zeus did it too," Poseidon grumbled, his eyes glued on the floor.
"Yes, because Zeus is such a great example to follow." I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, that's not why you're here. For all of our sakes, give Percy his birthday present before the Titan of the sea launches another attack while you're here."
"Present?" Percy asked, glancing at Poseidon, confusion evident in his eyes. The sea god flinched at the sight, not having expected his own son to be so surprised at the idea of giving him a gift for his birthday.
News flash, this was the first time he'd ever shown up to any of Percy's birthdays, so a little bit of shock was to be expected.
"Yes, a birthday present." Poseidon reached into his pocket and pulled out a sand dollar roughly the size of his palm and pressed it into Percy's hand. "Spend it wisely."
"Uh, spend a sand dollar?" he asked, turning it over and inspecting it, as if he was expecting something else to come out of it.
"Oh, yes. In my day, you could buy quite a lot with a sand dollar. I think you will find it still buys a lot, if used in the right situation."
"What situation?"
"When the time comes, I think you'll know."
"So cryptic," I muttered, shaking my head. Poseidon shot me a sideways glance, and I held my hands up in surrender. "Hey, I know why the gods are like that, but it doesn't mean I like it."
"It's a blessing as well as a curse."
"Nah, it's just a curse."
"Why?" Percy asked, pulling his puppy dog eyes on the both of us. "What do you know about my future?"
The both of us winced.
Then we had a silent fight with a few glances, which I totally won. Poseidon sighed and placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, saying something in a voice barely louder than a whisper to his son.
I took that as my moment to leave, giving the two some much needed privacy as I returned to the party, ignoring the worry so clearly etched onto Sally's face and praying to every god that Percy wouldn't ask me about his future again.
I didn't need to have him worried for a year about whether he was going to see the day after his sixteenth birthday or not. I'd make sure that he would, but come on, I wasn't allowed to divulge that kind of information, not without causing for someone to pay an insanely price.
So, until next summer, I just have to keep my mouth shut and hope for the best.
So, I saw Endgame today and am still in shock at the ending. It was really good, so I hope you all get a chance to see it if you're into Marvel movies.
And one other thing: DON'T SPOIL THE ENDGAME for others, please, please, please!
Thanks for reading! :D