When I woke up, I was greeted by the sight of frizzy red hair and a quiet blond boy. I jerked up so quickly that my forehead slammed into someone's shield, and even though it really didn't hurt, instinctively I still said, "Ow," anyways.

After rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked down at the foot of the bed, frowning slightly at the sight of four other people, tossed over one another in one big heap as if the person on the bottom had been an unfortunate player in football while the rest dogpiled on top of them.

I blinked twice, finally recognizing the newcomers in the room. Needless to say, I almost blew a fuse right then and there.

Patrick winced. "Hey, Andy," he said meekly, giving a small wave before returning to stare down at his shoes, rocking back and forth as he waited for my reaction.

"Hello, Patrick," I said, sighing in resignation. I knew it was too good to be true to believe that my friends would actually heed my warning, especially since I knew they'd been paying extreme attention to the news whenever anything about New York was brought up. Man, now I'm wishing I'd sent them to Greece for the summer. "What are you doing here? Better yet, how did you get here? All the highways into Manhattan are closed and so are the airports."

Patrick blushed to the roots of his strawberry blond hair, rivaling the redness of Rachel's hair. "I brought him," Rachel said absentmindedly, brushing through her gnarled hair with her signature blue hair brush, like this was a normal conversation to be having. "I found them outside of Manhattan, got my pilot to let them in, and the six of us flew in together."

"And you didn't question why they were trying to get into a war zone?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rachel merely shrugged. "They said they knew you. That was good enough for me."

"Fair point." I swung my legs off the side of the bed and stood up to stretch, ignoring the audible pops that came from my back. "Do you still have your spear, 'Trick?" I asked, bending down to touch my toes, causing more of my spine to pop. Was it even possible to crack your entire spine?

"Yeah, I do," Patrick answered quickly, showing me the wrist watch as proof. "I haven't had to use this since our last training session in May."

"Good." Glancing down at my clothes, I realized how badly trashed they were, riddled with holes, blood, acid, burns, and God knows what else. Not to mention, I reeked. "Ew," I muttered, summoning my bag and pulling out a fresh set of clothes. "Listen, I'm going to take a lightning fast shower, but until then, I suggest you both go and talk with Chiron."

"Chiron?" Patrick asked, cocking his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"You know, the centaur guy we met last night," Rachel said, lightly nudging Patrick in the ribs with her elbow.

"There were a lot of centaur guys we met last night."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The one that's the most civilized."

"Oh, that one!" A look of triumph danced in Patrick's baby blue eyes from making the connection. "I've got to admit, he's pretty cool. But why do we need to talk to him again?"

"To find a safe place to wait out this war," I said, removing my hair tie, allowing for my knotted curls to fall down to my shoulders. "I don't know how much longer this place will be secure, but I know for a fact that if either one of you go within five blocks of the Empire State Building, you will both be killed immediately."

They both blanched.

"Understood," Patrick squeaked. "But what are we going to do with the others?" He pointed to Joe, Andy, Pete, and Leah, all of whom were snoring like their lives depended on it. Not to mention the fact that poor Pete was at the bottom of the dog pile, his face awkwardly pressed into the sheets, completely unaware of the fact that Joe's big toe was about three millimeters from entering his mouth.

"I'll have Star take you wherever it is Chiron decides you should go to."

"Star?" Rachel asked, slipping her hairbrush back into her jeans' pocket.

"My pegasus," I answered. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower before all hell breaks loose again." I scooped up my clothes and walked into the adjourning bathroom, locking the door behind me just in case. I'd already learned the hard way of what happens if you don't lock the bathroom door (thank you Stoll brothers and Athena for that).

I heard Patrick and Rachel silently talking to each other as I stepped into the shower, eventually drowning out the pair's conversation in favor of completely zoning out.

I hadn't even had time to throw my shirt back on when I heard Will frantically banging on the bathroom door, shouting, "Andy, he's here! He's on his way to Olympus right now!"

I hastily got dressed, nearly ripping out half my hair as I pulled it back into a messy ponytail before throwing the door open, coming face to face with an ashen looking son of Apollo. He was sporting a new cut over his eye, most likely from an enemy's blade, but seeing that there was no trace of poison, I wasn't overly concerned. Still, like the overbearing mother bear I am, I pulled out a little alcohol wipe and a large bandage, quickly disinfecting the cut before slapping the bandage across Will's forehead, watching him stagger back in shock.

"Why haven't you left?" Will demanded, stamping his foot angrily. "You're supposed to be Olympus's last line of defense, but you're still here!"

I grimaced. "Will, I can't-"

"What can't you do?!" he yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "I've been yelling at you all this time to be more careful, but now when we need you the most, now you decide to be cautious?"

"That's not true," I started, only to be cut off by Will again.

"People are dying out there, Andromeda. Our friends have died to defeat your father, but now after all the talk of how much you hate him and want to kill him, you get cold feet? What the Hades happened to the girl who I knew?"

"If you could just let me explain-"

"No!" Will clapped his hands over his ears. "You're a coward, Andromeda Collins! A pathetic, sniveling coward!"

I pursed my lips together. The Fates could kill me all they wanted later for what I was about to do, but I wasn't going to let Will believe that I was purposely choosing to stay away from Olympus, away from my friends on my own volition. God, if I'd been allowed, I would've killed Kyle the day he ran away from Camp Half-Blood and save us all the trouble, but as we all say: it's the Fates' design, not our own.

Reaching into my bag, I found the letter that the Fates had given me at the beginning of the summer (even though it had crumbled to ash the first time I read it, it reappeared in my bag a few days later for some reason), right after I'd come back from the mission that ended in James's death. Slowly, I pulled Will's hand away from his ear and placed the scroll in his grasp, stepping back should he respond negatively.

"What's this?" he asked, all the anger seemingly having vanished from his body. Instead, Will looked at the insignia stamped at the top of the scroll and the signatures at the bottom, standing stiffer than a wooden plank.

"The reason I'm not up on Olympus right now," I said, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. "As for the remaining army, well, we have enough forces to match them until my father's defeated."

"You really think we'll win?"

"Positive. After all, it's August 18th, Percy's sixteenth birthday."

Will looked like he was about to faint. With trembling hands, he unfurled the scroll, his eyes scanning the document multiple times before he finally set it down, shaking even harder now than he had when he first started reading.

"You weren't lying about the Fates, huh?" Will said shakily, trying to make a joke but failing miserably. "But this doesn't make any sense. If you got this right after James died, that means…"

"I was aware about the future."

"My father must've taught you how to do that – god of prophecy and all that jazz." Will began pacing back and forth. "But even then, most demigods get very fuzzy glimpses of the future, and sometimes those are extremely inaccurate. Not to mention that we usually don't see anything until the event is really close by. This scroll's had these things predicted for over two months now!"

I shook my head grimly. "No, Will. These actions have been ordained by the Fates for over nine years now. I just wasn't told until June about what I could interfere with or not."

"Interfere? What do you mean interfere?"

"Gods, Will, there's really no easy way to say this." I took a deep breath. "I'm from the future, sent back in time to change how things have been happening."

Will scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You can go into the future whenever you want, Andy. After all, you can manipulate time."

"That's not how that works," I explained. "While I can speed things up, I can't glimpse at the future. I'm not an Oracle. I don't see all the possibilities of what may or may not happen like the Fates can."

"What about the past, then? Can you travel to the past?"

I nodded. "The past is much easier to manipulate than the future. But coming here, to this year, took more power than anything I could've hoped to manage. The farthest in the past I've ever gotten is six hours."

"If that's the case, what year are you from then?"

"Well, I left my home in 2018. Actually, for your information, I was born in 2002."

Will blanched. "That's impossible! You and Luke are the same age, and that would mean being born in 1986. If you really were born in 2002, then you should be seven right now, not twenty-three."

"Magic," I said with a shrug. "Look, I'm not going to try to convince you to believe me; I'll leave that up to you. All I'm saying is that I'm not fighting my father in that throne room right now, because the Fates have forbade me from doing so. Unless I'm willing to sacrifice the fate of the rest of the world, which I am not."

"I…I think I need to take a seat," Will said, stopping dead in his tracks and sitting against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest as he stared straight ahead, concentrated on the painting of what appeared to be Napoleon riding a rhino.

"I know, it's a lot to process. I get it."

"Oh, gods," he groaned. "My best friend knows the future. That means…" Once again, Will began to blush redder than one of his father's sacred cows. "In the time that you're from…am I dating anyone?"

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p'. "Drew Tanaka is a very lucky girl."

Will now looked like he was going to vomit, and I couldn't help but laugh. He'd come out to Luke and me ages ago, and very few people actually liked Drew Tanaka, so to say that the look of shock on his face was priceless is stating nothing but the truth.

"You're joking, right?" He sounded horrified.

"Of course." I got up from the bed and seated myself right next to Will. "I can't tell you how, why, or when, but let's just say that your dreams from the Fourth of July will come true one day."

Will turned redder than his father's sacred cows, burying his face in his hands. "I always knew that conversation would come back to bite me in the podex," he muttered, pushing aside some of his blond bangs. Then he looked up, his gaze hard as he stared outside the window, where I could see smoke curling upwards from the Empire State Building. Lightning flashed around violently, but I knew this was Kronos's doing, not my father's.

Eventually, Will stood up and picked up a discarded bow and quiver, slinging both items over his shoulder. "Since you know the future," he said, bending down to lace up his sneakers, "do you know how much longer this should last?"

I took a peak at the horizon, the sky rapidly bursting with shades of pink and red and orange as dawn quickly approached. "Once the sun has risen, my father should be gone."

"That's good." Will nodded appreciatively. "But there's still another fifteen minutes to go. I think I'm gonna head back outside. Last I heard, the monsters are trying to rally for one final attack while your father invades Olympus."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" I asked with a sly grin, summoning my sword. "Let's go!"

By the time Will, Luke (who had somehow managed to escape), and I had returned to a completely trashed Olympus, we were able to witness the three Fates whisking Kyle's body away, his hand hanging limply from his side, peeking out from underneath the white and green shroud that had been hastily made.

Luke grimaced and cringed, turning away from the sight of his dead half-brother, ignoring how Hermes stopped the Fates and gave Kyle a final blessing before the three ladies finally went to dispose of the body. I noticed that Atropos was holding an electric blue piece of thread, the other end of it tied to Kyle's exposed wrist.

"Oh, gods," Will muttered, also turning away from Kyle. Then he noticed Percy, Annabeth, and Grover and yelled, "Annabeth!" before running over, immediately beginning to work on her bad arm right as she passed out.

"She needs help!" Percy shouted, earning Apollo's attention.

And while I guess I should've been paying more attention to what was going on in front of me, I was distracted by Luke, who wouldn't stop looking around the room, as if he was expecting someone to attack him from behind.

Luke stopped a young nymph for a moment, asking, "Have you seen a Hunter of Artemis anywhere?"

I face palmed, berating myself for being so stupid. Thalia had been up here, too, and was probably still stuck underneath that statue of Hera. "Come on," I said, grabbing Luke by the arm and running towards the entrance to Olympus, which had already repaired itself thanks to some of the other goddesses like Hebe and Psyche.

"Thalia!" Luke exclaimed, throwing himself to the ground and clasping her hand in his own. "Thank the gods you're all right."

"Does it seem like I'm all right to you?" she sassed, gesturing to the huge statue pinning her legs against the marble. "It seems like no matter what I do, Hera is always out for my blood. Oh, hi, Andy."

I waved awkwardly. "So, um, I'm going to get some Cyclopes to help move this statue. Think you'll be okay for a few more minutes?"

Thalia groaned. "Please, hurry. I lost feeling in my feet ages ago."

Once I was a few feet away, I heard the pair begin to talk in whispered tones, clearly not wanting anyone to eavesdrop on whatever it was they had to say. And honestly, I didn't blame them. Luke was still hung up over Thalia ever since she joined the Hunters, and he hadn't seen her ever since before the quest to save Artemis, which had been a little under two years ago.

I returned about three minutes later with some Cyclopes from Tyson's army ("Peanut butter!" cheered the group), which allowed for Thalia to finally be freed from underneath the statue of Hera. Luke helped her sit up against a marble column, handing her a square of ambrosia.

Thalia waved it away, gingerly rubbing her legs. "I'm fine, Luke," she insisted, not taking the ambrosia no matter how many times Luke tried to give it to her.

"Mind if I check you out?" I asked, feeling myself burn from how awkwardly I'd phrased that. "I mean, medically, of course."

Both Luke and Thalia sniggered at my expense. "Sure," Thalia said, carefully extending her legs. "Go for it."

After checking that she hadn't fractured anything – thankfully, because leg fractures were some of the most painful – I gave her an ice pack to help with the pain. Thalia accepted the ice pack then staggered to her feet, swaying a little bit, causing for Luke to help steady her.

"Lady Artemis is going to kill you if she sees you near me," Thalia warned Luke as the three of us began walking towards the throne room.

"Or she'll turn him into a stag and have the Hunters chase you down," I added with a shrug, having witnessed numerous males be hunted down before. To clarify, I came along on these hunts and made sure that the Hunters never actually hurt the man, unless he was some first rate douchebag, before eventually undoing Artemis's magic, much to her annoyance.

"Maybe you should be the human crutch then, Andy," Luke said, gently draping Thalia's arm over my shoulder, taking a couple large steps away from the two of us. We began laughing, to which Luke said, "Sure, go ahead and laugh at my suffering. At least there's no women hating god!"

Thalia and I just laughed harder, watching as Luke shook his head in exasperation and walked ahead, holding the door to the throne room open for us.

The three of us quickly shut up when we noticed that the gods were all watching us, as if they had been waiting for us to arrive before doing anything. "Sorry," I said quietly, carefully leading Thalia so that we were in line with Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, Luke, Will, Nico, and Clarisse. The rest of the campers that weren't being treated for their injuries were standing off to the side, smiles plastered on all their faces.

I even saw Katie Gardener smiling at Travis Stoll, who was currently trying to pawn off some of the stuff he'd stolen to an Aphrodite boy, which was pretty unusual seeing that she was always screaming at him.

Silena Beauregard was wrapped up in Charles Beckendorf's embrace, a sad smile gracing her beautiful face as she glanced over towards the Demeter cabin, where Lucy no longer stood. Then her eyes flickered to her sister, Drew Tanaka, who was bound in Celestial bronze handcuffs and had duct tape over her mouth. Drew had been the other spy for my father, and once Silena and Clarisse had found out, the two nearly killed her. Only Beckendorf and Chris Rodriguez kept Silena and Clarisse at bay, promising the girls that Drew's justice would be better served by the gods.

The remaining Apollo campers were the quietest of the bunch, and though many wore small smiles, you could still see the tears that stained their faces if you looked hard enough. Honestly, I didn't blame any of them. In two years' time, the cabin had decreased from sixteen to ten, five of whom had died in battle while the other had joined Kronos. And now Will was the senior counselor at the age of thirteen, despite the fact that there was still one girl, Olivia, who was sixteen. But she refused the position, so Will, being the second oldest, stepped up and became the leader of cabin seven.

Zeus cleared his throat, drawing my attention away from the campers and back towards the gods. "As for my brothers," Zeus said, and I'd realized I'd missed half of what he said. Oh, well. I didn't need to hear another speech about how the gods were superior to the Titans. "We are thankful, erm, thankful for the aid of Hades."

Hades nodded, wearing a smug look on his face. Nico quickly joined his father, sitting at the foot of his hastily erected throne. He patted Nico on the shoulders, eliciting one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen Nico wear.

Off to my left, I heard Will sigh dreamily, his eyes glazed over as he stared at Nico. I smiled to myself, making sure that neither boy noticed my expression.

"And, of course," Zeus continued like his pants were smoldering. Hmm, that gives me an idea, but not now. "We must…um…thank…Poseidon."

"I'm sorry, brother," Poseidon said. "What was that?"

"We must thank Poseidon," Zeus growled. "Without whom…it would've been difficult-"

"Difficult?" Poseidon asked innocently.

"Impossible," Zeus said. "Impossible to defeat Typhon."

The gods murmured agreement and pounded their weapons in approval.

"Which leaves us," Zeus said, "only the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes, who defended Olympus so well – even if there are a few dents in my throne. Thalia Grace, daughter…" – Hera didn't seemed too thrilled about that introduction – "step forward." Thalia limped forward and bowed towards her father. "I promise you aid in filling the Hunters' ranks."

Artemis smiled. "You have done well, my lieutenant. You have made me proud, and all those Hunters who perished in my service will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium, I am sure."

She glared pointedly at Hades.

He shrugged. "Possibly."

She glared at him some more.

"Okay," Hades grumbled. "I'll have Andy streamline their application process."

Thalia beamed with pride. "Thank you, my lady." She bowed to the gods, even Hades, and then limped over to stand by Artemis's side.

"Tyson, son of Poseidon!" Zeus called. Tyson looked nervous, but he went to stand in the middle of the Council, and Zeus grunted. "Doesn't miss many meals, does he?" Zeus muttered. "Tyson, for your bravery in the war, and for leading the Cyclopes, you are appointed a general in the armies of Olympus. You shall henceforth lead your brethren into war whenever required by the gods. And you shall have a new…um…what kind of weapons would you like? A sword? An axe?"

"Stick!" Tyson said, showing his broken club.

"Very well," Zeus said. "We will grant you a new, er, stick. The best stick that may be found."

Seeing that I'd read this part of the book enough times that I had everything memorized, I found myself zoning out again until I heard Zeus say, "Andromeda Collins, fellow daughter of Kronos, come forward."

In an almost trance-like state, I took a step forward and bowed towards the gods. Behind me, the campers started tittering nervously, whispering "She really is Kronos's daughter" and "How is she still alive?"

"Rise, child." I straightened up, keeping my gaze level with Zeus as I waited for him to speak. "You have done remarkable things for Olympus, Andromeda, both during and outside of this war. As such, the Council and I have agreed that we shall grant you a single gift."

"A gift?" I asked nervously, wringing my hands together. "I'm not worthy of something like that. Offer a gift from the Council to someone like Percy, or Annabeth, or Nico, or Grover, or Luke, or anyone else but me."

Poseidon threw his head back and laughed. "This is exactly why we're offering you a gift, Andy. Even after all these years that you have served us, you have never asked for anything in return. Go ahead, sister. Allow us to repay you."

I nodded weakly and inhaled deeply, clearing my mind. It didn't take long for me to make up my mind. "Do you swear on the River Styx to grant me my wish?"

"We do, if it's reasonable."

"It is, I promise. I'd like you to release all the peaceful Titans from their prisons – Calypso, Leto, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea and such." I drew a shaky breath and scrunched my eyes shut, not wanting to see how the others were so obviously judging me for my wish. "For centuries, you have locked up peaceful Titans out of fear, but that's not acceptable anymore. If any one of these people I mentioned wanted to take over, they could've supported Father, but they didn't. That is why I implore you to let them go."

Zeus's face darkened considerably. "Of anything you could ask, you ask to free Titans? Are you daft, girl?"

I clenched my jaw. "I don't appreciate being called daft, Zeus, especially since Athena was my teacher growing up. I know exactly what I am asking, and since it's a reasonable request, I'm holding you to your oath just as you hold me to mine."

Zeus scoffed. "If that's the cost of keeping you under control, consider yourself released from your oath. You are no longer of service to Olympus."

The uproar occurred instantaneously. I counted to four seconds before the rest of the Olympians, including Hades and Hestia, had weapons poised at Zeus, as if daring him to keep talking badly about me. I looked down at the ground, suppressing a feeling of numbness so severe that I hadn't realized how much it hurt to be disowned by my own brother. Sure, he was an utter ass, but it still hurt nonetheless.

"Not another word from you," Poseidon hissed, glaring furiously at his younger brother. He then turned back to me and offered a gentle smile. "We shall release the peaceful Titans, Andromeda. You have our word."

"Isn't that right, father?" Apollo seethed, the tip of his arrow dangling precariously close to Zeus's jugular. Although a stab wound to the jugular wouldn't kill a god, it would definitely hurt and be a pain to recover from.

"Fine," Zeus spat, and the rest of the gods calmly returned to their thrones. "But for your defiance, girl, you will be punished." He picked up the Master Bolt and moved back, preparing to throw.

"Father, no!" Athena shouted, slapping the bracelet at her wrist, her own Aegis, the original Aegis, appearing in her hand. She leapt forward, wanting to take the blow of the impact, but it was too late.

Though I could withstand most electricity, this was a god's symbol of power, and even though I had control over electricity, there was no way I could reroute this blast out of my body. People screamed – maybe I screamed, too – and the scent of burning flesh filled my nostrils. Huh, I guess the Achilles curse doesn't extend to death by electrocution.

The last thing I remember was falling to the ground and staring at a pair of sky blue eyes, my name being yelled repeatedly, before the world faded to black.

Sorry about the long delay! This is the first free moment I've had in 3 weeks!

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a great day!