undoing [percy jackson]

vi. bad kitty

"Nice," Andi commented. She strapped the sheath to her thigh, then weighed the dagger in her hand. "It's not right, but it'll do."

"You're so picky," Cass teased.

"Not all of us have mommies we can ask to buy us fancy bows," Andi shot back, smirking.

Cass pouted. "I didn't ask! It was a birthday gift!" Andi's smirk widened and Cass rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Where's Percy?"

"Spying on Thorn and the General," Andi answered. "He sent me ahead since, ya know, I can't turn invisible like he can. I'm supposed to warn you guys about Thorn, but I wanted to talk to you first."

"Good, because we need to have a talk about how we're going to play this," Cass sighed. "Do you want to go straight for the astronaut food, make it nice and quick, or let things play out naturally?"

"Let things play out naturally," Andi elected. "I'm worried if we go straight for the astronaut food, we'll make them suspicious, you know? The last thing we need right now is them asking questions we can't answer."

"Fair enough. Come on."

Cass grabbed Andi's hand and the sisters took off, racing up to the next floor.

"There you are, Cassie!" Thalia exclaimed. Then she looked behind the daughter of Apollo. "Andi? What the Hades are you doing here?"

"Long story short, Percy and I snuck out of camp and followed you guys," Andi admitted. Zoë and Thalia looked furious, Grover's eyes widened to an almost comical size, and Bianca just frowned. "Look, I know you're pissed, but you're going to have to save the lecturing for later. Percy and I saw—"

"I do not care what you and Percy saw," Zoë spat. "I made it explicitly clear that I did not want a boy on this quest."

Andi folded her arms over her chest. "Actually, you agreed that if something were to happen to one of the questers, you'd let Percy go in their place. Instead, you left without him. You didn't keep your word, so I think you should probably get off of your high horse and just listen—"

Zoë cut her off by seizing her shoulders. "Did you have something to do with what happened to Phoebe and Marie?"

"What? No!"

The Hunter's eyes flashed dangerously. "So, it's a coincidence that two of my Hunters get horrifically sick from shirts gifted to them by those Stoll boys in your cabin, making space for you and Percy on this quest?"

"I had no idea what Connor and Travis did to those shirts," Andi lied, but she pulled it off so well that Bianca stepped in.

"Zoë, let her go. I think she's telling the truth," Bianca said. She laid a hand on Zoë's shoulder. "We should listen to what she has to say."

"Yeah, Andi would never knowingly endanger anyone," Grover chimed in. 

At that, Andi's gaze slid to the floor. Cass felt a pang in her chest. Grover was right. Before all of this, Andi would never let someone innocent suffer for her benefit. But things were different now. Now they were in a world that was familiar and alien all at once. Now they had an invisible weight on their shoulders, a burden of knowledge they'd have to carry for however long they stayed in this world. Now they weren't girls. They were demigods.

The stuff of legends.

There was a moment in which Cass thought Zoë might snap Andi's neck, but then Artemis's lieutenant released Andi and took a few steps back. Zoë heaved a deep sigh, then demanded, "Tell us what you saw."

Before she could, Percy came charging up the ramp. He collided with Thalia and knocked her into an Apollo space capsule. Grover let out a sharp yelp, and Zoë and Bianca readied their bows. They had arrows aimed at Percy's chest.