𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙮 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 closed, effectively losing the monsters that were chasing her. She sank into a seat, panting, and sent a small, probably less than comforting wave to the other passengers.
It had been several month since she'd last been at Camp, and she was a lot more homesick than she'd expected.
Andy had made sure to Iris-message Chiron as often as possible, updating him on everything she could. She'd kept a small notebook in her pocket at all times, where she logged every piece of information she heard, about the Titan's army and their plans. She'd learned about the locations of other troops, warehouses, and weapons manufactures. She jotted down numbers of demigods and monsters, trying to estimate their enemies' numbers.
Kronos's army was different than Camp Half-Blood. They were a lot more methodical, and strict. Camp was more like a family, chaotic and energetic.
When Andy had gotten her first tour of the army camp, she'd seen an alarming number of demigods. Sure, there were hundreds of monsters—some she didn't even know the name of—but Andy hadn't known that so many demigods had deflected. She knew most of them, and berated herself for not noticing their absences.
Andy had relayed all this information to camp, along with messages for Silena and Clarisse. After the first couple of Iris-messages, Clarisse had caught on to the pattern, and managed to attend the next IM.
Andy slouched further down into her chair, grumbling under her breath. She'd gotten caught because of a stupid mistake, a mistake she shouldn't have made.
On the first day, she made her way down the mountain to the Garden of the Hesperides, and found a small fountain, perfect for Iris-messages. For months this little refuge of hers was just hers, none of the other monsters or demigods finding it.
She spent all this time—being interrogated about Camp by Kronos, being trailed by other monsters—and she managed to get away for all this Iris-Messages, but this time, this one time, she was followed. She was so excited to report back she hadn't taken her usual precautions, and look where that got her.
She'd been followed by a dracaenae, something she could have dispelled back to Tartarus easily. But she hadn't even noticed (stupid stupid stupid mistakes) and the monster had ran all the way back to the castle, bringing a whole battalion for backup led by Kronos.
Kronos himself had walked into her little clearing, making sure to signal the rest of his troops to wait. Andy didn't know why; maybe he was growing restless, or he just wanted to kill her himself.
He'd strolled into the clearing, head up, eyes narrowed.
And then he stopped.
In the middle of the clearing, still ten feet away from Andy's babbling brook, where the hazy image of Chiron floated a foot of the ground, he'd stopped in his tracks.
Andy had whirled around, turning to face Kronos, and the only exit. (Stupid stupid mistakes).
Kronos didn't move. He looked at Andy, then back at himself, then up at Andy again, seemingly confused.
Andy didn't hesitate. She slashed through the Iris-Message, then sprinted past Kronos, who had barely reacted.
The monsters outside the clearing didn't attack. They just looked at her, and bowed.
Then Andy got a look in the polished surface of a dracaenae's shield. Her breath caught in her throat. She was Kronos. Well, Luke, but her eyes were gold.
She looked back down at herself, but she looked the same.
This must be the Mist, Andy had realized. She nodded at the dracaenae, then started back up the hill, feeling the magic wash away. She disappeared into the crowd just as Kronos came bursting out of the clearing.
The monsters had been confused, which gave her enough time to make her way to the Mist barrier that separated the Garden of the Hesperides from the rest of the mortal world, and escape.
A small squadron of enemies, mostly dracaenae and demigods, had chased her all the way to the nearest train station, where she'd managed to slip onto the next outbound train, without a ticket.
(The secret was acting confident. Most people will let you do anything as long as you look like you know what you're doing.)
There didn't seem to be any monsters on her train car, so she settled in. She just hoped the train was heading east.
She'd been forced to leave all of her stuff behind, too, so all she had on her was her clothes, her sword, and a shield she'd been gifted when she joined the Titan army. And her notebook, of course.
Andy had never had enough time to tell Chiron and Clarisse everything that she learned. The IMs were too short, or someone interrupted them; whatever the reason, she just never had enough time. Now, she flipped through the book, reading through her hastily scrawled notes.
Once she reached the end, she whipped out a pen from her back pocket, and started to write about her adventures with newfound powers.
For about ten seconds she'd looked enough like Luke to fool the Titan Lord, a monster know for his observation and—just in general–overwhelming power.
And yet, Andy, a daughter of a minor god who had maybe one myth about him, was able to trick him.
The only problem was that she had no idea how to access this power.
Sure, she'd felt the faint presence of a layer of magic that obscured her, but she didn't do anything special to summon it, and it had faded away as soon as it came. Hopefully Chiron would be able to answer some questions about it, and maybe he would finally tell her about her brother.
𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙮'𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 Canp several hours later. She'd been forced to change trains a couple times but had thankfully only been attacked by a single monster—easily defeated, of course.
She'd spent most of the ride catching up on some much needed rest (espionage is tiring) and staring out this window, trying to act like she wasn't coming up with battle plans in her head. She'd never been very good with math, but the chances of them actually winning most of these battles were fairly slim. Not entirely impossible, but it'd be hard and dangerous.
If anything went wrong, Andy just needed to make sure Silena and Clarisse stayed alive. (Maybe Beckendorf, she supposed.) They'd be able to survive on their own, and if Percy could end the war and save Olympus, Camp would be destroyed.
They're really all I have left, Andy thought somberly. My dad's out of the picture, obviously. My mom is as good as dead. My sister is dead.
What would she have if they all died?
Andy didn't want to think about it.
She'd focused back on to her little notebook. It was a small leather-bound thing, barely the size of her hand. Clarisse had actually given it to her (being in love with your best friend was awful.), and Andy didn't know if she'd ever get rid of it, even if the pages were all filled and there was no more reason to cherish it.
She'd filled it with important information about the enemies, but one line stuck out to her.
In all caps, she'd scrawled:
WAREHOUSE, GUARDS, TRANSPORTATION.
And then below that, an address of a random, nondescript warehouse in Philadelphia of all places.
It felt like important information, and Kronos had been very secretive about the whole situation. Andy had only ever been able to find out the address, and it had been more difficult than she'd like to admit. Chiron would definitely like to know about it, though.
She'd gotten a taxi immediately out of the train station, asking for it to take her directly to Half- Blood hill. The driver had given her a weird glance, but complied.
"Here is fine," she told him, gesturing to the hill.
"Are you sure?" The driver glanced nervously out the window. "It's getting kind of dark, kid. I'm not sure I'm comfortable—"
Andy's lip twisted into a grimace. "I'll be fine."
She passed him the fee, and he drove off. Climbing the hill was easy, and she began the descent. The Camp was quiet and mostly empty-looking, but it was past curfew. Hopefully Chiron had told the harpies to leave her alone.
Despite the Camps overall abandoned feeling, the Big House had a couple porch lights on, and Andy could hear the faint sound of conversation drifting through an open window.
She knocked lightly on the door, heard the scraping of a chair, and before she knew it, Andy was being hugged by Clarisse.
She reciprocated for a moment, then Clarisse drew back, holding her at arms distance, looking her up and down worriedly.
"Chiron told me what happened," she said. Then she turned and glared back into the Big House. "If you tell anyone about that, I'll kill you."
Silena, Annabeth, and Chiron sat there, nodding.
"Hello, Andrea—"
"Andy, please." Andy interrupted.
Chiron looked confused, but nodded. "Andy, not to doubt your evasive skills, but we believed it would take you longer to escape."
"I managed to lose the monsters early on, and never let them catch up." She shrugged. "It was mostly chance."
That didn't exactly soothe the crowd.
"My question is," Chiron began, "how exactly you got away from Kronos."
"Kronos?" Clarisse muttered, glaring at the centaur. "You didn't say anything about that."
"I looked like Luke?" Andy said.
Annabeth sucked in a breath.
"I mean, when I looked in my reflection I looked exactly like Kronos, gold eyes and everything." She furrowed her brows. "But I have no idea how to control it. It was like . . . like a fight or flight reflex."
Chiron sighed deeply, which might've been a bad sign. "Your brother, Joe—"
"Joe?" Andy asked. "Are you kidding me? Joe? As in Joseph?"
"Yes?"
"Ugh, that's a boring name. Keep going."
Clarisse snorted, but Chiron just kept talking. "Your brother was an extremely powerful demigod, but he struggled in the beginning, just like you."
The room was silent for a moment.
"But I'm sure your exhausted!" Chiron clapped. "We should all go to sleep and talk again in the morning!"
Andy handed him her notebook. She would've stayed to talk it over with him, but to be fairly honest, she was exhausted.
She and Clarisse were making their way to the Hermes cabin (Clarisse insisted on walking her back) when Annabeth grabbed her arm. Andy tensed, and Annabeth immediately let go, holding her arms up.
Her eyes looked tired, and she looked like she'd been cosmically stressed recently.
"How was Luke?" She asked, wringing her hands.
"Kronos," Andy corrected. "He isn't Luke anymore."
Annabeth scowled. "He hesitated, last summer—"
Andy shook her head. "I don't care. He's not Luke anymore. You need to accept that, Annabeth. He won't spare you, and he won't show you mercy. Goodnight."
She turned around, grabbing Clarisse's arm and dragging her out the front door.
Andy didn't feel bad for trying to convince Annabeth to give up on Luke. Kronos was in control now, and Annabeth's old crush was gone. They didn't have time or the resources to give him a chance. They had to prioritize their own lives, and even if Kronos had hesitated, both last summer and earlier in the glade, they couldn't give him the chance to manipulate and kill them.
𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙞 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 van, poring over a blueprint she'd gotten a Hermes camper to acquire for her. Clarisse was with her, making notes on a small pad of paper.
Several of Clarisse's siblings were sitting in a field, with a couple of archers from the Apollo cabin. They were sharpening weapons or organizing quivers, preparing for the battle ahead.
Andy had been appointed the leader, but she knew that Clarisse was better at battle strategies, and would be a better leader. They'd agreed on co-leading.
Clarisse had insisted on bringing her siblings, but Andy had decided on bringing a couple of Apollo archers—including Michael Yew, the cabin leader–knowing that the addition of long-distance fighters would help their mission.
Chiron has read through Andy's notes, and decided to send them out to raid one of Kronos's warehouses in order to gather resources and gauge how trained and put together his forces were.
Andy rolled up the blueprints, tucking them into a cup holder. She walked toward the others, Clarisse following her. The other demigods leaped to their feet, the children of Ares a little more enthusiastic.
They were just beyond the line of sight from the warehouse windows. Andy had sent a Apollo kid to be a lookout to make sure none of the monster patrols came across their little setup.
Chiron had told them to keep it simple; this mission would be an easy get in, grab as much loot as they could, look around, and get out.
"Alright," Clarisse announced, gathering the attention of the rest of the campers. "You guys will take most of the fire from the front, while Yew, Andy, and I will sneak around to the side entrance. Sound good?"
There was a chorus of agreement, and they moved forward, the two cabin counselors (plus Andy) broke off the group to the left.
When the sound of fighting erupted from the front of the warehouse, Clarisse broke the lock on the metal door and slid it open. Micheal Yew drew his bow, but nothing attacked.
Clarisse nodded at them, and Andy and Yew walked inside, not letting their guard down.
The inside of the warehouse was cold and dark, but there wasn't a draft, and Andy knew immediately that there weren't any open windows. The air was kind of musty, too. The monsters probably didn't clean too much.
The walls were wood, but there were steel reinforcements, and Andy could see swaying metal pathways, held up by thick chains dangling from the roof. There was a thin staircase, and Andy gestures to it, then to herself. Clarisse nodded.
Andy and Yew walked up the staircase, their eyes adjusting to the darkness.
There weren't any monsters, but Andy noticed a couple empty chairs, like a little break area for the guards that they'd abandoned.
There weren't any boxes that Andy could see, but there was a strange dark shape, hanging by a single chain, off to the right. She stared at it until it started to take a shape.
"Yew," she started, "does that look like a chariot to you?"
He walked over from where he was examining something. He started laughing under his breath, and nodding. "This is perfect! Come one, let's try to get it down."
They hopped in, getting situated. It wasn't a normal chariot, Andy realized as she ran her hand of the railing.
"Micheal," she said nervously. "This is a flying chariot. See these reins? Those are pegasus reins."
The son of Apollo set down his bow, and took the reins from Andy, and chuckled. "We need to get this back to camp."
Before Andy could respond, there were the sounds of a struggle below them. Andy couldn't see the floor in the darkness, but she could hear the sound of swords clashing and hitting together.
"Micheal, do you have anything to break the chains?"
Micheal seemed to understand, and clambered out of the chariot, returning shortly with a large pair of chain cutters.
"I found them sitting there earlier." Yew explained. "I don't think the monsters are very smart."
He climbed back into the chariot, positioning the chain cutters. "Ready?"
"Do it." Andy said, fingers tightening around the metal railing.
Micheal nodded, and snapped the chain. For a moment, they fell, then they landed, the chariot landing on something that cushioned their fall.
Andy turned, and there was Clarisse, staring at them from about two feet away.
"Hey," Andy said nonchalantly, getting out of the chariot. She looked under it. They managed to narrowly miss Clarisse, but they crushed the monsters she was fighting into a golden dust.
"That was lucky," Yew said.
"It's a flying chariot," Andy told Clarisse excitedly. "Look! Pegasus reins!"
Clarisse grinned. "We'll totally be able to use this! The Ares cabin will be unstoppable on this thing!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Yew protested. "What about the Apollo cabin? I was the one to cut it down. We deserve it more!"
"The Ares cabin led the raid!"
"Andy's not part of the Ares cabin."
"It doesn't matter!" Andy said. "We need to take it back to camp. We can decide there."
𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙔𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 back to camp, which was a couple hour long drive. Andy had been driving–shes be able to talk to the cops if they were pulled over—and she was so close to driving the car off the road and hoping for death. The chariot was being pulled behind them, and it made an annoying clanking noise every tine the van made a turn.
The argument couldn't go past the exchanging of insults, but Andy did have to glare at Clarisse a couple times for drawing a knife with the intent to stab.
Finally they pulled into the Big House's driveway, all the Ares kids immediately jumping out of the car and pulling out their weapons, reading to back up Clarisse if a fight broke out.
The Apollo kids did the same, and they both faced each other, muscles tense.
Andy stood in the center. Annabeth and Chiron came out, watching the face-off nervously.
"It doesn't matter!" Andy said angrily. "The chariot will belong to camp—"
"The Ares cabin led the raid! We fought the most enemies! We deserve the chariot!" One of Clarisse's brothers yelled.
"Micheal cut down the chariot!" One of the Apollo kids yelled. "You didn't even touch it!"
Andy grumbled in frustration. This argument was useless. Both cabins helped in the capture of the chariot, and they both should get to claim the rewards.
Clarisse whirled around to face her. "Andy, you were the technical leader of the raid. Which cabin should get the chariot?"
"She's biased!" Micheal said.
"Neither!" Andy cried out. "Both! I don't care! It doesn't matter, now that we've got it!"
Clarisse scowled. "Why can't you just pick a side?"
Andy glared. "Because it doesn't matter! We got the chariot. Isn't that enough?"
"It's not about that! It's about . . . ugh!" Clarisse said. "The Ares cabin is always looked over! We deserve this!"
"What about me?" Andy asked. She could feel the Apollo and Ares campers start to waver, but Clarisse wasn't fooled. "I'm the one who actually led the raid. I drove us there. I saw the chariot first. Why don't I get to lay claim to it?"
"You need more than one person to drive a chariot," Clarisse scoffed. She immediately looked like she regretted her words.
"And what do you mean by that?" Andy's voice was cold. Her gaze landed on each of the campers before her in turn, and they all tensed, like they expected her to lunge forward. Then she fixed her eyes on
Clarisse, who looked like she might swallow her own tongue. "What on earth could you possibly mean by that?"
"Andy," Chiron interrupted. "Perhaps you could come inside and tell me about your mission."
Andy nodded sharply, and turned, making her way toward the Big House. As she passed by, the campers parted like a school of fish, giving her a perfect path. At the top of the stairs, she turned.
"You can solve this issue by yourselves. It doesn't matter to me, as long as we have the chariot."
Then she spun back around and stalked through the doorway.
...
Uh-oh!!! If you guys guessed that she'd be pissed about Clarisse refusing to fight, you'd be right!! She's going to be so angry, especially now that she and Clarisse had one of their first arguments.
Also, i added another little blurb in the first chapter of this book, taken directly from their confession scene (that I haven't actually written yet, but alas)!! If you dont wanna go all the way back, here it is:
Andy
"𝐼'𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡?"
Clarisse
"𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐼'𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑢𝑝."
Andy
"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛? 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼, 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑢𝑚."
Alrighty!!!
Andy as reaction pics I have saved:
Andy or Clarisse: (a match made in heaven :))
Andy to the telkhines:
@ Clarisse (me too Andy, me too)