After Time

Twenty

"I don't think I've ever heard you sound so mature."

I shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a prankster, a thief, and a class clown, but I'm not a jerk."

Percy grinned and snapped his fingers repeatedly. The universal sign for 'Go you!'.

Andromeda

The water of the Little Tiber crashed back down as I released control. The Chinese boy from before was back with a growing crowd and staring at me in shock and awe.

"Holy shit..." said a voice from behind him.

"Language, Legionnaire," a girl said, wearing an expression as stern as her tone. She wore gold armour and a purple cloak. The other teens all averted their eyes as she passed.

"Sorry, Ma'am."

"As for you," the girl turned to me and gave me a quizzical look. "Why have you come here?"

June stood up looking satisfied and stared me in the eye. As I looked at her, my skin burned, tingling with the ghost of my lost curse. "A Greek curse," she had said. "The Little Tiber will wash it away."

In a flash, the old grandmother was gone, replaced with a woman standing 10 feet tall and draped in a cloak of goat skin. There were peacock feathers braided into her hair, and her staff had a pink flower at the top. Hera. I stared at her with disdain. "Lady Juno," the girl in the cloak said, falling to a knee. Everyone else followed their lead, leaving Hera and I the only ones standing straight.

"Thank you, Andromeda Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter," Hera said neutrally.

"Andromeda... Jackson?" The girl in purple stared at me as if she had seen me in her nightmares.

"Oh yes," Hera preened, "you two will have so much fun together!"

I grit my teeth. "You there, Purple Cloak Girl," I pointed to her. The demigods behind her all froze, staring at me in shock. "You know who I am?"

"Shit," It wasn't the girl who answered. A boy my age walked out of the crowd. He was tall-ish, with dark brown hair and freckled skin. His lips were stained red and he had a canteen in his hand. "Andy?" He was wide-eyed as he stared at me. My brain flashed in recognition. He was my friend, I think. Dakota Finnick. We were working on... something?

Maybe I would know if I could remember more than my fucking name.

"Oh, that won't do," Hera frowned. "Allow me." She pointed her hand toward Dakota, and his eyes widened.

"That's quite enough, Sister," a new voice interrupted. Another girl, nearly as tall as Juno but looking thirty years younger walked toward the front of the crowd.

I knew her. I bowed respectfully, "Lady Hestia," I greeted.

She only sighed, "Dear Niece, how many times have I told you not to bow?"

"I don't know," I said frustratedly. "I don't remember anything!"

"Oh yes, silly me," Hestia smiled and turned to Juno. Her form flickering just for an instant.

"Vesta," Juno glared at her. "Do not interfere. If the boy knows..."

"Then Andromeda will have the same advantages our nephew had," Hestia countered. "Or shall I tell The Champion of the conditions you left for his family? Take your leave, Juno. I will handle this from now on."

Juno growled and disappeared.

"Now that that has been dealt with," Hestia smiled. "Romans, I give you Andromeda Jackson, daughter of Neptune. For months she has been slumbering, but now she is awake. She is to be trusted. She will be a powerful ally or a dangerous enemy, the choice is yours. The Feast of Fortuna comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if the city is to flourish. Good luck."

"By your command. Thank you, Lady Vesta," Purple Cloak Girl bowed her head.

"Of course, my dear," she smiled. "Oh, and consider my word to be her letter of recommendation."

Hestia shrunk down and disappeared in a handful of sparks.

Line Break

Okay, so there's good news and bad news.

Bad news, Hazel and Frank probably think I'm dead. A lot of people probably think I'm dead. After all, I did just fall off of a glacier and into the frigid water.

Good news, the aforementioned water, combined with the healing properties of the gorgon blood I drank a few hours ago got me my memories back.

Bad news again, my 17 years' worth of memories came back all at once. Ouch.

The water was helpful to ease the headache, but the healing stuff had never come as naturally to me as it had to Percy. Holy shit! Percy! He was probably worried sick about me. Heh, I'm honestly surprised he and Annabeth haven't come to burn New Rome to the ground looking for me. They've got that Jason guy with them, right? Gods, what if something happened to them? I don't even know how long I've been gone!

Pushing the thought from my mind, I willed the water to lift me back up the face of the cliff. The Eagle Standard felt strange in my hand. It was vaguely similar to holding Zeus' bolt, or the Helm of Darkness when I was twelve. Foreign. Dangerous.

The wraiths I had been fighting didn't leave any bodies behind, but Imperial Gold swords, shields and armour were strewn across the frozen plane. I picked up a stray spearhead and inspected it, finding it in poor condition, riddled with scuffs and scratches.

I rolled my eyes. 'Celestial Bronze is much more viable,' I thought to myself. 'Been fighting since I was twelve. I've never even seen a fleck of dirt on our weapons, not to mention the weight difference.' I scoffed loudly.

"Who uses ceremonial armour and weapons anyways," I said. "Such a waste of time. May as well use lead..."

"What?" Frank asked me in confusion, having arrived along with Hazel and my equestrian brother, Arion.

"Something about lead?" Hazel wondered.

I hear ya, sis, Arion whinnied. Gold does taste better, though.

"Imperial gold," I explained to the other two demigods with a sniff. "Very unreliable. I mean, look at this thing! It's shit, and there's nothing out here but ice and rain!"

Hazel looked mildly affronted at the notion but looked at the landscape. "Whatever you say, but there's a lot of stuff here. The legion could really use it if there's a battle coming. If only we could..." she trailed off.

"You want to bring it with us?" I raised an eyebrow. "There's a chariot over there!"

I don't like where this is going, Arion said. Okay, that's not exactly what he said, but his real words must never be repeated.

An hour later, we had filled the chariot with weapons and armour and tied it to Arion's back, rocketing off to California.

I sat in silence for most of the three-hour trip. I was unable to shake the worry for Annabeth. What if she thought I was dead? What if something happened to her? What... what if she found someone else?

No, I thought, shaking my head and forcing the notion from my brain. I can't afford to believe that. Good things only.

"Andy? We're nearly there," Hazel called. "What's the plan?"

"Get these weapons to the legion!" I shouted over the rushing wind. "Tell Reyna what happened, if you get the chance."

"What about you?" Frank asked me.

"Im gonna call my Pegasus to meet us there," and said. "And then I'm gonna kick Polybotes in his scaly ass."