Percy lead us through the cold to his apartment. On the way there, I used a bit of magic to keep Andromeda warm, but it was hard to get the heat level right. I'd made a ton of progress on improving my use of it over the past couple months, but fine tuning things still posed a problem to me. She was still very appreciative, though, and gave me a tight hug when we finally got inside the apartment building.

We took an elevator a couple of floors up, and made our way to the door.

Percy turned to us. "Hey, just before we go in, can I just ask that you don't tell my mom all the details? Let me lead with that stuff, I mean. I don't want her getting too worried about me is all."

We nodded. I didn't blame him, if his mom had known what we had been doing over the summer as it happened she would probably have been completely distraught. She didn't need to know all the details now either. She couldn't exactly do much to help besides let us stay here anyways, all that knowing the details would do is make her more worried about Percy.

Taking a deep breath, Percy rang the buzzer. I heard a soft voice from within the apartment.

"Coming!"

A few seconds later, the door opened. Sally Jackson was really pretty, I can see why Poseidon took a liking to her. She had dark brown hair that was done up in curls, bright blue eyes, and a face that reminded me a bit of my own mother.

"Percy!" She exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.

"And your two friends as well! (Y/N) and Andromeda, if I remember correctly?"

Me and Andromeda smiled and nodded.

"Well I hope this means that it was a success?"

Percy's smile faltered slightly. "Not quite, mom. We're on the right track, but we need more time. We were hoping we could stay the night."

Sally's smile faded for a moment but quickly reappeared. "Of course you can, dear! Come on in, I just put some water on for pasta, I can make enough for all of us!"

My stomach growled. I'd only had a hot dog to eat today, and the ambrosia I guess, but it wasn't until now I realized quite how hungry I was. Guess I was distracted earlier.

We followed Sally in and sat down at the dining room table. Percy had told me that his stepfather had... disappeared a couple months ago, but the room still somewhat smelled of the cigarettes he used to smoke. I turned to Sally for a moment.

"Sally, you mind if I try to do something about this smell?"

She gave me a quizzical look. "Yeah, go ahead, I've been trying to get rid of it for months. Just won't go away."

I smiled and closed my eyes. I'd never done this sort of spell before but, well at least in theory, I knew it should work. I focused on the ambient magical energy in the room and gathered it above my opened palm. I imagined it transmuting into an orb of lemon scented air freshener, and then seeping into everything the cigarette smell was trapped within, replacing it molecule by molecule. I felt a slight tug in my arm, and opened my eyes, taking a tentative sniff. The cigarette smell was gone, but...

"Agh. It's orange scented. I was going for lemon."

Guess I still don't quite have the fine tuning down...

Still, this was pretty impressive for me. I'd struggled for a while with spells that required fine details, and I felt like this was a pretty big step in that.

Sally's eyes went wide. "Woah. That was cool."

I laughed and blushed slightly. "Thanks. Wasn't quite what I was going for but if it works it works I guess."

"Son of Hecate, right? Percy mentioned it."

I nodded. "Yep. Still working on the whole controlling magic completely thing, though, so don't ask me to do any birthdays quite yet. Would rather not set a kid's head on fire by accident."

She laughed at that. "Alright I'll keep that in mind. Go sit down, the pasta will be ready in a bit."

Sally's pasta was pretty good. The sauce was a bit too oniony for my taste but besides that it was great. The shells were blue, though, which was a bit strange. I guess the whole blue food thing is a family tradition or something. As we ate, Percy explained what was going on, leaving out a lot of the fine details but not necessarily outright lying about anything. It was pretty impressive, actually. Sally still seemed a bit worried, though.

"So, (Y/N). This kid is your brother?"

I groaned. "Only half brother. Sorry, not the biggest fan of his right now."

Sally nodded understandingly. "Still, he's family, and even if he is older than you, he's still a kid. Don't be too harsh on him."

I sighed. I guess she had a point, but at the same time, as much as I respected her, Sally didn't really have the same experience or understanding of what was going on that I had. I turned to Andromeda and saw her staring at me knowingly. I'd made a promise to her. I couldn't have any remorse for Johnathan when we ran into each other next. I'd given him that chance, and he'd nearly killed me. I wouldn't make that mistake again.

I turned back to Sally. "Maybe."

She sighed. "Well regardless, what do you three plan to do tomorrow?"

I hadn't actually thought much of that. I turned to Percy and Andromeda but they were both looking at me expectantly. That's the downside of being the quest leader, everyone expects you to have a plan in mind.

"Well... I think we will head over to the museum and try to get an idea of what's there. Might find something that gives us a hint as to more of the specifics of his plan. We also need to figure out a way to sneak into the ball, since I doubt they'll just let three kids in without tickets..."

Sally's eyes lit up. "Hold on." She got up and ran over to a closet, quickly emerging with three outfits. Two suits, both presumably belonging to Percy, and a flowing golden dress.

"Percy and (Y/N). You're about the same size, so these two should fit you. And Andromeda, this is one of mine from when I was your age. I was holding onto it in case I ever had a daughter, but this seems like as good a time to bring it out as any. We can take you three over to a tailor before the ball to get them sized properly and everything. Should at least help you blend in once you find a way into the ball."

I smiled. "Are you sure, Ms. Jackson? I'm sure we could..."

She waved her hand. "Of course I'm sure, better they help you than sit in a closet doing nothing."

Percy ran up and gave his mom a big hug. "Thanks mom..."

She smiled down at him. "Love you too, dear. Now you three go find a place to sleep. You look positively exhausted."

She was right and we knew it. A couple minutes later, we had blown up two small air beds in Percy's room for me and Andromeda. I told Percy it was only fair he got his own bed, and he didn't seem too hesitant to take it.

As I was falling asleep, Andromeda came over to give me a hug.

"Darling?"

I turned to her. "Yeah 'Meda?"

She smiled at me. "I saw that earlier, you know. When Sally was telling you to try and cut Johnathan some slack. She has a kind heart, but, well, she doesn't know what we do. Thanks for sticking to our promise. It means a lot."

I smiled back. "I'm never going to break a promise to you, 'Meda. That's another promise, I guess."

She laughed a bit and gave me a quick kiss. "Good. Now get some rest, you need it."

I smiled as she went back over to her bed. I was the luckiest guy in the world.

For the first time in a while, I had dreams that night. Terrible dreams. I only saw flashes, but what I saw was worse than anything Mr. D could have possibly shown me. Blood on my hands. Andromeda's screams. Johnathan laughing. I woke with a start. I was sweating like I'd just run a marathon. I began to weep. If that was what I thought it was... no. No. It wouldn't be what I thought it was.

Andromeda must have heard me crying, because she woke up as well. She ran over and put a hand on my shoulder.

"(Y/N)! What is it? Are you ok?"

I looked up from my hands. "Y... yeah 'Meda. Just a bad dream."

Andromeda crossed her arms. "And what was this bad dream about exactly?"

I sighed. She wasn't going to let this one go. I explained to her the images I saw in the dream.

"Oh (Y/N)... do you remember what you told me back in the van."

"Yeah. I didn't completely buy it myself, though. You said as much."

Andromeda smiled. "So? The point is just as valid no matter how much you believe in it. Percy told you about the dreams he had over the summer, right?"

I looked over to Percy. He had. Dreams of him awakening Kronos, of him being dragged down into Tartarus. Like the prophecies of the Oracle, those had been sort of connected to what actually happened, but could hardly be considered directly reflective.

"And what did Annabeth say about heroes who put too much stock in dreams and prophecies?"

I thought back to my lessons with Annabeth from over the summer. "That they always prove to be their own downfall?"

Andromeda smiled again. "Exactly. Chiron told me the same thing before we left. 'Fear breeds sorrow'. If you fear an outcome too much, all you will accomplish is making that outcome more likely. Fate is weird in that way. And if my word counts for anything, which I would hope it does, considering what you're worried about, I have no fears at all of you doing anything that would hurt me, even by accident."

I smiled back, finally. "Thanks 'Meda. That helps a bit."

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now get some rest. We've got a busy day ahead of us."