❝ Does being a Child of Hermes automatically make you good at flirting? Or was that just a skill you picked up? ❞
Andromeda Jackson knew she was not cut out for the demigod life, and that was before she heard about her death from the creepy oracle i...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝔄 coast guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to keep us for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.
Our clothes were sopping wet, even mine. When the Coast Guard boat had appeared, I'd silently prayed they wouldn't pick me out of the water and find me perfectly dry, which might've raised some eyebrows. So I'd willed myself to get soaked. Sure enough, my usual waterproof magic had abandoned me. I was also barefoot, because I'd given my shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of us was barefoot than wonder why one of us had hooves.
After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, eyes wide and still reeling from the news of the betrayal. I felt as if I'd just been killed, resurrected and then killed again. My backpack was heavy with Zeus' master bolt. My heart was even heavier from seeing my mother.
"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way—"
"It was a trick," I said, shaking my head as . "A strategy worthy of Athena."
"Hey," Luke warned quickly, shaking water from his hair like a dog.
"You get it, don't you?"
Annabeth dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."
"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody—"
"Andi..." Luke rested a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry...."
I pretended not to hear him. If I talked about my mother, I was going to start crying like a little kid.
"The prophecy was right," I said. "You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."
Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"
I stopped in my tracks, looking down the beach as I snarked. "I don't know, let me have a think about it."
