After Time

Sixteen

Percy

So many dead or injured, and it's only been a day. Too many. I trusted Andy completely, but I wasn't sure how we would survive for four more days.

"How'd it go for everyone, all things considered?" Andy asked the group of counsellors. The only one absent was Annabeth, who had been struck in the arm with a poisoned knife. I had to go and see her after this.

"How do you think?" Travis grimaced. I was surprised he was even still standing. When I arrived, he was barely conscious, bleeding from a gaping cut spanning his entire torso. Nonetheless, he had gotten it stitched, had some ambrosia and nectar, and insisted on moving on, much to Katie's and Connor's dismay. I continued watching for any signs he might fall.

"As well as it could have, realistically," Michael sighed. "The Williamsburg was too wide, and we didn't have the numbers to cover it all. Eventually, we had to blow it up."

I pursed my lips. That would be hard to explain away, but if it kept Kronos out of the city then it would have to do.

"Alright, as long as everyone made it out okay," Andy sighed.

Thalia walked into the room, face and clothes covered in soot and monster dust. 'You look like shit,' I commented with a wave.

"And you're as insufferable as ever," she replied. "Andy, there's a titan here. Says he wants to talk."

Andy

I couldn't tell if my brother was angry with me or not. He had been furious when I sent him off to rest. I briefly considered it a mistake when I realized he probably hadn't rested in the first place. He told me he kept Hestia company until she said Travis was hurt.

There was also the matter of Prometheus and his treacherous gift. Gods had he scared me. He had used this future-tense way of talking like he already knew what would happen. For the creator of humanity, he had seemed even less human than the gods. Not even Apollo, the god of Prophecy, was ever that confident.

Not to mention the Pithos. It was a large, clay jar, decorated with carvings of what looked like people. It was remarkably pristine, considering it was many centuries older than other Greek pottery.

Allegedly, the container contained Elpis, Hope. Prometheus had said that if I opened it, hope would escape, and the Titans would consider it a surrender. Not that it mattered, of course, as we did not intend to surrender.

Also, Annabeth jumped in front of a dagger that may have hit my weak spot, which had not done very much to lessen my worries. Once she was not in any immediate danger, she told me that it was almost like she could tell I was vulnerable, without knowing where the spot was. "Andy?" the daughter of Athena said weakly, lying on a couch. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I told her. "What was I saying before the others got here?"

"You were talking about your weak spot," she replied.

"Right," I said, taking her hand.

"What are you doing?" She asked me.

"When we went to the underworld, Patrocles said the curse would bind me to a person," I explained. I told her about the vision I had had while in the Styx. I had been swimming, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me from the water. "For Achilles, he was bound to Thetis, his mother, but for me? Annabeth, that person was you."

Slowly, I pulled her hand to my weak spot, the place that bound my soul to the mortal plane and gave me my invulnerability. Her fingers barely glazed over it, but my entire body shivered. It was as if electricity was shooting through my entire body. "Andy, why did you do that?"