chapter sixty-six

─── i just wanted one morning where someone didn't try to kill me

          𝕰arly mornings and I didn't get along in the slightest.So, when I was woken up at some ungodly hour when the sun had barely risen, the day after I finished all my exams, it was fair to say that I was in a foul mood.

"Andi," Luke watched me stomp past him with an amused expression, trying his best not to laugh. "Someone looks happy."

I swore at him over my shoulder, before scowling as I felt his arms wrap around my waist and tug me back into a hug.

"Come on," Luke cooed, pressing a kiss to my forehead as he rocked me from side to side. "It's only 8am, Andi, and we've got to pick Annabeth up from the airport."

"Remind me why she didn't get a later flight?"

"Because she wanted to visit," Luke spun me around, as I fell back onto his shoulders and contemplated falling asleep. He was very comfy. "I'm going to guess this means I'm driving to the airport."

"Yeah." He chuckled again, pressing another kiss to my forehead, before pushing me back upright. I yawned and stomped off to the bathroom so that I could wake myself up properly. The pros of being the daughter of Poseidon meant that water re-energized me no matter where I was or how much water there was.

So, when I stepped out of the shower, I was back to my normal self instead of a grumpy, tired version of Andi that no one wanted to be around.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," Luke watched me with an amused expression, before nodding and pulling his shoes on. "What?"

"I always find you switching between grumpy Andi and normal Andi very amusing," I rolled my eyes at him, pulling my own shoes on as Luke chuckled and grabbed the car keys, heading for the door. "How do you do it?"

"I'm just plain awesome."

"I knew that already," I grinned at his words, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek as I went past. He chuckled, before locking the door to his apartment. We headed down the stairs, to the underground parking garage, and Luke was quick to open the car door for me, both of us chatting about summer plans.

The drive to the airport was about as quick as you could imagine, and we got there with time to spare, leaving Luke and I to wander around the airport until Annabeth's plane landed. We spoke in hushed tones about Camp and what was going on there at the moment.

I hadn't been back since the middle of December, after my kidnapping incident, though Luke had been back slightly more frequently to make sure that his siblings hadn't burnt it down whilst he was away. I had the excuse of finishing the first year of my degree, which had been harder than I'd imagined.

"Then, they've changed the-oh shit." Luke's change of words caused me to stop and turn to face him, my hand reaching for my pocket as I tried to see what he was looking at. There was no monsters around, and as far as I could see, it was just mortals.

"What is it? What's the problem?"

"You remember I told you that I almost killed a mortal at the Hoover Dam?"

"Yeah." I had laughed hysterically when he told me that one.

"Well, she's here," Luke muttered, looking over my shoulder at something behind me. 

"She's here?"

"Yup, red head over your right shoulder," I pretended to look at the arrivals board, my eyes searching through the crowd until I found who Luke was looking at. "See her?"

"Yep and she's looking right at us," I muttered, turning away and smiling up at him. "Should we run?"

"Annabeth's plane has just landed so we can't." He looked like he wanted to bolt.

"She's coming over." I whispered.

"Damn it." He hissed, and I wondered if our day could get any more awkward, or worse. That was always a dangerous thing to say when you were a demigod, because the answer was always yes, your day could get a lot worse. 

"Oh, there's some empousai here as well, they're also looking right at us."

"You jinxed it!"

"I didn't."

"You jinxed it in your head." Luke countered, as I scowled. "Alright, rock, paper, scissors. I win, you have to deal with the Rachel and I'll deal with the empousai, you win, I have to deal with Rachel and you can deal with the empousai."

Both of us had decided that the empousai were the easier of the two options.

"Good plan," We held both our hands out. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

"Shit!" Luke hissed as I cackled. What he didn't know was I was very good at rock, paper, scissors. He scowled, before brushing past me for Rachel, who was still walking towards us as I headed in the other direction. Hurrying over, I got Riptide into my hand, ready to flip the lid off and attack them. Their grins dropped, having not expected me to walk over willingly.

"Ah, Andromeda Jac-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're here to kill me, your master is great and wonderful, blah, blah, blah. I've heard it before." I wrapped my arms around their shoulders, holding their arms into their side as they struggled. "Let's take this outside."

"Curse you, half-blood,"

"Thanks." 

"We will kill you!" The other one called.

"Get in line." I muttered, smiling at a security guard who was watching me with suspicion. I put on my best grin, wondering what he was seeing through the mist, before he turned back to the arrivals hall. We got outside, away from the cameras, before I threw them away from me, pulling out Riptide.

They struggled to get their bearings, leaving me enough time to kick the first to the floor. She was no match for Riptide, which I had thrown at her as it changed back into it's sword form. She evaporated into golden sand, as the other yelped more a moment, backing away. It took her a moment as she seemed to process what I had done, and how casually it had happened.

When I first realised I was a demigod, killing my first monster had left me shattered. But like Luke had said, it gets easier as time goes on. I'd long since given up on caring about monsters, not when I knew that they'd kill me given half the chance.

"Y-You killed my trainee!" She yelled. "How dare you?"

Then she began to change. Her wiry hair turned into flickering flames. Her eyes turned red. She grew fangs, and I cocked my eyebrow. This was new, and it reminded me in a way of Mrs Dodd's less than fairytale transformation.

"I am Kelli, a senior empousa," she growled. "No hero has bested me in a thousand years."

"Did they not give you my file? I'm very good at beating things that aren't supposed to be beaten." I grinned, flicking Riptide back out.

"Such a pretty little blade," she said. "What a shame it stands between us."

Her form shimmered—sometimes a demon, sometimes a cheerleader, but I just raised my eyebrow. A cheerleader? She'd watched too many films portraying evil cheerleaders.

"Poor dear." Kelli chuckled. "You don't even know what's happening, do you? Soon, your pretty little camp in flames, your friends made slaves to the Lord of Time, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It would be merciful to end your life now, before you have to see that."

"So you think my camp is pretty?" I touched my heart, smiling at her. "That's so sweet of you, Kelli."

"No!"

"Oh, don't be embarrassed," She lunged again, but I ducked and tripped her up, slamming Riptide onto her back. She growled, her hair burning in fire, before she yowled and disappeared in a ball of flames. "Wow, now that's just melodramatic."

I turned, finding Annabeth and Luke standing behind me.

"Morning Annabeth. Did you get your hair done? I'm liking the new braids." I grinned, putting Riptide away and embracing the young teenager, who beamed at my compliment. "How was the flight?"

"I'm so excited to get back to Camp," She tightened her grip on me, as I motioned behind Luke at Rachel who was rushing towards us.

"I see you held your end of the bargain." Luke rolled his eyes, before turning.

"Luke, wait up!" She called. Annabeth's smile melted, watching the girl with a raised eyebrow, before glancing back at me.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"Annabeth, this is Rachel. She's a friend?" Luke questioned, still looking slightly unsure himself. "Rachel this is Annabeth and Andromeda."

"Hi," Rachel looked at us, before turning to stare up at Luke with wide eyes that I recognised very easily. Someone had a crush. "You are in trouble and you still owe me an explanation!"

"Luke," Annabeth said coldly. "We should go."

"I want to know more about half-bloods," Rachel insisted. "And monsters. And this stuff about the gods." 

She grabbed his arm, whipped out a permanent marker, and wrote a phone number on his hand. Luke seemed in a state of shock, turning to look at me, but I shrugged. It was probably better that she knew what was going on so that everything could be explained and she'd be safer.

"You're going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going."

Annabeth shot Luke a glare as Rachel ran off, crossing her arms by my side. She looked at me, before turning to Luke and then back to me, as if asking if I was going to let this slide?

"Why was she there?" 

"Luke almost killed her last year," I told her, winking at my boyfriend.

"Yeah, thank you, that's not something I'm proud of." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, looking around cautiously. He was tense, his fingers already drumming at my shoulder. "What happened to the two empousai?"

He opened the car, putting Annabeth's bag in the boots as the younger girl clambered into the back seat and slammed the door. Both of us winced, before I turned back to him.

"One died, the other, Kelli, vaporised herself and disappeared after saying some very weird things about burning the camp to the ground," I shrugged. "Cheerful people, those lot. They have a thing for me, I think. Stalking me and the like."

"I wouldn't call it stalking. Monitoring more like." Luke shook his head, as we stayed out of the car for a moment, leaning against the roof as he talked. "Sorry about Rachel."

"She's so got a crush on you."

"You know, this time I picked up on that." Luke held his hand up, showing the phone number as I snorted with laughter. "You gonna add her to the list?"

"Gonna have to start adding pages to that soon." I sighed, before blowing him a kiss as he chuckled.

"You mad about it?"

"Pretty sure you're not about to get with a legitimate child." I pointed out. "Plus, you haven't set a hellhound on her, so I know you still love me."

"One time! One time..." He rolled his eyes as I laughed, before shaking my head.

"We're still in a relationship, Luke. I have no reason to be jealous. You're not gonna cheat on me, you love me too much."

"You're right about that." He agreed. "I'd never do that."

"I know. I trust you, and I love you." I pointed out, before opening the car door. "Alright, back to Camp, Annie?"

"Yes. Finally."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, new act. Andi is not bothered by anything in the slightest (she's done with everything in life) so Annabeth is getting annoyed on her behalf which is going to be very funny. Luke is also done with people having a crush on him which Andi is just loving.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx