Percy Jackson and the Adventures of A Sister

24. Family

Sally Jackson stood before her, an arrow pointed at her head. "I will give you one minute to identify yourself, tell me what were you doing in Mosychlos before it erupted? What are you doing here, in Alaska?" She said coldly. Had it been anyone else, Andromeda would have been looking at an unconscious mortal. But no way in Tartarus was she going to attack Sally Jackson. "I swear on the river Styx I will tell you the full truth. I mean no harm. I can't lie because of my oath." Said Andromeda. Sally lowered her bow. "Spill." She said. Over the next hour Andromeda explained her adventures and the whole mishap with her powers.

At the end of Andromeda's tale Sally was not sure how she should feel. On one hand her son will have a good family. He would be a god and he would be happy. On the other hand he will suffer more than most gods suffer in their entire lives. She was quiet for some time. Finally she spoke. "I have not experienced the future, so how those events shall come to be, I know not. But whatever happens, I will not stand by as my son plunges headfirst into the demigod's life unprepared. I will not make the same mistake my mother did. Percy will need all the training he can get. As a grandson of Apollo and a son of Poseidon, his scent will be very strong. We will stay in Alaska. At some point when we have to return to the land of the gods, I will have to hide his scent. It will do no good if Zeus finds out about Percy. He may have been different in the future, but right now Zeus is a tyrant. If you want you can stay with me. There is one more thing I can do, if you like." She said.

Andromeda's eyes widened when she realized what Sally was implying. Her jaw dropped. "You want to adopt me!" She said, shocked. Sally smiled. "You have had a hard life. Everyone deserves to have a family they can lean on. So, what do you want?" Asked Sally. Elated, Andromeda shouted, "YES!" A large grin threatened to split the face of both the demigods. Percy who was sleeping on the bed woke up immediately and began giggling.

Andromeda grinned. "I am so going to embarrass him once we get back." She said. Sally laughed. "We just need to get out of this hotel and find ourselves a nice sheltered spot. Normally I would be against raising a baby in the wilderness, but he has to get used to it. Your namesake grew up in the wild and ended up being one of the deadliest hunters on the planet. And I don't think the god of time will appreciate it if you embarrass him." She said. Andromeda just flashed a lopsided grin.

An hour later the two had gotten out of the hotel. They went into the woods and Andromeda pitched her tent. They went inside. The tent was the size of a small house on the inside. Across the living room were four doors. Three of them were labeled, Andromeda, Sally and Percy. Andromeda slowly walked forward and gently pushed the door to her room open. The room before her took her breath away. The walls were sea green. A painting hung on the wall on the other side of the wall. It was a painting of a middle aged woman holding a little girl. Andromeda instantly recognized the woman in the painting. Her eyes misted over. She slowly walked over to the painting, and brushed her hand across it.

"Mom." she whispered. Sally's eyes widened. Of course. The girl looked exactly like how Andromeda would have looked had she been younger. Andromeda picked up the communication device and then proceeded to call Percy. "Hey sis. Whats up?" Said Percy. "Thank you." Replied Andromeda. Percy was quiet for a few seconds. "You're welcome, sister. I would say I'm sorry, but we both know it does not feel genuine." He said. Suddenly an explosion was heard in the background. Percy immediately hung up. Suddenly baby Percy began crying. Sally left the room trying to calm her son. Andromeda then looked at the rest of the room.

There was a board on the wall adjacent to the painting." For your planning" was written in block letters on the board.. Opposite to the board was a beautiful desk. It had three drawers with reddish brown handles. It was a good place to relax. She would be facing the window when she was sitting on the desk. There was a simple pen holder on top of the desk. A notebook lay next to the pen holder. The bed was in the middle of the room, a couple of feet from the desk. On the other side of the bed was a bookshelf. She walked over to a desk. She found a note sitting on the notebook. The moment she picked it up, it lit up and an audio message projected out from it.

"Hello sister. You may be wondering why I put a desk in your room. It's not like you have paperwork to do. Well I put it there and designed the whole room to be the perfect place for you. It serves as a bedroom, a war meeting room, and most importantly an area for you to write. Both your birth mother and your adoptive mother wrote very good stories and poems. I know for a fact that you used to write before the death of your mother. I hope you like your room."

"The bookshelf has many books I think you will like. Once you go through all of them, snap your fingers and say 'mizzenmast'. All the books in the lower four shelves will be replaced by new ones. The topmost shelf has only four books as of now. The command will not replace the books on that shelf. Your mother wrote those books. She never got to publish them, but they are amazing. The notebooks on the desk contain an unfinished story written by your mother. Hopefully you can finish them and let her memory live on." With that the message shut off. Andromeda stared at the paper shocked. Soon a smile creeped onto her face. Looks like things were looking up for her after all.