Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 the ocean, alone, she knew something had gone very, very wrong.
He wasn't supposed to be alone. He was supposed to be returning victorious, with good news and Charles Beckendorf by his side.
The look on his face said he had neither.
Andy had been wandering the camp, looking for something to do when she'd seen Percy's head of dark hair pop out of the surface, completely dry.
(Sure, she was avoiding Clarisse, but she'd never spent a lot of time in the Arts and Crafts building before, so it was a fun experience.)
She waited for Jackson and Connor Stoll—the camper that had been on lookout—at the top of the beach.
It only took one look—a defeated sort of weariness—from Percy, and Andy knew what had happened.
She deflated. She didn't personally know Beckendorf really well, but Silena– oh, gods. Silena would be devastated.
She'd been crushing on the son of Hephaestus a long time, and anyone could see he returned her affections. They'd gotten together recently, during Andy and Clarisse's forage into the Labyrinth, but they always acted like they'd been together forever. They were the type of couple that stayed in the honeymoon phase for their entire relationship, but nobody ever got tired of seeing it.
Not even Andy, who would admit only to herself that she was jealous.
They were such a sweet couple. Beckendorf never failed to put a smile on the daughter of Aphrodite's face, and would bring her little trinkets he'd found or made, each with a special little note. It wasn't Silena's regular smile that came out during these times. It was a special one, that only Beckendorf could earn.
Never again.
But Andy didn't doubt that Jackson had done all that he could to save him. It was one of the things Andy knew for certain about the son of Poseidon; he was always willing to lay down his life if it could save someone else's.
Andy didn't know exactly what had happened—the two boys had gone on a mission to the Princess Andromeda, a boat that might've had Kronos on it—but she figure Jackson would want to repeat the story.
She just nodded at him and let him pass, then started trailing behind him. He looked like he didn't know what to make of the gesture, but kept moving forward.
At the top of the hill, almost the entire camp was gather. Annabeth and Chiron ran toward Percy, but Andy could see Silena pushing through the crowd–hair messy and makeup undone.
