¹Pocket Full of Posies, p. jackson

ix. For Better or for Worse

chapter nine
❛ for better or for worse ❜

━━━━━  THE NEXT HOUR was nothing but a blur. Somehow, through sheer instinct and will, they survived being ejected away from the wreckage site. They managed to find Percy — still alive, even if he was wholly unconscious — floating lifelessly on the surface of the ocean. Posie didn't believe her heart could handle another scare like the one she had when they first spotted him in the water. Even if he had survived a larger fall before, back in St. Louis, seeing him float aimlessly in the water, face down, was absolutely terrifying.

Posie felt horrible. Absolutely horrible about everything. Pulling the son of Poseidon out of the water was a two-man job; both she and Annabeth struggled to do so — trying to keep their rickety rowboat afloat, all the while grabbing Percy and fishing for all the items from his now-ripped duffel bag drifting around him. With Percy in the boat, Posie and Annabeth were now left with trying to figure out what to do next. Clarisse had gotten thrown to gods know where, hopefully with everything she could need to survive the Sea of Monsters; the CSS Birmingham was in pieces at the bottom of the monster-infested water (that is, if Charybdis didn't swallow any pieces before they could sink); Tyson was ...

No, Posie felt worse than horrible. She felt that everything — Tyson going down there, them all leaving Tyson down there, the warship exploding — had all been her fault. She felt like she was bearing the weight of that burden, and she knew it was making her another weight that was added to Annabeth's list of responsibilities to keep up with. Posie knew it didn't make sense for her to feel as if everything was her fault. But if she hadn't made such a big fuss while they were trying to uncover the rowboats, maybe they would've had more time to grab Tyson from the boiler room.

Suddenly, Annabeth nudged the daughter of Apollo's leg with the toe of her sneakers. "Help me with this sail, Posie."

She had it in a gentle tone; it was an offer more than a command — but Posie knew Annabeth. And Annabeth could read Posie well, too — she could easily tell that the daughter of Apollo was overthinking. Like any other half-blood who had ADHD, to be given tasks helped put the always-restless mind in some semblance of quietness — until, that is, the tasks were completed, and the ADHD-riddled demigod had to sit with their thoughts once more. And besides, hand-stitching a makeshift sail out of uniform fabric Annabeth had found in a box on the rowboat all by her lonesome was a cumbersome undertaking.

They managed to salvage some more supplies from the wreck — Hermes's Flask (even if it was now empty), an airtight bag of ambrosia, a couple of grey sailors' shirts, and a lukewarm bottle of Dr. Pepper. (The worst kind of Dr. Pepper, much to Posie's disappointment.) They finished stitching the sail (with Posie being so-oh-valuable by helping hold the sail for Annabeth), and the daughter of Athena immediately went to work by tacking the wind. With Annabeth having found another task to help them along their way, she and Posie were left in silence. The daughter of Apollo sank down on the uncomfortable bench in the rowboat, turning the Flask over and over in her hands, as her eyes slowly slid over to Percy. Even if they had nearly overturned the lifeboat trying to save him, most of his stuff had floated away before they could get to it — except for the bottle of multivitamins given to him by Hermes. Perhaps the god had put some magic on the item, something similar to the magic that Riptide had.

"The fall couldn't've killed him, you know." Annabeth broke the silence once more, spotting Posie as she looked as glum as anyone could. She had her blonde braids tied loosely back, but one still managed to slip into her eyes. She pushed it out of the way, narrowing her grey eyes on the never-ending sea that surrounded them. "You know, St. Louis Arch."