ᑎᗴᗷᑌᒪᗩᗴ ➪ 𝙿.𝙹 + 𝙿.𝚂. + 𝙰.𝙲. [𝟸]

𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥; 𝗣𝗜𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗣

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗧 downstairs. Percy didn't even know Jason, but he came with. Polaris imagined she was going to have a hard time peeling away from Percy for the next couple of days.

Absentmindedly, she reached up to quickly check her forehead. Still no circlet.

No matter how casual she had been–Percy's blue eyes tracked the movement. He watched her with such singleminded intent, Polaris honestly didn't want to go check on Jason.

"What happened to it?" he asked quietly.

"I gave it up for a while," Polaris responded. Was she blushing? She felt like she was blushing. It had been a while since she'd had the mental bandwidth to blush.

"Why? When?"

"When you were taken," Polaris said, voice an angry growl. Percy looked taken aback. "Hera stole you and Urania did nothing. I—I'm not sure if she'll give it back."

Percy gave a great attempt at a smile. He still looked a bit confused. "She has to, right?" At Polaris's scoff, he changed angles. "Well, who else is she going to give it to? Devyn?"

Polaris's heart felt light. "You remember them? They'll be glad to hear that."

"I remember everything."

"You're lucky- Jason still has gaps."

Percy shrugged, casually, as if his next sentence wasn't ridiculous. "I drank poison."

"Excuse me?"

Percy chuckled, as if recalling fond memories. He looked older now, Polaris realized with a sinking heart as he began to explain.

"𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚," Annabeth explained. "Piper's keeping an eye on him, but he should be fine."

Leo's eyes were stormy, but he nodded. "And me. . .?"

"We'll figure that out later," Annabeth said. She sounded dismissive, but Polaris could hear the nerves in her voice. Leo's situation scared her. "Right now, we have to regroup and make a plan. What's the situation with the ship?"

He told Annabeth about the damage and the supplies they needed. At least he felt better talking about something fixable. "And we'll need some little things to fix up the ballistae, but I have those downstairs."

"Sorry." Polaris peeped. "I was running out of options."

"No worries," Leo said, eyes darting between Percy and Annabeth.

He was bemoaning the shortage of Celestial bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.

"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief. Polaris couldn't understand Festus, but the dragon did have tones. She could tell his beeping was a good thing. (Gods, she missed Beckendorf.)

"What's perfect?" Annabeth said. "I could use some perfect about now."

Leo managed a smile. "Everything we need in one place. Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."

Polaris watched him transform. It was pretty magical, even considering they were a bunch of half-gods and a half-goat on a flying ship.

𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘, it wasn't a pretty landing. Well, so Polaris was told. She had regressed to her room.

Polaris liked boats, don't get her wrong. It was just . . . Despite the fact she hadn't yet learned to swim any stroke other than the doggy paddle, she preferred canoes to battleships or, godsforbid, a yacht. At least then there was an easy way out—and if Percy nearby, there was no way she could drown.