¹𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 ━ 𝗽. 𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

030

⋆ ˚｡⋆ʚ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 ɞ⋆ ˚｡⋆
─── ❛ what not to wear (witch's version) ❜ ───

PERCY WOKE UP IN A rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric. isabella sat next to him, tacking into the wind.

he tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy.

"rest," she said. "you're going to need it."

"tyson... ?"

she shook her head, her eyes were a little red, percy knew she had been crying. "percy, i'm really sorry."

they were silent while the waves tossed us up and down.

"he may have survived," she said halfheartedly. "i mean, fire can't kill him."

the boy nodded, but he had no reason to feel hopeful. he'd seen that explosion rip through solid iron. if tyson had been down in the boiler room, there was no way he could've lived.

he'd given his life for them, and all percy could think about were the times he felt embarrassed by him and had denied that the two of them were related. how he wished to have listened to isabella.

waves lapped at the boat. isabella showed him some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage—hermes's thermos (now empty), a ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of dr pepper. she'd fished him out of the water and found his knapsack, bitten in half by scylla's teeth. most of his stuff had floated away, but he still had hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course, riptide. the ballpoint pen always appeared back in his pocket no matter where he lost it.

they sailed for hours. now that they were in the sea of monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like hydra acid. the wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too—as if a thunderstorm were coming. or something even more dangerous. percy knew what direction they needed to go. he knew they were exactly one hundred thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of their destination. but that didn't make him feel any less lost.

no matter which way they turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into their eyes. they took turns sipping from the dr pepper, shading themselves with the sail as best they could. and they talked about his latest dream of grover, isabella was afraid to tell him about her dream, she wanted to know what it was about with certainty before worrying him.

by isabella's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to find grover, assuming his dream was accurate, and assuming the cyclops polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry grover earlier.

"yeah," percy said bitterly. "you can never trust a cyclops."

isabella stared across the water. "annabeth was wrong, percy. but... i understand her."

"what?" percy said bitterly.

"she had her reasons," the girl said, looking into his eyes. "though, she was a bit of a bitch with tyson, you should comprehend her situation."

percy looked at her with a sort of resentment. he tried to be mad at her, but it wasn't easy. they'd been through a lot together. she'd saved his life plenty of times. it was stupid of him to resent her.