"Anything for you, Goldie."
Lydia Allen didn't think Percy Jackson would crawl into her heart, but Lydia Allen wasn't the type to ever get things right.
❝ She was literally the sun personified; with her hair and her eyes and her sun kissed skin. Her...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER SEVEN: LYDIA
Lydia didn't have to cry for long, because the best friend in question was floating in the middle of the ocean right next to their boat, his knapsack bitten in half.
Lydia shouted and stood up a little too fast, almost tipping over the boat.
"Annabeth! Annie! Look!" She shouted, tears still staining her face. "He's right there!"
Annabeth immediately went into action, using the thermos to steer the boat to the best of her ability.
They'd managed to fish Percy out of the water and determine that he was, indeed, alive. Lydia was so relieved, she started to cry again. This time instead of comforting her, Annabeth laughed.
Whilst Percy rested, Lydia and Annabeth went through the things she'd salvaged while Lydia was having a mental breakdown. They'd made a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric.
It wasn't long before Percy woke up. He tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy
"Rest," Lydia said.
"You're going to need it." Annabeth added.
"Tyson ...?"
Lydia shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry."
They were silent while the waves tossed them up and down.
"He may have survived," she said halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."
Percy nodded, but Lydia knew he wasn't convinced. She couldn't say she felt hopeful either. She'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.
Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed Percy the 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.
Lydia explained how they'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 Riptide.
They sailed for a while. 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.
Lydia couldn't look at Percy, distracting herself with anything else. She felt guilty for what went down on the ship, for how weak she was. She couldn't even save herself, if it wasn't for Annabeth, she would've been on the seabed in a thousand pieces.
How could she be so useless? Maybe Katie was right. Maybe she should've just stayed back at camp. She was only being a burden to Annabeth and Percy. And maybe if she actually did something, Tyson would still be alive. This was all her fault.
