𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

Lydia and Annabeth: Best Girlfriends

CHAPTER EIGHT: LYDIA

Percy was extremely good at this sailing thing. Lydia didn't know why she was so surprised, it made sense knowing who his dad was.

The Queen Anne's Revenge responded to his every command. He knew which ropes to hoist, which sails to raise, which direction to steer.

They plowed through the waves at what Percy said was about ten knots. He explained that for a sailing ship it pretty darn fast.

Now that they were out of danger, Lydia was feeling down in the dumps again. Her hair was falling out of its pretty hairstyle, and while they were running, the straps of her left sandal snapped.

They sailed through the night. Annabeth tried to help keep lookout, but sailing didn't agree with her. After a few hours rocking back and forth, her face turned the color of guacamole and she went below to lie in a hammock.

Lydia saw Percy moping in the corner. She could probably guess what he was thinking about. She felt the same way just hours prior.

She got up from her spot and sat next to him.

They watched the horizon in silence. It was probably after midnight, when they passed a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.

"Looks like one of the forges of Hephaestus," Lydia said. "Where he makes his metal monsters."

"Like the bronze bulls?"

She nodded. "Go around. Far around."

He didn't need to be told twice. They steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind them. Percy looked to Lydia.

"You know I can feel you staring right?" Lydia said, breaking the silence. "It's not exactly subtle."

"You look really pretty." Percy blurted out before burying his face in his hands. "Agh."

When he first saw her—back when he was still stuck in a cage—his breath got stuck in his little guinea pig lungs and he'd almost forgotten everything, the current predicament he was in, or the fact that there was a crazy sorceress trying to ship him off to a kindergarten, you name it.

Lydia always looked pretty, but she looked a different kind of pretty now, she looked like a goddess. Otherworldly. Percy knew he looked like an idiot gawking, but he couldn't help it.

Lydia looked at him through the corner of her eye. His ears were red, and he was trying to pretend like the railing in front of him was interesting.

Cute.

What he said didn't really settle in until a few seconds later, and when it did, Lydia couldn't control the heat spreading through her cheeks either. She cleared her throat.

"Thanks," she croaked.

"Uhh, yeah."

Lydia's face was on fire at this point, that she thought she might need a fire extinguisher. She doubted there would be one on a ship like this. They probably still used tree leaves as toilet paper on here.

A couple of moments passed where no one spoke. Both of them looking anywhere but each other, red like tomatoes.

"Well," she said finally, fiddling with her fingers. "You made a really cute guinea pig."

Percy laughed, relaxing. "Are you flirting with me?"

"You wish!" Lydia snorted, her cheeks tinting pink. "To be honest, the vitamin thing was a total gamble. If it hadn't worked, I don't know what I would've done." She turned to him. "I wouldn't have left you at the mercy of kindergarteners, though."