𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

'Cause I'm No Ordinary (Homeless) Guy

CHAPTER EIGHT: LYDIA

Lydia aggressively ignored Percy as they crossed the Potomac. She kept her eyes glued to her window even though she could feel his gaze burning into the back of her head. She assumed it was because he wanted the window seat so bad—or maybe he just wanted to talk to her, but she didn't give a rat's ass what he wanted.

Lydia gasped and pointed it out to her friends when she spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one they'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward them.

"They know the van," Percy spoke up. "We have to ditch it."

He was sitting on the other side of Grover. Lydia had pulled Grover to sit next to her before Percy could even try.

Grover could feel the animosity between them—mainly from Lydia, but he was too scared to say anything in fear she'd redirect her evil glares to him—they put Aegis to shame—so, he resorted to being really uncomfortable and giving Percy nervous glances when Lydia looked like she was going to laser beam the window with her glare.

Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully, tucking his reddening hands under his thighs.

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Percy said.

Lydia turned to the front of the van. "So, how's the general using mortals, anyway? Wouldn't they have a few questions?"

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" Lydia followed up. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than they were through D.C. traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

"Wow, that was crazy helpful, Mr. Zeus." Lydia grumbled, rolling her eyes.

Gods were always deadbeats, and Thalia's dad was the king of the gods...can you see where I'm going with this?

"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.

"Trust me," Bianca said.

Lydia didn't know about trusting the noob, but Zoe had a different idea. She shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. They left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

They bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind them for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later they were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C.

As the train came above ground, Lydia could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after them.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."