𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

The Dam Souvenir Shop!

CHAPTER TWELVE: LYDIA

Percy piggybacked Lydia to the edge of the dump. They found a tow truck so old it might've been thrown away itself. But the engine started, and it had a full tank of gas, so they decided to borrow it.

Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as the rest of them.

"The skeletons are still out there," she reminded them. "We need to keep moving."

She navigated them through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. Zoe sat up front with Thalia. Grover, Lydia and Percy sat in the pickup bed, leaning against the tow wench.

Lydia's face twisted with pain, clutching her injured leg.

"Grover," Percy called. "Do you have anything for Lydia in your backpack?"

"Oh, uh..." he rifled through his backpack and pulled out his snack bag. "I think I got some gauze in here...oh! And some tape."

Percy helped Lydia roll up her jeans, and he grimaced at the sight. It had gotten worse since she checked it back in the wreckage. It had started swelling. Her leg was bruised, covered in deep purple and blue hues.

"Ew," Lydia whimpered as she looked at it. "Is it broken?"

Percy turned his attention away from her foot to give her an 'are you serious, right now?' look.

"You're asking me?"

The bed of the pickup truck was littered with a bunch of random stuff—empty soda cans, leaves, sticks, a stop sign (??). Percy went through everything until he found a large stick that would probably make a large dog very happy. He snapped it in half over his knee and held out his hand to Grover.

"This is probably gonna hurt." Percy said. "But I'll be quick, I promise.

Lydia nodded weakly, and Percy started working on making her a makeshift splint. He positioned the branch against her leg, making sure not to move her around too much. She wondered where he learned to do all that.

She was trying hard not to wince as he wrapped the gauze around her leg, because he kept looking up at her every now and again, and she didn't want him to worry.

"Tell me when it hurts, okay?"

But how was she supposed to tell him it hadn't stopped hurting since they left the wreckage? He'd just feel bad.

"Where did you learn to do this?" Lydia asked through gritted teeth, trying to keep her mind off the pain.

He huffed out a laugh. "I never know what I'll need when it comes to you," he admitted, a crooked smile on his face. His touch was featherlight. "So, I tried to learn a little bit of everything."

Lydia let out a satisfied sigh at his answer. She remembered when he told her that he learned to whistle with his fingers because she'd always get lost in the mall.

"Almost there," he murmured in concentration.

He wrapped the tape around the branch and her leg, making sure it was tight enough to actually do its job. Percy patted her thigh when he was done, sitting back on his haunches.

He said, "ta da!"

Lydia looked down at the ugly contraption her leg was in, but she smiled. He was so boyfriend material, it hurt.

"Thanks, Perce." She beamed, as she pulled her foot off his lap.

He shuffled back up to sit next to her and started checking his pockets for ambrosia. Luckily, he found a half a square in his back pocket that he must have sat on a million times because it was flattened like a pancake in its little Ziploc baggie.