"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...
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN: LYDIA
They landed at Crissy Field after nightfall. Lydia immediately slumped by Zoe's side. She clasped the Huntress' hand with her dirtied one.
"Annabeth, Percy," Thalia called. Her voice was urgent. She was kneeling with Lydia and Artemis at Zoe's side, binding the huntress's wounds.
Annabeth and Percy ran over to help, but there wasn't much any of them could do. They had no ambrosia or nectar. No regular medicine would help. It was dark, but it was obvious Zoe didn't look good.
She was shivering, and the faint glow that usually hung around her was fading.
"Can't you heal her with magic?" Percy asked Artemis. "I mean... you're a goddess."
Artemis looked troubled. "Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do. But I can try."
She tried to set her hand on Zoe's side, but Zoe gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess's eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.
"Have I... served thee well?" Zoe whispered.
Lydia's eyes brimmed with tears. Her fingers tightened around Zoe's. She wished she could save her, she'd do anything.
"With great honor," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."
Zoe's face relaxed. "Rest. At last."
"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one."
But in that moment, Lydia knew it wasn't just the poison that was killing her. It was her father's final blow. Zoe had known all along that the Oracle's prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent's hand. And yet she'd taken the quest anyway.
Zoe squeezed Lydia's hand. "You would make a fine Huntress, Lydia. You are brave and strong. We couldn't have made it without you."
Lydia couldn't speak. She only nodded, trying to swallow down her tears. Her own wounds forgotten from the abundance of emotions she was feeling.
"I am sorry we argued," Zoe said to Thalia. "We could have been sisters."
"It's my fault," Thalia said, blinking hard. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything."
"Perhaps not all men," Zoe murmured. She smiled weakly at Percy. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"
He brought out Riptide and put the pen in her hand. She grasped it contentedly.
"You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like... like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword."
A shudder ran through her body.
"Zoe—" Lydia said.
"Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."
A tear trickled down Artemis's cheek. "Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight."
