𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

When I See You AgAAIIIAAAIIN WHOAAAAAAOOAHOOO

CHAPTER ELEVEN: LYDIA

They were doing okay...until they hit the tree roots.

The spider raced along, and they were keeping up, but then they spotted a tunnel off to the side that was dug from raw earth and wrapped in thick roots.

Grover stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it?" Percy said.

He didn't move. He stared openmouthed into the dark tunnel. His curly hair rustled in the breeze. Lydia could sense it too, just a little. She had an idea of what this could be.

"Come on!" Annabeth said. "We have to keep moving."

"This is the way," Grover muttered in awe. "This is it."

"What way?" Percy asked.

"Pan..." Lydia muttered.

Grover looked at Tyson. "Don't you smell it?"

"Dirt," Tyson said. "And plants."

"Yes! This is the way. I'm sure of it!"

Up ahead, the spider was getting farther down the stone corridor. A few more seconds and they'd lose it.

"We'll come back," Annabeth promised. "On our way back to Hephaestus."

"The tunnel will be gone by then," Grover said. "I have to follow it. A door like this won't stay open!"

"But we can't," Annabeth said. "The forges!"

Grover looked at her sadly. "I have to, Annabeth. Don't you understand?"

She looked desperate, like she didn't understand at all. The spider was almost out of sight. But Lydia thought back on the council and Juniper, who was waiting for him back at camp. This was his life's goal—his and those before him. He couldn't pass up an opportunity like this

"We'll split up," Percy said. And Lydia knew it was the only way, even though she was reluctant to accept it.

"No!" Annabeth said. "That's way too dangerous. How will we ever find each other again? And Grover can't go alone."

"I'll go." Lydia offered, but Percy shook his head instantly.

"No, Lyd." He said, wrapping his fingers around her forearm. He tugged her closer to his side. "You're staying with me."

Woah.

Why'd she kind of dig this Percy?

She blushed and gave him an incomprehensible response that basically translated to: "okay!"

Tyson put his hand on Grover's shoulder. "I—I will go with him."

Lydia couldn't believe she was hearing this. "Tyson...really?"

The big guy nodded. "Goat boy needs help. We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends."

Grover took a deep breath. "Percy, we'll find each other again. We've still got the empathy link. I just...have to."

Lydia gave him an encouraging nod and Percy said, "I hope you're right,"

"I know I am." Grover promised.

Lydia had never heard him sound so confident about anything, but she believed him. To her, Grover was the most special-est satyr she'd ever met. She knew he'd be the one to find Pan. She knew he'd be the one to change the world—as corny as that may sound.

"Be careful," Lydia told him, before stepping forward and engulfing him in a bone crushing embrace.

Tyson gulped back a sob and gave Percy a hug that just about squeezed his eyes out of their sockets. Then he and Grover disappeared through the tunnel of tree roots and were lost in the darkness.