𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝚔𝚒𝚍 - percy jackson x oc

013

XIII - MAGICAL GLOW-UP

PERCY WOKE UP in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of grey uniform fabric. Valeria sat next to him, curls blowing in the wind as she faced the horizon.

He tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy.

"Rest," Valeria said. "You must be exhausted."

"Tyson...?"

She shook her head. "I apologize."

They were silent while the waves tossed them up and down.

"He cannot have died," Valeria said at last, turning to him. "Cyclopes cannot be killed by fire."

He nodded, but he had no reason to feel hopeful. He had seen that explosion rip through solid iron. If Tyson had been down in the boiler room....

Tyson had given his life for them, and all he could think about were the times he had felt embarrassed by him and had denied that the two of them were related.

"You were right," Percy said. "About Tyson."

"Do not—" she went to say but he cut her off.

"I should have done more for him."

Valeria frowned but stayed silent. She could see how terrible he felt. She was sure whatever more she said on the matter would not ease his guilt.

Valeria gently explained how she had saved him from the water and had sailed them away from the wreckage. They had managed to save Hermes' thermos—which was pretty useless now since it was empty—along with a Ziploc bag of ambrosia, a couple of sailor's shirts, a bottle of Dr Pepper, and Hermes' multivitamins.

Valeria felt like her skin was burning off. The sun glared down at them harshly and reflected evilly off the water.

One thing the textbooks never mention about the Sea of Monsters? The water is green. Not typical ocean green, but acid green.

"Wait...if you can't swim, how did you save me?" Percy asked, voice raspy.

"I managed to grab onto a large piece of the ship and dragged it over to the lifeboat. From there, I lifted the both of us inside. It was rather terrifying and I wish to not do that again."

Percy managed to smile and said, "So what I'm hearing is you faced your fear of the water to save me, a literal child of the water. I'm touched."

Valeria rolled her eyes. "Shut it, fish boy."

They sailed on for hours, occasionally passing the bottle of Dr Pepper back and forth.

Grover could not have much time left. They had already spent too long even getting to this point. When Valeria conveyed this to Percy, he stared down at what they had salvaged and frowned.

"What is Chiron's prophecy?" he asked quietly.

"Oh," Valeria said. "I mean, I do not know much. I only know one line: Olympus to preserve or raze. Whoever this prophecy is about will determine the fate of Olympus."