It almost worked ✸ Apollo ¹

XXXV. Who is she?

After dinner, Lydia and her friends were escorted to their sleeping quarters on the ship. It wasn't very comfortable with a cyclops sleeping with them in such a tiny room. But she couldn't complain, she'd take anything right now. So she fell asleep instantly.

Like usual, she had even more dreams. This time Lydia dreamt of a dark door that glowed Purple. The force seemed familiar. It was the same glow that came from her own powers when she used them. The door also made her feel cold. Like something dangerous was hidden behind it.

Her dream self hesitated to open it, but it opened when she got closer. Locks clocked from behind it. The door slowly opened, creaking like a paranormal horror movie. Lydia didn't get a chance to see inside of it though. She woke up back in Clarisse's ship.

She was still freezing cold, even though the others seemed to be sweating in their sleep. It was bit weird. Lydia took a deep breath before she heard a loud voice from outside. Why could she never contemplate about her dreams before someone interrupted her?

The captain's gravelly voice: "All hands on deck! Find Lady Clarisse! Where is that girl?"

Then his ghostly face appeared above Lynda, but he was looking at Percy. "Get up, Yankee. Your friends are already above. We are approaching the entrance."

"The entrance to what?" Lydia asked.

He gave them a skeletal smile. "The Sea of Monsters, of course."

The captain left, and Lydia sighed "Why?"

"I don't know." Percy agreed, he was tired of this too.

Lydia and Percy were on their way upstairs when something made them freeze. A presence nearby-something familiar and unpleasant. Percy didn't get a good look before Lydia grabbed his hand. Warning him to stop walking.

Clarisse was standing right below them, talking to an image that shimmered in the steam from the boilers—a muscular man in black leather biker clothes, with a military haircut, red-tinted sunglasses, and a knife strapped to his side. It was Ares, the god of war.

The god tried to fight them last year, but Lydia was saved by Apollo because of some prophecy. She still hadn't been able to unpack all of that information yet. She hasn't had a break since then.

"I don't want excuses, little girl!" Ares growled.

"Y-yes, father," Clarisse mumbled.

Lydia felt a pit in her stomach. She recognized that look. It was the look of someone who was mentally abused by a parent or adult figure, and she felt bad for Clarisse. Lydia felt angry at the gods for treating their kids that way.

But she had to stop herself. I can't think like Luke..

"You don't want to see me mad, do you?" Ares said.

"No, father."

"No, father," Ares mimicked. "You're pathetic. I should've let one of my sons take this quest."

Lydia's expression was angry but also blank at the same time, and Percy saw that the deck started to shake at her emotional distress. Even though Ares was in a form of mist, Lydia wanted to rip him apart.

"T'll succeed!" Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. "T'll make you proud."

"You'd better," he warned. "You asked me for this quest, girl. If you let that slimeball Jackson kid steal it from you—"

"But the Oracle said-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAID!" Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered. "You will succeed. And if you don't ..."