It almost worked ✸ Apollo ¹

XXXVIII. A rescue mission?

Lydia was used to the blinking by now, she didn't feel like calling it teleporting though. Her eyes met with a building she'd never seen before. Apollo said the school was called Westover hall, and supposedly her friends were already inside with the two new half bloods. That didn't make her any more eager to go in.

Westover Hall looked like an evil knight's castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of wooden double doors. It stood on a snowy cliff overlooking this big frosty forest on one side and the gray churning ocean on the other.

"Creepy." Lydia sighed.

Apollo smirked smugly "You're gonna be fine, but I'd watch out for my sister. You and her have bad tempers."

"What?" Lydia turned to him "Artemis is here?"

But the sun god was already gone, her body felt a shiver of warmth before it went cold again. Lydia shook her head before entering the building. She heard some music playing, like there was some sort of school dance going on. She walked into the gymnasium where the noise was coming from.

Lydia found her friends talking with each other on the side of everyone else. She crept up on them. There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and guys were kicking them in each others faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls. Girls moved around in football huddles, the way they always do, wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants and shoes that looked like torture devices.

Every once in a while they'd surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all over his face. Some of the older guys looked more like uncomfortable, hanging out at the edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives.

Lydia approached her friends, and she found Grover already in a conversation about the two half blood he found here.

"There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."

The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something was wrong.

Lydia stared at them. They both gave her a weird feeling, like they were out of place around here.

"Lydia? Oh my gods." Thalia's voice woke her up.

Lydia smiled "Sorry I'm late. I was kinda Christmas shopping when I had to blink thousands of miles away."

Thalia nodded, giving Lydia a slight hug. It seemed awkward. But they both agreed on hating hugs. So that made it easier.

Thalia cocked her ear to the music and made a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?"

Grover looked hurt. "I did."

"Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?"

"Green who?"

Lydia snickered, finally getting some relief of laughter. This whole break had been a nightmare other than spending time with her family. But don't get her wrong, she wasn't ready to get closer to her death. She just felt calmer with her friends.

Growing up, having friends was like a novelty to her. Lydia never knew what that felt like until coming to camp. Because she finally had people who understood the feeling of being outcasts. Even if there was a slight popular group at camp half blood, which didn't make sense considering their parentage.

But she didn't feel so alone anymore, and she didn't care if she was in danger. As long as she wasn't alone she was perfectly fine. So she danced with Thalia and Grover for a while. Until they left to get drinks.

She stood there for a while before walking to see what Percy and Annabeth were up to, but Percy was by himself now. He looked around like something had happened.

"Percy?" Lydia walked up to him "Where's Annabeth? Please don't tell me anything happened. You have that weird ass look on your face."

"What look? And how is it weird?"

Lydia blinked "Well-"

"Nevermind, but we've got a problem."

About fifty feet away, lying on the gym floor, was a floppy green cap just like the one Bianca di Angelo had been wearing. Near it were a few scattered trading cards. Then they caught a glimpse of Dr. Thorn. He was hurrying out a door at the opposite end of the gym, steering the di Angelo kids by the scruffs of their necks, like kittens.

"Welp, it's just us now right?" Lydia rolled her eyes "It hasn't even been ten minutes!"

Soon enough, Lydia held a hand on her pack of throwing knives settled on the side of her jeans. And she ran into the door with Percy. The door led into a dark hallway. Lydia heard sounds of scuffling up ahead, then a painful grunt. Percy uncapped Riptide.

Lydia unsheathed one of her knives. She walked behind Percy, and she paid closer attention to her surroundings. Nobody was at the other end of the corridor. Which was definitely a red flag.

"Hold on." Percy walked through another door.

"Red flag, dude." Lydia told him.

Percy turned to her "I don't see any other choices."

"Good point, but still."

They found theirselves back in the main entry hall. They were completely turned around. And Lydia didn't see Dr. Thorn anywhere, but there on the opposite side of the room were the di Angelo kids. They stood frozen in horror, staring right at them.

"Percy-"

Percy advanced slowly, lowering the tip of his sword. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

They didn't answer. Their eyes were full of fear. Lydia already knew what was happening, and she slowly turned to see the monster known as Thorn. He laughed coldly. His hand grabbing towards Lydia's face.

"Don't even touch me, you're making yourself look like a pervert." Lydia flicked her hand, and Thorn was thrown against the wall. "Sicko."

"Ah, Lydia Winslow is it?" Thorn got up "You act just like the original one. Too bad you'll die like her too."

Lydia wanted to hurt him even more, but her powers were already out cold again. She had used so much during their adventure into the sea of monsters that her powers now came with a cool down. It was annoying.

"All four of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."