Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TWENTY EIGHT, percy the guinea pig
❀ ✿ ❀ ✿
WHEN PERCY REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS, Aster wasn't sure whether to hug him or slap him. She did neither, but she turned away so he wouldn't see the the relief on her face. Annabeth sat next to her, tacking into the wind with the makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric she'd made.
Aster heard Percy groan, and she turned to see him trying to sit up.
"Rest," Aster said. "You're going to need it.
Percy glanced around. "Tyson...?"
She shook her head as she felt something sharp in her chest. "Percy, I'm really sorry."
Silence cast over them while the waves tossed the boat up and down.
"He may have survived," Annabeth said halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."
Percy nodded, but he still didn't look hopeful, and Aster didn't blame him. She'd seen that explosion rip through solid iron. If Tyson had been down in the boiler room, there was no way he could've lived. He'd given his life for them, and she regretted how she'd treated him. He was a kind being at heart, just wrapped up in the wrong package.
Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed Percy the things she and Aster had salvaged from the wreckage—Hermes's thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper. Aster had fished Percy out of the water and found his knapsack, bitten in half by Scylla's teeth. Most of his stuff had floated away, but they still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course he had Riptide. The ballpoint pen always appeared back in Percy's pocket no matter where he lost it, as Aster had discovered last summer.
They sailed for hours. Now that they were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too—as if a thunderstorm were coming. Or something even more dangerous. Percy knew what direction they needed to go. He knew they were exactly one hundred thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of their destination. But that didn't make Aster feel any better.
The way she saw it, anywhere at sea was bad for her. No matter which way they turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into her eyes. She felt constantly nauseous, and she missed being connected to the earth. All three of them took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading themselves with the sail as best they could. Percy talked about his latest dream of Grover.
It was more of Grover pretending to be the bride of Polyphemus. But the Cyclops had definitely become more impatient when it came to their impending marriage date. Percy said he got to see more of the island, which was greener than anything he had ever seen. At the center of the island was an enormous twisted oak tree with something glittering in its lowest bough: the Golden Fleece. Annabeth gasped at the mention of it. Then Polyphemus had moved their wedding to the next day, by which Grover would finish his wedding train, and he had to return to his prison of Polyphemus's cave.
