The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 27

Isa woke up in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of grey uniform fabric. Annabeth sat next to her, tacking into the wind. Percy laid on her other side, still knocked out.

Isa tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy.

"Rest," Annabeth said. "You're going to need it."

Then Isa noticed Percy's eyes flutter open as well.

He tried to sitting up as well, but by the way his eyes shook, he felt woozy as well.

"Rest, you two," Annabeth said again. "You're going to need it."

"Tyson...?" Isa asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "Isa, Percy, I'm really sorry."

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

"He may have survived," she said half-heartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."

Isa and Percy nodded, but they had no reason to feel hopeful. They'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 all Isa could think about was how she kept her distance from him. She accepted him, yes, but she still kept her distance. It was only a couple days before the quest did she actually start making an effort to get to know Tyson.

Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed them some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage — Hermes's Flask (now empty), an airtight bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors's shirts and a bottle of Dr Pepper. She'd fished them out of the water and found Percy's 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 Riptide and Waves. The ballpoint pen always appeared back in his pocket no matter where he lost it, and the dolphin ring would always appear back in Isa's ring finger, no matter where she lost it.

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. Isa and Percy knew what direction they needed to go. They knew they were exactly one hundred and thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of their destination. But that didn't make them feel any less lost.

No matter which way they turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into her eyes. They took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, sharing themselves with the sail as best they could. And they talked about Percy and Isa's latest dream of Grover.

By Annabeth's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to find Grover, assuming Percy's dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.

"Yeah," Percy said bitterly. "You can never trust a Cyclops."

Isa didn't say anything, she decided to stay quiet. Up to this day, she still doesn't trust Cyclopes. The only Cyclops she trusted was Tyson, and that wasn't because he was her brother. No, it was because Tyson was very far from a monster.

Annabeth stared across the water. "I'm sorry, Percy, Isa. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."

Isa tried to stay a bit mad at Annabeth, but it wasn't easy. She was barely even mad at her in the first place. They've been through a lot together. Like a lot. Annabeth has saved Isa's life six years back. She was the one who took Isa in before they found Thalia, Grover or Luke. And they'd saved each other's lives multiple of times.