Lydia Powell

I faceplanted on my bed and my brain went into overdrive. I sniffed as warm tears began streaming down my face. We'd searched so hard for him, and nothing. How could someone just…disappear like that? My first guess was a god, but I couldn't decide which one.

I sat up, exasperated.

I couldn't sit still for long times anyway. It was my ADHD. I got up and walked to the armory, wiping tears with the back of my hand. My own sword still swung at my side, and it was the trustiest sword anyone could have.

"Sounds like I'm talking about a dog," I spoke out loud.

I paused and burst out laughing. I ran my fingers across the different swords, cackling like a manic. I threw my head back, gasping for breath. What I said wasn't even that funny. I guess I was finally cracking under all the stress and confusion. But if that meant laughing uncontrollably, that was fine.

I felt good laughing. No one had done it in a while, well since Percy went missing.

My laughing ceased as I clutched my rumbling stomach. I'd missed dinner and I was starving. The last thing I ate was cold rations: a half eaten chicken sandwich and stale chips. Yum.

I walked towards the door and opened the door. A blast of icy air stung my eyes. I pulled the sleeves of my hoodie, so that they were covering my hands and began walking towards the amphitheater. Kids began filling in, all looking sad and depressed. Percy's disappearance had really shaken everyone. I tried giving a faint smile to one of the smaller kids from the Demeter cabin.

I climbed the stone steps to my cabin.

Someone grabbed my arm and I whipped my head around. It was Annabeth, her expression full of hope. "Anything," she asked. I looked for anything besides Annabeth's eyes to focus on. Annabeth was more torn than I was. She was slowly breaking.

"No," I breathed.

Annabeth's shoulders sagged. It hurt me to see my sister like this. I pulled her in for a hug. She held me tight, sniffing on my shoulder. I rubbed her back and held back tears. My blurry eyes fixed on someone in the Hephaestus cabin, who looked startling familiar. I rubbed my eyes with my sleeves and focused on the guy. No. It couldn't be. Annabeth pulled away and smiled at me. Then she jogged down the steps and made her way to the bottom steps and sat next to a blonde haired boy I'd never seen.

I took my seat on the cold steps, sniffing, next to Malcolm.

He looked down at me and smiled, rubbing my arms. I leaned my head on his shoulder and listened as Chiron began talking.

I slowly began to be engulfed by my thoughts again. I was thinking about Percy, about Annabeth, and the mysterious guy sitting some feet away from me. He looked exactly like the gas station guy, but I thought that his chances of surviving that long were slim. Very slim.

Still I thought back to that day and found myself smiling. Annabeth's worried voice tore me away from my reminiscing. I was to announce my findings, which was nothing. How pathetic would that look?

I stood, shaking. I was terrified of speaking in front of large crowds. I tried my best to look confident, although I felt far from confident.

"As ya'll know, I was one of the many who went searching for Percy," I began. I was sweating like crazy even though it felt below 10 degrees. Malcolm squeezed my hand, and I squeezed back. "There are still others out looking, extremely hard, but as for me-"

My mouth opened in awe.

It was gas station guy! There he was, sitting next to Nyssa, staring right back at me. He looked cute sitting there. "Ω θεοί γαμημένο μου," I said. Everyone turned their attention to what I was staring at.

"Ooooo," some of the Aphrodite girls cooed.

My face burned, and so did that guy's. That made my heart skip a beat and blush even more. I quickly turned my attention to Annabeth. She was looking at the guy and looking at me. Annabeth was quickly putting two and two together. She shot me a look that said, Explain when we get to the cabin. I nodded towards her and tried to remember what I was saying. I stumbled on my words the rest of the time. When I finally finished, I sat down in embarrassment and dropped my face in my hands.