𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

Leeb, Leefuh, and the Tunnel of Lurve

CHAPTER TEN: LYDIA

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, their train rolled into Denver.

They hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. They hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and Lydia was sure that was obvious, Percy's scent alone could evict an entire hotel, screaming. That didn't stop Lydia from sleeping on his shoulder the entire ride though. She was pretty immune.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"We can't use phones, right?"

"I'm not talking about phones."

They wandered through downtown for about half an hour. Lydia talked Percy's ear off about the flowers and plants she was planning for his cabin, he was nodding along not even being able to visualize what she was talking about, until she remembered it was supposed to be a surprise.

Lydia clapped her palms over her big mouth, "Percy." She stopped in her tracks. "Forget I said anything."

"What? Why?" Percy stopped too.

"...It was supposed to be a surprise." Lydia face-palmed, grumbling.

Percy started laughing and Lydia shoved his shoulder, alternating between shouting at him to forget and to stop laughing. Her tantrum didn't seem to faze him though because he was laughing so hard he was bent over with hands on his knees.

"Will you two hurry up?!" Annabeth screamed from ahead.

Lydia and Percy straightened immediately, while the latter wiped stray tears from the corners of his eyes.

Grover gave them a look, like he knew something they didn't.

"What?" They said at the same time.

Grover shrugged, catching up with Annabeth to avoid her wrath.

Percy and Lydia started laughing again, like idiots, simply because they said the same thing at the same time. But Annabeth glared at them from over her shoulder and they were following behind her like soldiers with a few occasional snickers.

Finally, they found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping their eyes open for patrol cars. They were four adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."

"Wait." Lydia said. Everyone looked to her expectantly as she dug her hands into all four pockets of her shorts, and checked her shoes. "Okay, nope. Percy?"

He fished out the last bit of change he had and passed Grover a quarter, which left him two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about?"

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to fine mist. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?"

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."