𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘! 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣 ¹

Suicide Squad 2.0

CHAPTER THREE: LYDIA

The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if Lydia, Annabeth, Percy, Nick and Tyson hadn't disturbed them with their bad chariot driving.

This was so completely unfair. Percy told Tantalus to go chase a doughnut, which didn't help his mood, but it was funny. He sentenced them to kitchen patrol—scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies.

Nick managed to get out of it with a little ass kissing and some elaborate lie (he didn't have to lie) about how Lydia forced him to turn the chariot around. She couldn't blame him honestly, if she could get out of it too, she would.

The harpies washed with lava instead of water to get that extra-clean sparkle and kill ninety-nine point nine percent of all germs, so Lydia, Annabeth and Percy had to wear asbestos gloves and aprons.

Tyson didn't mind. He plunged his bare hands right in and started scrubbing, but the trio had to suffer through hours of hot, dangerous work, especially since there were tons of extra plates. Tantalus had ordered a special luncheon banquet to celebrate Clarisse's chariot victory—a full course meal featuring country fried Stymphalian death bird.

The only good thing about their punishment was that it gave them a common enemy and lots of time to talk. After Percy explained his dream about Grover to Lydia and caught her up on everything, Annabeth looked like she might be starting to believe him.

"If he's really found it," she murmured, "and if we could retrieve it—"

"Hold on," Percy said. "You act like this...whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp. What is it?"

"I'll give you a hint. What do you get when you skin a ram?"

"Messy?"

Lydia smiled in amusement.

Annabeth sighed, "A fleece. The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool—"

"Wait, the Golden Fleece. Are you serious?" Lydia interjected, an incredulous look plastered on her face. "Don't you think that's a bit of a reach."

"Not really," Annabeth scrapped a plateful of death-bird bones into the lava. "Remember the Gray Sisters? They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. And they mentioned Jason. Three thousand years ago, they told him how to find the Golden Fleece. You do know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?"

"Wait, the Gray Sisters?"

Percy and Annabeth took turns filling her in on what happened before they got to camp.

"Anyways, Percy, do know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "That old movie with the clay skeletons."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."

"What?" He demanded.

"Just listen. The real story of the Fleece: there were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."

"It was probably important to her."

Lydia burst out laughing prompting Annabeth to give her a glare from the corner of her eyes but continued the story anyway.