Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson
A/N: Watching a video, made by krs19911, about Thalia and Luke on YouTube inspired me to write this. (Link will be on my website and promo video—link to my website will be at the top of my profile page.)
Super short story, AU (Annabeth doesn't travel with them, to name one) third POV, Luke/Thalia, takes place before and during The Lightning Thief, cross between the book and the movie (they'll all be older, like in the movies, for example). Also, I have not yet read The Lost Hero (I know shocker, right?) so sorry if I get some facts wrong. Hope you enjoy!
Trust is like a vase… once it's broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be the same again. ~ Unknown
Thalia—a lithe, strong, nine-year-old girl, with short black hair and a splash of freckles across her nose—crept down the hallway, taking light steps, because she knew the floors creaked. When she got to her mother's bedroom she peeked around the doorframe to see what her mother was doing. The scene she saw reminded her of movies she'd seen when she was younger.
Her mom was sitting in a recliner, the back facing Thalia, the front facing the TV, which was currently featuring an infomercial about a blender that "could do everything!" The volume was low, the words like a buzzing in Thalia's ear.
One of her mother's hands hung from the side, loosely holding an empty liquor bottle. Thalia could hear her mom's soft snoring.
Good, she thought pulling away and tip-toeing back down the hallway and to her room. She closed the door and locked it, before turning and leaning against it. She took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart. Tonight was the night she was going to sneak out. She needed to escape this place. It wasn't home anymore.
Jason had been the only thing keeping her here and now he was gone. Dead.
Thalia's hand balled into a fist, slamming down against the door. Tears quickly filled her eyes. It was all her mother's fault! She wasn't even responsible enough to look after her brother while Thalia went to go get the picnic basket. It had only taken a couple of minutes! Their mother couldn't even look after him from that long?
Thalia blinked and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She quickly reached up to wipe them away. She was going to do this. It was clear her mother didn't care about Jason, so why should she care about Thalia?
Taking another deep breath, Thalia straightened up and looked around her spotless room. It felt cold and foreign to her now.
She double checked to make sure that she had her metal, chain bracelet that transformed into Aegis—a shield with the face of Medusa engraved in it—and her spear for the monsters that weren't babies and ran away from the sight of her shield. She wasn't taking anything but those two items and the clothes on her back: a black tee underneath a black leather jacket with buttons from her favorite bands, and black, ripped jeans.
This had, more or less, been a last minute decision. Besides, a backpack would weigh her down. She needed speed and agility.
Thalia unlocked and opened her door again. She stuck her head out, looking up and down the hallway. She was taking no chances tonight. She slipped out and closed her door once again before sneaking down the hall to the front door.
Half-way through opening the door, however, Thalia realized that the TV in her mother's bedroom was no longer buzzing about blenders. She froze, the blood in her veins running cold. She started silently praying. She was only sneaking out because she hadn't wanted to make it harder than it already was. If her mother found out, there might be yelling and door slamming before Thalia took off. That wasn't the ideal quiet escape she'd been imagining.
Thalia relaxed though, when nothing happened for a few moments. Just to make sure, she forced her head to turn and look down the hallway. It was swallowed in darkness. No sound came from her mother's bedroom now. Thalia turned back and swiftly headed out and down the sidewalk.
The night was chilly. The stars twinkled against the black sky, cold and bright. The moon was just a silver sliver hanging, not giving much light.
But Thalia didn't feel the cold; her eyesight not at all hampered in the dim moonlight. She walked with purpose down the street, quick and silent, without a single backward glance as the house she used to call a home disappeared slowly, but surely.
Thalia was hungry.
No, not hungry… ravished. She was ravished. She hadn't eaten in just over three days now. Fighting off monsters she'd happen across wasn't helping either. Her energy level was flat-lining. She needed food. She needed water. But she didn't have any cash on her.
Thalia cursed silently. It'd been going so well for her for the past three years. Why did this town have to be different that the others?
She crossed her arms and glared out of the alley she was sitting in. It wasn't the ideal resting place, but she needed to stop or she'd keel over. The sun was just setting, turning the sky a dark blue. Few people were out and about, walking periodically on the sidewalks, right past Thalia, not noticing her at all. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Thalia's stomach growled.
"Just shut up." she grumbled looking back at the brick wall opposite of her. In the past she'd usually sit out on the sidewalk with a little can to collect money in, and look like a helpless, homeless, little girl (and sometimes she'd con them out of cash). That got her at least twenty bucks for the day. But this city apparently didn't feel bad for their homeless because nobody was giving her anything. She thought about stealing from someone, but she couldn't get herself to do it. There was only two ways that she could steal a wallet from a person: hold them up with her spear, or pickpocket them.
She didn't know how to pickpocket and holding them up seemed like a sure-fire way to end up in jail. Thalia just wasn't going to risk it.
Loud barking snapped her out of her brooding. She crawled over to the entrance of the alley and peeked out to her right just in time to see a golden retriever jumping up on a man in a suit. Its tail was wagging and it was barking excitedly. The man was on the phone didn't look too happy about his new-found friend.
"Get off! Get off me!" the man shouted trying to pull away from the dog. "Hey! Hey—Hold on a sec, Scott." he yelled into his phone. "Whose dog is this!" Just as he said this, two people, a man and woman, came rushing up to the suit dude. The man held a red leash in his hand.
"Rose!" the girl called as the guy grabbed the dog's collar and yanked. Rose resisted, still pulling toward the suited man and barking loudly.
"What is that mangy mutt doing off his leash! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" the guy yelled, his face red.
"I'm sorry sir." the girl quickly mended as his boyfriend, Thalia assumed, wrestled with Rose. "I guess the leash broke. We apologize—"
"I don't want your apologies!" the suit guy snapped. "How inconsiderate is that? Letting your dog attack me! You should be lucky that I'm not going to press charges!"
"Hey, no need to be that way, dude!" The other guy popped in, standing up for his girl, letting Rose slip from his grasp. She jumped excited onto the suit guy again. That had been his breaking point. He jabbed his knee into the dog's chest and she veered back whimpering.
Both the woman and man started objected and calling animal abuse, but the suit guy was already walking off, bringing his phone back to his ear.
"Sorry, Scott. Some couple's stupid dog." he muttered.
Thalia stood up, gripping her spear in her right hand tightly. Well, robbing him wouldn't be a crime, would it? She asked herself. He did hurt that dog. Rose was just having fun. There was no need to kick her. And the couple had tried to apologize.
Thalia was just about to step out when she spotted a boy, who looked about her age (maybe two years older than her), coming toward the suit guy. He was a little taller than her, kind of… lanky in her opinion, wearing jeans, and a t-shirt underneath a faded green jean jacket. His blond hair was in slight disarray.
She stopped short and watched as the kid walked into the angry, suit man.
"Watch it kid!" the suit guy growled pulling back slightly and hurriedly shuffling past. "Some people are just so self-centered." he told his friend Scott.
Thalia's eyes watched the guy go, still debating on whether or not she was going to rob him, when she heard a low chuckle. Her eyes strayed back to the blond-haired boy. He, too, was watching the guy walk away but had a mischievous, triumphant grin on his face. His blue eyes shined and Thalia could just hear him say, "Sucker!"
Thalia's eyes narrowed and she noticed something in his hands. Something black, small… a wallet! Did this kid just steal that guy's wallet? Where had he learned the skills?
Thalia shook herself. No time for that. Maybe she didn't need to rob an innocent person (as mean as that suit guy had been). She could just take the wallet from this boy. It was kind of like Robin Hood. Except she was stealing from the stealer to give to the poor.
Shrugging, at her train of thought, Thalia stepped out of the alley. He was too busy admiring his work to notice her come up behind him and when he turned he came face to face with her spear's tip. She didn't care if people were possibly watching. She was desperate. Her stomach was shrieking, Feed me! Feed me!
Thalia held out her free hand, palm up.
"Hand it over, kid." she ordered.
The boy's eyes widened innocently, not very fazed at the fact that she was holding him a spear point… or whatever he saw through the Mist. Thalia ignored this.
"What do you mean?" he asked acting clueless.
"You know exactly what I mean. The wallet. Hand it over. Now." she barked again, becoming inpatient. If this boy didn't do as she said things weren't going to be very pretty.
"Oh, this!" the boy exclaimed holding up the small, square, black thing.
Thalia nodded slowly.
He shoved it into his pocket. "No way. This is mine. I plan to keep it."
Thalia snorted. "I saw you take it from that jerk on the phone." She stepped closer to him, the arrow tip almost brushing the boy's throat. "Now hand it over. I'm not going to ask again."
The boy's hands shot up in surrender. "Hey, I'm with you." Thalia's eyebrows knit together. "Half-blood, right? What's your name?"
Thalia scrutinized this blond haired boy for a second before dropping her spear and trying not the blush. She probably should've known he was a half-blood too. "I am Thalia, daughter of Zeus."
"I'm Luke." Luke introduced, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Son of…" Thalia prodded.
Luke paused for a moment, like it was hard for him to say who it was. "Hermes."
Well, that explains the stealing, Thalia thought.
"You look hungry. Why don't we get a bite to eat." Luke suggested. "My treat." He grinned waving the freshly stolen wallet.
Thalia rolled her eyes but agreed. Another half-blood companion sounded nice (and the food too). Now she had someone who could watch her back, help her fight monsters, steal when they needed food…. It sounded like your ideal friendship.
"You run away too?" Luke asked.
Thalia nodded but didn't say anything pertaining to why.
They were at the same alley she's been sitting in before they met. They stood further in, side-by-side. Luke had just come back from throwing away their trash.
"Family?" Luke prompted sneaking a long sideways glance at Thalia who was staring down at her shoes. Luke looked up at the sky. The moon had appeared and with it, some stars. He turned his head back to Thalia who still found something fascinating with her shoes. "Nice shoes."
Thalia made a face at his attempt to lighten the mood.
Luke leaned against the wall, his hands in his jacket pockets. "It was just me and my mom." Luke started looking everywhere but Thalia who was looking at him.
"Why'd you run away?" she asked, her electric blue eyes now trained on Luke's face.
"My mom's crazy." Luke answered flatly. Thalia looked down, feeling bad she ever even asked. "She has these… fits. Her eyes turn green, and her voice cracks and she spouts out—" He broke off suddenly, "…things." he amended quietly.
"I'm sorry." Thalia murmured still looking down at a piece of chewed gun stuck to the ground.
Luke shrugged.
"It was just me and my mom too." Thalia said trying to make him feel better. She decided that she wouldn't mention her brother; it was still too fresh, too painful. "She's a drunk." Thalia chuckled without humor. "Guess we've both get family issues, huh?" She looked over at Luke who was turning a rock he'd picked up over in his hands.
"Who needs them?" Luke asked bitterly, chucking the rock with great force. It hit the wall across from them and bounced back, landing at Luke's feet. Luke looked over at Thalia. "Why don't we start our own family?"
"Uh, no offense, but I just met you." Thalia pointed out warily.
Luke smiled. "Yeah, but you could use my experience. Been on the run for five years. I could teach you a thing or two. And I'd never abandon you like our parents did. We'd stick together and take care of each other, like a real family is supposed to do."
"For your information, I've been on the run for three years by myself, thank you very much." Thalia defended herself. "It's just this stupid city." she muttered, crossing her arms.
"So, what do you say?" Luke asked, like she hadn't said anything else at all.
Thalia looked over at him, and thought about his offer. It sounded like a pretty good deal to Thalia. How could she say no?
She was about to answer when there was some rattling of the trash cans, nearby. Her back straightened and she instinctively seized her spear.
"Did you hear that?" she asked in a whisper.
Luke was looking around intently, but it had gotten pretty dark. "Yeah," he answered. Without another word, Luke took Thalia's hand and pulled her out of the alleyway. His grip was firm and his hand warm.
"Wait, where are we going? Shouldn't we find whatever that was and fight it?" Thalia asked running slightly behind Luke.
"Just somewhere we can stay for the night. I'm sure it'll be fine if we skip just this once." Luke answered pausing a moment before turning down another alley.
"Is it safe?"
Luke grinned. "Completely."
"I don't know—" Thalia was still hesitant. What if that monster was following them?
Luke stopped and squeezed her hand. "We're family now, Thalia." Her name coming from Luke's mouth did odd things to Thalia's heart. "Trust me. I promise I won't let any harm come to you."
He started to take off again.
"Hey! Now, wait a minute!" Thalia exclaimed ripping her hand from his and pushing herself so she could run next to Luke. She kept pace with him fairly well. "I'm not a little girl. You may be older than me, but I know how to take care of myself, for your information."
Luke chuckled and Thalia resisted the urge to run ahead of him. He was supposed to be leading the way after all.
"Wow, you made this." Thalia commented as she stepped into the small shelter that Luke had apparently built. It was finely camouflaged on the outside, and on the inside wasn't what Thalia was expecting at all. For one, it was good-sized. For two, it had an unrolled sleeping bag, blankets off to the side, an ice chest in the corner, and a kerosene lamp next to the head of the sleeping bag. It was currently on, the flame flickering.
There were also some weapons (and even a box of ambrosia). A couple of bronze javelin tips, a quiver of arrows and a sword. Where Luke had gotten all this was beyond Thalia, even if he was the son of Hermes.
Luke sat down on the sleeping bag and Thalia took a seat on the folded up blankets.
"It was nothing." Luke said smirking.
"Modest." Thalia stated dryly.
Luke shrugged.
That night the temperature dropped like a dead fly. Thalia didn't know how cold, but it was cold!
"Thalia, you're going to freeze." Luke reasoned for the millionth time that night. Thalia glared at him, huddling in the pile of blankets, drawing them closer and tighter to her.
"I-I-I-I'm f-f-f-fine."
But obviously she wasn't. She was shivering violently, and she could barely talk, her teeth were chattering so much.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid."
Thalia's eyes narrowed. "W-w-w-w-well w-what d-do y-y-you suggest Eins-s-s-stein?" she shot back.
"I'm disappointed," Luke mocked. "It's survival one-oh-one!"
"J-j-just t-tell me, d-d-dammit." Thalia ordered holding the blankets even closer, trying to stay warm.
Luke started to unzip the zipper of his sleeping bag.
"O-o-oh no! N-n-not h-happening!" Thalia turned her back on him, curling even more, trying to keep the body heat that was left in her body.
Luke slipped out and went to kneel over Thalia.
"I'm not going to let you freeze." he told her gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And you know you're going to if you don't get into that sleeping bag." His voice became stern.
Thalia turned her head so she could look at Luke. She knew he was right. She was just being stubborn. But she had a reason to be! She'd just met him!
Luke's eyes narrowed. "And you know it, don't you." Thalia rolled her eyes grudgingly. "I don't bite." Luke joked. Thalia huffed and pulled the blankets over her again. "I'm not going to hurt you. You can trust me."
Well, he hadn't killed her yet….
And she was practically an icicle….
So, maybe, it wasn't such a bad idea.
"O-o-okay." Thalia muttered throwing the blankets off. Luke moved out of the way and she crawled over into the sleeping bag. It was still warm. After getting situated, Luke slid in next to her and zipped up the sleeping bag. There was probably half an inch left of room.
Thalia convulsed once in a harsh shiver, as she realized just how cold she'd been. The warmth was refreshing, relieving.
Luke put his arms around her, holding her to his chest, and she didn't object, the only thing running through her head that she was frozen and she needed to unfreeze. Because when you're on the verge of hypothermia being this close to a boy didn't really matter at the moment.
"Better?" he asked after a few minutes.
"A-a-almost b-better," she answered her teeth still chattering slightly, her body still trembling. Thalia huddled closer to Luke, resting her head on his shoulder. Luke flinched at just how cold she was.
"S-s-sorry," Thalia mumbled closing her eyes, her shivers becoming less and less.
Luke rubbed her arm, trying to generate heat. "It's fine." he said after a moment.
Thalia took a deep breath as the last of the cold left her body. It was like a breath of fresh air after being stuck in a sauna for hours on end. She relaxed and her mind wandered.
Luke looked down at her. "You're lips are still blue," he stated amused. "Would you like me to warm those up for you too?"
Thalia opened her eyes to glare up at him. "Watch it buddy or you may find yourself not being able to have kids in the future." she warned.
"Joking, joking," Luke assured.
Thalia closed her eyes again. "Yeah, you'd better be." she muttered. Luke chuckled softly and Thalia made an annoyed noise in response. It became quiet in the little half-blood hideout and Thalia slowly drifted into sleep, her mind thinking about how good she felt in Luke's embrace, how safe she felt. How, being in his arms, made her feel kind of funny….
"It's been years," Thalia spoke a moment after Luke had come to sit down next to her on the park bench. She had needed to get out of their little shelter. She needed some fresh air, to move around a little. "One small town after another." Thalia looked out over the lake several yards away from them, a small, paved pathway in front of the lake.
The day was sunny, the grass was green, there was a cool breeze warning of the coming fall.
"Yeah, I know." Luke said, also looking out over the lake.
They'd been on the run for about two years now. Things had changed a lot since they'd first met. Two half-bloods together was pretty bad, but Thalia being the daughter of one of the Big Three her stench was strong and very potent. As the weeks passed more and more monsters attacked them. They'd been in fights with more horrible monsters than she could count. Even now, she was on high alert, silently scanning for anything out of the ordinary.
Now that she was older, she was starting to address the funny feelings she got whenever she was around Luke. Or when he got close to her in any way. They had been small, miniscule even, when she was only twelve, but she was fourteen now. Officially a teenager (back then she'd just been a preteen; it was a totally different ballgame). And the feelings were getting stronger.
Of course, she still wasn't old enough to confront these feelings just yet. She was scared of what would happen. Were they true? Or were they just there because they'd been together for three years, on the run, fighting monsters, conning people for money, together.
They were family.
The peaceful afternoon was quickly shattered when a scream ripped through the air. Thalia and Luke jumped up, eyes darting around, looking for the source of the scream. It wasn't some kids playing around, it was a dead serious, terrified-for-your-life scream.
Then Thalia spotted it. Her eyes widened and her hand gripped her spear.
Several yards away from them and getting closer, fast, was a hellhound the size of a rhino, tearing through the park, straight toward the two demigods. Its red eyes burned like lava, burned with hunger. Its lips were pulled back in a menacing snarl; teeth sharp as knives.
More screaming sounded as more mortals saw it run across the park. Thalia wasn't quite sure what they were seeing, but it obviously wasn't some escaped golden retriever.
Luke and Thalia exchanged a glance. She tapped her bracelet and Aegis spun out. The hellhound was upon them. Thalia jerked her shielded arm forward, smacking the hound in the snout with a satisfying wham! The monsters stumbled back, shaking its head, disoriented. Luke took advantage of those precious seconds and slashed with his sword.
The hound yelped before collapsing the ground and coiling in on itself, returning back to the Underworld. Luke turned to look at Thalia.
"That was too easy." he said.
"My thoughts exactly." Thalia replied, eyes flickering back to the spot where the hellhound had disappeared. "A ruse?"
"We'd better get back to our shelter." Luke suggested, both of them getting a really bad gut feeling. With a nod, they took off running, out of the park and back to the shelter they'd built for that week or so.
Thalia smelled the smoke before she saw the fire. The wind blew toward them, looking like fog. She stumbled and stopped, choking and gagging on the thick, grey smoke. It burned her nose, and her eyes stung, filling with tears.
"Are you okay?" Luke asked, coughing as well, but not as violently.
Thalia nodded and sunk to the ground, trying not to breathe in too much smoke. Luke grasped her wrist and pulled her to her feet and started dragging her out of the column of smoke.
"Are you okay?" Luke asked again when they had escaped the noxious fumes.
Thalia inhaled clean air and nodded, retching a few more times to clear her throat.
"Come on," Luke said his voice lowering. He crept forward, dodging the smoke. Thalia followed, looking behind and to the sides of them, anticipating an ambush, just in case.
Luke stopped, catching his breath.
"What do you see?" Thalia asked unnecessarily as she came to stand next to him. At least three telkhines, holding torches. There was a taller, older-looking one and two others that were younger-looking. The two young ones were holding torches, and giggling hysterically as they poked and prodded at the blazing fire that used to Luke and Thalia's shelter.
"Quiet!" the eldest telkhine hissed. The two stopped and dropped their torches. "I sense half-bloods."
Luke and Thalia exchanged a concerned glance and started to retreat, but when they turned, they came face to face with two hellhounds. Like the other one they'd fought a moment ago in the park.
The hellhounds growled, crouching low, glaring at the two half-bloods murderously.
"You take the hellhounds. I'll take the old man and the giggle twins over here." Luke whispered.
Thalia nodded and they stood back to back, the telkhines advanced just as the hellhounds jumped at the same time.
Thalia held her shield up and braced herself for impact. Behind her, Luke slashed through one of the giggle twins easily, the monster dissolving into dust with a poof. The two telkhines left bared their fangs.
Thalia grunted and balanced herself as the two hounds slammed into her shield. She quickly jabbed at one of them, only giving it a small cut. Not large enough to make it disintegrate.
She slashed as the other as it came at her and rolled out of the way of the other almost simultaneously. She leaped to her feet just as the hellhound hit the ground. Without really thinking about the consequences of her actions, she threw her spear at its hindquarters. It was a direct hit and soon there was nothing left but the spear.
Unfortunately, it was several feet away and the other hellhound was in a crouch, growling at her, its eyes fixated only on her. She took a fleeting glance in Luke's direction. He was dueling with the old man, the other giggle twin nowhere to be seen.
Thalia didn't want to distract him. One wrong move and he could be hurt, or worse. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to Luke. She turned to face the hound again. She started to circle, and the hound followed. All she needed to do was get her spear back. But "how" was the question.
"Come on," she taunted. "Be a big boy dog and attack me!"
Maybe not the best strategy she'd used thus far, but she had to do something or she'd be dog chow.
The hellhound barked and lunged; she slammed her shield in its face at the very last minute and quickly lunged toward her spear. She was feet short, but this hound recovered much faster than the other. Thalia rolled over to see it midair, paws outstretched, eyes eager.
She swiftly rolled to the side and out of the way just as the hellhound's massive paws hit the ground, making small craters in the dirt. Thalia scrambled to her feet, but it managed to lash out and catch her leg.
Thalia fell back down with a thud, crying out in pain, and grasped her leg, turning over onto her back. Her veins burned with like acid licking its way up her leg, spreading through her body, her heart only making it worse. Spreading it further.
The hellhounds lips pulled back in a twisted grin. Thalia threw her shield in front of her just as it pounced. She strained her arm trying to keep the hound balanced on her shield, and keeping it from choking her.
The hound's jaws snapped inches from her face. The fire spreading through her body wasn't helping either. Her vision blurred, her chest felt tight, and her arm would collapse occasionally, bringing the hellhound's razor-sharp teeth that much closer to her face.
"Luke!" she cried blindly, for the hellhound was in the way. "Luke! Help!" She gritted her teeth and turned her head away as the hound's breath blew into her face. Her arm slackened again and Thalia could feel the weight of the hellhound come down on her, pushing the breath right out of her lungs.
She gasped for breath and thought for sure that this was the end when air whooshed back into her.
"Thalia!" Luke's voice called sounding echo-y and distant. "Thalia!" It was more clear and louder this time.
Thalia blinked and turned her head up. She blinked hard a couple of times before Luke came into focus.
Luke's features relaxed slightly. "Are you okay?"
Thalia slowly sat up. "No, my leg." she spat, looking down at it. Three large claw marks, going diagonally down her leg. Blood colored the forest floor and dribbled down her ankle.
"Can you walk on it?" Luke asked his voice strained.
"What, what's wrong?" Thalia asked, knowing him well enough to know that they weren't out of danger.
"There's more." he whispered. "We need to get moving. I know… I know where we can go to get your leg fixed up, if you can walk on it."
Thalia started to get up, ignoring the inflammation of pain throughout. "Yeah, I can." she grunted, limping over to grab her spear. "Let's go."
Luke looked at her skeptically, but when rustling and what sounded like slithering, started up somewhere behind them, they started to quickly make their way toward Luke's old home.
"Just a little father!" Luke said, his chest heaving. "How are you holding up?"
Thalia drove the telkhine back and jabbed him with her spear. He evaporated into dust.
"Fine." she answered. "Got the last one."
"For now." Luke said grimly.
They both clambered up a small hill and stood at the top of a ridge overlooking a white Colonial house.
Luke's old home.
May Castellan's house.
"All right," Luke said trying to catch his breath. "I'll just sneak in and grab some food and medicine. Wait here."
"Luke, are you sure?" Thalia questioned. "You swore you'd never come back here. If she catches you—"
"We don't have a choice." he growled, cutting her off. "They burned our nearest safe house." His eyes softened. "And you've got to treat that leg wound."
"But—"
"Just wait here. I promise everything will be okay." He glanced back towards the woods. "Nothing's going to hurt you. I'll be back—"
Both Luke and Thalia flinched and averted their eyes, holding their hands up instinctively, as a flash of light as bright as the sun flashed before them.
"You should not have come home." a powerful voice thundered.
Thalia sat in the kitchen, as May bandaged up her leg. Her eyes flickered back and forth between her and Luke and Hermes, who were having a stare down in the living room.
The house flickered with candles, throwing weird and oddly scary shadows across the walls.
May babbled on about something that Thalia wasn't exactly listening to. She was more focused on what was going on between Luke and Hermes. But the thing she wanted most was to get out of there. She was afraid that May would break out into one of her fits, and it wasn't doing Luke any good meeting his father like this; under such stressful conditions.
"Why show yourself now?" Luke asked, breaking the silence. His whole body was tense, his hands clenching and unclenching. He continued speaking but he had lowered his voice and Thalia couldn't hear. "…with her." His voice rose again as his hand pointed accusingly into the kitchen.
Hermes's voice was much more mellow and soft, as he stared evenly back as his son. Thalia couldn't hear a single word he'd said. And, maybe, that was the way he wanted it.
"I'm not a god!" Luke shouted suddenly, startling Thalia slightly. His voice leveled out again as he continued the quarrel. May had finished bandaging Thalia's leg now and was chattering on about Luke when he was first born as she poured Kool-Aid. Thalia chewed her lip and rubbed her leg uncomfortably.
When Thalia looked back out Hermes was talking again. She noticed a change in Luke's stance as Hermes finished his sentence. And even though she couldn't read lips, she knew well enough as Luke asked, "What?" He said something else though that she couldn't read.
Then it was Hermes's turn. Luke became angered again.
"We're doing fine without your help." he snarled. Thalia let out a frustrated sigh as he continued to talk, but yet again couldn't hear or understand the rest of the sentence.
More exchanged words.
Luke seemed to become more and more upset at every word that came out of Hermes's mouth.
"Then you don't care!" Luke burst. May abruptly stopped talking.
"Luke?" she called, stepping past the counter slightly. "Is that you? Is my boy all right?"
Luke turned his head away from the kitchen door. "I'm fine." he answered trying hard not to let his voice shake. "I have a new family. I don't need either of you."
"I'm your father," Hermes disagreed, for once speaking loud enough for Thalia to hear.
"A father is supposed to be around." Luke spat angrily. "I've never even met you. Thalia, come on! We're leaving!"
"My boy, don't go!" May cried. "I have your lunch ready!"
Luke ignored her and stormed out the door. Thalia scrambled off the stool and followed him, relieved to be out of there.
Luke was a few feet ahead of her, walking at a brisk pace, not looking back.
"Luke!" Thalia called, limping after him. Thankfully her leg felt much better, but it still burned. "Luke, wait!" He didn't seem to hear her. She let out a growl and pushed herself harder to keep up with him. After a block or two, Thalia stopped, fed up. "Luke Castellan!" she growled.
That stopped him. Thalia slowly caught up with him.
"I know you're angry—" she started slowly and quietly, but Luke interrupted her.
"Angry?" he shouted turning toward her. "You think I'm angry? I'm furious! I ran away seven years ago! And now he decides to show up? Now!"
"Hey, now, wait just a minute!" Thalia shouted back. "Don't go taking your anger on me! I did not do anything to you! You need to calm down, Luke. I don't like seeing you like this." Her voice shook as it lowered. "When you're angry you do stupid things. And stupid things cause people to get hurt. I don't want you to do something stupid." Luke opened his mouth, his eyebrows still furrowed angrily, but Thalia continued on before he could interrupt her again. "I don't want you to get hurt.
"We're family, remember? We take care of each other. Always." she reminded him.
Luke stared down at the raven-haired girl and with a few deep breaths realized she was right. But that anger was still there, roiling inside of him. Hermes didn't believe in him. That was it. That was why. Hermes didn't care about him. He never cared about him.
Even so, Thalia could see the change in Luke as the days past. He always wanted to get into fights with monsters. Of course, they kind of had to because of all the monsters that seemed to be following them. But if they went even a couple of hours without a fight he'd go out, searching for them, it was that bad.
Thalia just didn't know what to do. She was only fourteen. She was still growing up, even if she had to have matured beyond her years to run away like that; for her to fight monsters like that. She was still just a kid.
What should she say? How would she say it so it wouldn't hurt him?
It was like he was trying to prove something. And maybe he did need to prove something. But being reckless wasn't proving anything. That was the exact point she was trying to get to him that night that he'd fought with Hermes.
Thalia should've known he wasn't going to listen. He was angry. Seeing his father, meeting him like that, just intensified his hatred. Luke was seeing red and had been seeing red for days now.
Thalia shook her head. "No." she told him.
"Come on, Thalia. Just think how gratifying it would be to know we took on a sphinx!" Luke coaxed.
"No, Luke," Thalia whispered, careful not to attracted the sphinx's attention. "It's too dangerous! We don't have the weapons or the training. A sphinx is a powerful monster that could kill you in one blow. I'm not going to run into a losing battle and neither are you. You're smarter than that. I know you are."
"It's not a losing battle. You haven't even tried." Luke pressed.
Thalia shook her head slowly, thinking about this. "I don't know, Luke…" she trailed off her eyes straying to the sphinx, which thankfully still hadn't noticed them.
"You're either with me or against me, Thalia." he finally decided, giving her no choice but to go into battle with him. She sure as Hades wasn't going to let him go in alone. If they were going to go down, then they'd go down together.
It was all a blur in Thalia's mind. She remembers charging with Luke. They were a great tag-team, striking and dodging out while the other did the same, from all sides so that the sphinx couldn't land a hit. But they were tiring quickly and the sphinx had just been angered and was roaring so loud car alarms went off outside of the small forest Luke had spotted the sphinx.
She remembers getting hit with a paw, thinking that this was officially the end to her journey. This was the end to everything she'd worked for by running away. Luke jumped in front of her, his sword at the ready as the sphinx roared and lifted onto its hind legs, going to pounce, its two-foot-long claws unsheathed and ready to shred.
A cry of "No!" escaped Thalia's lips as the mighty sphinx started her decent. Then it was like a dream. The sound of a hunting horn pierced the air, drowning out the sphinx's bellows and stopping it in mid-air. Its human face twisted into a mask of hatred and fear at the same time.
Thalia's mouth fell open as the sphinx started to retreat.
"Get away! Get away you nasty girls!" the sphinx cried, backing up more, looking beyond Luke and Thalia, behind them into the dark of the woods.
Thalia stood and turned to look too but couldn't see anything.
"Are you all right?" Luke murmured in her ear, his warm breath dancing across her neck and face.
Thalia, slightly dazed, nodded, wordlessly.
Behind the sphinx reared back again just as a silver arrow whistled past Thalia's head, leaving a streak of moonlight in its path, and shot right through the sphinx almost inaudibly.
From the gloom floated a voice, "Permission to kill, my lady?" The voice had an edge to it, an accent, but it was hard to place. Thalia had never heard an accent like that before. Neither had Luke.
The two demigods exchanged a glance, making sure they'd both heard it. Because who really wanted to go insane by themselves, right?
"Zoë, permission granted." another voice answered.
"Fire!" the first voice ordered.
"Duck!" Luke shouted. They hit the ground just as more silver arrows came whizzing over their heads.
The sphinx barely had time to growl she was already disappearing, whimpering something about grading papers by hand for eternity. Then again, Thalia was having a long night; she could've been hearing things.
After another moment of silence, Luke pushed himself to his feet and held out a hand for her. She had just stood up when the mysterious voices materialized into something solid and human.
They were all girls, about a dozen or so of them. The youngest was probably ten, while the oldest was probably fourteen; Thalia's age. They all wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, armed with bows which were at the ready just in case, Thalia supposed.
They all had determined expressions.
Two girls stepped ahead of the rest of the pack.
One was older. She was tall and walked with grace, even with all uneven terrain here. Her skin was an interesting copper color, and unlike the other girls a silver circlet was braided into the top of her long, dark hair. Thalia had to admit, this girl was gorgeous.
Without really knowing it, she wondered what she looked like to them. Dirt smudges covering her face, her hair—which had grown out by now; just a little past her shoulders—messy and tangled, leave ridden, her clothes ripped and wrinkled.
The second girl was maybe a year or two younger than Thalia. She had auburn hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes glowed a grayish, silvery-ish color, like the full moon. Her expression was authoritative and almost scary.
Thalia rubbed her eyes and blinked hard, making sure this wasn't some kind of dream.
Nope, they were there all right. Still, it was really late, and they were both really tired. There was still a possibility it was some hallucination….
"Two half-bloods, my lady." the eldest of the two announced.
The auburn-haired girl examined them with cold eyes. So cold, Thalia thought, that she was freezing them with her gaze alone.
"Yes," she finally said, her eyes narrowing. "Not of Chiron's camp, though."
This only made Thalia's head reel even more. Who was Chiron? What was this camp she spoke of?
"Wait, wait," Thalia finally managed to say, her head hurting. "It's too late for this. And I'm really tired. Who are you people?"
The two girls exchanged a look before the auburn-haired girl nodded, like she was approving of something. The older of them then stepped forward.
"Zoë Nightshade, lieutenant of the Hunters." she said.
Then the auburn-haired girl stepped forward, her eyes burning bright, but not as cold as before, as she looked at Thalia. "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."
.happiness.
~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!