Disclaimer: I don't own, Rick Riordan does.
A Visit with Luke's Mother
"Are we going to stand out here all day or are you going to knock, Seaweed Brain?"
"You do it then if you're so inclined to talk to her."
Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase stood on the porch of a small but otherwise average looking house in Westport, Connecticut. Chiron had somehow convinced the two of them to break the news that Luke was one of the biggest traitors in the eyes of the gods to Emily Castellan, also known as Luke's mother.
Annabeth knocked three times, a bit louder than necessary.
"I don't think anyone's home." Percy stated about two minutes later.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Annabeth looked around for the camp van but knew it was hopeless. She assumed it would take long to explain everything to Ms. Castellan so she told Argus to go sightseeing and meet them back in about an hour.
Just as she was about to ask Percy his opinion on what to do a red jeep pulled into the driveway. The door opened and a lady what looked to be in her early forties got out of the car. She had straight light brown hair tied back in a pony tail and was wearing a UPS uniform.
"I'm not interested in buying anything," what Percy assumed was Ms. Castellan said as she walked past them without even taking the time to look and see they weren't selling anything. She started to open the door with her keys. "I have enough money problems without having to buy anything for pointless high school fundraisers."
As she entered her house Percy spoke up, "Ma'am we're not selling anything…" he looked at Annabeth as if deciding whether to continue or not. She nodded. "We're here to talk to you about…well, about Luke."
The woman froze. She finally looked at them, "Luke left a long time ago…" She looked away, as if thinking about something else.
"We know ma'am," Annabeth piped in, "we need to tell you everything that's happened."
Ms. Castellan looked hesitant but finally said, "You might as well come in. I assume this is going to take a while."
As all of them entered the house the first thing Percy noticed was the picture frames. More than a dozen were scattered among the tables and mantelpiece. But Percy couldn't see the pictures. All of them were face down.
They sat down at the kitchen table, Ms. Castellan on one side while Percy and Annabeth sat next to each other on the opposite.
"You do know about the Olympian gods, right?" Percy asked.
Ms. Castellan glared at Percy then said "Of course I do, how can I forget? I only had a baby that belonged to Hermes," she mumbled something Percy's mother would definitely not approve of under her breath. "I assume you two are 'half-bloods' as well," she did air quotes when she said half-blood, "I'm not even going to bother to ask who you belong to."
"Uh…ok, ma'am." Percy said, wary of where this conversation was going.
There was an awkward silence that seemed to last forever until Annabeth said, "If you don't understand something in what we're about to tell you feel free to interrupt." She sighed then begun the long story, "Well, after Luke ran away he met up with a girl named Thalia…" and it continued from there. After Annabeth stopped talking about the two years they were running around together and Luke's quest Percy started on when he arrived. He left out all the parts of the first quest that didn't include Luke. When he got to the part where Luke stole Zeus' master bolt she interrupted.
"I don't blame him," She said crossing her arms, "the way the gods treat their children is horrible. Not once did I get money for child support. Not once did he drop by to see how Luke was doing. You'd think the messenger of the gods was so fast he could drop by and spend a minute with his son but no! Not once!"
"Not to sound rude or anything but after all, they are gods. They never checked up on us either. We know how it feels," Percy said honestly, "They've been around for thousands of years. You can't expect much."
Ms. Castellan huffed and nodded telling him to continue.
~XxXxXxXxXxXxX~
"…and that's the last time we saw him." Percy finished forty-five minutes later, a little more dramatic than he meant to.
"She threw a hair brush at him?" Ms. Castellan was on the verge of tears but she attempted a smile at that.
"But we believe we can save him." Annabeth nudged Percy with her elbow when he didn't respond.
"Oh, yeah, of course." Percy said sarcastically.
Annabeth ignored him and continued. "One of our friends told us a way that might weaken Kronos and we believe that might work. If we do that then--,"
"Luke's too stubborn. Once he makes up his mind he won't change it. He won't come back to the god's side." Ms. Castellan said sadly.
"But, ma'am, we have--!"
"Please, Annabeth, don't get my hopes up. I haven't seen or talked to Luke in so long but I'm sure he's still the same stubborn person. Just maybe a bit more resentful from the things you've just told me. He always was a rebel, in my opinion."
There was silence and then a honk of a car from outside.
Both of the demigods stood up. "That's for us," Annabeth said, "we should get going."
"Wait," Percy wrote down the address to Camp Half-Blood on a slip of paper and left three drachmas. "If you ever need to contact us, like if you have a question or something, just write to us." Percy explained how the mailing system worked but left out that Hermes would probably be the one picking up the letter. "It was nice meeting you, Ms. Castellan."
She smiled and shook their hands, tears still in her eyes. "Thank you."
As the Demigods were leaving one of them noticed something. Next to the door was a desk with a big picture frame on top of it made out of multiple Popsicle sticks. Like all the rest of the frames, it was flipped over. Percy grabbed it and put it in its upright position so he could see the picture. It showed Ms. Castellan hugging a much younger and happier Luke. Percy guessed he was around five or six. Along the edge was written "Mommy and Me!" in dark blue paint so big even a dyslexic kid could read it. Percy had to smile a little, the way the two seemed so happy and carefree was contagious. Who knew this little boy would become one of the key characters in the rise of Kronos? He sighed sadly and followed Annabeth out the door to the sound of Emily Castellan sobbing in the kitchen.
"Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them."
~Marcel Proust
AN: And that's it. I was hoping to get more information about Luke's mom in there but it never really fit. Reviews would be appreciated.