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Luke's heart was pounding as he readied himself to the Cyclopes' onslaught. He had one goal in mind: to protect Thalia and Annabeth. He was keenly aware of Annabeth's slight quavering, and knew she was scared. The thought filled him with anger. Anger at himself for trusting Grover, anger at Thalia for pushing him into it, anger at Grover for leading them into a trap, and anger at just being alive. And angry for bringing Annabeth into this situation. He and Thalia kept Annabeth behind them, and held the monsters at bay. Brandishing their swords in the monsters' faces, they kept them away a few feet. Grover was still muttering something like a spell behind them. He was completely focused on the street. The slight distraction gave one of the Cyclops advantage over Luke, and hit him on his calf. Luke howled with pain. Annabeth gasped, and Thalia moaned. Luke recovered, and stabbed at the gloating creature. But he wasn't quick enough, for the Cyclops grabbed his sword, and swung it hard. Luke went with the sword, and hit the ground. The Cyclops laughed; the sound echoing down the alley. Luke pulled himself back up, and got into a fighting stance again. He wasn't weak, he was strong and hard-willed.
These two Cyclops were not about take him down; not when he was so close to safety. He yelled, startling the one closest to him, and charged. As he ran, he pulled his shield over him. He ran straight into the breastplate of the creature. The Cyclops balled his hand into a fist, and punched Luke back down. The impact sent him sprawling back over towards Thalia and Annabeth. The pain that followed was so bad, Luke had trouble breathing. His head ached, and he felt sluggish. Grover finished muttering something, and they all watched as a taxi appeared out of the air. Inside the drivers' seat and the passengers' seat were three ugly hags. Luke didn't have the slightest idea what Grover was up to. Grover called out, "Hurry, this way! Into the cab, and let's go!" Luke didn't want to. He couldn't trust Grover again. So he kept advancing towards the two Cyclops, and they eyed him warily. Thalia and Annabeth hurried towards the cab, and yelled at Luke. "Come one, Luke! You can't beat them by yourself! Hurry!" Thalia said. She was right; the Cyclopes were moving quickly towards him, looks of kill written all over their faces. He ran over to the cab. Thalia got in and put Annabeth on her lap, and Luke and Grover slid in after. Then the cab shot down the street at full speed. The hags were all very grotesque; two of which were missing an eye from their single eye sockets. The most unnerving thing was that the driver was one of the ones without an eye.
Their hair reminded Luke of stringy noodles. And when they talked, it sounded like a banshi screaching. Annabeth looked at them with interest, and didn't fear them at all. Luke wondered about that, until he realized that she was sitting in Thalia's lap. Thalia's arms were wrapped around her, and Luke guessed it gave Annabeth security. He saw Thalia was very exhausted though, and offered to keep Annabeth on his lap. Thalia readily agreed, and Annabeth didn't mind the switch, but when she sat down on his lap, his injuries protested the extra weight. It made him grimace, but he could handle it. Luke smiled at how he treated them both like his family. To him, they were the only things he had left.
He didn't know why they attracted weird monsters, or why his mom was a freak, or why his dad never came to visit him when he was little, but he knew he would make things better for Thalia and Annabeth. Thalia dozed off to sleep, and so did Annabeth. He looked at Grover. The satyr was relaxed and looked at him questioningly. "Where are we going?" Luke whispered. "To a safe place." Grover said. "And for your injuries, here is some ambrosia. Eat it sparingly." Grover handed him a square of something sweet-smelling. Luke took it, and nibbled on it. It tasted like his favorite food..cookies. His mom used to make them when he was little. Instantly, his injuries started healing, and he could breath better. He listened to the girls' sleeping for a while before going to sleep himself. The cab's tossing made it difficult, but eventually sleep took him.
He had a dream; a bad dream. Or more correctly, a nightmare. He only saw darkness, and heard whispers coming from everywhere. Luke stumbled along in his dream, trying to find something. He didn't know what. Then the whispers and darkness changed to a battlefield. It was full of teenagers, killing monsters similar to what Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth had been dealing with. Yells were heard all over, and teenagers and monsters alike were falling down because of injuries. Then one of the monsters came toward Luke... "Luke!" Thalia yelled. He woke up hazy and disoriented, but he could hear her. "Wha?" Luke mumbled, because his tongue wouldn't work right. "Luke get out! The Cyclopes are back! We are only a mile or two from the place Grover was taking us..come on!" Then she shoved him out of the cab and onto the ground.
Finally, the effects of sleep went away. He saw the cab right behind him screech away. Grover was playing a song on his flute thing, and Annabeth was holding her dagger with a wary expression on her small face. Thalia helped him up, and said, "The Cyclops are only a quarter mile away; we need to go." Grover stopped playing and turned towards them. "Hurry!" He said, beginning to run. Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth followed his example. As they ran, Luke looked at the surrounding scenery. They seemed to be on a big hill, and a beach seemed to be nearby. The crashing waves could be heard, even from where they were. He had no idea where they were. How long had he been sleeping? And where were they going to? That place, that place called Camp Half-Blood.