Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson
δέλτα—Delta
Hermes walked into the house, the hundreds of candles scattered around the living room ignited, flickering and burning brightly, all the mirrors behind the candles reflecting back their golden-orange flames. It was a little disorienting at first, but Luke was too angry to notice any of that.
May's head peeked around the corner from the hallways.
"Hermes, is that you?" she asked stepping out.
Luke looked down at the floor, hoping beyond hope she wouldn't notice him. Memories of her green eyes and rasping voice replying behind his eyes. His prayers to his father always answered with absolute silence.
Hermes walked up to May and put his arms around her gently. They stood like that for a moment, May's unnaturally stretched smile on her face. Luke continued to glare at the floor cursing himself for ever coming back here. He should've just stolen something from the nearest store. It would've worked just as well…. His eyes caught Thalia, who was leaning heavily on a chair. She looked pallid in the candlelight, and a thin sheen of sweat had formed on her face. Her eyes looked tired and pained.
Her leg wounds were still oozing blood, and an angry red.
Luke let out a small sigh. Here was the closest, fastest way. Thalia wouldn't have been able to make it any farther.
"Come on, dear, and I'll fix that leg up for you? And maybe a snack, hm?" May asked breaking Luke out of his bubble. Thalia pushed away from the chair and warily followed May into the kitchen. Annabeth hesitantly trailed behind Thalia, glancing back at Luke, who was now glaring at Hermes.
Hermes's head was bowed, but he finally looked up at his son and took a few steps forward. Luke mirrored him, taking a few steps back, tensing, his hands clenching and unclenching into fists at his side.
There were so many things that Luke wanted to say.
"Why show yourself now?" He finally decided, asking through clenched teeth. "All these years I've been calling to you," he said remembering his prayers through his many tears as his mother lunged at him with clawed hands. "Praying you'd show up, and nothing. You left me with her." One of his hands shot up, pointing a finger at his mother who was bandaging Thalia's leg in the kitchen. He couldn't look at her, couldn't even call her Mom. She hadn't been a mom, she didn't deserve that kind of title; just like Hermes didn't deserve the title of "Father".
"Luke, do not dishonor her," Hermes warned slowly. "Your mother did the best she could. As for me, I could not interfere with your path. The children of the gods must find their own way."
"So it was for my own good. Growing up on the streets, fending for myself, fighting monsters." Luke spat angered that Hermes didn't seem to care at all for him. Not that Luke really cared anymore anyway.
Hermes met Luke's eyes. "You're my son," he said. "I knew you had the ability. When I was only a baby, I crawled from my cradle and set out for—"
"I'm not a god!" Luke shouted, his nails digging into his palms. "Just once, you could've said something. You could've helped when"—Luke took a shaky breath, all the pain flooding over him again, and lowered his voice—"when she was having one of her fits, shaking me and saying crazy things about my fate." Luke gritted his teeth as tears welled up behind his eyes. No, he wouldn't let Hermes see him cry. Never. He swallowed hard and continued. "When I used to hide in the closet so she wouldn't find me with those… those glowing eyes. Did you even care that I was scared? Did you even know when I finally ran away?"
Out of the corner of Luke's eyes Annabeth caught his attention. He chanced a fleeting glance. She held up a burnt cookie and mouthed, Can we go now?
"Luke," Hermes started. Luke's head snapped back to Hermes. "I care very much, but gods must not interfere directly in mortal affairs. It is one of our Ancient Laws. Especially when your destiny…" Hermes trailed off and broke contact with Luke who's interest peaked.
His fate? Hermes knew his fate? He knew what May had always spouted out when he was little?
"What?" Luke asked feverishly. "What about my destiny?" he demanded.
"You should not have come back," Hermes muttered, ignoring Luke. "It only upsets you both. However, I see now that you are getting too old to be on the run without help. I'll speak with Chiron at Camp Half-Blood and ask him to send a satyr to collect you."
Luke looked at Hermes distastefully. "We're doing fine without your help," he growled not believing that Hermes suddenly wanted to help after years of silence on his end. "Now, what about my destiny?" he asked again.
Hermes didn't answer; instead he stared morbidly as his son. It was in that singular moment did Luke decide that Hermes did, for a fact, know his fate, know exactly what was going to happen to him in the future.
"My son," he finally said. Luke cringed. Son. He was still Hermes's son. "I'm the god of travelers, the god of loads. If I know anything, I know that you must walk your own path, even though it tears my heart."
It was all lies. All Hermes spouted was lie after lie.
Luke shook his head once. "You don't love me." he said, his voice steady.
The look in Hermes's eyes almost convinced Luke that he did care about him.
Almost.
"I promise I… I do love you." And the falter in his sentence brought the house crumbling to the ground. "Go to camp. I will see that you get a quest soon. Perhaps you can defeat the Hydra, or steal the apples of Hesperides." Hermes's eyes tightened and his voice became an choked whisper. "You will get a chance to be a great hero before…"
Luke's breath caught. Was it so bad? Was his fate so horrible that Hermes was desperate to make him a hero in other's eyes? "Before what?" Luke asked his voice trembling, unable to hold back all the emotions washing over him. "What did my mom see that made her like this?" he demanded. "What's going to happen to me? If you love me, tell me."
The dam almost burst. It'd all been a lie about not caring what his father thought. He wanted to love his father, he did, really, but this was almost too much. Why couldn't Hermes see this? Why couldn't he just tell him his fate? Maybe it didn't have to end the way Hermes knew. Maybe they could change it together.
"I cannot."
Luke's last hope shattered and the world around him fell to pieces.
"Then you don't care!" he shouted.
The kitchen fell silent.
"Luke?" May called. "Is that you? Is my boy all right?"
Luke's heart jumped in his chest those green eyes flashing in his mind. He quickly turned away, realizing that his eyes were flooding with tears. If he so much as blinked they'd come spilling over.
"I'm fine." Luke answered. "I have a new family. I don't need either of you."
"I'm your father," Hermes insisted.
There it was again.
Luke glared at his "father".
"A father is supposed to be around. I've never even met you." he spat. "Thalia, Annabeth, come on! We're leaving!"
"My boy, don't go!" May called. "I have your lunch ready!"
Luke quickly thundered out, before she could get any closer to him, not really bothering to look if Thalia and Annabeth were behind him. He was too angry right now. He stormed down the sidewalk without a backward glance.
Fine, so be it then.
It didn't matter. None of it mattered.
He didn't have a mom or a dad. Thalia and Annabeth were his family now.
It didn't matter that Hermes didn't care enough to tell him his fate. His horrible, horrible fate that made him look Luke like he was going to die…. No, worse than that.
As if anything could be worse than death.
"Luke Castellan!" Thalia's voice broke through the barrier surrounding Luke. He stopped and waited, breathing hard.
Thalia took Annabeth's hand and together they slowly caught up to Luke. Annabeth hid slightly behind Thalia, having never seen Luke this angry before.
"I know you're angry—" Thalia started.
Luke spun on her. Annabeth took a step back and Thalia leaned back slightly. "Angry!" he shrieked. "You think I'm angry? I'm furious! I ran away five years ago! And now he decides to show up? Now!"
"Hey, now, wait just a minute!" Thalia shouted back, standing up to him bravely. "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 and Luke could see how much she really cared. "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, blue melding with blue, 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. Maybe if he proved he was worthy of knowing his fate…. Maybe if Hermes saw that he was strong enough to handle knowing his fate.
Thalia shook her head. "No." she told him firmly, her electric blue eyes alight.
"Come on, Thalia." Luke had been expecting that, but all he could think was how amazing it would be to beat such a monster. "Just think how gratifying it would be to know we took on a sphinx!" he tried to coax.
"No, Luke," Thalia whispered through clenched teeth, careful not to attract the sphinx's attention. "It is too dangerous!" She pronounced the words slowly. "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.
"And you have to think about Annabeth too. We can't put her in that kind of danger if we can't beat it. What happens if she wakes up to find us slaughtered and a sphinx chewing on our—"
"Thalia," Luke stopped her.
Annabeth was currently sleeping in the safe house they'd made. The sphinx had been wandering by and Luke, of course, had to spot it. He'd been up thinking about everything that had happened throughout his whole life, sitting outside the safe house.
Right now it was fairly close to their shelter, like only several yards fairly close.
"It's not a losing battle. You haven't even tried." Luke pressed.
Thalia shook her head slowly, thinking about this, her teeth digging into her lower lip. "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. He knew it wasn't very fair to her, forcing her into something like this. But he also knew that he wouldn't be able to beat this sphinx by himself. Together they'd have a better chance of dusting this monster.
The fight flashed before Luke, like a bad memory, only because of what would come from it. In retrospect it really was his fault for doing something so stupid. But he hadn't a clear head then. He couldn't do anything about that now, though. Now, it was too late.
For Thalia.
For Annabeth.
For him.
Thalia and Luke 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 they were staying in for that day.
Then, Thalia slipped up and was hit with one of the sphinx's paws. She flew a good ten feet back, the breath being knocked from her lungs. Luke dashed toward her, pushing himself as hard as he could so he could get there before the sphinx could. If anyone was going to die, it'd be him because he'd forced Thalia into this.
Thalia, was on the ground, her blue eyes wide, her mouth hanging open. His heart jumped in his chest, the feeling of not making it in time washing over him.
With one last push, Luke managed to get to Thalia and quickly 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.
"No!" Thalia's cry pierced the air as the sphinx came down upon Luke.
Out of the clear night sky the sound of a hunting horn pierced the air, drowning out the sphinx's bellows and stopping its razor sharp claws inches from Luke's shoulders. Its human face twisted into a mask of hatred and fear at the same time.
Luke's mouth hung open, taking in a shocked breath as the sphinx backed up on its hind legs before planting all fours on the ground again.
"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 Luke walked over to her, putting a hand on her arm.
"Are you all right?" Luke murmured in her ear, trying to ignore how, even after years of travel through woods and mud and rain and snow, she smelled absolutely wonderful.
Thalia nodded wordlessly, her eyes slightly glazed over.
Behind the duo 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. Luke had never heard an accent like that, it sounded kind of… old. Based on the look, Thalia had never heard that type of accent either.
The two demigods exchanged a glance, making sure they'd both heard it. Because at least that meant they weren't crazy or they were crazy together.
"Zoë, permission granted." another voice answered.
"Fire!" the first voice ordered.
"Duck!" Luke shouted grabbing Thalia's arm. 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… from what Luke could distinguish at least. It was like hearing the other voices. This forest must've been haunted or just a monster hive of some kind.
After another moment of silence, Luke pushed himself to his feet and held out a hand for Thalia. She put her warm, soft hand in his and had started pulling herself 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. They all wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, armed with bows which were at the ready just in case. Hopefully they wouldn't assume Luke and Thalia were some kind of weird-looking human monsters and shoot.
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. Luke hated to admit it, but this girl was beautiful.
Out of the corners of his eyes, Luke noticed Thalia straighten her shirt and brush her now somewhat grown out hair behind her ears. These girls may have been pretty but nothing really compared to Thalia's beauty….
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.
Luke had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Thalia rubbed her eyes and blinked hard, making Luke feel bad for waking her up in the middle of the night. She was probably questioning her sanity right about now. She was just tired, and sleepy, which made Luke only feel worse about the situation he'd gotten them in.
"Two half-bloods, my lady." the eldest of the two announced.
The auburn-haired girl examined them with cold eyes. Well, Luke at least, which gave him an even worse feeling. What was so wrong with him?
"Yes," she finally said, her eyes narrowing. "Not of Chiron's camp, though." And the hits just kept on coming! Now Luke knew for sure who this was and he wasn't one bit happy about it.
"Wait, wait," Thalia begged, wobbling she was so fatigued. "It's too late for this. And I'm really tired. Who are you people?" Luke looked at the auburn-haired girl, hoping that she'd excuse Thalia's crude language. You couldn't blame her anyway.
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."
Wow, it just keeps getting longer and longer…. Hope you enjoyed!
thank-you-for-everything
~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!
