Sloth: I hope everyone had a nice holiday and here's sort of a late Christmas present to all my reviewers. I would have had it out on friday, but I fell asleep. So anyways, this chapter is sort of a foreshadowing of things to come and has a family moment that I only thought of the day I finished this draft. After this, you can expect all family moments will be minimal and there will be more angst. Well, enjoy everyone.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.

"I'd give up immortality to save them from you."

.

.

.

Luke looked around camp, wondering where everyone was. From what Thalia had told him, campers usually did all sorts of things. Even when he was bed ridden he could see a lot of kids running around. He sighed, wondering where everyone was. It had been three weeks since he woke in up in the infirmary and just when he was finally allowed to leave it, everyone disappears. He walked over to one of the cabins and looked inside. There was no one there. He made a face. He could have sworn he heard people in there a second ago.

"Luke!"

He turned, jumping in surprise at the harsh tone his name was called out. There wasn't anyone near him.

"Luke!"

He stepped back, swiping at the cool burst of air against his ear. It was almost like someone had just whispered loudly in his ear. For the next minute or so, he kept hearing his name coming from every direction. It came out harsher, colder, with each breath. There was a tap on his shoulder and he turned. There was a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down to see the end of a spear digging into his gut. His eyes widened as he looked up at Thalia's smirking face. Her eyes glowing with a golden light.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance." she grinned before kicking him off the ledge, sending him to certain death.

.

.

.

Luke woke up, dripping in sweat. He looked down at himself, satisfied to see that he didn't have a stab wound. He let out a sigh before falling back down on his bed. It had been just another nightmare. He had been having the same recurring nightmare for the past week. It always started the same. He'd walk out the Big House to an empty camp, and then someone would be calling out his name. It could be called out with such venom and hate. And then someone would kill him. The first night it had been Percy who killed him, ramming that weird pen/sword of his into his chest. The second time it was Annabeth with her bronze knife. The worst ones were the ones when Thalia would ram him with her spear before kicking him off a ledge.

Looking out the window, he saw that it was still night. Other than Chris, there was no one else in the infirmary. At least people trusted him not to run away in the dead of night. Or was that because there were harpies that would come and eat him if he tried to. It was most likely the second one. Even if he had only been at Camp Half Blood for three weeks, the majority of which spent in the infirmary, he knew how much everyone hated him. He did some bad things, even if he didn't remember what it was. The only ones who didn't seem to send him a nasty glare whenever he walked out the Big House were Annabeth, Thalia, and Chiron. And he had only walked out twice.

He didn't know much, he only knew that he left camp and, as Conner had put it, joined the dark side. When he asked what else he did, people just gave him a look. One of those "don't ask" looks. And he never did. He'd rather live in ignorance than know about what he did. It didn't help that Clarisse told him Chris was in the infirmary because of him either.

Luke tried to get comfy in his bed. It was hard, because he didn't want to go back to sleep. For all he knew, he get killed by Grover's reed pipe or run over by Chiron. Sighing, Luke closed his eyes and hoped for the best.

.

.

.

"You look like you've been run over by a centaur." Annabeth commented when he walked over to the pavilion.

"No. Just beaten by a reed pipe."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. It was just a joke." he told her. Well, it sort of wasn't. He did dream that he was killed by a reed pipe, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He didn't want to worry the blond with his problems. "Where's Thalia?"

"In her cabin. She was still getting ready when I checked." she replied. She turned to look at the Athena table, where her half-brother Malcolm was sending a glare their way. She knew the glare wasn't directed at her, but she couldn't help but send him her own until he turned back to his food. She turned back to Luke, who looked like he should still be sleeping. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. Uh, I better go to my table." he said to her before leaving to the Hermes table. One of the things he hated about coming to the pavilion to eat was all the looks he got, and how conversation would die the moment he passed by people. He already knew he was hated. Did they have to make it obvious? He sighed and sat down. Half the table scooted away from him and he wondered if it were possible for him to just eat in the infirmary.

After breakfast, and everyone dispersed and went about their way. Luke spent the day watching people. It already made him seem "evil", but he didn't know what else to do. He wasn't welcomed anywhere, so why bother try and get involved with the other campers? And his ADHD was driving him mad. He couldn't do anything, but he couldn't just sit still.

Just when he thought he was going to go crazy, he felt two presences on either side of him. He was surprised to see it wasn't the usual people who came to him.

"Hey Luke!"

"How's it going?"

"Huh…." he stared at Conner and Travis. "Not that I'm not glad to see you guys, but what are you doing here?"

"To be honest, we thought you could use the company." Travis, or was it Conner, replied.

"You look a little down."

"Um, I'm fine."

"That's great." Conner, or was it Travis - Damn it Luke, just pick who is who - replied.

"Because since you're feeling so great, I think it's time for some brotherly bounding."

Luke made a face.

"I thought we were half brothers."

"Same thing." the twins replied before pulling him onto his feet and half dragging, half leading him away. He absentmindedly wondered how two younger boys were stronger enough to carry him away. Or maybe he was lighter than he thought.

"Uh, where are we going?" he asked them.

"Well, we figured three weeks has been long enough."

"It's about time we finally get this over with."

Luke made a face. Oh great, he was dreaming again. And this time it was the twins who were going to kill him. He was wondering how this dream was going to end. Death by double team? Death by swords? Death by spears? Just get it done with so he could wake up and-

He was spitting up toilet water, sputtering and coughing and he looked at the bathroom in surprise. Conner and Travis were behind him, laughing. He didn't know what was going on until he looked around. It turns out he wasn't having a nightmare and while he was racking his brain over how his life was going to end, he failed to notice the twins were taking him to the bathroom. He didn't even notice when they dunked his head into the toilet until it was too late. He turned to the laughing boys.

"Why'd you guys do that?" he asked, using his sleeve to dry himself as best he could.

"Why else? Because it's fun."

"For who?"

"Us." the twins replied before calming down. Luke rolled his eyes and stood up, ready to leave, when Travis stopped him.

"Luke, Luke wait, it was a prank. We were just trying to get you out of your funk."

"And it's something we do to all the new Hermes campers. We started after we became counselors," Travis started.

"And since you're back, we thought it was only fair to do it to you."

"Couldn't you have warned me?" Luke asked, making a face when he got a whiff of his wet hair. Just what he needed too. Travis and Conner burst out laughing, telling him that they had told him to hold his breath. Luke just gave a generic response, "Oh."

"Come on Luke, we've got a whole day planned for you." Conner said, walking towards him and leading him out the bathroom.

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't think that was it do you?" Travis asked. "You've been on the dark side for a while. It's time to get you back into the swing of things."

Before he could question what the twins were talking about, they lead him out into camp and towards the Hermes cabin. They showed him the crowded cabin, with different sleeping bags scattered all over. But he noticed one thing sticking out from the sea of sleeping bags. In the farthest corner, in its own little spot, was a sleeping bag with the button shirt he had worn the day he arrived on it. He turned to look at the smirking twins.

"Does this mean…?"

"Chiron thought it was time you got out of that stuffy infirmary."

"And we were more than happy to let you back in."

He didn't know what to say. He had always thought everyone at camp hated him, but here were two people willing to let him into their cabin. He grinned. One of the biggest grins he could muster. Travis suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah, there's one more thing Luke." a grin spread across their faces. "We're going to remind you what it means to be a son of Hermes."

.

.

.

Thalia and Annabeth were coming back from the arena when three people ran passed them with some Ares campers running after them, shouting something about toiletry. Thalia turned to Annabeth with a raised eyebrow.

"Did that just happen?"

"You mean did Luke and the Stolls just steal toiletry from the Ares cabin? Yes. Yes it did."

They watched the three spring a pit fall trap and escape with their prize. They shuttered at the thought of Luke becoming like the Stolls. If that happened, they were doomed.