Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to own, anything recognizable from the Percy Jackson series, or Greek mythology.
Spelling/Grammar: As usual, any helpful CC, especially concerning spelling and/or grammar, is highly appreciated.
Spoiler Alert: There is the smallest spoiler for a very small scene in The Last Olympian; if you haven't read the book, I doubt you'll even know it's a spoiler, but I figured I should mention it, just in case.
"True friends stab you in the front."
Oscar Wilde
The moment Thalia saw Luke, she knew something was wrong. Very wrong. She saw the empousa, Kelli, walk off, and she wondered if the female monster had been the bearer of whatever bad news was the cause for Luke's foul mood.
"Don't," the blond demigod commanded, seeing Thalia open her mouth. "Just don't."
Thalia rolled her eyes; but she didn't speak. The cuts on her back had been treated by the same slave girl the Laistrygonians kept watch over, but they still hurt whenever she moved. She didn't want a repeat of the incident that had given her those scars.
Instead of giving some witty one-liner, Thalia took the opportunity to watch the older half-blood carefully. He was tense: so tense he was having trouble moving without jerking around and looking stupid. His jaw twitched every so often, and Thalia was transfixed by the way his own scar moved. She was unused to seeing his face marred by the pale mark, and she watched it with morbid fascination. He noticed her staring, and stalked quickly across the room, dropping down to kneel in front of her.
"Ugly," he snapped, glaring at her. "Isn't it?"
Thalia shrank back. She hated herself for the movement-she was Thalia, she never recoiled-but he scared her. His tone, the way he lurched whenever he moved: it all scared her. It reminded her of way he had behaved while they were on the run together, right before they had gone to his mother's house.
"That hideous?" He asked, almost surprised. "Not all of us are as untouchable as you are," he added, raising one hand, making as if to touch her face. His fingers drew away at the last minute, however, and the tiniest frown etched itself between Thalia's dark brows. He never hesitated. Once he decided to do something, he did it. Why was he unsure now?
Squirming even farther back, Thalia grimaced as her fingers brushed stone. She could retreat no further.
"Nothing to say?" Luke smirked, then shook his head. "I don't know Grace, I think you're losing your touch."
Thalia stiffed the moment her former surname left his lips, but still refused to say anything. No matter what she said, he would find a way to punish her for it. She had heard tales of the torture devices the Titan Army used, and none of them were pleasant. And if possible, Thalia intended to keep all of her limbs attached. Even if that meant keeping her mouth shut.
"Too bad," Luke shrugged, then stood. "I was looking forward to asking you some questions."
Thalia ignored him. It was easier now, with him moving across the room, and not sitting only a foot or so from her face.
"Particularly," he continued, turning slowly around to face her, again. "Why you haven't gotten any Iris Messages since you got here."
She tried not to show it, but Thalia's interest was immediately engaged. She had been wondering the same thing. She had thought, when Chiron first told her the she was going to have to marry Luke, that at least Annabeth would IM her once or twice a week, and they could talk. But the daughter of Athena hadn't contacted her. Not once.
Luke saw the expression on her face, and took a few more steps toward her.
"I don't-" Thalia bit her tongue, cutting herself off purposefully. So much for not talking.
"You don't what?" Luke hurried across the last few feet of space between them, and knelt down in front of her, again. "What don't you know?"
"The answer," Thalia whispered, unconsciously shrinking back as he leaned forward.
For a long moment, Luke studied her face, his own features unreadable. Finally, after Thalia's breathing had started to come in ragged inhales and exhales, he blinked. "Helpful, Grace," he sneered, standing up. "Helpful."
Thalia didn't know how long she had been Mrs. Castellan, or how long she had been trapped in the titan's castle. She had been planning on keeping track of the days, but then she had been drugged in the hotel room, and when she woke up, she'd had no idea how much time had passed. And since she slept durning the day, when Luke was gone, it was hard to keep track of when the sun rose and fell. She could have been there for eight days, or twenty; it didn't matter. She was powerless.
Sighing, Thalia wriggled on the stone floor. After a few minutes of fruitless squirming, she managed to lay down. It was hardly more comfortable than kneeling, but she had been sitting on her legs since her arrival, and when they weren't asleep, they were aching, and could barely support her weight.
The problem with lying down, was that she didn't know if she could get up again. But it didn't matter, not really. She couldn't defend herself from threats anyway, sitting up or lying down, so she might as well experiment with something new.
"Food."
Thalia pulled herself awake, flinching as a foot made contact with her chest. That would be one of the Laistrygonians, with her second meal of the day. Which meant Luke would be back, sometime in the next couple of hours.
"Get up," the enormous monster snarled, his foot once again lashing out and thumping painfully into Thalia's sideways form. This time, instead of hitting her stomach, the hairy foot smacked against her upper chest, and she groaned.
The Laistrygonians, apparently pleased with the reaction he had gotten, repeated the kick. Harder, this time. Thalia's quick inhale, and the high-pitched, sound of discomfort that wrenched itself from her throat made the giant smile. She managed to block his next attack with her legs, but then her knees jarred painfully into her stomach, and she gasped again, louder.
"Stupid little girl," the monster said, leering down at her. "Doesn't know how to fight."
She might have been in a great deal of discomfort, and so tired and sore, from sleeping on the stone floor, that her thoughts were starting to be repetitive, but Thalia still recognized a possible escape route when it looked her straight in the eye.
"Do you think you could beat me," she asked, struggling to sit up. "In a fight?"
The Laistrygonians grunted, a noise which might have been a very gruff laugh, and stared down at her patronizingly. "I could beat you at anything," he said, slowly and carefully, like forming the sentence was the most difficult thing he had done in a long time. "You are a very small girl."
Thalia wasn't sure if the monster thought she was "very small" because she was curled up, into a ball, or because she was floundering in an incredibly large wedding dress. It didn't matter either way, though, just as long as the Laistrygonians was stupid, and continued to believe that he could easily beat her.
"Anything?" She asked, trying to use the wall to help her right herself.
"Anything," the large monster mimicked, a stupid grin on his face.
Thalia wondered how she should handle the next part of the conversation. If she could pull it off, she would have a chance at freedom. If she failed, well...she would have to continue to sit on a stone floor, waiting for her former best friend to decide her fate.
"A fight," she said slowly, hoping the monster hadn't forgotten what they were talking about. "You think you can beat me in a fair fight?"
The Laistrygonians nodded, his head bobbing up and down much faster then necessary. "Yes," he said, still nodding. "I can beat you in a fair fight."
Thalia, who had finally managed to sit up, twisted around until her bound ankles were facing toward the over-sized monster. "Untie me," she ordered, hoping the direct command would be easier for the Laistrygonians to follow than a plea. "Then we can fight, and you can prove that you can beat me."
For one, glorious moment, Thalia thought the Laistrygonians was going to do it. She thought he was going to untie her legs, and she was going to have a shot at escaping. And then someone had to show-up and ruin her chances.
"Brant," a voice interrupted, stopping the Laistrygonians just as he was reaching for Thalia's bounds. "You are dismissed."
Luke spoke calmly, but Thalia could tell that he was enraged. He was angry that she had almost escaped. He was angry that she had been well on her way to convincing one of his guards to, no matter how unwittingly, let her go.
And when he was angry, he was dangerous.
"What about project Eagle?" Someone asked, their voice so quiet it was barely a whisper.
"What about it?" Another person hissed, and Thalia recognized the voice as Luke's.
"Lord Prometheus wants to know if you need Atlas' help," the other voice, definitely female, Thalia decided, answered. "He is getting impatient."
"No," Luke retorted, immediately. "I do not require Atlas'...assistance."
"Are you sure?" The girl asked, and Thalia thought she sounded frightened. "Lord Prometheus is very anxious to move on, to step two of phase two."
There was an awkward pause, and Thalia wondered why the two were talking in absolute darkness. They weren't fugitives, they were soldiers.
"And, uh," Luke cleared his throat, then sighed. "What is step two of phase two?"
"I don't know, Commander Castellan," the voice said, apologetically. "Lord Prometheus hasn't told me."
"Join the club," Luke muttered, and Thalia figured he had to be extraordinarily frustrated to have said something so...Mortal.
"What should I," the female inhaled sharply, and Thalia wondered why she was so obviously nervous. "What should I tell Lord Prometheus your standings are project Eagle? He'll ask in the morning, after breakfast."
"Tell him that I have finished," Luke said grimly.
"Thank you," she girl said, and Thalia imagined that she could see the other female bowing. "Lord Prometheus will be pleased with your work, Commander Castellan."
"Yes, well," there was the sound of the door closing, and Thalia assumed the girl had left. "He had better be."
Hearing Luke's footfalls on the stone, Thalia closed her blue eyes, and forced her body to go slack. Somehow, she didn't think Luke would appreciate her eavesdropping on his secret, midnight conversation.
To her surprise, instead of going back to his bed, Luke turned on the floor lamp beside his desk. And then, instead of sitting down at his desk, and doing the work he was forever grumbling about, he walked toward her. "Project Eagle," he muttered, and Thalia felt the slightest of breezes as he knelt down, in front of her. "What am I going to do with you?"
With a start, Thalia realized that she was project Eagle. Why else would he be staring at her, and talking quietly to himself about the mysterious project? Thalia didn't catch most of it, just something about Atlas being a worse alternative.
"Grace? Grace, wake-up," Luke pushed her shoulder, and Thalia slowly cracked her eyes open, doing her best to pretend she had been asleep the whole time.
"What?" She muttered, hoping she sounded sleepy.
"I swear, Thalia," he whispered, and Thalia blinked in surprised: he had used her real name. "I'm not backstabbing you." A grim smile descended over his face, like he was laughing at a dark, demonic sort of inside joke. "Not this time."
Front stabbing, Thalia recalled, remembering that, during one of their competitive sparing matches, Luke had informed her that true friends didn't backstab each other: they attacked from the front, in plain view. Hence, front stabbing.
But this time, they weren't playing; this was for real. No matter which side of her he stabbed, something unpleasant was going to happen to her. "What're you talking about?" She asked, retreating as far back as she could. "What're you going to do?"
Luke didn't answer. He didn't have to.
His hands were as icy cold as the stone floor, but Thalia's silver Hunter's band made up for the loss of heat. It was warm: giving her a warning. Rapidly, the temperature of the metal rose to become moderately uncomfortable. Then it was burning her.
And then it was gone.
AN: I am going to assume that anyone who knows what a Hunter is, and what the terms for being one are, will understand what happened.
