"Luke??" I whispered, unable to believe my eyes. My wounds and sores, all but forgotten, I yelled, "LUKE!!!" as I charged toward the grinning figure. Just like the old times, my dream-self thought happily, before all the war junk –

I stopped cold. His arms closed around the empty air and slowly, his magnificent smile faded. "Annabeth?" he asked uncertainly. "Are you alright?" As if he cared. We stood, staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally I turned around, tears welling in my owl-grey eyes. Why did he have to do this to me? Wasn't it enough that I fell for his tricks nearly every time and endangered my friends?

"Annabeth, I know I've done a terrible crime, wounded our friendship and nearly destroyed the world, but surely you know that -"

"That I know what, Luke Castellan? I don't know you anymore. You've turned into our enemy, Luke. You turned evil." I spat. He flinched. My heart felt like it was being torn in two. I wanted to believe him, to cross the gleaming marble floor and to put my arms around him, to tell him that I loved him –

But I didn't.

Did I?

Then his warm voice, suddenly cold and heartless, made me flinch and gulp. "But what about you, Annabeth? I was the one who first found you after you left your home. I was the one who protected you from the dracaenaes as we journeyed to the Camp. I asked you to stay with me, to be with me forever, but you didn't listen." he snarled. I took a step back and stumbled over the tangled mess of heavy chains that the Furies had used on me.

In a flash he was by my side, and when I say a flash, I mean a flash. I blinked and before a gasp had even worked up my throat, he was hauling me up by my arm.

"Thanks," I panted. I looked up and saw his face thrown in the relief of the torches at last.

"Luke!" I breathed.

"Yeah, I know." He grimaced.

His tanned, lightly freckled skin was nowhere to be seen, replaced only by pearly, solid smoke. His hair was the usual sandy gold mess, but the colour was oddly washed out. Even his hands were unusually cold against my skin. I shuddered involuntarily and he let go, his expression hardening.

"Just because I fell for Kronos' trick," he muttered sadistically under his breath. "Anyone and everyone would've fallen for that. Even that Jackson kid."

I opened my mouth to protest. "Just because he -"

"Just because he what?" and in that second, blended with his new look, he looked truly frightening to me as he circled me.

I still didn't let it go. "He is a true friend, Luke -" but the rest of the words were choked back into my throat as I remembered with horror how he never talked and hung around with me now. How he never comforted me when I needed a friend. How he could, while knowing how I felt, let Chelsea smarm around him. How he neglected me.

I started sobbing and Luke gently wiped a tear away from my eyes. His skin didn't feel so cold anymore. It felt warm, glowing. True, I tried to convince myself. He had turned good again before he died. But the doubt was always there, just waiting to encase my head in my worst memories.

"Yeah, yeah. Now if you two cursed demigods may excuse me, I have way important things than to watch two snivelling lovebirds flood my palace. Now GET OUT!!" Hades snapped. Persephone's purple-and-gold-polka-dotted orange and silver roses burst into black flames just as she started curling the petals with her long fingers. She glared at her glowering husband. "They were for Hestia! And they took ages to get the dots right!" she shook her head in disbelief.

Luke helped me into a sleek midnight black carriage decorated on the sides with licking red flames that seemed to flicker with unnerving reality. There was a head of a boar with a spear through its head painted on the front. Two skeletal horses snorted and neighed at the front as Luke grabbed onto the leather reigns.

"Umm… Luke, is it just me, or does this chariot belong to Lord Ares?" I asked nervously. Luke grinned his familiar grin.

"Yep, borrowed it off him, 'cos this one's the fastest. Even Apollo's sun chariot can't beat it." A distant rumble of thunder made me shrink in to the seat despite the very human-skin like texture of the leather. "Anyway," he continued. "He lent it to me, no problem. Said I could keep it for as long as you were here." He smiled at me.

I said nothing. I knew that he would be returning that chariot today.

Or maybe I could just stay the night, seeing how late it was getting.

Or maybe a couple more days, just talking to Luke?

I shuddered. Horrified at the possibilities that kept popping into my brain, I busied myself with brushing away at invisible dust on the seat while the scenary zoomed past us.

"So…" Luke cleared his throat. He cast a funny glance at my direction, like he was nervous or something. I smiled tentatively back. Suddenly my gaze zeroed on the thing that was stuffed so carelessly underneath his seat. Little blood that I had regained from my encounter with Hades drained from my face. My eyes widened with shock and horror.

"Luke!!!" I breathed. "What did you do to them?"

The boy before me whipped around with a blinding speed and snatched it from its hiding place. But I had already seen it. My old best friend, how could he?? But my questions died in my throat as Luke dragged me out of the chariot and on to the lush stretch of green grass. The sky was an endless ripple of turquoise. Exquisite flowers blossomed around us. There were cream-white marble buildings in impossibly magnificent structures everywhere. But my eyes were staring with disbelief, because, I knew this place.

"How…?" I whispered hoarsely. I was still frozen in the chariot, and the loveliness of this place curved around the chariot as a wolf might avoid the hunter's hut. Luke stepped out. He looked completely free, youthful, so innocent. He smiled. "Come out, Annabeth."

"Luke, how…? But we were in the Underworld just before…? How did you escape from Underworld, I mean, you're dead, right?" Luke's smile became wooden as I uttered the word 'dead', but he quickly composed himself again.

"Don't worry, it's just the chariot. It's Lord Ares', remember? So, come out, Annabeth. You'll love it here."

I clenched my jaws. "If you think I'm going to fall for that, you are so mistaken. I'm not stupid. This is the Lotus Island. Of course I read the Odyssey!" I snarled. Luke wasn't fazed. He just sneered right back.

"Well, well. You could do with a bite of lunch, you know." With that he deliberately slowed down his supernatural pace and started to walk toward me. He reached over and grabbed my arm. I shrank from his touch and fumbled for my knife, only to realise that Alecto must've taken it off me. With his amazing strength, he dragged me out with one quick flex of his arm. I thrashed around wildly, but my protests died out with a whiff of the rose-scented (and magic-scented) air of the place. No! My mind screamed. I will not be tricked by Luke again! But Luke's cool hand grasped my shoulders and the other forced my chin up. Fearing the worst, I looked up and saw the source of the mesmerizing smell. A fruit, no bigger than a strawberry, was sitting on the palm of his hands, and it's colour and texture seemed to shimmer like the island itself. What was left of my will was threatening to crumble.

"Eat." He whispered. I shook my head frantically. No doubt it was the Lotus Fruit, the one that two of Odysseus' men ate. It creates desire to stay on this island forever. My eyes widened and my mouth clamped shut as Luke forced the fruit into my mouth…


sorry that took so long. with the writer's block and the endless tides of homework, i just couldn't wrap my head around it.
remember to review/comment/criticize (resonably, thank you)/question!!

thank you all,

Annabeth

p.s. oh by the way, i might not be able to update for a while, i'm so sorry about that...