"so, when did you run?" he asked Thalia as they found a place to settle down.
"A day or two ago" she replied. " ," he said back.
Then for the rest of the way back to Lukes's camp, there was just silence.
And silence
And silence
Then finally thalia turned towards luke and asked him the same question.
"So when did you run from home?"
"Oh me, I was nine"
"That's gotta be rough"
"Oh it was but I like to think I'm doing pretty good on my own"
"I wish I had your positivity"
"Well maybe it'll rub off on ya a little"
Then suddenly Luke and Thalia were face to face, millimetres apart at most. He got a glimpse of Thalia's electric blue eyes and thought, ' man those are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.'
' Wait, I'm having a major case of deja vu. Did this happen once before already.'
Thalia moved back and Luke snapped out of his thoughts.
"Is that the camp you were talking about," Thalia asked as she pointed to a bit of clearing in the woods.
In the clearing was a little house like looking fort made out of a tattered blanket and a few logs. It seemed. Luke was proud of it considering the lack of materials. It was a good temporary home.
"Common I'll show you around"
"Um, Luke I don't think there is much for you to show."
"Thalia Please I beg you to let me at least have this one milestone. The milestone of giving a house tour which I might never have the chance to do again. Cause for all we know I might die tomorrow." Luke said while turning around to Thalia and giving her his best puppy dog eyes.
Thalia's eyes held some mirth. "Well, then I guess I'll humour you. Go on Luke, give me the best house tour of our lives."
"Gladly."
Luke leads Thalia into the clearing.
They both entered the small forte and sat down crossed leg across from each other.
"So this is the house, what you think."
"It could use a bit of work but it is pretty good for a first-time buyer."
"Glade we both see eye to eye on that."
Luke looked behind him to grab the box of donuts that were hiding behind his backpack. He turned back around and opened the box and put it right in front of Thalia's face.
"Want a Donut"
"yes, please I am starving"
She picked up a powdered donut with a jelly-filled center and took a bit
"oh, my gods that is a good donut."
"Ya"
"Ya, where you get it"
She said with her mouth full.
"I don't remember"
"What do you mean you don't remember"
"I just have no idea where they came from. One minute I was looking for a place to crash and Thinking about how hungry I was then the next I was standing gods know where with a box of donuts."
"And you just ate them, without thinking, what if they're poisonous?"
"Thalia it's fine, I've eaten plenty of donuts and nothing happened to me... yet"
Thalia kicked Luke in the leg.
Luke could tell that this was going to be the start of a great friendship, maybe if he was lucky it might even be something more.
Night hit faster than usual. Maybe its because he had someone to be around, to get lost with, to keep him busy. The whole day just seemed to be gone.
"I'll keep a lookout. You can sleep." Luke said as he made way to sit closer to the exit of the fort.
"No, I'll do it I doubt you got goodnight sleep in a few days. It's no problem I got lucky with sleep when I first ran."
"You sure,?" Luke asked Thalia
"Positive," Thalia replied
"I told you my positivity would rub off on ya"
"Haha your so funny now get your self to sleep"
"Aye aye, captain" Luke saluted to her.
Thalia rolled her eyes and made way to sit down next to the exit.
Luke lied down curling his legs to take up less room. He hugged himself tight hoping it would give him enough warmth for the night.
Luke isn't sure when exactly but he ended up falling asleep. Sadly even sleep wasn't peaceful.
Luke was standing at a cliff's edge. He looked above to see the sky falling bit by bit on to his back. The weight was so much.
Luke fell off the cliffs edge inro the red abyss down below.
All that he heard laughing as
He fell
Down
Down
Down
And then finally he landed in front of a gold box that slowly got bigger and bigger
Luke tried to back away from the expanding box that was slowly starting to look like a coffin a gravestone raised its way out of the ground.
The casket was empty and the laughing increased.
A tree emerged from the center of the casket.
A forcefield hit Luke in the chest.
Luke woke up panting. It was still dark outside and Thalia was nowhere in sight. Luke stood up from where he was sitting and exited out of the forte like tent. outside he found a group of girls all wearing silver sitting around a campfire. They all had bows and arrows. to the side of the chatting girls were Thalia and another girl. they seemed to be about the same age. she wore the same outfit as the rest of the girls that sat around the campfire. the only difference was she wore a silver crown on her head.
Luke headed over to the two girls who were talking. as he got closer to the girls he noticed that the conversation was getting more heated.
he finally made it close enough to hear what was being said.
"I don't care about you or your stupid hunter's nightshade, now you and your little team off hunters can get out of my face.
luke finally made it to thalia side. "what's going on" he asked
"it nothing Luke we should pack up and move in towards the city. we might have a better chance of surviving there than here anyway."
"oh, sure whatever floats yo-." Luke got cut off.
The girl Thalia called Nightshade spoke up. " is this why you won't join us, Tahlia. cause of this, this boy." She said with disgust on her face.
"This "boy" Just so happens to be my friend so yes. I don't care if you think I have some special skills or not I'm not joining your girl group, Zoe."
"You will come to regret this decision one day Thalia."
"I don't care. I'm not abounding a friend."
Thalia grabbed Luke's wrist and dragged him back to the camp they were staying at.
"What was that all about?" Luke Asked
"Nothing much. I just killed a monster I was fighting and this group of girls that called themselves the hunters of Artemis showed up. said I had talent and they could teach me more. I thought it sounded good at first but then they were trying to get me to leave you behind. The leader, Zoe Nightshade and I got into it."
"You know I wouldn't care if you said yes right if that's what you wanted I would have let you go."
And Luke wasn't lying when he said that, He truly meant it. If going with these hunters meant thalia had a fighting chance he would let her go in a heartbeat.
"I didn't want to leave though Luke. The way they talk about men just rubs me the wrong way. Ya, I hade a bad experience with men. I mean my so-called dad left me, but then again women can be just as bad as men, and I say that from experience. they think their fighting for something right but there just clouded with ignorance. and plus I care about you."
Thalia looked at Luke straight in the eyes and smiled.
Luke smiled back. Ablush grew on both of their cheeks.
Luke felt all warm on the inside knowing that Thalia cared for him.
"I care about you too Thalia."
Luke knew he could face anything with Thalia on his side.
