I do not own PJO/HOO.

…..

Kalon ~ beauty that is more than skin-deep.

My dream that night ended up being pretty hot.

Wait, not like that- that sounded bad. I mean it literally felt like I was in a furnace. Standing there in the blistering heat of some dark, ominous cave, the sound of clanging metal could be heard, and snarling whispers off in the distance.

One significant thing was different about this dream, other than just the heat- I could look around. Observing my surroundings, I saw that I was standing on a metal platform in the middle of a lake of lava. Makes sense, I thought to myself. On the platform were several cauldrons, machines, and a large anvil in the center of it all.

Dark figures moved about the platform, though none of them noticed me, or even came close enough for me to make out what they were. I could only tell that they were snarling like dogs, and talking in throaty voices.

Suddenly, a different voice caught my attention.

"Annabeth!" It yelled, and I whipped around to see another dark figure, obviously human, getting pulled down behind a cauldron nearby. The shadow cast by the large pot prevented me from making out any more details of the person other than his silhouette, but I already had a pretty good idea of who it was.

'Shhh!' Another voice said, 'You want to get us killed?'

Confusion overtook me, as I tried to locate where the voice was coming from. As far as I could tell, there was only one person hiding behind the cauldron. I watched as the boy felt around in the air, as if looking for something that wasn't really there- that is, until he found something. He grabbed it, and yanked.

Another dark silhouette appeared out of nowhere, hidden in the shadow of the large cauldron.

'Percy, what is your problem?' The girl said.

Thanks to Aphrodite, my previous suspicions about the identity of the girl in my recurring dreams had been pretty well confirmed. My brain identified her with two words.

Annabeth Chase.

Inexplicably, my heart forced another word into my mind.

Mom.

The word sounded foreign in my head. It didn't feel right. Nothing about these two particular people felt right to me.

'We're going to have company!' The boy announced enthusiastically.

'So that's what they are. Telkhines. I should've known. And they're making… Well, look.'

'What is that?'

I tried to see what they were staring at, but a machine was in my way, and while I could for once look around, I still couldn't move.

'They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder –'

'They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon,' The boy said, 'And they… they said they made my father's trident.'

'The telkhines betrayed the gods,' The girl replied. 'They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus.'

'With Kronos.'

I was starting to wonder what the point of this particular dream was.

With a decisive voice, she exclaimed, 'We have to get out –'

The girl was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. I turned to see a horde of snarling creatures pouring out of the doorway, searching out anything or anyone to charge at.

'Put your cap back on,' I heard the boy yell. 'Get out!'

'What?' She shrieked. 'No! I'm not leaving you.'

'I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider – maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on.'

He definitely did not have a plan. If anyone would have had one, it would have been her. Surely, she must have known that.

'But you'll be killed!'

'I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice.'

I watched as they stared at each other in the shadow of the cauldron. I stood there, waiting for them to do something- to run, draw their weapons, fight to the death, anything. What I did not expect was for the girl to lean forward and kiss the boy quickly on the lips.

'Be careful, Seaweed Brain' was all she said, before moving her hand towards her head, and then somehow vanishing unexplainably.

He sat there like a doofus for a solid ten seconds, until the reality of the situation brought him back. He stood up and ran.

The vision changed, and it was like I was watching a news splurge, as I saw a live image of what looked like a massive volcano, with smoke pluming out the top. A headline appeared at the bottom.

Mount St. Helens Erupts.

I blinked, and watched as the volcano did indeed begin to rumble, before inexplicably exploding, and sending smoke, lava, and debris shooting into the atmosphere. One particular piece of debris seemed to fly higher than everything else, as it soared into the air, before disappearing in the distance.

….

I was shaken awake that morning by a stoic Alek, who looked like he hadn't slept much at all. I didn't find that surprising, considering the figurative bomb Aphrodite had dropped on him just yesterday. The only person who had it worse was Erica. I could see her gathering her things up a little ways off. She had separated herself from the rest of us- or Alek mostly, stating that she needed some alone time. No one had argued.

Carolyn and I were the most normal acting, and most talkative ones; that's how awkward things were, as we boarded the bus with the tickets Aphrodite had provided. The bus was pretty much empty, save for the driver and a couple random people scattered about in the first few rows of seats. We made our way towards the back, though Erica abruptly stopped at one point, and took a seat by herself, as the rest of us continued on.

Carolyn placed herself in a window seat, and I took the row behind her, expecting Alek to take the seat next to me. As it would seem though, Alek also wished to be alone, as he walked right to the very back, and sulkily plopped himself down. He didn't even bother to return my questioning glance, as he immediately went to staring out the window of the bus.

The bus started moving, leaving the station behind. I gazed out at the passing North Dakota landscape. Mostly flat prairie, with large mesas occasionally popping up in the distance. The random buffalo were interesting, but they did little to take my mind off the weightier things I had circling around in my head.

I heard the sound of shuffling, and looked to see Carolyn turning herself around in her seat. Having placed her arm over the top of her chair, she was staring at me, with a determined look in her deep, brown eyes.

"You need to go talk to them."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Who?"

Her jaw tightened visibly. "The creepy couple playing footsies with each other. Who do you think?" I swear, her sarcasm could have been felt all the way to Olympus.

"I don't think they want to be talked to right now."

"Maybe not, but they need to be."

I groaned, and leaned my head against the window like a kid who had just been told he couldn't have dessert until he finished his meatloaf.

"Luke," Carolyn pushed a finger into my shoulder, forcing me to look back at her, "You know why we can't let them stay like this right?"

I blew one of my curly black locks out of my eyes. Unfortunately, I did know why, and I knew that she was right. Up till this point, I had just been denying it so that I had an excuse not to do anything about it. My hope was that things would work themselves out, even though I knew that was unlikely.

Our quest couldn't be successful with Alek and Erica ignoring each other. Carolyn knew it, and so did I- but only one of us was willing to do something about it.

"Why me though?" I asked hopefully, "Why not you?"

"Seriously?" She replied, "You think they're gonna listen to the girl they met less than three days ago?"

"Maybe?"

"You're their friend, Luke. It's time to act like one."

I sighed deeply, and stared back out the window. "I don't even know what to say."

"You'll figure it out." Her voice was encouraging, but her words were questionable.

"How do you know that?"

"I watched you take on a giant- I think you can handle this."

Turning my head around, I glanced in the general direction of both Erica and Alek. Their postures were similar, both staring out the window, shoulders slumped, hardly moving except for the soft heaving of their chests probably.

"I don't think I can do this," I said, a fairly honest statement to be sure.

"You need to try at least," Carolyn replied, "That's what friends do."

I scoffed, and leaned back in my seat. "See, there's the problem." Looking up, I saw her eyes narrowed at me in curiosity. I dared to disclose further. "In case you couldn't tell, I don't exactly have a lot of friends."

Without hesitation, she rolled her eyes, and then, in a rather brash move, she reached over and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look first at Erica, then back at Alek. "You've got two right there." She let go of my face, and slumped back into her seat. "Now go make sure they stay that way."

Recovering from the shock of what had just occurred, I slowly pulled myself up out of my seat, and made my way into the aisle.

"Have some confidence," I heard Carolyn say softly behind me.

I took a deep breath, and walked towards the front of the bus. Eventually, I came to a stop, and looked down to see Erica sitting immediately to my left.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked, not even waiting for her answer before sitting down in the vacant spot next to her. She didn't respond.

I glanced back at Carolyn with uncertainty. She gave me an encouraging thumbs up.

I was starting to wish I had asked her for a script, seeing as how at the moment, no seemingly sufficient words were coming to my head. Turning back to Erica, as I rubbed my palms together nervously, I softly asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Depends on which answer you're looking for," Came the sharp reply.

I reeled back slightly, but steeling my nerve, I inquired, "What are the options?"

"The one you want to hear, and the honest one."

"I think you know which one I really want."

Erica shifted slightly in her seat, her gaze never leaving the window. When she spoke again, her voice sounded broken, and her words were fragmented. "I know… it's really not that big of a deal that… he knows. We have more… important things to worry about."

I could see her hand fidgeting nervously, as it played with a lock of her strawberry blonde hair.

"But," She continued, "Of all the ways he could have found out, why did it have to be that one?" She placed her head down in her heads, and I got the feeling that if we weren't on a public bus at that moment, she would have screamed. Erica continued to talk in a semi-muffled voice, and I was content to just listen. "I've never felt so ashamed."

"Having feelings for someone is nothing to be ashamed of, Erica."

"But what about when those feelings aren't reciprocated?"

I stared down at the daughter of Hermes, who refused to meet my gaze, forcing me to look at the back of her head. "It happens to lots of people, I'm sure. Did he say as much?"

"No," Erica retorted, "But he didn't need to."

"What do you mean?"

If her head could have hung any lower, it would have. "Do you know who he saw when he looked at Aphrodite?"

I shook my head. Even though she wasn't looking at me, she must have been able to tell somehow, since she eventually said, "He saw Silena."

I didn't say anything. Instead, I just sat there- like an idiot, unsure of what to do. Thankfully, Erica didn't expect much from me, which was probably a good testimony to my capabilities of being a 'good' friend.

"What a stupid way to have your heart broken, am I right?"

Rhetorical questions- an interesting coping mechanism to be sure.

"Aphrodite had no right to do that- "

"She wasn't wrong though," Erica interrupted me. "About me never telling Alek. At least this way, it's out there. It's done." She leaned her head against the window, and I could tell by the shuddering of her shoulders that she was fighting back a few tears.

Of course, that was what made me panic a little bit- tears. You'd think being a grandson of Poseidon, I would be able to handle tears. I guess that's not how it works though.

"Hey," I said, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. I stopped myself short though, and thought better of it. Instead, I just said in a shaky voice, "If-if you need me… or anything, really… Um, I'll be right here." I paused, and then amended my statement. "Actually… I'll be right over there… near the back of the bus. So- yeah, cool."

The walk back down the aisle was a weird one. I could see Carolyn watching me as I approached, and she must have been able to tell that I was trying to cut my pep talks short, because she gave me a frightening glare that clearly said, 'Finish the job.'

I gulped, and kept on walking past, towards the very back of the bus, where Alek sat staring out the window.

"Hey buddy," I said awkwardly, as I sat down next to him.

He responded in a typical 'Alek' way; with nothing at all. No 'hey man' or 'what's up, bro?'

"Cool scenery," I casually remarked.

Alek shifted himself even further away from me if possible. I began to get the feeling that I was going to be doing most of the talking this time, as opposed to how things went with Erica. I cleared my throat.

"Look, man… dude… Alek- I know what happened with Aphrodite might have you in a bit of a state of shock right now." I could practically feel the smoke coming out of my ears as my mind worked overtime to make sure I didn't say the wrong thing. "And I know it must be weird for you… but if you think about it, it's probably even worse for Erica."

Still no response.

Okay, I told myself, just keep talking.

"I don't know what's going through your head right now, but I have an idea of what's going through Erica's." I leaned forward in my seat, with my elbows resting on my knees. My voice became as earnest as it possibly could.

"She's petrified dude. She's worried about what you might think of her now. And knowing Erica, she's strong, and she can get through this on her own, but… I think things would go better if you would just talk to her. Work things out between the both of you."

I turned my head, looking for any sign that Alek was paying attention, or even listening in the slightest. There was none. He hadn't moved an inch.

"Alek, if you're listening to me at all, which I would completely understand if you're not, because who am I to say these things? But hear me out when I say that yours and Erica's relationship means a lot to her, even if it means just being friends. I-I think she'd be okay with that."

Finally, a sign of life from the son of Ares, even if it was only a slight tilting of the head. I took it encouragingly.

"Erica could really use a friend right now, Alek. And I don't think I'm enough for her, so- maybe consider talking to her… maybe?" My voice got squeakier, such that I hoped Carolyn didn't hear, otherwise I would never hear the end of it.

No acknowledgement from Alek. I sighed in disappointment, mostly at myself.

Well, at least I can say I tried.

I got up out of the seat, and without looking back, I made my way over to where my initial spot had been. Before I took my seat however, I went and stood next to the row just in front. From the aisle, I looked down to see Carolyn staring out the window. She must have sensed my presence, as she turned to face me with a questioning glance.

"How'd it go?"

I clicked my tongue, and softly shook my head. "I'm a pretty pathetic 'good friend'."

She gave me a simultaneously encouraging and pitying smile. "I doubt you did that bad."

I mentally waved off her compliment, and remained standing in the aisle, biting my lip nervously.

"Can I say something?"

My voice caught her off guard, but she nodded her head politely.

"I'm glad to have you on this quest… and not just because you're supposed to help us- help me, find my parents."

Carolyn tilted her head in confusion, with curiosity etched in her features.

"What I mean to say is," I bounced nervously on the balls of my feet, "Even though you can be really infuriating sometimes- "

She had the audacity to laugh. "And here I was thinking this was going to be a compliment."

"I'm getting there!" I exclaimed, stomping my foot like an frustrated little toddler. The situation was rather ironic. "See, this is exactly what I'm talking about."

"Okay, okay," She chuckled, "Continue." Carolyn was now giving me her undivided attention, which made me rather uncomfortable. I found it hard to focus with the way she had her elbow propped up on the arm rest, with her chin resting on her enclosed fist.

"I-uh, just wanted to say that… I'm glad to have you as part of the group." I spit the words out before they became jumbled in my mind.

After an awkward pause, Carolyn said confidently, "I knew it."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Knew what?"

She was in the process of reassuming her relaxed position in the seat, and without even looking up at me, she spoke up, "That you would make a good friend."

Her words left me shocked as I stood there in the aisle. A couple minutes must have passed before I finally recovered, and decided to quit looking like an idiot. I took a step back towards my row, where my initial seat was, but then I stopped. Glancing back and forth between my row and Carolyn's, I began to debate myself internally.

It was over in a matter of seconds, and I took a gamble.

Placing myself cautiously down in the empty seat next to Carolyn, I sat stiff and upright, watching her out of the corner of my eye, waiting to see her reaction. I half-expected her to react like most people did, and to shy away from me. But I could just barely make out the upward tugging of the corner of her mouth, as her lips curved into a soft and pleasant smile. I found myself relaxing into my seat.

Is this what it's like, I wondered, to have actual friends?

I had been so focused on staring at a small spot on the seat in front of me, trying not to be weird, that I almost jumped out of my seat completely when I felt Carolyn tap me on my shoulder. When I turned to look at her, expecting her to tell me to leave, I was surprised when instead, I found her pointing towards the front of the bus.

"Look," She said, a proud grin on her face.

I followed her gaze, and turned to see Alek, of all people, walking to the front. He hesitated for a brief second, and then plopped down in the row right behind Erica's. He took the window seat, directly behind her, and though neither of us could hear, I could tell that he was saying something.

Erica's back straightened, and though she didn't move much else, I got the feeling that she was listening intently.

"Told you," Carolyn whispered in my ear, before she went back to staring out the window.

I gave a grateful smile in her direction, and then returned my attention to the other two, who were currently in the process of rebuilding their friendship.

….

So, as hopefully some of you have noticed, I have been using one scene from each book for Luke's dreams. Well, there's two from TLT, but whatever. Reason I say that is because I want to ask- what scene from TLO should I use for Luke's next dream?

Lemme know!