Hi guys! Sorry, exams just ended!

But doesn't mean I have the time to write though :/ a lot of stuff on.

Tryign to squeeze time out to write.

Enjoy! Next chapter, most of the cards will be shown(Because I think can't sustain this and may have to finish the story soon as fast as possible)

Thalia's POV

A heavy and dark atmosphere had descended upon the school ever since the day Luke and Percy had their little 'spar'.

The killing intent that radiated off them. The flashing swords and piercing, shrill sounds of metal clashing against metal. The fear that had invaded everyone, not sparing a single person.

Everyone remembered. Even after two weeks, people didn't dare to speak loudly or even laugh and be relaxed in public. They were all afraid that Luke was somewhere nearby, and that whatever they did would instigate him to action.

Luke, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice any of that at all. Every single day, he stalked around the school hallways, eyes shifting and attentive, searching for Annabeth and Percy.

It was a good thing Luke wasn't that smart when it came to information gathering and stuff like that. If he had bothered to ask people, he would have found out that those two people had not been attending school for the past two weeks.

He would have also thought that just possibly, Nico and I could be a way to get into contact with Percy and Annabeth.

Well, once again, thank the gods he wasn't that smart.

Unfortunately, no one could be that stupid to notice that something was awry after two weeks of searching fruitlessly. The way he had started to glance suspiciously at us from time to time every time he sees us around two days ago implied that he had finally realised that there were other ways to find a person other than searching every nook and cranny of the school for them.

Honestly, ever since he started glancing at us, I had started to contemplate about not attending school as well. The memories of Luke sparring with Percy and the lingering feeling of his killing intent pressing down on me as I had stood there watching them clash made me shudder and tremble in fear.

As much as I hated Luke, the fear I had for him was much greater. Hate doesn't help you when the person said emotion was directed to could kill you within a nanosecond without the slightest hesitation.

I had begun to wonder exactly how long more Nico and I could stay in school without confronting Luke. Fortunately- or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it- that dilemma was settled for me by Percy and Annabeth themselves.

"Are they idiots?" I asked with a deadpanned face as I saw the duo pushing through the double wooden doors into the hallway, looking like they were having their usual playful banter and squabbling.

The result was almost immediate.

Seconds ago, there were still a low level of chatter and communication. The moment Percy and Annabeth stepped into the hallway, the entire place turned silent. It seemed as though they carried so much presence that people could feel them coming into the school.

Percy and Annabeth, too, realised something was wrong. They immediately stopped talking to each other and observed the hallway keenly.

"Sup. What'cha looking at?" Percy broke the silence with a sing-song voice and shot his usual goofy grin at the entire crowd. I face palmed at the way he handled the situation, and sighed in exasperation when what he did actually worked.

It was as though the dam was broken by his words, as suddenly everyone broke out of their stupor and started to rush towards the pair, asking Annabeth whether she was alright, complimenting Percy on how he managed to be on par with Luke- the best swordsman seen in three centuries, yada yada.

It was a good thing that Luke never adhered to the timetable given by the school. He usually arrived only around three hours after school had started. I guess one didn't need studies to succeed in life- one merely needed the guts, or in his case the perverted liking of killing people to survive.

Still, Percy and Annabeth getting noticed wasn't good at all. People didn't know how to keep their mouths shut, and the moment Luke enters school, he would definitely, without a doubt, find out that the pair had returned to school.

After around twenty minutes, Percy and Annabeth finally managed to break through the crowd. By that time, Nico had arrived and was waiting for the two of them patiently beside me.

"Phew. Way too much attention. You okay there, Wise Girl?" Percy asked in concern when he saw Annabeth's slightly stunned face.

"Yea…just never expected people to know me, much less care about me," Annabeth said with a tone of disbelief.

NIco, Percy and I all smiled when we heard her say that.

Annabeth didn't know it, but she was pretty popular in school. She always had top grades, and she was known to always help people out whenever they asked her, albeit a little shyly.

Usually, top girls in other schools were either arrogant, stuck up, spoilt and rich girls or shy, unknown, quiet girls that hated sports and lacked terribly in the socialising department.

Annabeth wasn't the typical smart girl. She was known as one of the kindest girls in school. She was always ready to help others in need of it, and she never withheld her knowledge from people and never ever made people feel like they were dumber or smaller than her- it came to the point that even the older students wanted to ask her to teach them or give them a few tips on what they didn't know how to do.

And there was her excellent knife skills, second only to me.

It was merely because she didn't observe everyone else much that she didn't know about her popularity.

Percy, on the other hand, knew exactly how popular he was in school.

Moreover, he had been trying to cut down his popularity by about a thousand notches since years ago, but he never succeeded.

"Told ya you're not a terrible person. You and your insecurities," Percy gave her a mocking sigh and placed a hand on her head.

"Now you know people care," Percy said with a kind smile- the smile that, I only noticed recently, he reserved only for Annabeth.

Annabeth didn't respond- well, she couldn't. I could tell that her mind was in a numb state of shock at how much attention she had just gotten from everyone.

"C'mon, let's get to class," Nico spoke up, pointing at the clock stuck to the wall above us. We had around one minute left to get to class.

"Math," Percy groaned. Annabeth finally recovered and chuckled at his actions.

"It's not that bad."

"Says the girl with the IQ of at least a thousand."

"Glad you know I'm smarter than you."

"I never said mine wasn't at least a thousand."

"You don't need to. It's a given."

Their playful banter once again started and they fell into a world of their own once again as they followed behind us.

Nico and I observed them at the corner of our eyes for a few seconds before grinning at each other.

"They're like a couple," Nico commented with a light chuckle.

"I think they fit each other well," I replied. He nodded in agreement without hesitation.

We glanced back to see if they had noticed our small exchange. They hadn't. We sighed and shook our heads before turning back to the front and walking to the classroom.

However, worry continuously tugged at my heart as I walked.

How were they going to settle the score with Luke?

No matter which way you looked at it, Luke would not stop until both of them were dead. He was possibly the most dangerous person in the world to have as an enemy, and Percy had already made him a sworn enemy.

"How are you going to settle with Luke?" I asked Percy as soon as we were out of earshot from the rest of the gang. His demeanour immediately changed from a carefree one to a serious one. It was so sudden that I was a little taken aback.

"…There is actually only one way to finish this with Luke, and it's a fight to the death," My eyes widened when I heard his statement.

"Wha- no, it can't be. There has to be another way other than killing each other, right?" I asked, hoping against hope that he would say yes.

"There isn't."

Percy just stopped there, and I knew that Luke wasn't the only problem.

"There's more to this, isn't there," I stated out, knowing that it was true. His silence affirmed the validity of the statement.

"What more is there to it?" I tried to inquire further, but he was like a brick wall- my words simply bounced off him as though he didn't register any of my words at all.

"…Let's pray to the gods that he doesn't try to get involved…though I doubt he wouldn't just stay idly by the side," Percy muttered to himself darkly as he walked ahead towards the gang.

"Hey- wait up! Who's 'He'?" I exclaimed as I chased after him.

"…Perhaps Mr Brunner was right. I might need to tell you guys for your own safety soon. I wasn't thinking straight a few weeks back," Percy said to himself, then turned to me with sombre eyes.

"I'll tell you soon, okay? Luke wouldn't be here today, but I didn't want to risk leaving Annabeth here in case he changed his mind. In any case, I'll tell you guys by today," He replied and gave me an assuring smile before walking back and joining the gang, his demeanour back to his usual cherry self.

One question bugged me after his statement.

How in the world did Percy know about Luke?