My hand kept itself from naturally going for my new weapon as I didn't want to give it away just yet, but still, I shouldered my way to the front and stood before Annabeth, Percy and Tyson with what I hoped to be a terrifying look of fury. Luke, however, was unfazed, and he even chuckled in a way that sounded like a ghost of his former self, though I did note that his voice softened a little as he spoke to me. "No need for that, Lily. Come on in and make yourselves at home. It's been a while." The invitation did not sound wholly inviting, but when Percy whispered to me that there were two huge guys flanking Luke that looked like human grizzly bears with javelins pointed right at us, I figured we should probably play it safe for now. I went first, hoping that at the very least, I could cover their escape if something went wrong. I was the big sister, after all. In my head I could imagine what the admiralty suite looked like, grand and luxurious with expensive furnishings, with a beautiful view of the ocean from the full windows, but what struck me was how cold the room felt. My head turned this way and that, eyes flickering until they zeroed in on a blank space at the far side of the suite, where what felt like a gaping hole stared back at me. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I didn't want to go anywhere near to it so I stopped in my tracks and the others all halted behind me too. A poisonous feeling seemed to cling to the air, dark and malicious and all things hateful in the world surrounded us as I had to breathe deeply and think clean, pure thoughts just to try and cleanse myself of the sensation that was prickling my skin like a thousand ants crawling all over me. How could Luke stand it in here? Behind me Annabeth whispered in fast but clear words, telling me that there was a sarcophagus of solid gold with multiple engravings upon its face from both modern and Ancient Greek history, all of them depicting the terrible fates of cities and heroes. I seriously questioned Luke's sense of taste. What did he use it for, a pool table?
"Well, a little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?" My hands jumped slightly when Luke suddenly spoke again and I dragged my attention away from the sinister sarcophagus to him. He invited us to sit but nobody moved. Not even Tyson who usually did whatever somebody told him. Instead he whimpered slightly and moved closer to me so I let him hold my hand, linking my fingers through his from behind. I could have sworn I felt Luke's cold gaze look at our linked hands, making me fight the urge to instinctively pull away. "Where are my manners? These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them?" Their names escaped me, fairly certain I hadn't come across them yet in my history lessons. Behind me I could feel Percy struggling to keep his composure, and I could only imagine how he would feel. I wanted to tell him not to be afraid, that I wouldn't let Luke hurt him again, but I kept my mouth shut because Percy wouldn't appreciate me drawing attention to the fact that he was probably a little scared as it wouldn't help him right now. Instead, I tried to make myself as large as possible to cover all three of them. "You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story? Their mother…well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though…"
"For lunch." The one who had spoken before grunted with amusement and I did my best not to feel sick or look pale. The other brother, the one who was yet to speak, started to laugh, giggling at first before it became progressively more intense until all of us was just staring at him incredulously, uncertain of how to respond. I almost laughed with him I was that nervous. "Shut up you idiot! Go punish yourself!" That's a little harsh, don't you think? I heard then the following sound of rhythmic thumps and clattering, so I could only assume the brother that was being punished was now banging his head against something and causing other things to shake.
"Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?" It was the mention of my mom that made me bristle, the knot of nerves suddenly vanishing and I shot Luke what I hoped was a warning look, though Percy stepped up to the challenge.
"You poisoned Thalia's tree."
"Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?" At his careless and unfeeling attitude Annabeth had suddenly burst with anger and hurt, confronting Luke directly.
"How could you? Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonour her…?"
"I didn't dishonour her!" Hearing his anger suddenly spike I felt Annabeth jump behind me and grab the back of my shirt, gulping quietly as Luke continued to place the blame elsewhere because apparently, he was completely innocent in all this mess. Asshole. "The gods dishonoured her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side." I couldn't help it, I snorted disbelievingly. From what I'd heard of Thalia, I'd think she'd be the only one who could smack some sense into Luke, so it was a real shame she wasn't here with us. Annabeth called Luke a liar, but he only continued on his tirade of self-righteousness and obstinacy. "If you knew what was coming, you'd understand…"
"What's coming?" I interrupted quickly, drawing Luke's attention to me.
"Something that will change the entire world, Lily. Both worlds. And there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. The wheels are already in motion. No one can escape it now. You'll have to choose a side eventually. I know you aren't blinded by the gods, Lils. What would you say to a world without them? The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew." Luke invited joyfully, like he was offering us a subscription to a local newspaper that offered a bunch of free coupons. "We could use your intelligence, Annabeth." He added, though Annabeth smartly responded that this was because he had none of his own. I felt Luke's gaze grow cold, staring into Annabeth who remained behind my shoulder. "I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters with the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on the losing team…with company like this?" I couldn't see, but I could guess that Luke was pointing at Tyson. Apparently Annabeth wasn't the only one with a dislike for Cyclopes.
I didn't speak much more because I felt it was important to listen. Listen to exactly what Luke was saying, and what struck me was how it didn't sound like him at all. Not even the voice was his, not really. It had been twisted and malformed into something completely different, and as I thought about it, my eyes strayed to the gaping void I could sense before me and couldn't help but feel that this had something to do with Luke's transformation. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say Kronos was behind it all, but I couldn't understand the connection between him and the sarcophagus just yet. Whatever the truth, I came to a final understanding. Luke wasn't really Luke, and deep down, the real him had to be there still. He wouldn't act like this towards us, or dismiss the lives of our fellow campers so easily. If the real him was in there somewhere, then my promise held me to oath to try and dig it out of him, one way or the other. I could only imagine how fun that was going to be. When my attention returned to the conversation at hand, I realised that Luke had just a strong an aversion to Cyclopes as Annabeth, and somehow travelling with one dishonoured Thalia's memory. Neither Percy nor I knew what he was talking about, but Percy naturally rose to Annabeth's defence. "Leave her alone. And leave Tyson out of this." Luke gave a cruel and mocking laugh.
"Oh yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him." Now I visibly jarred, because the only way Luke could know that if there was people inside the camp on his side, feeding him information. "Yes. I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates again…thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."
"Spies, you mean." After Percy's correction, I swore a little too loudly under my breath, making Tyson gasp and whisper "bad word" whilst Luke laughed again, only this one sounded more real. More like him. He cut himself off, however, and cleared his throat before returning to Percy.
"How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster?"
"Hey now!" I protested, feeling protective over Tyson. It's not his fault he was born this way, and he's still technically just a baby. In fact he kind of reminds me of Percy when he was about seven or eight, though I dared not tell Percy this. Luke ignored me, however, clearly fixated on Percy because he probably knew he didn't need to bother wasting his time convincing me. I already knew the gods were jerks.
"The gods are so using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteen birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?" Now I snapped my head around to Percy.
"If he reaches his sixteenth birthday? Prophecy? Perce, what's he talking about?" But Percy only mumbled something incoherent to me, probably telling me not to worry about it before informing Luke that he knew what he needed to know. I didn't like the fact that he'd brushed me off, because it told me that it was something serious and he was trying not to worry me, which of course only worried me more. "We'll be talking about this later." I promised him in a deep growl as Luke had informed Percy that he was a fool. This, however, upset Tyson, because the next thing I knew the sound of wood shattering and splintering tore through my ears as Tyson shouted that Percy wasn't a fool. See? Tyson's a cutie. However, before I realised what he intended to do, Tyson had let go of my hand and charged forwards, directly at Luke. "Tyson no! Come back!" Squeaking I launched myself forwards in order to try and grab hold of him, however I felt two massive forms crash into me and I got crushed between them, causing me to trip and buckle as Tyson was also thrown to the floor.
The tremor caused me to lose my balance and next thing I knew I was landing rather stupidly on my butt with my back hitting something solid as I blinked. For a minute I just frowned in confusion, not entirely sure what had happened until I heard his voice directly above me and I realised exactly what I had fallen against. Or rather, who. "Comfy down there Lils?" Squeaking shrilly, I scrambled to get away from him as I heard Percy and Annabeth hold their breaths, but Luke didn't try to stop me, though I sensed his eyes boring into my back. I was tingling from all over, and I wasn't entire sure it was because of disgust because I felt like a total tool and utterly humiliated. "Too bad, Cyclopes. Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them–"
"Luke," Percy interrupted, cutting him off from his intended threat. "Your father sent us." I punched at Percy having reached him, because clearly that was a stupid thing to say as Luke bristled behind me, telling Percy not to dare mention his father to him. "He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are." My brother really needed to learn when to shut his mouth. Luke got really angry then, exploding into a tirade of how he wanted Olympus raised to the ground and left as a ruin with each of the thrones of the gods cast down and destroyed.
"You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a Half-Blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger." At first Percy didn't understand the meaning, but then it slowly dawned on him, and the rest of us too. "He is reforming. Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears…" Annabeth gasped as she claimed that that was disgusting, and I rather agreed. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk." He commented dryly before continuing. "Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."
"Come on, Luke. Really? What's to stop him just eating you like he did his own kids when he's raised again?" I asked simply, thinking that this was probably what the titan intended, because now we all knew for certain who he was talking about. Kronos. Luke pointedly did not answer me, Annabeth murmuring that he was insane.
"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship, and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame, whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realise your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age! And Lily…" Luke trailed off slightly, his voice faltering before it came back with a vengeance. "With the power of the titans, you can have your sight back. We can take revenge for what Zeus did to you, take revenge on your father, you can have everything that you ever wanted, see the world born anew and be one of the most powerful beings of the next generation." He tempted, and I had to admit Luke wasn't exactly sounding entirely crazy. I mean, he had some good points in there. Aside from the razing the earth in fire and brimstone and all that kind of end of the world stuff, I rather liked the idea of being able to see again, and more than that, giving my mom the kind of life she deserved. I admit it. I wavered. And Luke saw it too. Even as Annabeth told him to go to Tartarus, I knew he saw me thinking it over in my head. I said nothing and he did not move to pressure me any further, as if he knew that to try would only push me further away from him. Don't get me wrong, certain scores needed to be settled, him trying to kill Percy being one of them, but still…did the gods really deserve to rule anymore? They pretty much messed up anything they got involved in and it was always us demigods mopping up after them. All through history, you saw it time and time again. Seeing that he was not going to get any further with us today, Luke must have called for security because the door opened and a couple more people came in. "Ah, good, security. I'm afraid we have some stowaways." He announced to them, though their answer was automatic and lifeless. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it's done." The giggling grizzly came back eagerly.
"Let me go, too. My brother is worthless. That Cyclopes…"
"Is no threat." Luke cut in, which I found surprising. Luke should know better than to expect that we wouldn't fight back and try to escape, then why is he…? Oh. He expected us to escape. Wanted us to, even. I hope it's because he didn't actually want to feed us to a drakon, because whatever it was it did not sound like a pleasant way to die. "Agrius, stay here. We have important matters to discuss." Turning then to the other bear-man, Luke ignored Agrius's further protest. "Oreius, don't fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed." We were ushered away then, however when I got to the door last behind the others, I turned my head and looked back, considering the void like feeling in the room, and I was certain that Luke was looking at me too. I could never mistake the feeling of his gaze. A spearhead jabbed against me, making me hiss before turning away and following after the others, sighing heavily and hoping Percy would give a shout or something when it was time to run, because we would need to move fast in order to make a successful escape. Thankfully, my little brother did not disappoint. Well. Brothers.