We break the narrative.
A quick look into Luke and his past.
Notes:
TW: Abuse, knives/cutting, minor violence, major character death.
May Castellan was sweet like honey and as soft as a cloud when she met Hermes. She was an artist, drawing the beasts and towering castles of her dreams when she agreed to drink with Hermes. She was a struggling barmaid harassed by drunks and sobers in between when she discovered she was pregnant by Hermes. She was a toiled escort when she gave birth to the son of Hermes. She was a loving mother when she passed her son to Hermes and ascended to the attic. She was a tainted woman of Hermes when the oracle rejected her. She was a despondent woman when she lost herself and attacked her son by Hermes.
May Castellan was nothing but a shell of a woman made redundant by a curse cast over Maria di Angelo's dead body.
Luke Castellan first feels fear when he is seven years old. A halo of smoky green shrouds his mother as she riles on the floor. Her voice isn't dripping in honey, but frothing with a venomous whisper as she chants about fate and prophecies. Her sharp nails draw blood from Luke's arms as she whines and whimpers with broken words in an alien language.
Luke understands.
He understands that he must hide when May Castellan glows with a misty green. If he doesn't, she comes with a knife and slices strange symbols and runes onto his skin. One time, Luke wakes to the sound of a knife etching into delicate skin. He registers the pain later when his mother finishes for the night.
He has scars of monsters seen in his dreams and runes he can read.
They tell of the fate of death.
Hermes, Luke thinks with disdain, always comes with fresh nectar and ambrosia after May has one of her fits. They heal him, but the damage has already been done. He has scars long before he hunts monsters and a stigmatized brain long before the mental games of the Crooked One. Luke will continue to dream of the future as long as May carves magic into his skin.
(It doesn't stop.)
The night before he runs away, Luke dreams of a girl of lightning and ratchet black. She's powerful, it seems, as he can see blue waves roll into the air around her, but kind, as they float in calming rhythms. Occasionally, lightning strikes the pine tree behind her. She speaks in prophecies too. Only these tell of wolves and arrows.
The day Luke Castellan turns nine, he backs his satchel with books of healing, the celestial bronze knife Hermes gave him and the bow and arrow that was in May's attic. Luke hesitates as he reaches for the medusa plushie he's had since he was a baby. Dark red splotches scatter her otherwise pristine body and he remembers the screams and the harrowing pain of a knife to the skin.
He hacks medusa's head off and leaves it for May Castellan.
(She sews it back on and waits for her son to return. His cerulean blue eyes are all she can see and the hair strung from the sun remind her of her youthful self.
She paints for when he returns.)
Hunting the monsters is easier than them discovering him, Luke finds, and he's gotten good at killing them. He has momentos, rough claws and sharp spikes, but now he has a sword. He has stopped using the knife (the fast slashing and quick thinking aren't fit for him) and the bow and arrow are useless in close combat. Luke is good for a ten-year-old. The celestial bronze blade inlaid with imperial gold might be too big, but it's good for the heavy moving monsters.
He doesn't think of his mother who still makes peanut butter sandwiches and jam tarts, and her fits.
(May Castellan is shrouded in mist when she carves runes into her stomach.
The visions are too much.
My son.
My son…
HELP ME...)
Luke is eleven when he finds Thalia Grace. She's got scars too, only she wears them proudly, as a result of her mother in a drunken rage. They meet at a homeless shelter in downtown Chicago when a monster gets too close. They share Thalia's stolen crisps and Luke's swiped egg and mayonnaise sandwich as they talk about the monsters they've bested and the lives they have had as runaway demigods.
Thalia ran away when she was nine too, only it was a result of her missing brother Jason.
That night, Luke dreams of a blond boy with Thalia's eyes. He cuts a powerful figure in shining armour and holding a golden sword. He's blond, and tall, with a scar on his lower lip and scratches marring his face. He's facing off another domineering man who doesn't wear armour, only a simple t-shirt and jeans, but clutches a sable blade much longer than the blond's. They clash in a powerful display of a rising tide and sporadic lightning. At the end of the dream, the sable blade embeds itself in the blond's stomach and the squelching sound of the blade exiting echoes around Luke's head. The man looks up, straight at Luke, and sneers. The green eyes are nearly red in the fusil light.
(Once Luke wakes, he can still taste ozone and salt.)
They develop a routine, Thalia and Luke, and soon the days bleed into each other and snow starts to fall. The mild weather of autumn is gone, replaced by the biting winds of winter, and the frost creeps onto the ground they sleep on. It becomes too cold to survive outside, so Luke builds hidden shelters in obscure caves and ridges and stacks them with supplies. His skills as a son of Hermes are handy as a runaway, so he steals from shops as Thalia keeps watch. They continue this system as they tour every state, building little homes to return to, slaying monsters and gathering information on any other demigods. Once, Luke discovers a son of Nemesis (his warnings come in dreams) who adamantly refuses any of Luke's help. They leave New Jersey crestfallen.
(Luke's dream is shot through with silver that night. It seems to fall through like water as he witnesses an eyepatched boy kneel in front of a golden coffin. A cold wind bristles his spine as he recognises the ornate moulding encrusting the sides. They are the same pictures his mother used to paint on the walls.
Great, robust beings meeting swords as towering waves rage behind them. A vast mass of spiralling heliotrope ensnares the earth as a wretched blade of obsidian severs it straight through the middle. Stars explode in agony as if the depictions were alive and the earth tremors in her freedom. It relaxes onto the four arms of Strength as they strain under the weight. Another carving shows transcendent balls of light swallowed by the gaping hole of Trickery only to be released by the Protector with eagle wings. The carvings represent the accolades of the Elder Gods.
Luke recognises them with ease.)
Luke and Thalia are fourteen and seasoned warriors. Thalia, who is good with her spear and excellent with a bow, and Luke, who has finally grown into his sword and swings it with practised dexterity.
Luke and Thalia. A girl and a boy. Two demigods who lack the influence of good parents but are better for it. Thalia is empathetic and kind but also fluctuating in her compassion, so it makes it hard for others to understand her. Luke has built his walls high but doesn't ignore others in favour of himself. He gives to those who need it whilst Thalia hoards anything close to her. Thalia expresses her anger in cyclonic bursts of power, whilst Luke silently broads and directs it inwards to muster with his self-loathing and hatred. They couldn't be more different which is probably why it works so well. Thalia's the brawl and Luke's the brains.
Well, he was.
(He dreams of a little girl and a hammer. She's small with curious eyes and a fierce spirit. Luke immediately falls in love.)
"No, no, no more monsters!" She attacks in a blur of disorganised limbs and frenzied smacks and punches. Her cheeks are tracked with tears and her face is red with scratches and insomniac, grey eyes flick distractedly from left to right.
"Wait, it's okay, kid," Thalia says, as she grabs her arms tightly, "you're okay."
"Monsters!" Is the kid's answer.
"No, we're not monsters," this time it's Luke who speaks, "we're monster hunters too. We're like you."
The kid hesitates and lifts her head to meet Luke's eyes, "you're…like me?"
"Yeah, it's complicated. I'm Luke. This is Thalia."
"I'm Annabeth."
"Hey Annabeth, do you want a real monster-hunting weapon?"
She takes the celestial bronze knife with no hesitation.
They protect the kid fiercely. She's the little sister in this messed-up world of gods and monsters. The innocent one to not only protect but also educate. Luke breaks into the library to steal books for her to read and Thalia deftly explains the best way to kill each monster. Annabeth likes books about architecture and history and enjoys the high fantasy genre which gives her an escape from the constant running. Luke teaches her how to pick locks and how to be swift and silent when lifting.
By the time she's eight, Annabeth has seen the horrors of the world and deciphered the secret of escapism. Reading a book helps drone out the incessant screaming of the voices in her head.
She doesn't tell Luke.
Luke keeps his secrets and she keeps hers.
When Thalia receives a vision from the King of the Gods (her father), they make their way north. Flat planes of grass shifts into the lush trees of the forests and the stale air becomes rich with the fresh smell of soil. Luke recounts his dreams of a boy with shaggy fur on his legs and a rasta cap to hide auburn curls.
A satyr, Thalia says, to escort them to camp.
A place for kids like them.
Camp Half-blood.
Somewhere safe from the monsters.
(Annabeth's voice says that the monsters are the ones who are protecting them. They talk of corrupt beings residing in the sky, siring monsters and children alike, ready to kill to protect themselves. The voice tells her the true meanings of the myths and heroes of old. The rape, the murder and the exploitation of the lowly citizens. She believes every word.)
"Grover" is the satyr's name. He's pale and seedy with red pimples spotting his face and a slight goatee growing on his chin. Grover's voice is cracking when he speaks to Luke and he sends a nervous glance to Thalia.
He doesn't speak to Annabeth, only tells Luke she's a daughter of Athena (as they had already suspected). Grover leads them east, winding through forests and abandoned towns, towards where he promises them is safe.
(Luke dreams of Thalia again. Lightning strikes erratically behind her as she kneels in front of a pine tree. She stares at him, her electric blue eyes fading into a milky white, and speaks in an ancient voice: "you will commit a great sin, Luke Castellan.")
Grover is incompetent. He leads the three half-bloods astray and into the den of a cyclops. He's large and filthy, smelling like blood, and a prodigy in mocking voices. He manages to ensnare Annabeth into his little trap, speaking in panic but possessing Thalia's voice.
They have to leave her behind in a burning building. Sweet, little Annabeth with a heart of gold is left by a Protector. Luke and Thalia don't speak, they only watch in horror as the roof collapses on Annabeth and the cyclops. Her screams haunt Luke for the rest of his life.
(Later, when Annabeth is wrapped in celestial bronze netting and struggling to escape the fire, the voice speaks aloud.
I heard you hated the gods.)
RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN…
Growling and closing in on their heels, hellhounds chase the two half-bloods and the satyr as they approach the camp. Thalia slashes with her spear, barely able to run fast enough to escape their snapping jaws. Grover says it's Hades, as revenge on Zeus, who continues to hound them with monsters. Luke has a contempt of hatred for the King God who has let his arrogance and corruption infect those below him. They dodge the thick stumps of the trees and kick up mud into the monsters' eyes but they continue to gain speed as they slow down.
Luke glances up ahead when Grover clamps a hand onto his arm. A large hill sits proudly in front of them, the crest shielded by oaks and birches, and a sheen of white light glows in the dim moonlight like a thin layer of water.
"QUICK!" Grover shouts, "it's there!"
"We won't get there in time," Luke gasps through choked tears.
"We have to!" Grover's crying now.
"We won't!" Luke slices at a hellhound.
"You will…" Thalia launches herself at the hellhounds, bringing down bolts of lightning and giant gusts of wind, as she pushes Luke and Grover up the hill with all her might.
Luke is fifteen when he feels fear for the last time.
Thalia, daughter of Zeus, collapses just outside the property line. Her eyes shine with tears and her choppy black hair is ragged with sweat and blood. She dies with a smile on her face and takes her last breath with a shaking laugh.
Zeus turns her into a pine tree in some twisted display of affection, hoping she will wake and bring Olympus to justice.
(Luke dreams of owls and wolves that night. The next he dreams of shadows and bones. The next he dreams of lightning and thunder. The next he dreams of dragons and apples. The next he dreams of war so great it will change the course of history for aeons to come.
Luke dreams of the future and all of its calamity.)