-Human misery must somewhere have a stop; there is no wind that always blows a storm.-
Euripides

Luke Castellan was running away. Ever since he was a kid he dreamt of running away, not because he hated his mom, but because he was afraid of her, he was afraid of her fits and prophecies about all the unknown horrors in his life. And although he would never admit this, he had the feeling that his father might go back to her again if he wasn't there. And he wanted to show his father that he wasn't just another one of his kids that he could blow off, that he was worth something, and he would prove it.

Luke was fourteen, with untidy blonde hair, that always seemed to fall right in his eyes. He had the kind of blue eyes that would sometimes look more silver than blue, but they were tired eyes. His build was wiry, and athletic, and his features were mischievous, almost elfish like, but there was something beneath his eyes that set off the trickster image.

Luke was, at the moment, sprinting away from a massive demonic dog.

As a son of Hermes, he could easily find paths and was quick enough to evade the monster's swipes and lunges. As a demigod, child of a Greek god and a mortal, monsters were bound to chase after him, he'd had his fair share of them over the past month that he'd been on the run, and had become good at fending them off, especially when he had acquired a demigod sword, but this one had caught him by surprise.

Branches whipped at his outstretched arms as he weaved through the dense forest he'd tried to lose the monster in, throwing rocks at it over his shoulder, he frantically scrambled up a cliff side and into a field as he broke out of the forest. He scowled as he heard the massive dog behind him clawing at his back and trying to reach him, and he lost his footing and tripped, twisting around so he could land on his back, he brought out his sword and prepared to fight off the beast.

It never came.

Luke looked up warily, just in time to see the monster slowly dissolve into sand, a gleaming bronze knife dropping from where the dog's chest had been. He jumped up, only to be knocked down again by a blur of black. Falling onto his back, he felt something land on him, and knock his breath out; he hit the ground just in time to see something leathery and winged swoop over his head, grasping claws missing his head by inches. Whoever was on top of him had just saved his life, twice now.

The girl got off of him, and whipped out a spear and a shield, which spiralled out from her bracelet. Wearing all black, and with spiky black hair, the girl looked like she had just travelled across the country on foot.

"Team up?" She yelled over her shoulder, looking down at Luke, when her eyes struck him. The electric blue eyes lined with thick black make-up were hard as ice, yet there was a spark of something vibrant and alive in them, this girl obviously enjoyed a good fight. He nodded quickly, getting up he grabbed his sword, just in time to swing it at one of the three monsters swooping and clawing at them from above, hitting one and watching it explode into dust. Now that he got a good look at the creatures, he realized that they looked like a bunch of of old ladies.

Except, these ones were flying, scaly, and trying to kill them.

He felt the girl behind him link their arms loosely so that they were back to back, and he understood immediately, and bent over so that she could roll over him, planting a kick on another of the swooping creatures. Letting go, she pointed at the closest one with her spear, and he watched in amazement as it was enveloped in spidery electric, and exploded into dust.

"The Lord of the Dead doesn't like broken oaths, girl, he wants you dead!" the last creature shrieked, cackling as it dove for the girl, she didn't see it coming, but Luke did, and he launched himself at her, knocking her over. As soon as they hit the ground, the girl jabbed out her spear, catching the creature just as it tried to pull up. It shrieked in agony, as it convulsed once before showering them with golden dust.

Luke relaxed chuckling, all the tension from the fight draining out of him, as he took in a deep breath. He felt the girl under him stiffen, and she tried to push him off, with little avail.

"Get off," She ordered coldly; touching him lightly with the end of her spear, Luke felt a surge of electricity go through him and he leapt off, yelping.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?"

The girl propped herself up on her elbows, smirking at him, "I did tell you to get off."

"So you thought it would be a good idea to electrocute me?" Luke rubbed the tingling skin of his arm where the spear tip had touched him; he scowled down at her half-heartedly.

She tipped her head back and laughed, causing him to grin reluctantly, "You're the one who decided to land on me!"

"Just returning the favour," he quipped, "that trick with the electric spear was nasty, just so you know."

"I can be as nasty as I want; I just saved your ass Blondie."

He got his first clear look at the girl; she was quite pretty, but in an edgy mess-with-me-and-I'll-cut-your-balls-off kind of way. Her round, lightly freckled, heart shaped face was framed by a fringe of uneven bangs and a mop of spiky black hair, which had obviously not been washed in a while. Her eyes had on heavy eyeliner, and mascara, accenting the intense blue of her irises, but there didn't seem to be any other make up on her face, as she looked pale, and tired. She reminded Luke of a gothic pixie, with her slender delicate looking limbs, there was definitely something fey-like about her.

She looked about fifteen; she was short, and had a compact, but athletic looking build, like a long distance runner. She had slight curves, and slightly broad shoulders that complimented her frame. With her tight form fitting leather jacket, band-tee, and artfully ripped dark jeans, it was obvious that she had been wealthy before, but she didn't seem to carry the snobby air that most wealthy people around where Luke had lived always had. The girl raised an eyebrow at him, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly. She walked over to a tree and pulling out a worn looking back pack from under its roots.

"Are you gonna say something? or just you know, stand there staring at me…" She asked, as she looked back at him, still smirking.

"I was not staring," he said with a mock defensive tone, "I was assessing, just in case you feel the need to attack me again, I want to know what I'm up against."

"And what did you find in your 'assessing', other than my ass?" the raven haired girl asked putting her hands on her hips and giving him the raised eyebrow again.

"Eh, I could take you, no problem."

The girl's eyes glinted, "prove it."

"Fine, no weapons, just plain old first one pinned loses." He grinned, wrestling a hot girl? This was his idea of a good time.

The spiky haired girl sighed theatrically, but agreed and put down her spear, as Luke put away his sword. Luke dropped into the ready stance he learned in PE class, it was meant for volleyball; but he figured it probably looked good. The girl just stood there and crossed her arms defiantly, giving him a sarcastic smile. Luke made a darting grab for her arm, but she moved too quickly, and kicked him in the back of the leg. Collapsing onto one knee heavily he grunted as he hit the ground.

He heard the girl coming up behind him, and, twisting around, he grabbed the foot that was coming for the back of his head in a quick nimble movement, and pulled it so that the girl swung around and landed on her backside. Not wasting a second, she twisted her foot out of his grasp and jumped up, and sweaty and panting, circling each other with half smiles pasted on both their faces, they kicked, punched, flipped, slid and danced around each other, trying to gain the upper hand.

Finally the girl made a mistake, over extending on one kick, she stumbled off balance, and Luke lunged at her, enclosing her in the circle of his arms, and effectively knocking them both over, turning over during the fall so that he absorbed the impact from the ground. He then quickly flipped over so that he had the girl pinned to the dirt. She was breathing heavily, her stomach and chest rising and falling with every breath, easily distracting him momentarily, before he smirked down at her. She scowled, which quickly turned into a sneer, before lifting her head from the ground slightly as she looked straight into his eyes and said;

"It wasn't the spear that was electric."

She closed her eyes briefly, and when they opened again, they were sparking with energy, and before Luke could move, an electric current ran through her, up her arms and into Luke, shocking him off of her. He landed about four feet away, sapped of energy; he looked up, dazed, from the singed and flattened grass he was now laying on. The girl had lost the sarcastic smile and amused expression. Her face had hardened into a grim expression, and she looked down on him with a mixture of regret, reluctance and something that Luke couldn't quite identify peeking out through her eyes

"My name is Thalia. I'm the only daughter of Zeus, the result of a broken oath." The girl told him in a quiet unwavering voice.

Daughter of Zeus? She was way worse off than he was then, he suddenly felt the need to give this stranger some reassurance. Any reassurance. He offered her a sympathetic smile.

"Don't feel bad for me, I don't want or need your damn sympathy!" she yelled, her eyes flashed dangerously, her hands had sparks flickering around them and the clouds rumbled angrily in the distance, coming in closer and faster by the second.

Luke just looked at her, and slowly got up, it had started to rain, the clouds had turned a sorrowful gray and swirled around them flashing with lightning. The wind had picked up and blew his hair out of his eyes as he looked at the angry girl before him.

"I wasn't giving you sympathy, I was giving you empathy," he informed her, his eyes never leaving hers, "we're both in the same boat, maybe… it wasn't a coincidence that we met."

Thalia looked at him; shock the dominant emotion on her face, before she shielded her face with the grim expression again. Eventually, the rain began to die down, and the clouds opened to reveal the sun again, the wind blew one more gust before going away. Suspicion crossed Thalia's face, her eyes narrowed as she spoke.

"Are you… do you want to come with me?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"If that's okay…?"

Thalia seemed to think about it seriously for a minute or two before answering, "If you snore, I stab you in your sleep, got it?"

"Got it."

Luke grinned, a grin that she returned, albeit a tad warily, and then they were traveling partners, and perhaps, maybe even starting something more.

just in case you guys are confused,

the plot jumps from her current life,

into her memories,

so check the chapter bar to see whether your in a chapter or a memory :)

AND SO THE DYNAMIC DUO MEETS!

whatya think?

i enjoyed it ;)

review or face my wrath...