Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.
Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! Welcome back! Early chapter, I know. But I'm up at this ungodly hour and it's almostmidnight where I live, so I decided fuck it, might as well post.
As always, hope y'all enjoy. Until next week,
~TGWSI/Selene Borealis
~The Finding Home Saga~
~Finding Home~
~Chapter 37: The Worst "Take Me Back" Speech Ever~
If just hearing Luke's voice was enough to make my knees weak, there were no words for actually seeing him in person.
We were standing in front of him and the girl named Mia, like three kids caught in the cookie jar. Silena's hand was still holding mine, but her grip was tight, so tight that I was sure my hand was going to be colored purple with a bruise later. But that didn't seem as important as it should've right now.
Luke looked quite a bit different than he had last summer. His hair was still the same sandy blonde hair, although he'd let it grow out some, revealing unruly waves. No longer was he wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and blue denim shorts, but a designer green button-down shirt that was open over a white t-shirt, khaki pants, and loafers. He looked like he belonged more on a model runway than a yacht, and I hated myself for thinking it, but it was the truth. Especially with his sun-kissed skin and icy blue eyes.
I didn't know who Mia was, as she hadn't been at camp last summer, but it wasn't hard to figure out she was a demigod or who her parent was. She, too, had sandy blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and elfish features, and looked to be about a year or so older than I was. There was a scar on her left eyebrow, and another one on her right cheek, both small. She was wearing a light blue summer dress with some sort of design on it, navy blue running shoes, and black compression sleeves on her calves.
Instantly, I knew she had to be a daughter of Hermes. I didn't know how that was possible, because Hermes didn't have mortal daughters, all of the ones that he did have were goddesses, but. The proof was irrefutable, I was seeing it with my own two eyes.
"Luke," Silena said through obviously clenched teeth.
He smirked. "That's not how you're supposed to greet your favorite stepbrother, is it?" he asked rhetorically. "It's good to see you, Silena, Clarisse." His eyes flitted over to the daughter of Ares, before they landed on me. They went from something playful to indescribable in a second. Indescribable, because I couldn't even begin to explain all the emotions that were going through those glacier eyes. The eyes I had loved so much. "Percy."
He was waiting for a response from me. That much was obvious in the pause that followed.
But I couldn't say anything. I couldn't even make my tongue work.
Uncomfortably, he cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose introductions should be made," he said. He gestured to Mia with his arm. "Mia, this is Silena Beauregard, Clarisse la Rue, and...Percy."
She grinned at us with perfectly white teeth. Like Luke, she was as pretty as a supermodel. She didn't have anything on Silena, that was for sure, but still. "You've mentioned him before."
"Silena, Clarisse, Percy, I'd like you to meet Hermia Argent, or Mia," Luke continued. "She's my half-sister. My favorite one, you know."
"Fuck you, Castellan," Clarisse snarled.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd like that, wouldn't you?" As Clarisse spluttered, moving to grab the knife in her belt which could magically transform into a spear, Luke jerked his head towards us. "Mia, if you please."
"My pleasure," she said.
At first, I didn't realize what had happened. One moment, Silena was holding my hand, the next she wasn't as a gust of wind blew past me. I blinked at the breeze, and when I opened my eyes, Mia was holding Silena's arm in one hand and Clarisse's in the other.
That snapped me out of whatever episode I was having. "Silena! Clarisse!" I cried. Reaching into my pocket, I took out my pen and brandished it as a sword. "Let them go!"
"Hmm, I don't think I will," Luke replied. He glanced over at his half-sister. "Mia, you know where to take them."
"The stateroom," she stated. With another breeze, she was gone.
She has super speed, I realized.
I mean, I knew Luke did, too. He'd shown me before last summer after the Fourth, before everything had fallen apart. But it was an incredibly rare trait for children of Hermes and it took a lot out of him, so he didn't do it that much.
Mia, meanwhile, made it look easy. As easy as breathing.
I didn't like what that probably meant for our chances of escaping.
As soon as Mia had taken off with Silena and Clarisse, Luke looked back at me. His expression softened. He stepped forwards.
"Don't," I warned.
I gripped Riptide with both hands, because I was concerned if I didn't, it would become obvious that they were shaking.
"It really is good to see you, Percy," Luke murmured. "I'm not going to hurt you."
For some reason, that made me laugh. "'I'm not going to hurt you?'" I quoted viciously. "What do you call what you did last summer, then?"
Pain rippled across his expression. "Percy – "
"You almost killed me!" I spat. "You shoved a poisoned dagger into my side – which, may I mention, I still have the scar from – and if it wasn't for the work of the naiads and Chiron, I would be dead! So don't say 'I'm not going to hurt you' when I don't have any reason to believe that, Luke!"
He raised his hands defensively. "You're right. I know you don't," he acknowledged. "But that was then, Percy, and this is now. And I'm telling you, I'm not going to hurt you while you're on this boat, not until you leave. In fact, I swear it on the River Styx."
Thunder clapped overhead, even though I knew the sky was sunny and cloud-free.
Against my better judgment, I felt my arms begin to lower Riptide. Being completely honest, I couldn't exactly believe he had sworn it on the River Styx. I'd heard the proof, it was irrefutable, but still.
Luke approached me. He cringed when I backed up, momentarily pausing. "Please, Percy," he said softly. "I just want to have a talk."
I debated my choices. Although Luke had promised not to hurt me, they didn't exactly look good. I was on a boat filled with monsters and other demigods, all who could choose to come after me of their own accord.
"You'll let me go afterwards?" I asked.
He looked reluctant, but agreed. "If you want to."
"Silena and Clarisse, too?"
He looked even more reluctant. "Yes."
"Swear it."
"I swear it on the River Styx."
More thunder.
Slowly, I walked over to Luke. I didn't put away Riptide, and he didn't seem to expect me to do otherwise. He walked just slightly in front of me, leading me down the hallway. I didn't know where we were going, and I was extremely cautious because of it. It didn't help that there were monsters and demigods I didn't recognize, save for maybe one or two, watching us curiously. They didn't say anything, though. They must've had more faith in Luke than I'd thought.
Luke led me to a balcony. It was overlooking the promenade, just like the one Silena and Clarisse I had seen earlier. There was a small, bistro-like table sitting in the center of the balcony, with a pitcher of what looked to be iced lemonade and two glasses on it. There were two chairs on either side of the table. Off to the side stood a nymph of indiscriminate type, although judging by her green-tinged and pointed ears, she was probably a dryad. Her carrot-like red hair was pulled into a braid with gold thread in it. She smiled pleasantly at me.
I didn't reciprocate the gesture.
"Please, sit," Luke said to me, gesturing to the table.
I sat, letting Riptide rest on my lap.
"Lemonade?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "How do I know it isn't poisoned?"
Luke's smile became strained. "Juniper?"
The dryad stepped forward. "You know me, Percy," she said softly. "I never poisoned you before, did I?"
With a start, I realized that I did. She was one of the dryads who had served us at camp last summer; I hadn't realized she was missing this time around, probably because I hadn't exactly spent much time at camp before running off. I didn't know how she was here, since dryads were connected to their trees and all. Had Luke managed to get her tree transported somehow?
Whatever, it didn't matter. "Thanks," I told them shortly. "But I'm not thirsty."
A silence settled over us.
When it didn't break after several moments, I stared at Luke. "What do you want to talk about?"
It didn't escape my notice my brain seemed to have settled with how it wanted to react to him. This was the third option I hadn't really seen coming: anger and annoyance.
Well, okay, so maybe I had. I didn't remember.
With Luke right next to me, it seemed like everything except for the simmering anger I was feeling towards him went out the window.
Just – how dare he act everything was alright between us, after what he had done? How dare he act like he shouldn't have to fall to the floor and grovel at my feet for almost killing me? I didn't necessarily want him to do that, but he deserved to.
I was also thinking that maybe he deserved for me to punch him in the face. It would be a taste of the pain he had caused me with my scar. Just thinking about it sent a spasm of pain through my side. Jerking from it, I subtly tried to reach down to press my hand to my scar.
Unfortunately, I wasn't that successful with my subtlety. Luke saw what I was doing, and he must've been a mind-reader when it came to my thoughts, too, because as genuine remorse came over his face, he spoke, "Percy, I'm so sorry for that."
I huffed. "Oh, don't act like you're sorry about it now, not when you told me you'd 'come get me back from the Underworld' after you did it."
"I do regret it," he insisted. "I regretted it the moment I did it. You don't know what it was like, thinking that you were going to die."
"Oh, I sure as hell do," I snarked.
He shook his head. "Percy, you know I already watched...I already saw Thalia and Alan die. And then, I stabbed you and I thought..." He trailed off, tears in his eyes. He whispered, "I thought you were going to be the third death by hands."
Unwillingly, I felt some of my anger cool down. I hated that Luke had betrayed the gods, but I could understand he had his reasons for doing it. First Thalia, then Alan...I couldn't imagine what it was like to witness the deaths of your girlfriend or boyfriend firsthand. In your arms, in the case of the son of Aphrodite.
But that did not dissolve Luke of his crimes, against me or otherwise.
"Fine, you're sorry," I snapped. "So what? Are you wanting to come back with me and beg the gods for forgiveness or whatever?"
Irritation flashed across his face. He sneered, his scar rippling as he did. "I will never ask the gods for forgiveness. They're the ones who have betrayed us, Percy, not the other way around! They deserve to have Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! But," he paused to take a deep breath, "that doesn't mean I want you to go with them."
I stared at him in disbelief. "Uh, did you forget what I am?"
"Demeter has enslaved you," he said. And my gut twisted something awful at that, because it couldn't be anything further from the truth. It was a lie. Luke hadn't been there when I'd sworn my allegiance to Demeter. I'd done it completely of my own accord, and it had been for him. And now look at what he was doing: betraying me, betraying us with every choice he made and every word he uttered from his mouth. "But that doesn't mean you have to cater to her every whim, does it?"
I opened my mouth to say "yes," because technically, it did. Demeter was my patron goddess; anything she asked, I was supposed to do.
But...the entire reason why Demeter had offered me her patronage was because of the decisions I was supposed to make, not the other way around. At the time, she'd said those decisions were in the "near future," but how soon was that to entities who lived forever?
Was I...was this one of those decisions I was supposed to make?
"See, you know you don't have to," Luke said with an easy smile. "You're your own person. She might be able to control everything you do, but she can't control how you feel."
My eyebrows furrowed. "Where...where are you going with this?"
Luke stood up. He came around the table, until he was standing in front of me. Then he crouched down, so he was literally at my feet. His icy blue eyes stared up at me, and they were...they were filled with love. "I think there's a way we can still be together," he explained. "What the gods don't know can't hurt them, right? If...she doesn't know we're together, and the rest of the gods don't, then they can't punish you for what we do. We'll still fight, we'll play the stupid little show that they want, but when they're not watching..."
My heart almost stopped.
Was he seriously suggesting this?
What was more...was I seriously considering it?
"What about..." I wetted my lips instinctively. "What about Kronos?"
Luke rolled his eyes. "Kronos isn't like the gods, Percy. He doesn't care about our relationship."
"Is that because he actually doesn't care, or because he still secretly wants me to join him?"
"Percy..."
That decided it.
Pushing back my chair, I stood up and went back to holding Riptide by the hilt in my hand. "I'm not joining Kronos, Luke," I told him. "I won't."
He scowled, standing up, too. "Aren't you listening to me? You won't have to!"
"And what happens when it's time to go to war?" I shot back, shouting. "When it's not just 'playing the show?' What happens then?"
He didn't have an answer for me.
Scoffing, I turned around and started walking off.
"Percy, wait!"
I shouldn't have stopped, but I did. "What now?"
He caught up to me. "Last summer, you said your fifteenth birthday was in August. I didn't get you anything. Between preparing to leave camp and planning...what I was gonna do to you..." He spoke sheepishly, up until the last part, where his voice became wracked with guilt. He shook his head again. "Anyways, I meant to give you this. I never did."
Luke held out a necklace to me. The chain and pendant were both silver, but there was a...difference between them that I couldn't quite explain. The pendant was of what looked to be a peridot gemstone, with a three-pronged spear, a trident, hanging from it. I looked at it warily, not knowing if I should take it or not.
Seeing my look, he said, "The pendant is of royal silver. It's one of the five sacred metals, and the second rarest. Only deities of the sea or their children can touch it. Anyone else who does becomes burned." Nonchalantly, he grabbed the pendant with his hand. He held his hand up to me. Its color was the kind of red you knew would blister. "See?"
"Luke!" I hissed, horrified.
"Relax, Percy. We have ambrosia and nectar." Luke tossed the necklace to me. I caught it. The pendant felt warm in my hands, as comforting as a hot bath after a long day, like it belonged with me. My cheeks heated at the notion, and that Luke had gotten me something he'd obviously put a lot of thought into, even after everything...or I guess before, if his word could be believed. "Happy belated birthday, Percy. Or early, depending on how you look at it."
I fiddled with the chain. "This doesn't change anything, you know."
His smile was sad. "I know."
I turned around again.
"You know if you leave, my pact on the River Styx will be through!" he called out after to me as I walked away.
I laughed bitterly, and quoted him with, "'I know.'"
I found Silena and Clarisse in the hallway we'd been forced apart in. Both of them were looking a bit worse for wear: Silena had a chunk of her hair missing and Clarisse was sporting a black eye.
I tried my best not to stare at them. "What the hell happened to you two?"
"Mia Argent," Silena grumbled. "I think she's only known she's a demigod for a year or so, but she's good with that super speed, and she fights dirty. What happened to you?"
I debated telling them about everything, but I decided not to: 1) that would take too long, and I figured it was time we didn't have on this gods forsaken (heh, get it?) yacht, and 2) the necklace Luke had given me was sitting in my pocket, and I didn't feel like taking it out and showing them. I had a feeling if I did, I was going to get yelled at.
"I made a deal," I said instead. When they both spluttered, I added, "Relax, I didn't have to give anything up except for my time, and I guaranteed Luke's not gonna come after us. Come on, let's go."
"What about the other demigods and monsters here?" Clarisse asked me under her breath.
"That's why I said, 'let's go.'"
We snuck back the same way we had come, silently avoiding all of the monsters and unknown demigods. However, when we got to where the lifeboats were, there were three demigods patrolling around there: one with straight black hair, another with curly hair of the same color, and a third with brown.
Idly, I wondered if this was the work of Ananke or if Luke somehow could get the people under him to go to certain positions at certain times and was just trying to fuck with me.
Ethan caught sight of us immediately. His grey eye widened. "Percy?"
Alabaster and Chris spun around to look at us.
I didn't give Silena or Clarisse any time to react to them, like they had with me earlier. "Oh, no you don't!" I said, looping my arm around each of theirs. I waved my sword at our three (former) friends. "Hi, Ethan, Alabaster, Chris! Bye, Ethan, Alabaster, Chris! You're all assholes for joining Kronos!"
"Percy, let go of me!" Silena screeched at me. "Alabaster Torrington, you son of a bitch!"
Craning my neck, I saw Alabaster looked both utterly relieved and terrified to see her. As he should.
Running through the double doors to the maintenance deck and with the help of Clarisse, I was able to get Silena into a lifeboat until she could break out of my hold and go after Alabaster. The ropes to the lifeboat snapped of their own accord, and I knew who was to thank for that. Thank you, milady!
The last thing I saw of the ship as we plunged towards the water was Alabaster leaning over the side, Ethan and Chris trying to pull him back. The last thing I heard was him calling Silena's name, and I thought that was that.
But then, to my complete shock and disbelief, the son of Hecate toppled over the side, and then he was falling down after us.
And falling right behind him was another familiar figure, one with loosely-curled black hair and olive skin. Bianca.
How the fu –
Word Count: 3,343
Next Chapter Title: We Enter The Sea Of Monsters
