Act II Chapter V: "What have the gods ever done for you?"
An angry sigh left Luke as he looked around the arcade turned into the world's worst convention. He didn't understand Pac-Man, and frankly, he didn't want to. Ever since Chiron warned them that Dionysus might not even want to return to the rebuilt camp with them, Luke had been in a foul mood.
What was the point of all of this? Why were the demigods risking their lives to help gods that wouldn't help them? It was like the damn immortals didn't understand one important fact: they were on the verge of fading. It was up to demigods to bring the gods back.
And if they didn't? The gods were done. They would fade, and there was no coming back. How did the crazy gods forget that one important thing? They would be extinct long before the demigods. So why were they not working with them!?
Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He did not want to take his anger out on the boys. They were just trying to be kids, and that was what they should be. Not soldiers running errands for their absent leaders. Luke forced his eyes open.
He felt like Chiron and Lupa both forgot that they were training children. Not teenagers, but children. And those children were being taught how to kill monsters. Even their fellow demigods. Another tired sigh left Luke.
He only found Annabeth on the streets because she ran away from home. And she only ran away from home because she was a child of a powerful goddess. Monsters bothered her almost every week, enough to drive her stepmother to a breaking point. It wasn't Annabeth's fault, though.
And while Clarisse acted tough, he knew how much this weighed on her, too. She spent most of her waking hours patrolling their makeshift camp. When she was done, she would eat, train, and then go right to sleep. Clarisse had no time just for herself. It was no surprise she was chomping at the bit to go on a quest.
Reyna was in the same boat, spending all night making sure a monster didn't sneak in. And while Luke entertained some of Annabeth's theories, he hated that she was so suspicious of Reyna. The Roman slipped away because she wanted time to herself. No other reason.
Will was new to this, but he just volunteered. He didn't fully understand. Really, Drew was the smartest of them all. She didn't seek out danger or glory. And with the gods missing, there was no glory to be had.
Luke tried to refocus his thoughts again as he examined the large arcade they were in. Near the entrance were the bathrooms that somehow already had a huge line. From there were a few tables, packed with families waiting for their turns at the machines or on some lunch they ordered from the snack bar. To the other side was a view of the hundreds of arcade games stretching across the store.
It went further than Luke could see. Part of the arcade had all kinds of different Pac-Man machines, and there were more adults gathered around them than children. It seemed like the rest of the kids had gone to other machines to play.
Luke found Percy and Will playing some kind of shooter game: Time Crisis or something like that. They both had plastic guns that were connected to the arcade machine. And, both seemed to be having a lot of fun. A smile warmed Luke's face.
"Do you think this can last?"
The voice was cold and dark in Luke's ears, reaching to the very center of his soul. He tensed and slowly looked around. The mortals around him were all focused on their conversations or the many arcade machines. The boys didn't seem to notice the voice either, both still focused on the game.
"Can you really find the drunken lard that once watched over Camp Half-Blood?"
"Who are you?" Luke demanded in a quiet voice. He had heard this voice a few times before, but it was in his sleep. He always thought it was his inner thoughts manifesting. But, this was more than just an inner thought.
"Greeks and Romans were never meant to be allies. The useless gods are lost and scattered. Come to me, boy. Bow to me."
Luke felt the hair on the back on his neck raise, and he swallowed painfully. Cold fear gripped his heart, and Luke shut his eyes to refocus himself. Deep breaths left him as he tried to calm down. It was just a lack of sleep. Not anything else. It couldn't be anything else.
"What have the gods ever done for you, Luke Castellan?"
"Get out of my head!" Luke snapped with a whisper as he turned and walked away from the boys. The beating in his heart doubled, his throat felt like it was closing up on him, and the neckline of his shirt was getting super tight. Luke pulled at his shirt's collar and walked to the bathroom.
Luke almost crashed into the restroom and immediately clambered to the sink. He turned it on and quickly splashed cold water in his face.
"What will they ever do for you?"
"Shut up!" Luke hissed.
"Your mother is gone because of them. Do you think you will ever see her again? Like how she was before?"
"Shut up!" Luke yelled as he slammed his hands into the sink.
"Sorry," a child mumbled. Luke turned his head and saw a six year old hurry out of the restroom. Luke looked down and threw more water in his face. When he turned off the water, he grabbed a paper towel and buried his face in it.
Luke slowly looked in the mirror in front of him. In the back of his mind, he knew who the voice belonged to. He just didn't want to admit it; because admitting it meant that a very scary reality was happening.
Luke knew there would be resistance to this grand quest of theirs, but he didn't think it would be so soon. He thought they would at least be able to establish a safe haven for themselves first. Before this all happened.
He should have known that their hope was false. Demigods never had it easy. It was trial after trial after trial for them. Why did Luke bother hoping anyway? Any sense of hope he had should have left him after what happened to his face.
And any bit of hope that survived after that should have been crushed by what happened to his mother.
A scowl touched Luke's lips as he threw the paper towel away and gripped the ridges of the sink. He stared at himself in the mirror. That voice belonged to the one god that did not want them to succeed in their mission.
Hades.
God of the dead. Lord of the Underworld. Luke wasn't an idiot. The man would hunt them in life and then haunt them in death. Luke was ready to make the sacrifice, though. If they were able to bring back the gods, maybe they could stop Hades from damning their souls.
But if Hades was going to anyway, Luke would give him a damn good reason.
"I won't be intimidated by you," Luke said in the mirror. Then, he looked down at the tile below him, as if it had a direct line to the Underworld. "I won't be scared of you."
Luke closed his eyes. His goal meant too much to him. More than anything in the world, and he wanted to see it through. He wanted there to be a safe place for all demigods to go. It wasn't fair that they were being punished so much for an event they had nothing to do with.
If the gods weren't arrogant and just asked the demigods, Luke knew that the children of the Big Three would have stepped up. They would have offered to sacrifice themselves to keep the world from throwing itself into chaos. Luke knew they would.
From his conversations with Thalia Grace, that was why she had joined the Hunters of Artemis. To avoid the prophecy altogether. The problem, though, was they didn't quite know the details of it. Even Thalia, who made a decision as drastic as that, didn't know what the prophecy fully entailed. No one did.
Maybe, that was what made Luke the most bitter. It would be different if they had the prophecy in front of them. Or even had some kind of clue, as cryptic and vague as it would no doubt be, about their fate. Instead, they were left with guesses and theories. It was probably one of the reasons that the two camps had torn each other apart with their stupid war.
Luke hung his head and ended up resting it on the sink, not caring about what germs were probably there. A tired sigh left him. Why were they going through this without a clue of what to do? Some people tried to make sense of the confusion.
His mother was one of them.
Bitterness filled Luke's heart and pushed up to his throat. He swallowed back the building bile and stood completely. He grabbed a paper towel, put soap on it, and then cleaned off his forehead with it. After that, he turned to leave the bathroom.
The drunken man in the stall caught his attention first. Luke stared at him. The plump man was slumped over against the side of the stall. His round stomach hung out of his Hawaiian shirt. A red nose barely peeked out from his chubby face. There was a bottle of wine in one hand, and in the other was a silver goblet filled with something that Luke had seen before: nectar.
"Great," Luke grumbled as he walked over to the drunken man. He reached out toward the stranger, but before he could touch him, the man's eyes snapped open. His eyes were bloodshot like he had been crying. Or drinking too much.
"Can't you see I'm sleeping boy?' the man demanded as he studied Luke.
"Are you Dionysus?" Luke asked. The man stared at him for a long moment. Then, he hiccuped. "I'll take that as a yes. Chiron sent us-"
"Never heard of him."
"You have heard of him," Luke argued. "Look, I know you're lost because you don't remember who you are, but if you can just come with me, I'll explain everything."
"No," the man refused as he stood and lurched out of the stall. He made his way out of the bathroom with Luke in tow. "I have a high score to protect."