The dock was busy, people moving about, crates being loaded. The four of them stood out from the crowd. They had bought tickets for a ride to Long Island. Even though they didn't know its exact location, Lucas had said it was somewhere in the northeastern region. A quick boat ride from Connecticut would be enough. That was why they were here, waiting.
That was when Lucas felt it.
A shiver in the air. A tremor in his spine.
His eyes snapped up.
"Danger!"
From the water, they came.
Monsters, leaping from the harbor, teeth bared, limbs gleaming with scales and steel.
The four of them were separated in the chaos.
"ventus fluxus"
"gelu corroboro"
Lucas moved first, drawing his daggers. Ice shimmered across the blades as he called on his cryokinesis. He slipped through enemies with speed aided by a pulse of aerokinesis, weaving through the attackers like a phantom, each strike fast, controlled, and cold.
Luke fought beside him. Sword flashing, his movements clean, fierce, practiced. He cut down beast after beast with no wasted motion. Moving towards the girls.
But they were too far.
Too late.
A cry tore through the air.
Thalia.
Lucas's head snapped toward the sound. She had moved to dodge an incoming blow until she saw Annabeth in danger. Without thinking, she took the hit meant for the child.
Still she fought.
Wounded, her strikes slower, less forceful. She leaned more on Aegis now, the terrifying aura of the shield forcing some monsters to falter, buying her seconds.
When the last beast fell, Lucas surged toward her. Luke rushed to Annabeth.
By the time they reached them, Annabeth was curled up and stiff with fear, eyes wide and wet. Thalia was standing, but only just. Her breath was shallow, her stance unsteady.
Luke wrapped an arm around Annabeth, whispering calm into her ear. Lucas pressed two fingers to Thalia's side, calling upon his magic, healing the wound. Not perfectly. But enough.
With the threat passed, they regrouped.
"...How ...is-is she...?" Annabeth stuttered the question, still not out of her shock.
"Thalia's fine, just needs a safe place to recover"
Luke hearing this hesitated, complicated emotions flowing through his eyes and jaw clenched, before looking at Thalia and reluctantly saying "Follow me"
...
The house looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
They stood outside a quiet suburban home in Connecticut. Faded paint. Wind chimes chaotically rattling in the breeze. The front porch was crowded with dead flowers and stuffed animals with the occasional monster plush lined the pathway.
Luke again hesitated before knocking on the door.
That's when it opened.
Before them was an old woman in faded and stitched clothes.
Her eyes were bright and faraway. Her smile was warm. And wrong. She hummed a melody that didn't match any song. Burnt cookies rested in a box in her hands.
"Luke, you returned," she said dreamily. "You're just in time for some cookies."
The woman walked back inside but before anyone could even follow a commanding voice spoke from behind
"You shouldn't have come back"
They turned, Lucas and Annabeth reaching towards their weapons.
A middle-aged man with an athletic figure, slim and fit, with salt-and-pepper hair but Lucas felt this man was strong.
And something snapped.
Luke's voice cracked with fury.
"Where were you?" he shouted. "Where were you when she broke? When I ran? When I screamed your name into the dark, hiding? When monsters hunted me while I lived like a rat"
Hermes did not flinch. But he didn't answer. At least not in a way that mattered.
None of it helped.
Luke stormed out, dragging his pack behind him. No more words.
Lucas said nothing. He simply nodded to the others, guiding them away, toward the trees. They made camp just beyond sight of the house.
Thalia was asleep, head resting beside Annabeth's. The girl had curled up close to her.
Luke sat apart.
Lucas sat beside him.
Watching the stars.
Luke didn't look away from the sky.
"She used to smile more," he said. "She could see through the Mist. Wanted to be the Oracle. Hermes brought her to camp but something happened, whatever it was broke her. I never knew much only from what I could overhear from hermes and her murmurings."
Lucas waited feeling there was more to come
"It was what came next that caused me to run away, in her sleep I caught her talking of my fate; one of betrayal and death, that was the reason I ran. I don't know what hurts more: the guilt of leaving my mother, the fear of her madness, the anger towards my father or the frustration with those words."
"I don't think your mother would blame you for running"
"And of my father?"
"There isn't much I can say but from what I have learnt he is one of the last few responsible Olympians, whatever reason there is behind him not being there for you i'm sure you would understand when you come to learn of it."
"You think I should forgive him?" Luke turned towards Lucas
"I think you should let go of your past, you have new family; as for you hatred towards the gods I share similar opinions but unlike you I don't let it consume me, don't let Annabeth down, she looks up to you, and I don't think Thalia will want her boyfriend fighting her father."
"You can be very annoying when you want" Luke turned back to watching the stars avoiding Lucas' teasing looks.
They sat for a while.
Then Luke asked, quietly, "What were those things?"
"Telekhines," Lucas replied. "Ancient smiths. They serve Poseidon. Or used to."
"You think he sent them?"
"Maybe, not for us. Probably for Thalia. Either because she's Zeus's daughter, or because a child of Zeus wanted to cross his domain. Either way…it wasn't right"
Luke's expression twisted. "So what do we do?"
"We survive," Lucas said. "We protect each other. That's all we can do."
Luke turned to him, and for once, the fire in his eyes softened.
"I'll protect them. I swear it."
"I know," Lucas said. "But you're not doing it alone."
Together they sat in silence, watching the stars.