𝐈𝐈. 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 | 𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐗 𝐇𝐏

three

It had been 4 days since Percy escaped the Princess Andromeda. Lilith had made no attempt to escape, instead she chose to IM her father, telling him that she was fine and that she was on a mission. 

Hades had pressed her for more information, but she simply sent him a sweet smile and say, "I'll be fine, Papa. I promise. I'll see you once I'm done, okay?"

And that was the end of the conversation. Lilith hadn't attempted to escape not because she couldn't, she could easily Mist travel or shadow travel back to camp, but it was much safer if she wasn't there anyways, the monsters wouldn't sense her.

Lilith sat on the bed on one of the rooms in the Princess Andromeda that Luke had provided for her. It was quite large, and it was nice. He had tried to talk to her multiple times but the girl simply turned away and ignored him.

Speak of the devil, the door to her room opened and there he was, standing with a guilty expression, once again.

"Li."

Lilith simply threw a glance his way before turning back again, knees pressed up against her chest. She heard the boy sigh, and felt the bed dip beside her.

"Can we talk, please?"

"What do you want, Luke?" She finally spoke to him, the first time after Percy left.

"You have to understand why I'm doing this." He pleaded.

"I understand the reason behind it, but what I don't understand is how you can throw all your morals away with how you're doing it." She said, softly.

Luke seemed surprised at the tone of her voice, and he gently reached out to grab her hand, "I'm sorry."

She didn't reply to him.

The boy sigh, before his hands gently gripped her chin, turning her head towards him. The first thing Luke noticed were her watering eyes, he seemed to have that effect whenever Luke tried to talk to her. It seemed that his betrayal had hurt her more than he thought. Luke was her first friend ever.

"Look at me."

Lilith turned to him and blinked her tears away.

"Why do you want me to join you?" She finally asked, 

Luke seemed to tense at the question, "I don't want you to get hurt." 

"Don't lie to me." She whispered.

"I can't tell you."

"Okay." Lilith nodded in understanding before prying his hands away and slipping under the covers, away from him.

Luke sat there for a few moments, looking at her back, before sighing. He reached over and pressed a kiss on her forehead, setting down a neatly-wrapped box. "Happy early birthday, cupcake."

With that, he left the room.

---

"So what now?" Percy asked Chiron. "We just let Luke sail away with Lilith? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway."

Chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. He opened the medicine pouch on his belt and started to treat his wounds. "I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won."

"What about Lilith?" Percy questioned, "She's still with Luke. He's basically imprisoned her there."

"Percy, Lilith is more than capable enough to take care of herself. If she wanted to leave, she would've left by now."