Magnetism • Luke Castellan

IX

" I've never had any intention to betray any demigods. The Gods have betrayed us, so the last thing I'd want to do is stoop to their level." I sat next to Luke on the bed as I listened to his story.

" My mother is a clear sighted mortal. When I was a baby, her and my father brought me to camp, and she'd wanted to host The Oracle." I sucked in a breath, knowing this wouldn't end well.

" Chiron and my father refuse to tell me what happened in that house, but when she came out she was never the same. Some days she was normal, some days her behavior was on the border of insanity. My father never did anything to protect her... to save her..." I sat in a shocked silence, letting Luke's heavy words sink in as I studied his expression. There was so much hate bottled up within him. But a hate that was born as a punishment of loving too much.

I suddenly felt like I could understand him. I couldn't even remember the face of my mother, who had dropped me off at camp so young before disappearing like she'd never existed. My father had only acknowledged me, after years of bunking in Hermes Cabin, when I put a gash in Jake DeGaul's side. The scar remains on his body to this day.

It was practically a guarantee that your godly "parent" would be nothing of the sort, but if your mortal family was a mess too... well you were left with nothing.

Maybe it was time someone changed that.

" I'm sure you remember two years ago when I was sent on that quest by Hermes..." He turned his head towards me but refused to meet my eyes.

" Yeah. To get the Golden Apple from the Garden of Hesperides. I still don't understand why he had you do that. Hercules had already done it before." I admitted as my eyes traced the dragon scar he'd received there. Suddenly his eyes met mine with a newfound intensity.

" Exactly. All of us, the demigods, are like a game to them. When they get bored they send us out on useless quests, without a concern for our lives that are so often lost. To them we're irrelevant and replaceable. They have to go." He spoke with a determined voice, seemingly unshakable in his ways.

" When you say "they have to go", you don't mean-"

" We're going to overthrow Olympus." He proclaimed. Hearing it aloud I was taken aback. It sounded absolutely insane. This was a massive undertaking with massive, unforeseen repercussions.

" We're helping Kronos rise from Tartarus so he can cast the Olympians down from Olympus." Luke added as I sat with my mouth agape.

" Kronos. The titan Kronos? Luke how in the gods names did you even contact him if he's in Tartarus??" I questioned, the whole thing seeming bizarre.

" He contacted me. Through my dreams."

Oh that did not sit well with me.

" I stole the bolt and the Helm for him, but Zeus sent his kids out to look for the bolt, your father included. He caught me, and before he could go to Zeus, Kronos interfered, using his dreams to convince him the stolen weapons would evoke a magnificent display of war." Luke explained to me as apprehension clouded my vision.

If my own father, the God of War, could be manipulated through his dreams, I wondered how much of an affect he had on Luke's psyche.

At the same time, the side presented a valid argument. I suspect it would be easy to recruit demigods to the cause, seeing as so many of them suffered for the same reasons; thrown in harms way; denied a full, fulfilling life; neglected by their godly parents. With enough support we could bring about real change... permanent change to Olympus and the lives of all demigods, in the present and future.

I was starting to get more and more comfortable with the outlandish idea.

" Has he told you anything else? Given you any other instructions?" I questioned the curly haired boy. He was quick to answer, but I caught his eye twitch, a telling sign he probably wasn't being completely truthful.