Equilibrium

Chapter 52: Luka's POV

Literally what the chicken strips on a turkey wing with a hamburger on top- ok I'm hungry. BuT unfortunAtely Adrestia is about to kill my grumpy gal Jackie, so I have to figure out a way to save her. Nothing new there.
After my first quick sighting of Adrestia while I was standing with Percy and Leo, I had run all the way back to the big house and explained the situation with the whole 'the relics aren't working' shit to Chiron. He looked pretty peeved, but oh whale there was nothing I could do about it. He'd put all the relics back into Jackie's bag and slung them over his shoulder.
Apparently Chiron thought that if he kept the relics with him at all times then no one would be able to get to them.
I mean if a horse and a goddess went into battle, I'm pretty sure the goddess would win but ok man, you do you.
Chiron came out with me to the battle field to help, but it was obvious we were going to lose. I didn't even want to think about all the casualties that were already in place.
We still fought as hard as we could though, I got my quiver filled up, and Percy and Leo managed to get replacement weapons that they were NOT happy about. Riptide had returned to pen form at this point and refused to transform back into a sword, and Leo's tool belt was no longer supplying him with anything. Monsters were disintegrating around us at a rapid pace, but it still wasn't enough. There were just too many.
"Attention!" A loud voice rang throughout the whole battlefield and everyone's heads, monsters and demigods alike, turned to look at who was speaking.
Yeehaw it was Adrestia.
Is there a way I could casually get away with murdering her? I really really hope so.
That's then I saw Jackie.
My heart leapt, and it took everything in me to not run up to her and yell at her for being an idiot, or hug her because I love her. My mind was in such a strange place, I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do more.
I locked eyes with her, trying to tell her I was sorry we got into this mess, but she looked away after a minute, a hurt expression evident in her face.
Welp, this was going to end in imminent failure, Let's be honest here.
"Luka Del Rosso, nice to see you in person instead of a dream." Adrestia cooed. I held back the urge to spit at her feet.
"What do you want?!!?!" I yelled, firmly standing my ground, ready to choke her if necessary.
Adrestia chuckled, grabbing Jackie aggressively by the ropes that were tied around her wrists and yanking her into the light so we could all see her better.
Jackie was not in a good state. She had cuts and bruises up her arms and legs and her shirt was barely even a shirt anymore. From the way she was standing, I could tell that her foot or ankle must have still been busted up pretty badly. A dark purple bruise bloomed at her temple, and I noted it had definitely not been there the last time I'd seen her. I tried so hard to catch her eye again, but her stubborn ass just would not look in my direction. She was definitely avoiding me. Her beautiful face was in so much pain, whether it be emotional or physical or both, that I wanted to scream into a pillow.
"The relics, of course!" Adrestia exclaimed. "I want the remainder of all the relics, or your little girlfriend here dies."
There was commotion around me, demigods talking amongst themselves about what we should do. I even heard someone say, "Wait, those two are dating?"
"No." I said loudly. "We aren't giving you the relics, and you aren't killing anyone."
Adrestia just snorted in an amused manner and flicked her finger at Jackie, who yelled out in pain, grabbing fistfuls of her own hair.
"Jackie, shOOT!" I gasped. She was already in so much pain, and whatever Adrestia just did was not helping Jackie's well being.
I didn't realize that so many people were standing around me because as soon as I started to run up to where that bitchy goddess and Jackie were standing, Percy, Jason, Frank and Annabeth all rushed at me at the same time to hold me back.
"Luka, don't act irrationally." Annabeth whispered to me. She was right, we needed to try negotiating with Adrestia first.
"Anyways," Adrestia started up again, "Since Jackie doesn't seem to want to listen to me, I guess I'll have to explain myself. You will all lay down your weapons and hand over the relics to me so I can restore equilibrium to this world. If you refuse to cooperate, I will have my army wipe out all demigod life for good."
This was a trick, it HAD to be a trick. There was no way she would go through all this trouble acting as our enemy if she just wanted to "restore equilibrium."
Adrestia didn't seem to like our hesitation, and made another gesture towards Jackie, who cried out in pain before snapping her mouth closed as if to try to keep the sound from escaping. She was seriously trying to stay strong through this. Gods, I just wanted to save her.
"Don't listen to her!" Jackie yelped, "She's lying, she just wants to kill us a-" Adretia kicked her in the ribs and Jackie crumpled over into a ball at her feet with a sob.
Ok so I was right. This was a trap.
"Poor Jackie is merely delusional right now." Adrestia said coldly, "Would you really believe a moody demigod over a goddess!?"
Yes you nasty egg with a smelly butthole.
Everyone around us was stunned. I could tell they loved Jackie, especially the campers from Camp Half-Blood, but did she alone mean enough to them to risk their lives? I'd risk mine for her in a heartbeat, but I couldn't command everyone else to do the same.
Somehow, Jackie managed to sit up again to speak. "Just let me die!" She managed, "I'm not worth it, just sacrifice me and save both the camps-" Adrestia made a slapping motion with her hand and Jackie went back to the ground in her little ball, keening like a wounded animal.
How was she even still alive? How the HELL was her tiny body taking all this???
Adrestia clicked her tongue, smiling at me creepily.
"So, Luka, what will it be? Sacrifice your soulmate, or sacrifice the camps? One for all, or all for one?"
Dang muffins this was a phat dilemma.
I looked at Jackie longingly. I need her to survive... but I also can't be selfish.
But I so badly want to be selfish.