Badlands ♡ muke

4 ⋇ erebus

Erebus

The god of darkness and shadow.

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Jack walked Luke back to the building where the healers were taking care of Calum.

Their horses were outside and Luke spotted Michael feeding his.

"Hi, Michael," Jack offered the boy his hand. "Long time no see. How are you?"

Michael smiled and shrugged.

"Tired probably," Luke said. "You should go inside, find Calum, and get some rest. We'll take care of the horses, thank you."

Michael nodded and went inside.

They feed and brushed all the horses before Ashton came to get them. The healers wanted to talk to them.

"I'll keep an eye on your companions. To see if anyone is looking at you." Jack whispered as they walked behind Ashton.

"What do you mean looking at me?" Luke questioned his half-brother.

"I know when I'll see it."

It turned out it wasn't just healers, most of Thebes' important people were there.

"This is Luke," Ashton introduced him. "The son of Athena."

Luke nodded to a few old men and a younger woman who kept staring at him.

"She's our prophet, oracle," Jack explained.

"His injury is not spreading too fast." One of the healers commented. "However, it might affect his mind more than it does his body. If you can see, the discharge is green. The color of envy. Whoever did this meant for worse things to happen."

"Since when are you predicting things, doctor?" The oracle had a stone-cold smile on her face.

The older man blushed and didn't say anything but continued to tend Calum's wound.

"Can you help us?" Luke asked the prophet. "We were going to Delphi but-"

"If your goal was to get your answers at Delphi, that's where you'll get them." She said with a quiet but clear voice. "You must not change your plans, you must not try and change the past or the future. My sisters will answer your questions the son of Athena, you'll just have to be prepared to hear them."

"W-what do you mean?"

"They might not tell you what you want to hear or how you want to hear it," Her smile was still unfriendly but her words were honest.

"I'll do my best, thank you."

After the healers were done, they were escorted to a nearby guesthouse.

"So, did you find anyone looking at me in any kind of way?" Luke asked with a teasing smile on his face before they said goodbye.

Jack's smile was bigger than his which immediately made Luke shut up.

"What?" Luke asked. "What?" He asked again when all Jack did was laugh.

"They were all looking at you, you were the one who was talking, but-"

The younger boy was ready to throw his brother off a cliff.

"Okay, okay. I think Michael likes you."

Luke stopped walking. "What? I mean I hope he does, of course, if he's not the one trying to kill me or Calum." Except for that one time where he shouted at Michael, there was never any bad blood between them so Luke didn't understand why the boy wouldn't like him.

Jack sighed. "Not like that. There was always a rumor that Michael likes... you know. Boys."

Luke blushes like crazy, Jack was the only person he ever told he might like men.

He did ask his mother about it and all she did was tell him to read some books about it and asked if Luke wasn't maybe just intimidated by women. They were, in Athena's humble opinion, the wiser of the two sexes.

"Stop making things up. You promised you won't tease me about it." Luke couldn't understand how his brother could be messing around while his life was possibly on the line.

Jack stepped in front of him. "I'm not. Michael was staring at you like you could talk the all the Gods and when he realized I caught him he blushed almost harder than you."

Luke huffed and kept walking. He couldn't believe how people didn't know who Michael was and why he didn't talk but they knew which gender he was attracted to.

When they finally caught up with his friends Ashton immediately came to ask if Luke was okay.

Luke made the mistake of looking at Michael. In his mind, Michael just looked at everyone so intently, he didn't communicate as other people did so his face had to say more.

Jack might be right about Michael liking boys but he was wrong about Michael liking Luke.

They had guards protecting their rooms but they decided to all sleep in the same room anyway. Luke helped Calum get changed for bed.

"Hey, Luke." The son of Apollo nudged him. "Please stop blaming yourself for this, it was my decision to do what I did so I'm the one taking responsibility for my actions."

"But-"

"Tomorrow we'll make it to Delphi and we'll get the answers we need."

"How can you be so sure?" Luke asked.

Calum smiled. "No answer is still and answer."

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i love this story and I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I am grateful for all of you who are reading and leaving me comments. ♡

thoughts on what the prophet said?

jack and luke's relationship?

what jack said about michael?

what questions do you want oracle to answer?

Love, Lucija ♡

p.s.: i am doing a holiday 'giveaway'. basically, I'll randomly select one person (per update) who will vote and leave feedback on chapters I post in December and contact you so you can request a one shot idea or au or whatever your heart desires.