𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒚 | Hermes

xxvi.

"Came to get you." Thalia Grace hadn't changed a bit. A little skinnier, and her eyes more wary, but she was the exact same as a year ago, when Luke had been on the run with her. They'd found each other in a back alley in a city, when Luke had been trying to run away from Connecticut and New York, and they'd travelled together for a while.

Of course, Luke had then been caught considering he was on both the police and social service's systems, having been caught before after running away from foster care. They'd arrested him in front of Thalia, who had been hidden, and Luke had been dragged back to a foster home in Connecticut, near where May had been. Whenever he had gotten comfortable at his mom's home, he'd always remembered Thalia's eyes watching him as he was arrested, and worried about if she was still living or not. 

The weight of her life was a heavy burden for Luke.

"What is this place?" Thalia asked, looking up at the large house, with it's columns and windows. "Are you alright? I didn't know what happened after they took you."

"I'm good. I'm alright." Luke nodded, untensing slightly. "They put me in the system again, and then I got out."

"How'd you get out?"

"Well, I-" He paused, something dawning on him. "How did you find me?"

"I saw this and I would recognise you anywhere, even if you were in a monkey suit." Thalia joked, handing Luke a scrap of paper. The teenager took it, his eyes going wide as he saw the picture of him, Eden and Hermes from the charity gala around New Years. "You've grown, a lot since I last saw you."

"Well, I think I was slightly malnourished when you last saw me. I've been able to eat here." Luke replied with a shrug. 

"What is here?"

"I-"

"Thalia." Luke paused, before looking around and seeing a small girl standing and staring at them.

"Thalia, who is that?"

"This is Annabeth."

"Why is there a seven year old holding a dagger?" Luke hissed, turning to stare at the little girl, who was holding onto the dagger like a lifeline, her grey eyes wide. "Gods, did you help a seven year old run away?"

"She was in an alley. I didn't know what to do and it was right after you were taken."

"Take her to the police. Get her back to her family. Thalia, she's seven!" Luke cried, before quietening his voice as he tried not to wake his mom up. "She's a child."

"She's a demigod, and she doesn't want to go home." Thalia tried to argue. "I couldn't let her go back."

"Thalia, she's seven." Luke reiterated, lowering his voice as he stepped closer to Thalia. "You and I both know, better than anyone, that you shouldn't be running around, killing monsters and doing that sort of shit at that age."

Luke did know that.

Sure, he'd been nine when they'd caught him the first time, but he'd survived alone on the streets since he was a lot younger. May would sometimes become more lucid, and they'd go shopping, and then she'd forget what she was doing and leave him places and he'd have to find his own way home. For a six year old stranded in the middle of no where, that was terrifying.