Isabelle Olympus (A Percy Jackson Fan-fiction)

Isabelle Olympus part 9

Luke’s lips parted slightly and he managed to say very quietly “Isabelle Olympus . . . help.” That was all the encouragement I needed, I was there in under a second and standing between the dragon and Luke. The dragon backed off slightly, surprised at my sudden arrival. But the surprise quickly wore off and it opened its mouth to breathe fire at me but I quickly shot water into its mouth extinguishing the flames. I didn’t wait for it to recover I made vines grow from the ground and they wrapped themselves around the dragon’s legs and mouth and any other part of its body they could get to, tying it up and making the dragon unable to move. I quickly turned back to Luke and held onto him as I transported us to just outside the garden.

Once we were there I was able to get a good look at him, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Most of his skin was burned, he had several large bruises and there was a lot of blood pouring from the cut on his cheek as well as the one on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, this is going to hurt.” I apologised as I pulled out the dragon’s talon that was stuck in his shoulder, hating how it caused him to howl. I grabbed his bag and pulled out some ambrosia and the flask of nectar. If only he hadn’t had some earlier then I could give him more, but I knew that demigods couldn’t have too much of this stuff because it could kill them, which was the completely opposite effect to what I wanted to happen. Once he had taken as much of the food and drink as I thought was safe for him I could see the effect of them immediately. His cuts started to shrink and close up and even the burns started to heal and fade.

I dug around in his bag again but didn’t find anything useful so I closed my eyes and thought of what I needed. When I opened them there was a first aid kit floating in front of my face, I quickly grabbed it and went to work bandaging Luke’s wounds.

Neither of us had really said anything to the other yet and I wasn’t going to break the silence. Luke needed to think and I knew he was disappointed even though I was trying to block out his emotions, I could still sense the depression and frustration rolling off of him.

“Thank you.” Luke said in a small voice when I was nearly finished. He wouldn’t look at me when he said it and I knew that it was tough for him to admit that.

“You’re welcome. It’s my job. And I was already watching, gods you scared me.” I said smiling gently. There was a ghost of smile on his face for a fraction of a second before it disappeared again. I could feel him slipping, I was losing him. He had wanted to do this to prove to everyone, no, to prove to Hermes, that he could manage this and he had needed help. It was crushing him, and I could feel him closing himself off. This was the moment, he was going to turn from the gods and Olympus because of this quest. “Do you want me to take you back to camp?” I asked so quietly it was almost a whisper.

“No.” He replied, I had kind of expected that, him failing the quest and then having me take him home was adding insult to injury. But I had to offer it, if he made his own way back to camp now he would be approached by something evil and because of how he was feeling he would listen. “I think I’ll make my own way back.” I felt like crying. This was it, the Luke I knew was leaving, there would be something dark in him the next time I saw him. But I couldn’t show how I felt, so I just nodded.

“Remember though, if you need my help, or just company, call me.” I said knowing that no matter what he wouldn’t call me again. “Luke, you know that no one’s going to blame you or be upset that you couldn’t finish this quest, okay? I know that I don’t care about it, I’m just glad that you’re alright.” I told him seriously, but he wouldn’t look up at me.

“I know.” He said quietly, but I don’t think he meant it.

“Do you want me to go?” I asked, he didn’t reply but he nodded. I understood, he wanted to be alone to think, I stood up and was about to leave but just before I did I stopped. I bent down and picked up the dragon’s claw from where I had discarded it in my panic. “You should keep that.” I said as I put it in Luke’s lap. I didn’t wait for a reply but as I left I saw his fingers curl around the claw and he held it tightly.

When I arrived back at camp I was glad I was in my cabin because I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. I collapsed on my bed and let them overflow. That was the last of the true Luke, I was sure of it. I was still sobbing when I pressed the winged sandals charm on my bracelet and Hermes’ voice sounded around the room.

“Hello? Izzy? Izzy are you there?” At that point an extra loud sob broke from my chest and I was sure Hermes had heard it because the line disconnected and before I had time to think he was standing in front of me concern covering his face. “Oh Izzy, what’s the matter?” He asked as he pulled me into a hug.

“That’s it. Luke’s quest is over, he failed, he’s on his way back, and when he gets here he won’t be the same. The evil will have seized its chance and taken the Luke we know from us.” I exclaimed between crying. Hermes held me tighter.

“He failed? I thought that by giving him a quest it might distract him from anything that was trying to convert him to evil and show my faith in him. But it looks like I’ve just caused it to happen.” Hermes said quietly and I think he know needed this hug as much as I did. He cared about Luke, even though he had purposefully distanced himself from him, he still cared about his son.

“It’s not your fault, it was prophesised and you know prophecies always come true. Always. There was nothing you could have done.” I tried to comfort him. Hermes sighed before saying

“I should go.” I think he may have just been trying to get away so he could be alone, but I didn’t stop him. He needed to come to terms with this, I mean his son would nearly bring down Olympus, but he would make the right decision in the end, and that’s what we would have to focus on from now on.

I think everyone at camp could see I was upset, but not many asked me about it. Annabeth, gods her face nearly killed me when she saw how upset I was, it was distraught, and it was painful to see. I think she thought Luke was dead, I quickly reassured her that Luke was alive but I didn’t say anything else. I didn’t know what we would get when Luke came back, I didn’t know if it would be obvious that a change had happened inside of him or if he would act like normal. So I couldn’t tell Annabeth that she would get Luke back just as he left, because I just didn’t know what would arrive at camp half-blood. Nobody actually asked me if Luke had succeeded but I think word soon spread around camp that it hadn’t gone well.

I couldn’t bring myself to look in on Luke again, and as I predicted he didn’t ask me to either. I couldn’t find it in me to see him being coaxed and guided by an evil . . . thing (I had no idea what was going to lead him astray but I just knew that something would). I waited for his return like everyone else at camp, not knowing what was happening to him.

He turned up a week later, he had obviously taken his time coming back. But that was understandable because who would be keen to return and tell everyone you knew that you had failed. He walked into camp with his head held high though, I looked him over and the scar on his cheek was still there but other than that he looked fine. It was like he had met no monsters at all on the way home, which was very strange.

Chiron greeted him happily and led him into his office to hear what happened. I knew that that wasn’t going to be an easy conversation so I didn’t follow. I decided instead to go tell Annabeth he had come back as I knew that this last week had been killing her. I found her at the arena practising fighting with her dagger on some dummies.

“Hey!” I called out to her, giving her some warning of my coming, so that I didn’t surprise her and have her stab me. She turned around grinning at me.

“Is he . . . ?” She trailed, but I knew what she was asking.

“Yeah, he’s back. He’s talking to Chiron right now.” I said but before I had finished she had already sprinted away towards Chiron’s office. I decided to follow her as I wanted to see how Luke would react.

Annabeth burst into Chiron’s office without knocking and tackled Luke into a tight hug, I could see through the open door that he returned it just as tightly. Good! That was exactly what Luke would have done before, maybe I had been too quick to judge, maybe he would be fine for a little while longer.