Two and a half months later
A hiss of magic shuddered through the air, bringing with it the whisper of an ill-fated dream, a power so ancient that I felt it in my bones. My shadows flickered in response, the brush of an outside source stirring the secret I'd kept locked up deep inside me, and I clamped down hard on it, focusing my attention on the wall of fog in our way.
"Through here," Luke murmured, his gaze fixed on the path that vanished into nothingness in front of us. He squeezed my hand, almost like he was reassuring himself, and loosed a breath. "Thanks. Let's go."
I nodded silently, squeezing back, and we stepped into the mist together. The cold air brushed over the exposed skin of my arms and legs and I shivered, feeling the fog curl over me like a blanket. With the sheer amount of mist, the magical kind, hanging in the air, I could feel every little whisper in the air, a pool of magic right at my fingertips.
We walked through the fog silently, Luke a grounding presence at my side. Words didn't seem to be appropriate at the moment so we kept quiet as white mist drifted past.
When the fog cleared, we were standing on a dirt path, the sunset lighting up the sky with brilliant streaks of crimson, and I turned my gaze towards the summit of the mountain and the glittering golden apples on the tree, a giant dragon curled around its ancient trunk.
I felt my magic rise again in the face of a new threat and shoved it down, cursing the thickening power in the air that was causing me to be so on edge.
Luke squeezed my hand and I paused, glancing at him.
"Wait," he said, his gaze fixed on the tree and the dragon before us. I tensed slightly, my whip unfurling just the slightest bit, but waited.
After a heartbeat of agonizing silence, the mist and shadows pooling around the meadow began to move and an ethereal sound, like voices straight out of a high-fantasy novel, perhaps maybe the Lord of the Rings, reached my ears. Only Luke's grip on my wrist kept me from unfurling my weapon, and it was his presence that kept me still as the Hesperides emerged from the shadows.
I kept my expression blank, my facial features as cold, and sized up the four immortals. All had black hair like silk and the darkest night and wore white Greek chitons which brought out the warmth in their caramel-coloured skin.
Beautiful in every aspect, as the daughters of the sunset should be. They glanced at Luke and then at me and I watched them warily as all four gazes, black like obsidian, studied me. I held in my sigh of relief as they turned their attention back to Luke and fought the urge to collapse to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Ever since this morning, when Luke had informed Alabaster and Nicole along with the rest of the crew that they were to continue recruiting, this time along the West coast, as he and I delivered the casket up to Mount Othrys and met with Atlas, I'd been praying that they would listen to the order Athena had given them. When I'd mastered my shadow-walker abilities at the age of twelve, Athena had dragged me here and told me that until I fought Ladon and incapacitated him to retrieve an apple, I wasn't going home.
That had meant spending quite some quality time with the Hesperides. Suffice to say, after three days and a near-dead dragon, they'd been nothing but eager to have me out and never return. Before leaving, Athena had forced them to swear on the Styx that should I ever return, they would treat me just like another demigod daring enough to risk the wrath of the queen of the heavens herself.
"Luke Castellan, son of Hermes," Hesperia said coldly. "Art thou so determined to retrieve an apple that thou would return?"
"No," Luke replied coolly, his gaze unflinching though I felt him tense. "I have other business to attend to. You will let us pass to the mountain."
"Atlas is waiting for us," I said as their black gazes remained blank. "You don't want to keep him waiting."
"Very well," Erytheia said. "Skirt around the edge of the garden. Ladon is trained to protect the tree and will not attack unless you approach it."
Luke nodded and made as if to step forward, but hesitated. I risked a glance at him and saw that he was pale, his scar stark against his face, and his blue eyes held a kernel of fear.
I squeezed his hand in comfort, reminding him that this time, he wasn't alone. I was here.
Luke squeezed back, letting me know that he got my message, and we headed to the outskirts of the garden. I felt a ripple pass through the air as the Hesperides faded back into shadow, but not before I heard Aegle whisper, so quiet I barely caught it, "The wind is shifting, daughter of shadow."
A phantom cloud suddenly seemed to block the warmth of the fading rays and I fought down my shiver as I quickened my pace, refusing to glance over my shoulder as the lilting voices of the Hesperides filled the shadows behind us.
We passed through the garden with no surprises, Ladon remaining asleep, and headed up to the top of the mountain.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys," I breathed as we crested the hill and the ruins spread out before us. As I took in the sight of columns and blocks of black granite and marble piercing through the earth, broken statues of bronze scattered haphazardly in the ruins that had once been magnificent in its glory of bloodshed and terror, a strange feeling washed over me. It was both in part apprehension, dread, hatred, and horror, yet a part of me couldn't help but marvel at the dark beauty of this place. No matter what, Kronos had had a taste for luxury and I could only begin to imagine the opulence of this place had it been in its former splendour.
Which means you'll have to keep dreaming, I thought, since that's never going to happen.
The two of us weaved our way through the rubble, through jagged columns, cracked archways, and shattered stone, our footsteps on the fractured marble floor the only sound among the drifting fog.
"Wait," Luke whispered suddenly, holding a hand in front of me. "Hold on." He crouched down behind a block of marble and I followed, squeezing in next to him.
"Why are we whispering?" I whispered back, glancing at him.
"He's waiting, right around this corner," Luke replied. "A couple things before we step out. One, this is Atlas. A Titan. The General. Please, please, please try to be more . . . " Luke paused as he searched for the right word, his gaze fixed wryly on me. "Just . . . don't talk to him the way you talked to Mr. D last year, alright? I don't want you to die."
"Oh, so you want me to treat him like the haughty prick he is, right? Grovel and all that?"
Luke pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "If you have to put it that way, then yes."
"Ay ay, captain," I said. "Jeez, you have so little faith in me."
"Can you blame me, when I heard you call one of the Olympians a 'basted purple wino'?"
"Can we please forget that?" I winced, biting down a laugh. Maybe that had been a bit too much, even if it was true. Thank the gods Dionysus hadn't been around to hear me curse him after he'd condemned me to a week of bed rest last year because I'd have been permanently turned into a dolphin.
"Anyways, number two," Luke continued, bringing his gaze to mine. "To him, we're nothing more than a commander and lieutenant."
"I know that," I muttered, meeting his gaze. "It's Atlas. Of course we're going to-"
"No, you don't understand," Luke hushed, his gaze fixed on mine with burning intensity. "Ri, if Atlas even gets a whiff of anything, he will make me kill you on the spot. Do you understand? You could die today. If it wasn't for a direct order from Kronos, I would never have brought you here."
Oh. Oh. No wonder Luke had been abnormally quiet on the way here, no wonder he'd held my hand like today was the last day he'd ever see me. Because it might very well be. I swallowed, my throat dry as the implication of what he was saying hit me. Dread swirled up but I shoved it back down and nodded, reaching up to cup his face. Luke shivered slightly as my fingers brushed over his jagged scar. "Trust me," I whispered. "I'm not dying today. There's so much more I want to do, so much more I want to see, with you, to die at the hands of a stupid-ass titan who's stuck under the sky like an ant."
Luke choked out a laugh, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment before he opened them again, his blue eyes dazzling. "And what if he makes me kill you as a test of loyalty?"
"I'll just have to prove that I'm more valuable alive than dead," I shrugged. "Don't worry, Luke, I'll be fine. Just trust me," I said softly, reaching for his hands and squeezing them in mine. "Trust me."
I almost choked on those two words, the irony of what I was saying not lost on me. Trust me.
I mentally shook myself. Now is not the time to be thinking about that, I scolded. You have a gods-damn Titan right around the corner! Focus, Clari.
"Okay," he replied, staring at our hands. "Okay."
Silence fell between us and seemed to stretch on forever, but I made no move, sensing that there was more.
"I'm so grateful that you're here with me," Luke suddenly said, burying his head into my shoulder. "Seriously. If it weren't for you, I think I would have fallen apart by now. I'm scared of what will happen soon. I never meant to go this far."
"Luke!" I said, alarmed by his sudden action. "What in the name of Zeus are you talking about?" Luke didn't reply, only tightening his grip around me. "Just promise me that you'll never leave my side. Please."
All thoughts eddied out of my head in a flash. What the hell was going on?
"I'm not going anywhere," I replied, confused. "Luke, what are you talking about?"
"Just promise me," he mumbled.
"Okay, okay. I promise. Now, come on," I said, letting go and standing up. "We don't want to keep him waiting."
Luke stood up, taking a deep breath, and turned to me.
I bit down my shock at the impassive expression on his face, the iciness in his gaze as he looked at me. "Are you ready?"
Even his voice was flat, cold, nothing more than the voice of a commander to a lieutenant.
Blinking over my initial surprise, I slipped into my own mask, keeping my face blank and my eyes filled with cruel cunning, my voice detached, feeling a phantom frigidness wrap around me and nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Let's go."
***
Guys, school's starting next week for me.
So I'm apologizing in advance if my updating schedule might become a bit chaotic. Cuz life happens.
Anyways, I hope it won't come to that because I'm not the type of person to procrastinate (I know, shocking) but I still do it sometimes so this is the sorry for all those times I can't seem to pull my head out of my books and do my homework.
Fingers crossed it doesn't come to that, but who knows.
Good luck to anyone whos still in school, and let's hope we don't flunk! :)
Thank you for reading, good luck, and don't forget to comment and vote! I love you guys.