bonus chapter | luke's internal thoughts
ℑ knew as soon as I let Andi disappear down into the hole in the ground that contained the Labyrinth that it was a bad idea. Not least because this was the first time that I wasn't going with her on a quest, but also because I knew what her luck was like and how she would most likely end up annoying some immortal person in her first five minutes stuck down there. Not to mention she now had Annabeth, one incredibly anxious satyr and a cyclops who didn't really want to be under the ground with Grover.
"Hey." A hand hit his shoulder and Luke twisted, finding Clarisse standing behind him. She narrowed her eyes. "If you look stressed, everyone gets stressed. You can't show it."
My face hardened and I straightened up, towering over the girl. She had to tilt her head to look up at me.
"What are you going to do?" Connor and Travis had approached, watching me with wide eyes. "You staying or going back to New York?"
"I'll stay for a bit. How bout that?" I grinned at them, ruffling Travis' hair as both boys grinned. Shooting Clarisse one last look, I followed my brothers towards Eleven. We still had activities, not that I'd take part apart from maybe sword fighting.
The days consisted of joining my siblings for activities, doing my work in the afternoon and then worrying about not having heard from Andi. The fountain in her room didn't pop up again, nothing was heard of them, and it was stressful.
I couldn't sleep in Eleven because despite our loss of campers, there were still too many unclaimed and children of Hermes, so I took to sleeping in Andi's bed, waiting for her to come back. I'd got so used to the feeling of her in my arms when I slept that her not being there was throwing me off, and I missed her like crazy. I missed her perfume, though I swore that sometimes I could still smell it when I turned.
I'd also taken the time to visit Chris Rodriguez, my brother that had been practically unclaimed for most of his life because our dad had forgotten him. When Clarisse couldn't sit with him, I did instead. I talked to him, telling him that I was sorry that I got him into this situation because if it wasn't for me then he wouldn't have ever had the notion to join Kronos. He'd seen me as a bitter seventeen or eighteen year old and had followed in my footsteps and I regretted it.
He was only young, barely just sixteen and I often wondered how many other kids I had condemned to die because I'd allowed Kronos to settle in my mind and given him a foothold into our world. Without Andi here to knock the thoughts out of my head, my anxiety was becoming even more of an issue than it normally was.
"Luke, you're being mean!" Vivi was only eleven, one of the younger daughters of Hermes and our newest in terms of being claimed. She still had that childish innocence about her, not afraid to make friends with everyone and anyone and not afraid of me in the slightest. We had sword fighting and she was still too young to be taking part truly, so I had taken it upon myself to do some training with her, though it was disguised as a game.
She giggled, trying to swipe for me as I dodged from side to side, chuckling with her, as I twisted around the back and laughed once more. Prodding her back, I grinned..
"Got you."
"Go again?" She beamed up at me, eyes wide as I nodded. She crouched low, ducking and weaving to dodge my arms and try and reach me to jab me with her hand. It was a crude way of tag, but it taught her to look for an opening, to find a way to stab an opponent before I put a sword in her hand.
Not that I really wanted to.
But hey, what was better than having a child soldier? Getting a previous child soldier riddled with anxiety and PTSD to teach a child how to take his place!
I hate everything.
"Luke!" I stopped, allowing Vivi to jab me as she cackled.
"Got you!" She beamed, excitement racing through her as giggled and looked for someone to tell that she had beaten the best swordsman in three hundred years. I caught her wrists before she could jab at me again, looking for who had called my name. Silena was standing in the entrance, horror clear as she motioned.
"Big House. Now!"
"Sorry, Vivi. Why don't you go and play with Connor, yeah?" I grinned at her, letting her go as I picked Backbiter up and took off after Silena. "What's going on?"
"Eruption, big one."
"What?"
"Typhon's cage, Mount St. Helens." Silena told him, both of them thundering up the stairs to go skidding into one of the living rooms at the Big House. The other camp councilors and older demigods were there, along with Chiron, everyone huddled around a radio in the centre. Silena and I grow closer and space is made for me in an instant as Lee Fletcher turns the radio up at my look.
I take a breath, listening to the announcer.
There was an eruption at Mount St. Helen's, a large one. People were dead, the volcano was still going, pyroclastic flow...
"What could have caused it?" Castor spoke up, looking around. "I thought Typhon was trapped."
"Something powerful. Earthquake." I paused, looking up at Chiron for a second as I thought of something. Earthquake, Poseidon...Andi.
"Now, Luke, we don't know that for certain." Chiron cut my thoughts off, as fear raced through me. Everyone turned to me as I thought.
"One of Hephaestus' forges is there. It's might have been him." Beckendorf speaks up as neither Chiron or I offer an explanation.
"See. That could be it." Chiron turned to me as I hummed. I didn't believe it for one second and the sinking feeling in my stomach was reminding me that Andi's untapped potential could be the cause of all of this. It would seem just about right that she would somehow be able to make earthquakes.
I went to bed that night with a sinking feeling in my stomach and worry crawling through me. I knew that Andi was involved with this, just knew that she was a part of all of this.
When I wake up the next morning, the camp is in chaos.
I emerged from Three and hear shouting. Turning the corner, I find Annabeth arguing with the camp councillors in the arena.
"What's going on?" I called. Everyone froze, and I tensed, looking around and folding my arms over my chest. Annabeth pushes through the others.
"Luke!" She's upset about something, rushing over. I take note that I can't see Andi, or Grover or Tyson.
"Hi kid." I mutter, letting her run into my arms, before pulling back. "You alright?"
"Yeah, but Luke-" She stops herself, and my heart breaks already. I want to cry, or perhaps scream, or throw something but Clarisse's words ring in my head. If I show weakness, everyone gets stressed.
"Luke." Chiron steps forward.
"She's dead, isn't she?" I muttered to him, as Annabeth's grip on me tightens, crying into my shoulder. I look at Chiron, anger twisting through me as I watch him. "I was right. She caused the earthquake. She's dead, isn't she?"
"Now, nothing is certain, Luke. Perhaps we should discuss it at the Big House." I shrug his hand off of my shoulder, taking a deep breath.
"Luke, please..." Annabeth's grip tightens on me and I carefully pry her off. She's crying as I turn and leave. I can't be around them. I can't let them see me like this, let them see me considering that perhaps I was wrong. The gods didn't care if they'd truly let Andi die, their chosen one, the person who was there to complete the prophecy and they'd just let her die.
It was like Thalia all over again, watching her die and not being able to save her.
They're calling after me but as soon as I hit the forest, I hurry to disappear further and further away from them.
If they had killed me, I would have understood. I was expendable, a child of Hermes and there were so many of those that Hermes seems to forget to claim some of them, but Andi...? Andi was the only daughter of the Sea God, not that it mattered. She was beautiful and smart, though she so desperately downplayed it, she was kind and loving and forgiving. The stars, the moon, the beauty of the world was pale in comparison to her and they'd let her die. They'd let her die and they'd taken her from me.
She was gone. My Andi, my snarky beautiful girlfriend and they'd taken her just like that. She was everything good and kind in this world and they'd taken her.
I sank to the floor in the forest, finally crying though I desperately tried to hide it, burying my head into my hands as I tried not to scream.
I would never hear her laughter again. I'd never have her sarcastic running commentary in her ear, she'd never be by my side, I'd never be able to dance with her or kiss her or hold her hand or fall asleep next to her, or wake up with her by my side.
I'd lost her.
It hurt even worse the second time around. Losing Thalia barely seemed like a minor inconvenience, losing my mother was nothing compared to this, everything paled in comparison. It felt like my soul had been ripped from my body, like I couldn't breathe.
I'd lost her.
I sat there for a further few hours. When I did return, it was dark and I disappeared into Cabin Three, flopping down onto Andi's bed and did not move. I lost all sense of time. Nothing could rouse me for a few days or so, not even Annabeth, despite her pleading and begging with me to get up and move.
How was I supposed to do that? How was I supposed to go on without Andi by my side? I never thought that I'd have to live without her, always expecting her to be somewhere even if she was far away from me, but I hadn't prepared for this.
I'm ashamed to say that at that point, I could hear Kronos in my head again, whispering about how the gods didn't care for anyone, least of all their children and Andromeda's death only further proved that. She was sent to her death by a god despite her use to them. I was even more ashamed to say that I was starting to think he was right.
I don't know how I manage to make it to the Big House to ask Chiron to get someone else to make the shroud because I can't, or to New York for that matter. I don't think I should have been driving but I ended up at Sally's apartment all the same.
When she opens the door to me, I think she understands straight away, her eyes watering as mine do the same. She doesn't say anything, just hugs me and I'm not sure how long we stand there in her doorway, hugging and crying. I only remember her making me come inside and sitting me down with a plate of food.
"Dree would want you to eat." Sally reminded me, kissing my head as I just about manage to force some food down my throat. We eat in silence and then Sally offers me a place to sleep for the night. I accept, not sure that I could actually stomach going back to our joint apartment together. There's too much of Andi everywhere, and I feel like I would break down at the thought of it all.
Over the next few days, we talk about who needs to be told before I drive back to camp, knowing that we have to burn the shroud.
"You don't have to do this if you do not want to, my boy. Annabeth coul-" That would be even worse than me doing it.
"I'll do it." I cut Chiron off, before picking the sea green burial shroud up. It's her favourite shade of green, embroidered with a trident. I slipped two drachmas into it, where her eyes would have been if we were burying her. I wanted her to have safe passage. "Who made it?"
"Your siblings." Chiron muttered as I nodded. He led me down to the amphitheatre, every other camper present there too. Most are dressed in shades of black, trying to pay their respects as I stood beside Chiron, clutching onto the burial shroud. It was the last piece of her, the last piece of her we'd ever have considering no one could find her body. "I have asked Luke to do the final honours."
I didn't want to, and for a moment, I wanted to shout that this wasn't fair or right but I carefully placed the shroud into the fire all the same. I didn't want anyone else to do it, to disrespect her in her final rite.
As it started to burn I turned, facing the campers and taking a deep breath. Sally and I had come up with a speech and practiced it a few times until I knew it by heart.
"She was probably the bravest person I've ever known. She..." I looked up and for a moment, I wondered if her ghost had come to visit us. It was like she was right there, dressed in her normal cargo trousers and orange shirt, watching me with the same soft eyes that she had always looked at me with. Then I narrowed my own because the ghost was most definitely breathing and not translucent.
Air came flooding back into my lungs, like I could breathe again, and the weight on my shoulders lifted a little further. The grief was gone in an instance, replaced by anger as I realised that it wasn't an apparition but in fact, my girlfriend of two years. She paled, gulping and that confirmed it all.
"She's right there!"
Everyone turned, cheers going up as people went to congratulate her. I tilted my head back, mumbling a thank you to whichever god had saved her and sighing in relief that she was alive.
"Andromeda!" I managed to part most of the crowd, taking the steps two at a time as Andi grinned sheepishly watching me with those eyes that I adored so much.
"Hi...?" Hearing her voice was a blessing and her hands snaking around my shoulders was like water after days in the heat. I dug my fingers into her shoulder, convincing myself that she was here as I let my head fall until it hit her shoulder, feeling her pulse point with my other hand. She was here. She was alive. She wasn't dead. They hadn't taken her from me. "I missed you."
"Don't ever, ever, do that to me again." I whispered, tilting her head from side to side as I looked for any new cuts or scars. There was a slight one above her eyebrow but she was grinning that grin I adored so deeply and she radiated Andi energy as I called it and she just smelled like Andi. Annabeth was brushing past me, yelling at her before we were all dragged to the Big House but I didn't care anymore.
She was home. She was back and I would be damned if the gods ever took my Andi from me ever again.
I would rather burn all of Olympus, tear it all down than ever let them take her from me again. That I would swear on my own life, the bones of my ancestors and the gods themselves.
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Hiya,
I promised TPNMANGAfan that I would write a bonus chapter for Luke's pov during BotL when I finished with my exam and assignment. I've done both, so here's Luke's POV and summary is, man was depressed and I respect that for him honestly. This turned longer and more depressing than I planned but oops?
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx