Luke's POV
As the school year went on, so did the seasons. In California, if I didn't have a Calendar, I almost wouldn't be able to tell it was December. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is visiting Grandma and Grandpa in New York and having snowball fights in the snow and going skating at the Rockefeller Center.
Noah was taking the portal out to Florida tomorrow morning to go home for the holidays, so we were trying to make the most of the last day. We sat in the New Rome coffee shop, both sipping our Peppermint Hot Chocolate Specials, despite how warm it was outside.
We held hands over the table, staring into each other's eyes, not saying anything. I was just thinking about how pretty his purple eyes were and how unnatural they looked and how when the right light caught them they seemed to glow violet when a thought occurred to me.
"What?" Noah asked, lips quirking into a grin.
"I've just realized that you have the same name as Riley's brother," I told him.
Noah sat up a bit taller, a confused expression on his face. "Have I met this brother? I don't remember him. Is he older or younger?"
My face fell. "Oh...well, technically he's younger. And no one's actually met him."
Noah was very confused, and rightfully so.
"Well, you see, Noah was Piper and Jason's second miscarriage. Riley also would have an older brother named Matthew. But they didn't make it."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Noah said. I shrugged it off, feeling uncomfortable.
After our hot chocolate, we walked hand in hand to our favorite spot at Camp Jupiter, the Gardens of Bacchus. We mostly liked to sit on a bench and laugh at the statue of Noah's dad. But today we just sat there, my head on Noah's shoulder, watching all the campers and families bustling around.
"I'm gonna miss you," I murmured into Noah's shoulder. The setting sun caught his blond curls and turned them golden.
Noah chuckled. "I'll only be gone a week," he said.
"Longest week of my life," I answered, looking up at him with big eyes.
"Aw, Luke, I have to go see my mom. I haven't seen her since I went home for my birthday in June."
I grunted unhappily, but stopped at bugging.
"Really, though, it's only a week."
I didn't say anything.
"I'll miss you too," he tried. I smiled when he kissed my forehead and I looked up, catching his lips in a kiss. We got a bit distracted, kissing for awhile, before we realized it had gotten dark while we sat there.
"Blanket fort at my house?" I asked with a smile.
"I thought you'd never ask," Noah answered.
^*^*^*^
It was Christmas Eve, and we were all gathered on the living room by the Christmas Tree in Nico, Will, and Maria's house. We'd just finished Christmas dinner and we were exchanging gifts. After Secret Santa, we exchanged gifts some more.
And then finally there was a lull in action and Will cleared his throat.
"We have one more gift for the five of you," Will said, singling out my dad, my siblings, and I.
Nico stepped forward then, looking a mix of excitement and sadness. I noticed he had a new, small scar bridging his nose. This is only the second time I've seen him since he disappeared around Thanksgiving.
Nico looked at my dad as he spoke. "The past few weeks, I've been doing favors for my dad, Hades in exchange..."
Dad's face paled and his eyes teared up.
"...for an audience." Nico finished. "With Annabeth."
My eyes widened. Ariana and I shared a look and I felt warm tears on my cheeks. Piper smiled warmly at me and patted my shoulder reassuringly.
"I got you four hours," Nico said. Percy had him in a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said over and over again. Nico patted his back, hugging him back.
"I've got it set up in my office," he said, leading us through the house and to the backyard. Bianca grabbed my hand and we followed him numbly. His "office" was really a gazebo on the back porch where he summoned spirits to gather information and other son of Hades things that he did in there.
I'd never been inside before, but it definitely wasn't as goth as I would've thought(sorry Nico). It was actually decorated very comfortably, with fairy lights and lamps and a shrine to Hades in the center covered in jewels. Believe it or not, there was also a totally normal office desk against one wall as well. I also spotted a Mythomagic game set like Maria's sitting on the desk.
Nico led us to where he had set out a couch and a few chairs for us to sit on, the shrine in front of us. Nico started whispering some kind of chant, closing his eyes to concentrate. The space in front of the shrine started to shimmer and then before my very eyes there stood a transparent version of my mom.
My lower lip trembled as I made sure to commit every detail to memory. Her long, blonde, curly hair. Her startlingly grey eyes that held love, pride, and strength within them. The light freckles across her nose. Her wide eyed expression as she took all of us in.
"Percy," she said, voice choked. She took a stumbling step forward and wrapped him up in a hug. Dad hesitated, afraid his hands would go right through her, but she was solid enough for the moment. He hugged her back like he never wanted to let go, tears running down his cheeks.
She pulled back a bit, still safe in his arms. "I've missed you, Seaweed Brain."
"I missed you, too, Wise Girl," Dad said.
"Mom?" I asked, finally finding my voice.
She turned towards me. "Luke," she said, leaving Dad's arms to squeeze me into a tight hug. I melted. She pulled away and cupped my face in her hands, wiping away my tears, just like she did when I was little.
"You've gotten so tall,"she said. "You're so grown up. How old are you now?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm fifteen," I said.
She went to Ariana, who held out her arms to her mom, getting a good long hug before Mom kissed the top of her head. "Oh, baby, you're so beautiful. You've all grown. And if Luke's fifteen, that would make you twelve, huh?"
Ariana nodded.
Mom finally turned to the twins. Her eyes filled with with fresh tears as she looked at the two of them, clinging to Dad's sides. She got down on her knees before them to get a better look at them.
"And what are your names?" She asked quietly and my heart broke all over again.
"Bianca," She whispered, suddenly shy.
The look of love in Mom's eyes was startling.
"Ethan," Ethan supplied, peeking around Dad to get a good look at his mom.
"I don't know what to say," she said, voice cracking. "You're so beautiful."
After awhile, the twins started to warm up towards mom and even went so far as to sit right next to her as we sat and talked.
As soon as I mentioned having a boyfriend, Mom lit up with excitement and demanded to know everything there was to know about him.
I told her how I've got Dad's water powers and that I'm a forward in hockey. Ariana tells Mom all about how she's in dance and how she can make the earth shake beneath her feet.
Bianca has warmed up quite nicely and is boisterously embellishing a story about her swim team(which is basically just swimming lessons right now) and how she saved one of her classmates from drowning when a shark came from the depths of the pool to eat all the children.
Ethan quietly told her how he liked to draw and look through her old architecture sketchbooks and model plans.
Dad and her talked the least, just because they didn't need to. Even after years of being apart, they were so in sync. They felt each other's pain, simply not needing to physically talk about it.
We told Mom about who was born after she died and all the fun stuff we did. Ariana and I told her about our Camp experiences and about Cabin Legacy and Capture the Flag teams and how Dad is our sword fighting instructor some days.
I told her about how Noah and I started dating on July 4th and Mom smiled. "Your dad proposed to me that day," she said. I grinned. "I know," I said.
I couldn't seem to get enough of my mom actually being right here in front of me. I never wanted this conversation to end. I wanted to stay in that moment forever. She's been gone eight years and now here she is and I don't want to let her go.
Finally, Nico pops his head in, smiling sadly at Annabeth. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you've got five minutes left," he said, leaving.
I started to panic. Tears came to my eyes again and I was struggling to take deep breaths. My mom was going to be gone again. For good this time. I'd never see her again.
Dad's strong arms were around my shoulder then, rubbing my arms and urging me to breath. "I know, bud. But we'll be alright."
Mom was pulling everyone into one last hug. I felt safe. I forgot how nice it felt to be held by a mother.
"I love you all so much! It was so nice getting to know my beautiful babies. I'm so proud of all of you and you need to know that whatever happens, I'll always be proud. And I'll always love you. Be true to yourselves and make good choices. Love lots, take care of each other. Make the most of your life. I love you."
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I clung tightly to mom, Ari and the twins all wrapped up in her arms and Dad's arms around all of us.
Mom leaned up to give Dad a deep kiss, so full of love it was almost tangible. It said all the painful goodbyes without uttering a word.
I could feel Mom disappearing. She pressed a kiss to each of our heads and held us tighter, whispering one more "I love you," before she was gone.
As soon as she was gone I collapsed to my knees, sobbing. My heart ached with grief I hadn't felt so strongly in awhile.
Dad eased down to his knees, too, and pulled me into his chest, holding me close. The twins and Ari hurried to join our huddle and we stayed there for a long time, feeling loss, sure, but also closure.
^*^*^*^
Hours later, when we were back at home in our beds, waiting for 'Santa to come in the morning', I lay staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.
I found myself crying again and I eventually gave up trying to sleep, so I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and dialed the one person who could make me feel better.
It rang about seven times before he picked up.
"Luke? What—It's 3:00 in the morning..."
I sniffles, trying to hold back a sob. I didn't know if it was from the hurt or the relief of hearing his voice.
"Luke, babe, are you crying? Is everything okay?"
I felt myself smiling through my tears. "You won't believe what I got for Christmas," I warned.