The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

80. About Luke

Shadow travel isn't recommended if you're scared of:

a) The dark

b) Cold shivers up your spine

c) Strange noises

d) Going so fast you feel like your face is peeling off

In other words, Y/N was about to throw up. One minute he couldn't see anything. He could only feel Percy's hands on his shoulders, Mrs. O'Leary's fur, and his fingers wrapped around the bronze links of her dog collar.

The next minute the shadows melted into a new scene. They were on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut. At least, it looked like Connecticut from the few times Y/N had been there: lots of trees, low stone walls, big houses. Down one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. Down the other side was someone's backyard. The property was huge—more wilderness than lawn. The house was a two-story white Colonial. Even though it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. Y/N could see a light glowing in the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree.

Y/N couldn't imagine living in a house like this, with a beautiful yard and everything. He'd grown up in an orphanage before Camp Half-Blood. If this was Luke's home, why had he ever wanted to leave?

Mrs. O'Leary staggered. Y/N remembered what Nico had said about shadow travel draining her, so he slipped off her back, gesturing at Percy to do the same. She let out a huge toothy yawn that would've scared a T-Rex, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard that the ground shook.

Nico appeared right next to Y/N, as if the shadows had darkened and created him. He stumbled, but Y/N caught his arm.

"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Y/N asked.

"Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China."

Mrs. O'Leary started snoring. If it hadn't been for the roar of traffic behind them, she would've woken up the whole neighborhood.

"Are you going to take a nap too?" Y/N asked Nico.

Nico shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. It was hard to explain to the others from the Hermes cabin. Lucky for me, they don't like being around me."

"You're imagining things," Y/N said.

Nico looked at him like If that's what you want to believe. "Now it just makes me a little drowsy," he went on, "but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."

"So we've got some quality time in Connecticut," Percy said.

Y/N gazed at the white Colonial house. "I guess now we've just got to ring the doorbell."

If Y/N were Luke's mom, he would not have opened his door at night for three strange kids. But he wasn't anything like Luke's mom.

He knew that even before they reached the front door. The sidewalk was lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out here a long time—since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.

The front porch was infested with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. He didn't know how Ms. Castellan could stand all the noise.