DECEMBER luke castellan

I. THEA GAINS A NEW BROTHER

THEA hated waiting. It made her anxious. Waiting made her want to throw up she didn't know why but it had been happening for as long as she can remember. So when she happened to take a short walk in the woods around camp with Luke, talking about anything and everything. Their talks ranged from drama circulating camp to the stories they heard from Hermes kids sneaking out for snacks. But that night was interrupted by screams. Grover Underwood and a smaller shaggy blond boy were outside camp boundaries. A minotaur races to the blond only for the impossible to happen. He killed it.

But when the kid passed out right then and there, Thea nor Luke knew what to do. And it didn't help when Annabeth came running asking if he was the one. Now all there was left to do was wait.

So currently she laid on her bunk bed. Her eyes were toward the ceiling as her hands lay crisscrossed under her head, being the extra support her pillow didn't give her. Her foot rocked back and forth, an anxious habit she took up when she was younger. It was clear to everyone that they shouldn't talk to her, it would just make it worse. But Luke wasn't everyone.

"Hey, clover." Clover, a nickname Luke had given her a long time ago. After being claimed by Tyche, the goddess of luck, it made sense to the boy to only call her said name. Because what didn't say luck like a four-leaf clover? "Wanna go out to the lake?" A simple question but with so much more meaning. It was where the two met for the first time. And from then on the most frequently visited place the two went and talked at besides the woods.

Now she couldn't avoid answering. Even while being on the top bunk, the bunks weren't that tall. And Luke was tall, at least next to her. So he was already at eye level with the Tyche girl. She turned her head finally making eye contact with the boy. "I'm okay, Luke." He didn't look convinced. Thea was quick to say something else. "I'll stay here, and once I see him we can go to the lake, okay? I just want to make sure he's all right."

"Thea he isn't your responsibility," He tried to break it to her. But once she had something in her head it was hard for someone to get it out.

She sighed. "But why does it feel like it is?" She felt connected to the boy. Like they were similar, she didn't know why but she was set to find out. And that all began with making sure he was alive.

Luke's eyes traced over the girl's face. Taking in every movement her eyes made, the way her eyebrows furrowed with her in deep thought. "But it's not. Just get up. Please?" Before she could even answer he grabbed her wrist and pulled.

Caught off guard she had no time to resist leaving her body falling into the hair. "Luke!" However, the boy was gracious enough to catch her and leave her steady on the ground. But it didn't stop him from laughing. "What is wrong with you?" She slapped his chest. Except her heart couldn't help but flutter at the sounds of his soft laughter. "I was going to move." A lie.

He raised his eyebrow, challenging her statement. "Let's go," He took her hand going to lead her out the cabin, but was stopped by the sight of a certain centaur. Human torso, horse body. A crazy thing to see in person. But to many at camp Chiron was the closest they had to a parent. "Looks like we'll stay." Because next to Chiron stood the boy. The person Thea was waiting for.

"Oh, thank god," she sighed in relief, a hand laying over her heart. Next to her, Luke chuckled. He admired the girl's heart. Something that he wished he was as good. Because no matter what it seemed like Thea cared for everyone and everything. "Let's postpone going to the lake."

Now that he was in the light, she could really see how young the boy was. He was fairly short, with dirty curly blond hair, and unlike before he now wore the same shirt as everyone else. The bright orange Camp Half-Blood shirt honestly hurt her eyes but she felt like Chiron might scold her if she ever voiced her opinion.