poison tree ✴︎ - perseus jackson

002. friday's capture the flag with claiming and blood.

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 for capture the flag, Luke and Percy walked through. Blue team practiced in an open field on one side of Camp Half-Blood while the red team practiced on the other side.

  It was mid day, Annabeth was training some of her cabin siblings with Hope, being Hope didn't have cabin siblings and was apart of blue team. With her, she had her armor on the ground and in hand a blue and white spear taller than her with a lightning bolt at the tip and electricity sparking at the top.

  "Annabeth's the head counselor of the Athena cabin, Hope usually helps her out. They've led our team to three straight wins. Been a long time since anyone's won a fourth." Luke explained, passing by the two girls. Annabeth noticed and looked at Percy, Hope barely spared a glance as she watched Athena's kids in front of her.

  "Hope was there in the bathrooms last night. So was Annabeth. Hope said that Clarisse would try and kill me for what happened and Annabeth told me she'd been waiting for it to happen." Percy explained to Luke, the taller boy stopping in front of him.

  "Hope doesn't have a filter when it comes to things like that, or to pretty much anything. So you don't really want to take her word for everything. But Annabeth, she sees the world differently. Always six steps ahead of everyone else. You should cut them a break." Luke explained

  "Whose side are you on, anyway?" Percy asked, looking at the two girls then back at Luke, squinting his eyes from the bright sun.

  "Theirs, always." Luke said immediately, not even hesitating to answer truthfully. "They're my little sisters." Luke smiled, then saw the confusion on Percy's face, so elaborated on his statement, "Maybe I should back up."

  Taking Percy to the Pavilion for lunch, he explained as they sat down.

  "Before camp, I was on the road. Me and a forbidden kid I met along the way."

  "A forbidden kid? Like Hope?" Percy asked. He was only aware of one forbidden kid, and that was just from the information Luke had given him

  "Yea, her name was Thalia. Her and Hope were sisters, well half sisters actually, although we didn't find out till we met Hope." Luke explained.

"A forbidden kid attracts trouble. Monsters everywhere, it's just a constant battle to stay alive. One day, we, uh, find this little girl hiding in an alley. Annabeth. We were worried about taking her in, exposing her to all that danger. Then we saw her fight." Luke smiled, but he went quite for a moment, thinking of those event that were just a few years ago.

  Percy knew the story was going to turn dark. He'd never met Thalia, so he knew something bad had happened to her.

  "Thalia didn't make it. But Annabeth and me... we did. And we've been family ever since."

  "Did Hope ever find out?" Percy asked

  "She did. Chiron told us not to tell her, that it would make her do something bad. Probably leave camp or go and try and kill a monster, but we told her anyway. I don't think I ever seen a seven year old cry that much. But ever since then, Hope's had this cold look and attitude with every new person that comes, knowing Thalia was never able to come. Lord knows how she came to being on such good terms with Clarisse."

  "Why'd she stick with you and Annabeth? Seems like the same type of person as Clarisse."

  "She says because we were the first people she met and actually cared enough to break Chiron's rules to tell her what happened. I think it's because she couldn't have the fact that we've seen her cry. But Hope isn't so bad. Just know her well enough to not get her annoyed by the mere presence of you." Luke said, cracking a smile.