The Exit - Luke Castellan

Chapter 5

A/n: I adapted a few details to the past chapter changing some things according to the book!

Flashback

A year past since the kids had met. Luke had turned nine recently and Amara's 8th birthday was approaching when it happened. The day started off normal for the girl her father had come home drunk in the morning and had shouted her throwing beer bottles at which Amara had decided to do what she always did when she wanted to get out of the house. She went to Luke but when she knocked on the door it wasn't her curly-haired friend that opened it but his mother. Luke had never let her in when his mother was having an episode. It was a mutual understanding that neither of them would get involved with the other's parental issues but today it seems his mother had reached the door first.

"Miss Castellan?", Amara greeted her surprised, "I'm Luke's friend".

"My Luke's friend?", Miss Castellan repeated.

"My Luke- Danger", she stuttered.

This coughed the young girl's attention her eyes widening slightly alarmed "Luke's in danger?". She wasn't sure if this was part of the episodes that Luke had told her about or if she was saying the truth.

"A good boy is my Luke, a good boy", the woman muttered under her breath looking straight past Amara.

"Mom who is it?", Luke came up behind his mother and then looked at Amara in surprise, "Amara-"

"Thankyou,maybe I'll come back another time", Amara apologized embarrassed.

"Do you want some Kool-aid dear?", Luke's mother looked at her but her eyes didn't like she was actually seeing her. It was like she was looking through her.

Luke took his mothers arm pulling her in gently "It's ok mom she doesn't need anything".

Amara turned to leave but the older women griped her arm tightly "Don't leave there's danger" she whispered under her breath.

"Mom it's ok I'm ok"; Luke pleaded looking hat his mother with sad eyes.

That was the first time Amara saw his mother's episodes. Luke never talked to her about ut and she didn't push him to it either.

One night father cam home really drunk but this time she couldn't escape him her grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to the floor. She fell on shards of glass as they embedded themselves in her hands and arms. Amara cried pushing herself up from the floor but before she could get on her feet her father hit her again.

"Useless girl should have stayed with her useless mother", her father shouted, "You cost nothing but money".

Tears streamed down the girl's cheek as she pushed herself from the floor bloodied and bruised. Before he could hit her again, she ducks running out of the apartment ignoring her fathers shouting. Halfway down the stairwell she bumped into Luke whose eyes were just as tear-shot as her's.

"We're leaving ok I can't do this anymore", he told her.

Amara nodded. Luke had a bag around his shoulder and seemed prepared to leave but she was bleeding not even wearing any shoes.

"We'll get you something later", the curly haired boy assured her as he took her bloodied hand pulling her with her onto the street.

Many kids try to run away from their parents and still come back but this was different, coming back was not an option for the pair. They had run away, and they were not coming back. What they didn't know was danger was now close.

Flashback end

Amara was running through what seemed like a maze. Something or someone was chasing her.

"You can't run from me Amara I know you want this stop trying to tell yourself otherwise", a strangely familiar voice was shouting after her. She knew she knew the voice but she couldn't place me. "Don't you hate Gods? They abandoned you as a child and then again and again and yet they expect so much from you. Come on us against the Gods with him", the voice continued taunting her.

Amara ran turning left, right and left again but it seemed to lead nowhere. Suddenly she reached a dead end. She had no where to run. Slowly she turned around the shadow of the person following her coming closer and closer.

"You should have come with me when you had the chance you have nowhere to run now", the shadow taunted her. He was close so close.

Amara shot up in bed covered in sweat breathing heavily. It was just a dream nothing else she reminded herself, but dreams were never just dreams for halfblood and the familiarness of the voice that had hunted her. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't pin the voice to a person. Amara let out a frustrated sigh putting on a thin cardigan stepping out into the cold summer night air.

"Nightmare?", Luke's voice startled her.

Amara nodded wrapping her arms around herself.

"Me too", her boyfriend replied sitting down next to her.

Resting her head on his shoulder he out an arm over her shoulder pulling her in as the pair sat in silence neither of them wanting to talk about it.

"Do you think all of our dreams will come true?", she asked Luke after a few minutes of silence.

"I do think some dreams are just that, Dreams. But we can never know which is which or if these dreams are just warnings and can be avoided", Luke replied honestly rubbing his temple.

That night the two of them fell asleep in Amaras hut holding each other and no nightmares to haunt them.

The next day Amara was sat with the Hermes cabin as all the kids from minor Gods or the ones haven't been claimed. Suddenly she felt a tab on the shoulder. She turned around and was faced with Silena Bauregard her half-sister from the Aphrodite cabin.

Silena hesitated before finally speaking up "Do you want to sit with us? I understand if you don't I mean we had years to ask her and we have been mean in the past and we had every chance to make amends but we voted and we think you're our half sister no matter what our mother-", she rambled but Amara sharply interrupted her.

"Your mother and no thank you", she told her. Amara did feel bad for her but she didn't want to be involved with her biological mother. She lived by the rule family is a mindset and not a a biological concept.

Silena's eyes widened at her harsh words. "We understand but if you ever need to talk just know we're still family".

Amara opened her mouth to say something, but Luke gently placed his hand on her thigh squeezing it to calm her.

"Thanks", she forced out giving Silena a fake reassuring smile.

Her family were Luke and Annabeth she didn't need anyone else.

Silena gave her small sad smile going back to their other siblings. Some of them glared and whispered about her and others gave her pitying looks.

Her halfsiblings looked perfect, and their mothers signature looks that could charm everybody and she was the misstep. The problem wasn't that Amara was ugly the problem as her mother had told her was that she wasn't alluring. The was something dark about her. As a child she had preferred spending time in the dark collecting dead insects or helping hurt strays. There was something that attracted her to the darkness of death and Aphrodite didn't like that.

She desperately tried to deny that she was her child, but she eventually gave in. At this 12-year-old Amara had gotten into an argument with her calling her names saying she was a bad mother which she was and Aphrodite punished her by not claiming her. Hecate on the other hand had had a special interest in the child for a long time protecting her sending her dogs as a sign and offered Amara to pledge herself to her.

"Are you ok?", Luke whispered into her ear.

"I'm fine", she assured him, "It's not their fault that she didn't want me".

Luke nodded, giving her leg one last squeeze.