"Exile" (book two of the Storm Decology)

"I don't swim very often, so I'm glad you were there Fishbrain"

The stateroom was beautiful, and disgusting.
Huge windows stretched across the walls towards the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky all the way to the horizon. A persian rug covered. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food; pizza boxes, bottles of soda and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.
On a velvet dias at the back of the room laid a golden casket. A sarcophogaus engraved with Anceint Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dieing horrible deaths. The room felt cold.
"Well, a little nicer than Cabin eleven huh?" Luke said, he spread his arms proudly. I looked at the ground, I couldn't bear to look at him.
He cut his hair and wore different clothes, he looked older. He still had the scar under his eye. The couch behind him held Backbiter, Percy told me all about that sword.
"Sit" He told us. He waved his hand and three dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room. None of us sat.
"Where are my manners?" Luke said smoothly. "These are my assiastants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them?"
My hands shook slightly as I looked at Luke. I shook my head and stayed silent. I wanted to kill him, to see his eyes loose that cold light.
"You always loved to tell us of those myths Vicky, where's that eagerness now?" My nose twitched as I turned back to face the ground. He was right, I had loved to tell Thalia and him of the greek myths, trying to teach them.
"You don't know their story?" Luke asked. "Well, their mother . . .It's sad really, Aphrodite ordered her to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman to fall in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she left the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and poor humans get caught in the middle. The girls twin sons here, have no love for Olympus. They like half bloods well enough, though . . . "
"For lunch," Agrius growled.
"Hehe! Hehe!" Oreius laughed, licking his fur lined lips.
"Shut up you idiot!" Agrius growled. "Go punish yourself!"
Luke sat down on the couch, propping his feet onto the coffee table. "Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?"
"You poisoned Thalia's tree" Percy said.
Luke sighed. "Right to the point eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"
"How could you?" Annabeth shouted.
"How dare you" I snapped.
"How dare I?" Luke shouted.
"She died for you! She died for all of us! How dare you dishonor-" I shouted, stepping towards him, Percy grabs my bicep.
"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped. "The gods dishonored her Victoria! If Thalia were alive she would be on my side."
"You are a liar" I snarled.
"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand–"
"I understand you want to destroy the camp" Annabeth shouted. "You're a monster"
Luke shook his head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is the ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The west is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence annabeth."
"Because you have none of your own!"
His eyes narrowed. "I know you Annabeth, You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half Blood hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a loosing team . . . with company like this?" Luke pointed at Tyson.
"Hey" Percy said.
"Traveling with a cyclops?" Luke chided. I curled my lip slightly. "Talk about dishonring Thalia's memory! I was surprised at you Annabeth. You of all people-"
"You shut your mouth" I sneered.
"Leave her and Tyson alone" Percy said.
Luke laughed. "Oh yeah, I heard your father claimed him" I looked to Percy and then to Tyson. Tyson was a cyclops, why would Posiedon claim him out of anything but spite?
"Yes, Percy I know all of it. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates again . . . 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have a few friends at camp who keep me posted."
"Spies you mean" I sneered, I looked to Percy. His emotions were unreadable, his hands were clenched into fists at his waits and his jaw was locked together.
Luke shrugged and turned back to Percy. "How many insults from your father can you stand Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Posideon cares for you any more than he does this monster?"
Tyson clenched his fists and made a rumbling sound deep in his throat.
Luke just chuckled. "The gods are just using you, Percy, Victoria. Do you have any idea whats in store for your sixteenth birthdays? Has Chiron even told you?"
And in an instant I remember what the Oracle had said the previous year, I would not become some type of soul reaper, I would not die.
"I know enough, enough to know who my enemies are" Percy said, raising his head from the ground and looking at Luke.
"Then you are a fool"
Tyson smashed the nearest dining chair to splinters. "Percy is not a fool!"
Before I could even warn against it, Tyson charged Luke. His fists came down towards Luke's head. But before he could make contact, The bear twins interrupted, each of them grabbing one of Tyson's arms. They pushed him back so hard Tyson feel onto the ground.
"Too bad, Cyclops" Luke said. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength"
"Luke," Percy cut in. "Your father sent us"
His face turned red as he looked to all of us, he made eye contact with me before he looked back to Percy. "Don't . . .even mention him"
"He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are" This was not a good idea, Percy should've kept his mouth shut.
"Angry?" Luke roared. "Give up on me? He abandoned me, Percy! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it will happen too, every time a half blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and he-" He pointed to the gold sarcophagus. "He grows stronger"
The gold sarcophagus, it was covered in engravings of the Golden Age, the age of the Titans before they were overthrown by the gods. Kronos must be in there, what's left of him anyways.
"So?" Percy said, he looked down at it. "What's so special . . ."
"You don't mean it?" Annabeth asked as she looked at it too, quickly putting the pieces
together as I had.
"He is reforming" Luke said. "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges to our cause, another small piece appears"
"That is disgusting" Annabeth said, she's right.
Luke sneered at her. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon there will be enough of the titan lord that we will be able to make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him. A work worthy of Hephaestus."
"You're insane" Annabeth said she backed away from Luke slightly.
"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough they can buy this cruise ship and many more. Percy, you're mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion, you can have fame, money, power whatever you want. Annabeth, you can fufill your fream of becoming an Architect, you can build a monument that will last a thousand years. A temple to the new leader of the next age, And you, Victoria, We can get revenge for Thalia, we can bring her back. We can destroy Zeus for driving your mother to madness, we can avenge Jason," I stepped back, the promise of revenge was almost too sweet, Jason had been killed by my mother because of my father. Jason deserved revenge, but not like this. I shook my head and looked at Luke, I felt tears begin to form, I blinked them away, I will not show him this affected me.
"You were my brother Luke" I said quietly.
"Take them away," Luke said. "The drakon needs fed, leave Victoria. I wish to speak to her"
They stomped my friends out the door and I watched, unable to do anything, not yet.
"We can still be family Vic," Luke said, he reached out for me. I stepped back, I felt my lip quiver slightly as I looked at him. This wasn't Luke, this was a different person.
"You cannot call me that" I said.
"I gave you that name, remember? You hated your name, simply because of Hera and Zeus. They're the ones who named you and Jason. I gave you everything. I taught you how to use your swords. I always protected you even after your sisters death" Luke insisted, he kept stepping closer to me.
"And you still dishonor her, I loved my sister, I thought you loved her" I shouted. I blinked away tears and walked away.
"I did love her, I do love her. That is why I am doing this Vic, I am getting revenge for her, if she had not been used by the gods she would be standing by our side right now and that would be enough" I shook my head.
"You're breaking my heart" I shouted, this man who called himself my brother was not him, my brother was protective and kind.
"I can see the scars tracing your arm, why did those happen? Why were you poisoned? Because Zeus used you" He shouted. He pointed to the sarcophagus. "He, He wouldn't do that to anyone, you could be my right hand. We could raze Olympus together, we could sit on our fathers thrones and then destroy them. We could do so much, together" He held his hand out, beckoning me to take it. I wish I could've said no immediately. The titans were horrible, evil rulers. But a part of me looked down at Luke's hand and saw it as an offering to be a family again.
And then I thought about Percy, and Annabeth, Will, Clarrise. I loved them, I cannot betray them. "I can't," I said, I shook my head and looked at Luke, his eyes were full of pain and anger. "I cannot so easily betray my family" I said. I heard shouting and screaming on the deck. I ran, out of the room and across the deck. Percy, Annabeth and Tyson were on a lifeboat, free falling into the ocean. I jumped off the boat, angling my body towards a dive, I really wasn't in the mood to die today.
I closed my eyes as I hit the water. "GIve me your hand!" Percy shouted. I reached for him. He grabbed my hands and pulled me onto the lifeboat. I checked for my swords and once I made sure they were all there. I wiped water out of my face and smirked at Percy.
"I don't swim very often, so I'm glad you were there Fishbrain" I smirked. I shoved the interaction with Luke back in my chest of memories and speeches I refused to talk about or think about.
"There she is" Annabeth laughed.