The Unusual Half-Blood

Chapter 18: The Lightning thief

Walking side by side, we wandered deep into the North Woods. The forest was dimly lit and eerily quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were our own footsteps.

"So, how was your first quest," Luke asked, breaking the silence.

"It was all right, I guess."

"Are you kidding me? 'Alright' is the last word to use for a quest. They are the best parts about being a half-blood. I'd give anything to feel that rush again...."

"You miss being on a quest?" I asked

"You bet."

"I heard something went wrong on your first one."

"Yeah........ something like that."

A shadow passed over his face.

"I've lived at Half-Blood Hill year-round since I was fourteen, Keith," he told me. "Ever since Thalia..... well, you know. I trained, and trained, and trained. I never got to be a normal teenager in the real world. Then they threw me one quest, and when I came back, it was like, 'Okay, ride's over. Have a nice life."

He kicked a stone in his path.

"The heck with laurel wreaths," Luke said. "No one wants to end up like those dusty trophies in the Big House attic. I mean, glory is fine but we heroes also deserve dignity and respect......something the Olympians never gave us. In their eyes, we're nothing but pitiful servants."

"Is that why you conspired with Kronos?"

He stopped in his tracks, giving me a vacant smile. "What?"

"You heard me." I replied

His smile faded. "You.........knew? Since when?"

"I figured it out pretty early, to be honest. You were on my list of suspects ever since the hellhound incident. Then I found out that you led the excursion trip to Mount Olympus last year. Not to mention, your grudge with Hermes. It wasn't hard to connect the dots from there," I explained, "But the moment I was sure of it, was during the Iris messaging on our way to Las Vegas. You see, while you were busy conversing with Annabeth, I was busy analyzing- your body language, your expressions, your tone of voice, eye movements, and every other slight nuance that may seem trivial to a normal person. That's when I found out you were lying. You were relieved that we suspected Clarisse. You tried to act confident, and made proper eye contact, thinking that might avoid suspicion. But given the other signs, these actions only worked against you."

Luke stood there, shocked, unable to say a word as I continued.

"My guess is, your original plan was to deliver the items to Kronos yourself. But you got caught by Ares before that could happen. So, you manipulated him into helping you, with Kronos's help I'd presume.............. Still, I decided not to bring it up to avoid distracting Annabeth and Grover from the quest. Besides, there was no proper way for me to deal with you from so far away."

"Hah," he scoffed, as his expression changed, showing his real face. "So, you're telling me that I was simply dancing in the palm of your hands?"