Hera's Daughter | Luke Castellan¹

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕊𝕚𝕩𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓎𝒶𝓁

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

Luke stood calmly and brushed off his jeans before helping Selene up to her feet.

The scorpion paid no attention to the couple. It kept its beady eyes on Percy, clamping its pincers as it crawled onto his shoe.

"I saw a whole lot out there in the world, Percy." Luke stated. "Didn't you feel it - the darkness gathering, the monsters growing stronger? Didn't you realize how useless it all is? All the heroics - being pawns of the gods. They should've been overthrown thousands of years ago, but they've hung on, thanks to us half-bloods."

Percy couldn't believe this was happening.

"Luke... you're talking about our parents." Percy said.

Luke laughed. "That's supposed to make us love them? Their precious 'Western civilization' is a disease, Percy. It's killing the world. The only way to stop it is to burn it to the ground and start over with something more honest."

"You're as crazy as Ares." Percy's fists balled up by his sides.

Luke's eyes flared. "Ares is a fool. He never realized the true master he was serving. If we had time, Percy, we could explain. But I'm afraid you won't live that long."

The scorpion crawled onto Percy's trouser leg.

"Kronos." Percy spoke. "That's who you serve."

The air got colder.

"You should be careful with names, Percy." Selene warned.

"Kronos got the both of you to steal the master bolt and the helmet. He spoke to you in your dreams." Percy told them.

Luke's eye twitched. "He spoke to you, too, Percy. You should've listened. I stole the items of power, not Selene."

"Does that really matter, Luke?" Selene crossed her arms. "Don't hog all the credit."

"He's brainwashing you, Luke." Percy said. "He made you drag Selene into this!"

"You're wrong. He showed me that our talents are being wasted. You know what my quest was two years ago, Percy? My father, Hermes, wanted me to steal a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides and return it to Olympus. After all the training I'd done, that  was the best he could think up." Luke explained.

Selene wrapped an arm around Luke to comfort him. 

"That's not an easy quest." Percy spoke. "Hercules did it."

"Exactly." Luke said, relaxing slightly at Selene's touch. "Where's the glory in repeating what others have done? All the gods know how to do is replay their past. My heart wasn't in it. The dragon in the garden gave me this -" he pointed angrily at his scar - "and when I came back, all I got was pity."

"I wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone right then, but I bided my time. I began to dream of Kronos. He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something that no hero had ever had the courage to take. When we went on that winter-solstice field trip, while the other campers and Selene were asleep, I sneaked into the throne room and took Zeus's master bolt right from his chair. Hades's helmet of darkness, too. You wouldn't believe how easy it was. The Olympians are so arrogant; they never dared someone would steal from them. Their security is horrible. We were halfway across New Jersey before we heard the storms rumbling, and we knew they'd discovered our theft."