HER┃lukecastellan

2

To learn from it?

I glanced upwards as it seemed that was where the voice had boomed from.

Do I have to know something?

You need to know many things, see many things.

But can you tell me what happened to me first? I don't even know why I'm here. And why can't anybody see me?

Everything that surrounded me suddenly began to ebb away as I stood motionless in the middle of it all.

What's happening?

I found myself in a forest.

Voices came, accompanied by the crunching of leaves, both quickly growing louder.

I felt an immense fear.

"They're coming!"

It was the shriek of a little girl.

"Camp Half-Blood is right up the hill! Hurry!"

Four silhouettes came into view.

I could make out two girls, one older than the other. The other two were both boys. One looked to be around the older girl's age, the other a satyr.

Out of the four, I recognized three.

It was a young Luke, Annabeth, and Grover.

But they were not alone.

Cyclops emerged from the trees as they ran past me.

"They're gaining on us, hurry!"

"I'll distract them, you three go!" The girl I did not recognize yelled, whipping out a knife as she ran back past me, heading headlong onto them.

Annabeth screamed. "No, Thalia!"

"Annabeth, we have to go!" Luke scooped her up.

"I'm not leaving without Thalia!" She beat against his chest, but everything fell silent as a sickening thud was heard.

Thalia's body lay, mere feet before me.

Her breath raspy and uneven as a single tear ran down her cheek.

She was dying.

Her eyes clouded over as she took her last breath, but they never closed.

Instead, her face hardened. Her arms and legs seeped into the ground, as if like roots. From her lifeless body grew the trunk of a tree, rising high above all the others. Branches sprouted and with it spanned a forcefield across the horizon.

Luke, Annabeth, and Grover watched in awe.

The Cyclops tried to break through it to get to them, but could not.

They were safe.

' Thalia... '

I heard Luke.

I could hear his pain and heartbreak.

It said it all.

He had loved her.

She had been his first love.