Bloodlines

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Are you kidding me? Maddie said to herself desperately. She found absolutely nothing so far in Annabeth's journal. There had to be something in the journal about the Carter family line. Maddie frantically flipped through Annabeth's journals while sipping her coffee in some coffee shop in Queens Boulevard. Maddie figured that maybe there was a connection of the Olympians to the Carter family line somehow. The problem wasn't looking and finding information; the problem was her mind not focusing because all she thought about was Luke. Luke had been ignoring her messages and calls for what it seemed to be forever. Luke had been also ignoring Alex's messages, not letting Alex explain what his side was in the whole fight. Maddie felt awful for dragging Alex into her mess. Alex had tried so hard to isolate himself from Faith, but it didn't work out for him at all.

Maddie looked at the entries a few years before Annabeth's death only to find nothing. After the entry before she died, there was just blank pages. Maddie stared at her cappuccino and started to think deeply about how messed up her life was. Just a few days ago, Jenna was paralyzed by either herself, or some girl impersonating Maddie. Alex had told her that the girl he saw didn't just look like her; it was her. It's not like Maddie ever contemplated the possibility that Annabeth was alive; it was just hard to believe that someone would survive a massive fire like the one in eighties. The fire burned for days, so there was no way that Annabeth could've survived that.

Maddie closed the journal and put her hands on her head, stressed out completely about her messed up life. If Annabeth hadn't been born, her life would be simple. There had to be another way to pull the plug on this Jupiter's Eclipse crap because it was slowly ripping everyone away from her.

Maddie finished the last of her coffee, making her depressed. She wanted more since coffee was the only thing she pretty much had left. Coffee wasn't going to accuse her of almost murdering someone. Coffee was her best friend. The waitress came over to her table and Maddie ordered another cup of coffee, receiving strange looks from the waitress. It was her third cup in under an hour. The waitress came back with her cup of coffee, making her extremely happy to be reunited with her buddy.

Maddie took a sip of her coffee and looked up at the door, almost dropping her coffee when she saw Luke walk in. She felt her heart stop for a minute and her brain completely going blank. She had no idea what he was doing in Queens, but she was extremely happy he was here. She stared at him as he started to walk towards her. He still seemed pissed off at her, but not as much as their fight. This time, he didn't glare at her. Instead he kept a straight face as he sat across from her. Maddie put the journal away, making Luke her only priority.

"What are you doing here?" Maddie asked her. She looked away from him and played with the spoon in her mug. She watched as the liquid spun around in complete circles, making her not look at his face at all. He made it pretty clear that he did not want to hear, see, or look at her. He made it clear that he needed space, but this time he followed her to Queens.

"I wanted to talk to you," Luke said, tone warmer than the last time they spoke. Maddie looked up at him when he said that, making hope become a little bit clearer. He didn't hate her, which was good. "I'm just confused about this whole thing. With you, Jenna, Alex, and pretty much everything you didn't tell me."

"It seems that Jenna told you enough about me." Maddie put her hand on her neck and stared at the drink.

"She said things," Luke admitted. "But I didn't want to do anything rash without talking to you first." Luke grabbed her hand and her fingers entangled in his. She missed him holding her hand so much. She didn't even care is someone saw; nothing seemed to matter anymore.