Worth the Struggle

Chapter 1: Knock on the Door

I don't like quiet. I like peace, sure, when nothing drastic is happening and I have time to relax rather than fighting for survival. But when everything is quiet, I feel alone. It's something I know my mum's boyfriend would say, but silence is isolating. But it's easy to fix.

My mum was out on a date, so it was just me in our apartment. She'd rented me a movie about the Greek Gods, but it wasn't a documentary. It was more dramatic, so it probably wasn't half accurate, but it looked good. I had a big bowl of blue popcorn and a jug of blue diet coke.

Mum thought I was inviting Annabeth, but I didn't want to argue with her again. She just couldn't stop believing that Luke could be saved. It would be nice if he could, great even, but it was an unrealistic belief. Unwise of her to think, but if I ever said that she'd beat me up.

I mean, of course I'd want to save Luke if he could be saved, the guy was cool. He taught me to swordfight, the sort of techniques that have saved my life in fights. He was my first friend at camp, if he hadn't befriended me when I was undetermined then I know I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun in my first few weeks. I might have even tried to run away. That's why it hurt so much to be betrayed by him.

I tried to turn my thoughts away from the past, that stuff had already happened and couldn't be changed, it was the future that was the worry. Like where Luke was now, and what Kronos was planning. Except that train-of-thought would just get me angry. So I switched my attention to the movie, pressing play on the remote.

I was just getting engrossed in a fight scene, looking to pick up moves, when there was a knock on the door. Now that might not be weird for most people with doors, but there were many reasons it set me on edge. The first was because our apartment block had a doorman, so if someone was coming up there would have been a call. Then there was thought that nobody was meant to be coming over. Mum would have just opened the door if she were home. So this was someone different, or something. So you couldn't blame me for uncapping Riptide on my way to the door.

I looked through the peephole. But it must have been faked or something, there was no way he was actually outside my door. Stunned, I swung it open and stared, but it showed me the same thing. Luke, alive. With his eyebrows furrowed, wringing his hands in front of him, biting his bottom lip. The picture of nerves.

"You can put that down Percy, I'm unarmed." He held up his palms up as if to prove his point. "I really need your help."

I slammed the door in his face. No way was I falling for whatever trick he was trying to pull. I guessed I had mere seconds before some monsters busted my door down and dragged me to the Princess Andromeda. I was screwed. But they wouldn't take me without a fight, that was for sure. There was a knock on my door again, but I backed up and ignored it, my sword raised.

"Percy, you can keep me out here, but it'll be tough to explain to your mum when she comes home. Might ruin a nice evening."

God damn it. It bugged me that he was right. If this was some trap, then keeping him out just means he'll run into my mum first. Letting him in was really my only option right now. He must have timed it like this, the sneaky traitor. I opened the door and stepped aside for him. But I didn't cap Riptide, it was my only defence if this was really a trap. Just as I was thinking of how Luke was a traitor, he pulls this crap.

For some reason, being in my living room helped him settle into himself. He seemed more confident and comfortable now he wasn't in the open. But that didn't mean he could be trusted. The vision of him tricking Annabeth into taking the Titan's curse was still hot in my mind. An eyebrow raised as he spotted my blue buffet for one on the table, smiling about a memory he had of me drinking blue coke at camp when I was still in the Hermes cabin. I demanded to know what trick he was playing so he could leave.

"I'm not playing a trick, Percy. I know you don't believe my spotty record of betrayal, but I really do need your help.

"Things on the other side are getting...scary for me. I need to get out from under Kronos' thumb, the only way to do that is to leave America. I have a boat, and the sea is your area of expertise. Basically, I'm asking if you'll run away with me, just the two of us."

I was stunned. There were so many flaws in his plan it was stupid if it wasn't a ploy. I could definitely get us to another country safely by water, but why would I help him? He wouldn't come to me for help, we weren't even really friends before he tried to kill me. He'd go to Annabeth, unless he already had and she'd turned him down. I asked him and he just shook his head. To him, I had been his friend even if he had another motive, so he didn't mind spending weeks with me. And I was more useful on a boat.

"And this was the best cover story you could think of to trick me into the open? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"Oh for fuck sake, this is for real!" Luke growled. "I swear on the River Styx that I'm truly terrified of Kronos using me as a stepping stone, and I need your help to escape him."

I still didn't want to believe him. And I didn't know how to handle what he was asking me. I was needed in this fight, I was the subject of some great prophecy where I had to make a huge decision. What if this was the decision, would it be stupid to go with him or not go with him? I needed to ask Annabeth or Chiron. But I doubt Luke would let me. But it wouldn't hurt to ask, well it could but I was the one with the sword.

"I need to ask Chiron. I have a role to play in this war and I can't leave if he needs me." I explained. "Unless of course, you'd prefer to come to camp with me, so if you won't follow through with Kronos you can clean up the mess you've made."

"They'd never accept me there. You won't even accept me now, what are the chances they will?"

I promised him they would. I would go with him, and I'd speak on his behalf. Annabeth would jump at the thought of Luke redeeming himself. If they wouldn't accept him, then Annabeth and I would sneak out with him.

"Either way, you'll get your freedom and Annabeth. I just want to have a clear conscious with this. So you help me and I'll help you okay?"

He didn't look too happy but he must have realised that I wasn't the one who was a traitorous liar. He agreed that as long as he was free in the end, he didn't care who else was around him. So I sent a text to Chiron to warn him I was coming and left a note for my mum while Luke packed me a few clothes and toiletries in a backpack. I was heading back to camp before summer again. I honestly might as well have stayed year-round at camp by this point.