MARTYR | A Luke Castellan Love Story

29 - Little Bird

It was Percy that charged first.

The spunky demigod hurled himself at the closest awaiting cyclops, immediately jumping up and slashing at the monster's throat with a wide arc of Riptide. Annabeth was hesitant for a moment, the cogs of her mind spinning before she joined Percy's side and executed her plan. Her bronze daggar that Luke had given her years ago was clenched in her hand, and it surprised him that she still kept it. 

An excited smirk quickly appeared on Luke's face as a cyclops ran towards him. After all, he hadn't battled a monster in a while, so this was going to be interesting. The demigod twirled his sword before leaping at the creature, his toned arms bringing Backbiter down on the head of the cyclops, opening up a nasty gash. Suddenly he had to duck to avoid the swing of the creature's large axe, a few strands of blonde hair getting lopped off. Normally in this scenario, a demigod would be wetting their pants, but Luke was experienced. Fighting the cyclops allowed his mind to drift, to forget the pain that he was feeling now. Thalia was alive, would she ever forgive him? To forget the pain that he was going to face later on. 

Facing Camp Half Blood. Battling Kronos. 

Seeing her, possessed by him. 

Just as he was about to deliver the final blow to the cyclops, Luke heard a rumble.

Behind him, Nico had his eyes closed as wind rippled his dark hair, his arms outstretched as rocks levitated and were thrown into the monsters. Several of the jagged boulders hit the creatures with a sickening crack, but it only angered them. The cyclops Luke was battling reared his head with a roar before grabbing ahold of the young man. With a yell, Luke jumped and planted his feet onto the monster's large belly before pushing off like a swimmer in a pool. The sudden movement caused Luke to be jerked out of its grip and execute a backflip before landing away from the beast. 

"Show off!" Percy scoffed, still dodging attacks from the creature pursuing him.

"I'm not the one lifting rocks!" Luke retorted, causing Nico to huff. 

Percy mumbled before extending his hand, a nearby fire hydrant popping off the ground by a geiser before hitting a cyclops smack in the face. Annabeth simply rolled her eyes as she faired against her oponent just as well with her daggar. 

Luke turned back to the cyclops just in time to dodge its axe. He was beginning to get tired of the fight, after all, his body was still healing.

Then, a lightbulb switched on in his head. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an abandoned van, well, not technically abandoned.

Inside it was a woman. frozen in time. Her driver-side mirror was flipped down, and a tube of lipstick was raised to her lips as her form flickered like a mirage. She was just one of thousands of people in Manhattan who were frozen by Kronos.

With another dodge, Luke ran to the van and effortlessly hauled himself up. As the cyclops advanced from the other side, he simply waited, his sword ready at his side. Once the beast was in range, Luke sprang up, using his sneaker to vault off of the cyclop's face before sheathing his blade into its back. With the help of gravity, Backbiter trailed downward like a zipper before the cyclops was expelled into dust. Luke grunted as he landed on his back and rolled before springing back up onto his feet. 

The demigod took a few deep breathes and looked behind him at several other piles of dust, and a very  wrecked parking lot complete with a geizer of water from percy's detached fire hydrant.

"We need to get back, now." Annabeth warned, running to the car they had stolen earlier.

The demigods piled into the sedan, Annabeth at the wheel as she sped off down the quiet road.