The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

twelve

ANOTHER DAY OF FIGHTING

Back at the Plaza, Thalia and Percy pulled her aside. "What did Prometheus show you?"

Reluctantly, she told them about the vision of May Castellan's house. Thalia rubbed her thigh like she was remembering the old wound.

"That was a bad night," she admitted, "Annabeth was so little, I don't think she really understood what she saw. She just knew Luke was upset."

Ariana looked out the hotel windows at Central Park. Small fires were still burning in the north, but otherwise the city seemed unnaturally peaceful. "Do you know what happened to May Castellan? I mean-"

"I know what you mean," Thalia said. "I never saw her have an, um, episode, but Luke told me about the glowing eyes, the strange things she would say. He made me promise never to tell. What caused it, I have no idea. If Luke knew, he never told me."

"Hermes knew," She said. "Something caused May to see parts of Luke's future, and Hermes understood what would happen how Luke would turn into Kronos."

Thalia frowned. "You can't be sure of that. Remember Prometheus was manipulating what you saw, Ariana, showing you what happened in the worst possible light. Hermes did love Luke. I could tell just by looking at his face. And Hermes was there that night because he was checking up on May, taking care of her. He wasn't all bad."

"It's still not right," She insisted. "Luke was just a little kid. Hermes never helped him, never stopped him from running away."

Thalia shouldered her bow. Again it struck her how much stronger she looked now that she'd stopped aging. You could almost see a silvery glow around her the blessing of Artemis.

"Ariana," she said, "you can't start feeling sorry
for Luke. We all have tough things to deal with. All demigods do. Our parents are hardly ever around. But Luke made bad choices. Nobody forced him to do that. In fact-"

She glanced down the hall to make sure they were alone. "I'm worried about Annabeth. If she has to face Luke in battle, I don't know if she can do it. She's always had a soft spot for him."

Blood rose to Percy's face. "She'll do fine.."

"I don't know. After that night, after we left his mom's house? Luke was never the same. He got reckless and moody, like he had something to prove. By the time Grover found us and tried to get us to camp well, part of the reason we had so much trouble was because Luke wouldn't be careful. He wanted to pick a fight with every monster we crossed. Annabeth didn't see that as a problem. Luke was her hero. She only understood that his parents had made him sad, and she got very defensive of him. She still is defensive. All I'm saying . . . don't you fall into the same trap. Luke has given himself to Kronos now. We can't afford to be soft on him."

Ariana looked out at the fires in Harlem, wondering how many sleeping mortals were in danger right now because of Luke's bad choices.

"You're right," Ariana said.

Thalia patted her shoulder. "I'm going to check on the Hunters, then get some more sleep before nightfall. You should crash too."

"The last thing I need is more dreams."

"I know, believe me."

Her dark expression made Ariana wonder what she'd been dreaming about. It was a common demigod problem: the more dangerous our situation became, the worse and more frequent our dreams got.

"But Ariana, there's no telling when you'll get another chance for rest. It's going to be a long night -maybe our last night."

She didn't like it, but Ariana knew she was right. She nodded wearily and gave her Pandora's jar. "Do me a favor. Lock this in the hotel vault, will you? I think I'm allergic to pithos."