daylight | percy jackson

fam reunions #awkies

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

BOOK THREE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

❝ luke, what happened to you? ❞

"SAM?" ARIA somehow managed to squeak out, her knees resting harshly on the barren ground, blood threatening to burst through her rough skin.

Her eyes traced the contours of his face, taking in the familiar features that had haunted her every nightmare. He was tall, with a lean, athletic build, and his tousled blonde hair caught in the sunlight, casting a golden halo around his head. He had piercing green eyes, the colour that had once been her favourite. His gaze was different now though, almost...scary, like all of the innocence had been drained out of him.

How dare he return after an eternity of absence, his presence a ghost haunting the corridors of her heart, his absence a wound festering in the recesses of her soul? She had been mourning his death for four years now, clinging to the memory of his laughter and the warmth of his touch, only to have him reappear as if from the depths of her deepest regrets.

However, there was a flicker of something else inside of her. Hope? Love? She couldn't quite pinpoint the feeling. All she could feel was the rush of blood that raced to her head as she pushed Sam to the ground, taking the weight of the sky on her own shoulders.

"Aria!" Percy yelled. "What the fuck are you doing!"

Sam crumpled to the ground, blonde turning into brown as dirt flew into his golden locks.

He panted for a moment before ultimately looking up, green meeting green in an exchange of glances that made the sky somehow feel heavier.

"Ari," he breathed out, looking at her as if seeing her in a new light.

She wanted to respond, she really did, but the weight of the sky was too much for her, the girl not even able to form a cohesive sentence. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Percy lunge for her, before being taken back by a grim-looking Thalia.

Breathe. She needed to breathe.

Artemis lay sprawled out beside Sam, the goddess feebly coughing, chains wrapped harshly around her wrists. 

"My lady!" Zoë rushed forward, but Artemis weakly exclaimed, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

If Aria wasn't getting literally squashed by the sky, she would have asked what the fuck was going on.

Zoë was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

A booming voice rung out through the space, reverberating off the walls: "Ah, how touching."

Aria craned her neck, her limbs feeling like they were on fire. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

Annabeth's tired eyes met Aria's and they extended to the size of saucers, the Athena girl letting out a muffled cry. 

Breathe. 

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was wan and sickly, his appearance even more haggard than when they had last encountered him three days prior in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."