Forbidden (A Luke Castellan Love Story)

Chapter 34

Luke's POV
            Why did she have to call Grover over? Of all people it had to be him! And at that moment too! I was trying to take hold of Avery's hand but I don't think she understood what I was trying to do because she kept moving her hand away like it was an accident not even getting what I was doing. I furrowed my eye brows and finally was going to make a grab for her hand.
            My callused hand reached for her hand but right before I firmly placed her delicate hand in mine, she raised it up and called someone over. I cursed under my breath then started cursing more when I saw that it was Grover.
            He was the idiot that almost got me along with Annabeth and Thalia killed! He was supposed to do his job but he almost got all three of us killed!
            Of course, Grover just had to hug her too! I did not want his slimy satyr hands on her. The filthy thing that he was. He should have died from almost getting us killed but no they gave him a second chance.

Flashback
Grover was on my side helping support me because of my stupid ankle that broke in two from a monster attack a couple of miles back. We had already had used up too much ambrosia and nectar so if we took anymore we might burn to ashes. It was really disappointing because we had a whole half bottle left and we couldn't use it without risking our lives more.
            I gritted my teeth as I limped with Grover holding me forward. Thalia had Annabeth's hand trying to reassure the 7 year old that we would make it. "It's just over that hill!" Fourteen year old Thalia said encouragingly. "We're almost there!"
            We were all so weary, we could only nod and smile slightly. "We're almost there!" Annabeth said, hopefully. She sounding like we all were feeling; longing for the camp and the safety in it.
            "That's right," I smiled while I limped forward. "Almost there."
            We started to pick up the pace but all froze when we heard a huge howling nose. The Hellhounds and monsters that have been chasing us since we left our homes, were getting close and fast!
            The four of us looked at each other panicked and started to go faster up the hill. I tripped and fell bringing both Grover and I down. I yelped out in pain but quickly got to my feet again, Grover helping me limp up the hill as fast as we could.
            Thalia picked up Annabeth and started to race up the hill. She was the one that had the most energy because she had been able to fend off monsters with her shield, Aegis, with a picture of Medusa. Most monsters didn't get close enough to her to attack her and instead went for Annabeth, Grover and me.
            Once Thalia reached the top of the hill she set Annabeth down, "Stay here." She hugged Annabeth and ran towards me putting my left arm over her shoulder, trying to help me up the hill along with Grover helping.
            I hobbled up the hill but the sound of monsters were coming closer. "We're not going to make it." Thalia bit her lip.
            "We have to!" Grover said. "Only a few more yards!"
            Thalia shook her head. "I have to hold them off." She said and unwrapped my arm from her shoulders.
            "NO!" I said. "You can't hold them off on your own!"
            I was the 'father' of this family and I was going to take care of them. I wasn't going to let her go.
            "You can't do it!" Thalia said, "You're ankles broken."
            "I can just use the last of our Ambrosia!" I said.
            "No, I you have any more you'll die!" Thalia yelled.
            I was at a loss for words but I knew that I couldn't let her go. "Grover can help!" I said and looked at the satyr to my right. His eyes were wild in fear.
            "What?" He squeaked.
            Before I could tell him to get his furry butt down there, Annabeth screamed. The three of us turned around to see hundreds of monsters running after us.
            "There's no time." Thalia said then wrapped her arms around me. "In case I don't come back," She said, "I want you both to know that you guys are the best family I've ever had! I love you guys!" She placed a sisterly kiss on my cheek then pulled away and started to walk off.
            "Thalia!" I yelled and frantically tried to grab her but only ended up stumbling and falling again on my stomach. I raised my head and saw her running down the hill, a tear falling from my eye. "Thalia no!" I screamed but she only looked back once then started to run after them again.
            "Come one!" Grover told me. "The sooner we get to camp the better. We can get help then."
            New energy found me and we finally made it up the hill. Grover ran to get help while Annabeth ran into my arms and I hugged her as we watched Thalia tap her bracelet to have her shield grow in her hand. She had her spear in her other hand and waited for the monsters to come closer.
            "Thalia!" Annabeth sobbed.
            I held Annabeth tightly and watched the monsters come closer and closer. There was absolutely nothing I could do. I couldn't help her. I couldn't help my family that I had tried so hard to keep safe, to keep away from danger. If I went to help I would only make it worse. As horrible as it was for me to think I thought it was better for at least one of us to live then both of us to die and leave poor Annabeth alone.
            No! I thought to myself. I'm not going to let her die! She can't.
            Then I did something I told myself I would never do again. I prayed to my idiot of a father.
            Please! I prayed. Please Father. If you save Thalia, I'll forgive you for what you've done to me! Everything! I'll forgive you for leaving me, for leaving Mom. I'll forgive you- just please save her! Please!
            Tears were running down my cheeks but I didn't care about how it looked for a 14 year old boy to cry. Thalia was going to die and I could do absolutely nothing to help!
            Annabeth buried her head in my neck, not able to watch, when the monsters finally came to Thalia. I felt her tears on my shirt and I braced myself when the monsters finally reached her.
            The monsters snapped and snarled at Thalia but she swung her shield around, trying to fend them off. She killed a few of them but there were so many. A hellhound clawed at her back and she screamed out in pain but kept fighting. More monsters came and she was being overwhelmed.
            Thalia yelled and screamed, jabbed and stabbed but there were too many of them. A Cyclopes threw a rock at Thalia when she was turned away from it and the bolder trapped her legs underneath it. Even from here you could hear the sickening crack.
            Annabeth was sobbing and I couldn't control my tears. Grover ran back up and saw what was happening. "No." He muttered.
            I turned to him expecting to see reinforcement but there was nothing. "Where's your back up?" I yelled, angrily.
            "They're coming. They're coming, she just has to-" He choked back a sob, "She just has to hold on a little longer."
            While Thalia was struggling from underneath the bolder, the monsters stepped back from her. She raised an eyebrow, and stopped struggling, wondering why they were backing off.
            Hermes? I thought hopefully. Could my father be helping us?
            Just as soon as my hope was there, it disappeared completely when an absolutely huge Hellhound, about the size of a bus, stalked towards Thalia. It must have been the leader to have the rest of the monsters step back.
            My friend, who I had come to known as my little sister, screamed and struggled trying to remove her legs from the boulder. The Hellhound stalked towards her slowly, knowing that there was nothing she could do. 
            In my chest, my heart was threatening to break out of my rib cage. I frantically looked around and saw reinforcements in the distance but they would be too late.
            Finally making my decision, I hastily put Annabeth down and shuffled through my pack. "Get Annabeth out of her." I told Grover then my hands clasped around what I was looking for. I pulled it out and Grover gasped.
            "You can't have any more Nectar, Luke!" Grover said, wide eyed when he saw me pull out the bottle of Nectar.
            I glared at him. "I've got to try. I can't just watch her die!" I paused then continued, "If I... if I- I swallowed, "Ya know...don't make it back? Take care of Annabeth alright?"
            Grover nodded and I gave Annabeth a huge hug to which she wrapped her arms around me tightly and whimpered not wanting me to go. Even though she was only 7, she knew exactly what I was doing. "Be a brave girl." I Whispered in her ear then stood up to see the Hellhound stocking closer to Thalia. My eyes widened and quickly, I chugged down the Nectar.
            Usually Nectar tasted like the most wonderful taste that you could ever think of but this time it tasted like I was downing extra, extra spicy tabasco sauce. The taste only got worse. Imagine the worst thing that you've tasted in your life and times that by 100. Still not good enough.
I coughed and took the bottle from my lips, having it fall on the ground, and started to cough in fits.
            My throat felt like it was burning from the inside out and I collapsed on my knees clawing at my throat. Oxygen was ripped from me and I could feel the pain from my mouth spreading through my body. I shut my eyes tightly trying to stop the pain as I coughed and felt like my lungs were collapsing. My body felt like it was on fire and my skin burned like I was in molten lava.  
            I screamed in pain and Grover held Annabeth back when she tried to run to me. I gritted my teeth and bared through the pain but I felt as though I was melting. I cried out again, in agony. It felt like I was burning to ashes. My body was shaking and sweat beaded down my forehead as my eyebrows were creased at the pain. Then, suddenly, the pain started to decrease. It was still horrible but it was much better from how it used to be.
            My body started to cool down but I was still sweating. I started to feel like I could breathe again and took a huge gulp of air, for the first time since I drank the Nectar, it didn't hurt too much to breath. I was on the ground, knelt and my head low to the grass.
            I coughed a few more times holding my stomach but slowly health started to run through me. A warm liquid pumped through my veins and spread to my whole body like drinking hot chocolate after you've been playing out in the snow all day.
            While I was still on the ground but I felt my bone healing up. As soon as it was together I took a huge hiccupped breath, like the kind after you've been crying for a long time.
            My hands were shaking when I, with a lot of effort, knelt up on my knees. My breathing was ragged and my shirt was stuck to my skin from sweating. I put my left, uninjured, foot out first so I was kneeling on my bad side. I then unsteadily rose to my feet and tested my foot. There was a slight pinch but it was enough to let me run.
            Thalia's scream made me whip my head to her to see the Hellhound's huge paw on her back, pressing her into the ground. I could tell that her the Hellhound's weight was pressing down on her and making her ribs bruise. She probably had a few broken ribs by the sound of her screams.
            I gave one last look at Annabeth and Grover and nodded my final goodbyes. I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to make it. My Father wouldn't help me, I was on my own.
            Charging down the hill, I realized how stupid it was when I was halfway down. I didn't have a weapon because the last one that I carried, a long metal rod, had been snapped in half by a monsters jaws.
            Deciding that I had to do this, I ran faster towards Thalia. "Hey!" I yelled at the Hellhound. I tried to sound brave but I'm pretty sure I sounded like a mouse. Fortunately-or unfortunately- the Hellhound heard me.
             The Hellhound looked over at me and growled. His eyes met mine then he racked his claws through Thalia's shirt and she screamed bloody murder, crying. I cringed at her in pain but tried to keep my eyes from her bloody back. The hellhound knew exactly what he had done and looked at me with an animalistic smirk. He lifted his foot from Thalia's back and she whimpered. The huge Hellhound started to stalk towards me but I held my ground. I knew how stupid I was trying to take on a Hellhound, especially one so big and without a weapon, but I had to save Thalia.
            While I stood there, the Hellhound walked in circles around me waiting to lunge. My heart was beating in my chest as I watched him circle me.
            Keeping my eyes trained on the Hellhound, I caught, in the corner of my eye, Thalia's spear laying a few yards from her. I knew that I had to get it or else I would die without a weapon. I decided that I was going to race to get it but the Hellhound must have known what I was doing. He stopped in front of Thalia's spear and narrowed his head at me and growled. I bounced on both of my feet then faked going right and, just as I thought, the hellhound lept right. He would have caught me, only I went left instead and grabbed the spear.
            I held it up in defense and the Hellhound didn't look too happy about being tricked. He howled in rage and ran towards me. I waited until, just at the right second, I rolled and stabbed the Hellhound in the right leg.
            Instead of blowing up to dust, the Hellhound only looked injured. My eyes widened. Monsters were supposed to die with celestial bronze! Why didn't he die?
            A thought came to my mind: maybe because he's so big he has to be stabbed in a fatal spot. Blood was pouring out of the Hellhound's leg and he bent down to lick it then raised his head to glare at me.  
            I ran towards the monster and jumped on his back. The Hellhound didn't appreciate being ridden like a horse and tried to buck me off and I used his force to jump off his back but not before stabbing his back.
            The Hellhound stumbled and looked tired already. He was breathing hard and was wounded pretty badly from the huge slash I had made when he tried ripping me off his back. We hadn't been fighting for a while but from the huge wound, he seemed weakened.
            It was then that I remembered the other monsters. They started bellowing with rage and started to move forward but the Hellhound snapped at them and snarled, as if telling them he would handle it. He turned back to me his eyes filled with hate.
            Narrowing my eyes at the Hellhound, I got into a ready stance with my spear pointing at the monster. He slowly started to come towards me then took up running and slashed at my chest, leaving four claw marks on my chest. I cried out but kept fighting.
The coward that he was, the Hellhound walked back to where he could easily see me. Once again he charged but I ran to him as well. At the last second I slid on my knees, right under him, and stabbed the spear up and into his heart.
            I slid out from under him and stood up watching him, breathing hard. The Hellhound looked surprised then looked down at his chest, looked back up and broke into dust.
            I didn't have to celebrate my victory because Thalia was still trapped under the rock. I put her spear under the bolder and used it as a lever to lift it from her legs. She army crawled out and collapsed on the ground just has her spear snapped in half.
            "I'm so sorry." I said.
            "Just get us out of here, Luke." Thalia cried.
            I looked over at Grover and motioned for him to run and help me carry her back up the hill but he cowered away. I scowled at him, anger consuming me. That coward! I thought bitterly. He's just as bad as the rest of the Gods!
            Quickly I scooped Thalia up in my arms and started towards the hill, breathing hard from so the extra weight and from my still aching foot.
She looked horrible. Her back was bloody and she had deep cuts all over her body. Thalia's legs were bent at an odd angle and I had to not look at them or else I would throw up.
Her back looked the worst and while I tried to run she kept whimpering and I just tried to apologize and not hurt her but soon the other monsters were going to get out of their shock.
At the exact moment, the monsters got over their surprise and started roaring, bellowing and howling. I don't think I've heard something so scary in my entire life. They charged towards us and I tried to run faster, sweat pouring from my body.
            We were almost to the borders when a Cyclopes realized we were too far away and threw a small-at least to him it was small. It was about the size of a sumo wrestler- at us. Thalia yelped and I tried to move out of the way but I hadn't moved fast enough. The rock grazed the side of Thalia's head but it was enough to make a huge gash in it. She passed out in my arms immediately. "No!" I yelled and started running faster.
            I knew she wasn't dead but a cut that deep, she might be soon.
            Charging up the hill, the rest of the monsters followed in pursuit. They were closing in but I fell into the border just in time to have all the monsters get blown back from the barrier. I collapsed on my knees and put Thalia down. Her face was pale and she looked awful.
Finally, our reinforcements came charging up the hill. They all stopped when they saw the huge amount of monsters outside the borders. Their eyes were wide but when they saw me and Thalia they all gasped. "Oh my Gods!" Someone said. "What happened?"
I tried to answer but a searing pain started to burn though my body again- just like when I first took the nectar. I screamed out and held my head where the pain was the worst. Tears fell from my eyes as I gritted my teeth, trying not to scream again. If I thought it was bad the first time it was absolutely horrible now. I saw a man on a horse-which I later learned to be Chiron, a centaur- trot up to me and kneel down. He put a hand on my forehead but I screamed out, the pain getting worse. Stars started to dot my vision and I collapsed on the ground. The last thing I remember was Annabeth crying then the world went dark.
End of Flashback
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