GHOST OF YOU, luke castellan

¹⁰you're not you when you're burned by lava

chapter ten!
「 two months before 」

❝ come on, you have to have lotion or something—you're a teenage boy „

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THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE PROPHECY HIT ALASKA like a ton of bricks when she woke up in the morning. She hadn't been having any dreams lately, but she was still very uneasy, especially around Luke—which she felt bad about, but she couldn't help it.

She knew she had to tell Chiron even if that meant he would keep extreme tabs on Luke and Luke would hate her forever—she was doing the right thing. It was for Luke's good.

She was standing on top of the hill, saying goodbyes to Annabeth, Percy, and Grover (who were about to go on their quest) whilst waiting to talk to Chiron alone, when Luke ran up the hill carrying his winged shoes.

"Hey," he panted. "Glad I caught you."

Percy looked at him with curiosity whereas Annabeth was blushing (and trying to hide it—though not very well) like she always did around Luke.

"Just wanted to say good luck, and I thought ... um, maybe you could use these," Luke said, handing Percy the sneakers.

Percy subtly examined the pair of shoes, before Luke said, "Maia!" and its wings sprouted, startling Percy and causing him to drop the shoes.

Its wings flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days ..." he trailed off, exchanging a quick look with Alaska before his expression saddened.

"Hey man," Percy said, "thanks."

"Listen, Percy ..." Luke started uncomfortably, "a lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"

They shook hands, Luke patted Grover on the head between his horns, and he hugged Annabeth goodbye. When he pulled away, Annabeth looked like she might faint and Luke turned to Alaska with raised brows.

"You ready for training?" he asked.

Alaska hesitated—she remembered she had offered to train at the climbing wall with Luke that day, but guess she must've forgotten when she was too preoccupied thinking about the prophecy and how she was supposed to tell Chiron she snuck into the attic.

She looked back at Chiron, hoping he would get the message that she needed to talk to him urgently, but silent facial expressions could only go so far and he didn't seem to understand.

"Yeah, sure," she said, feigning enthusiasm.

He interpreted the feigned enthusiasm as nerves and just chuckled. "You always make it to the top; you'll be fine."