(For Annabeth) All About Luke

[percy_jackson]

After walking Mrs. O'Leary (who demanded to be walked and, besides, deserve it. She hadn't brought Luke to the Island, after all. Besides, have you ever turned down a hellhound who demanded anything? At all?), I left my hut and made a beeline for Annabeth's place. I'd had enough of this awkwardness. We needed to talk -- moreso than ever, now that

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[fatalpride]

Annabeth had a strange feeling that she knew what this was all about. She had just needed time to think about everything. About Percy kissing her, about Luke...especially about Luke. And without the ever-looming threat of attack hanging over their heads, she actually could think. But even all of her contemplation hadn't prepared her for the exact moment Percy showed up at her door.

In fact, she had been so engrossed in a blueprint she'd been working on that it took her a while to respond to Percy, tucking the pencil behind her ear as she took a breath. "Hi to you, too, Seaweed Brain." she said, suppressing the temptation to roll her eyes. "About what?"

[percy_jackson]

I took a deep breath to say something, then stopped when I realized I didn't what to say first. I felt angry. I felt betrayed. And I knew, instinctively, that it would be unwise to start a conversation with your best friend this way. It didn't help that a part of me kept asking if I had a right to feel betrayed? Or angry.

So, I ratcheted down my temper a couple of notches, and said, as an opening volley, "Luke's here."

[fatalpride]

Annabeth is fully able to give as much as she gets, and so she reflects Percy's anger (however reigned in it might be) with a stiffly chilly stare of her own. As a defensive gesture, she crosses her arms across her chest, legs slightly apart in her slightly defensive body language.

"I know. I saw him." she keeps her tone light, trying not to betray how much this had affected her.

[percy_jackson]

"I see," I said. "I figured you might. Thalia ran off to warn you. At least, that's what she said she was doing when she left me on my own with him." Bitterness wasn't helping, but I couldn't keep it out of my voice.

"I need to know," I went on. "Thalia said that you and he met -- I guess it's sometime after I left Camp Half Blood, gods curse this addled timeline stuff. I need to know what's going on with him. I need to know everything."

I'd leave the recriminations for later. I needed something, anything, to make me feel like I was on an even keel again, and that Luke didn't have the advantage. The truth was, I was scared.