Hey guys! I've written another chapter, yay! You get to unravel a new fact about Luke and there's some action in this one! *Gives myself a pat on the back* I hope this chapter isn't too dragging! Please, let me know what could be improved and etc.

Chapter 8: Skeletons, Part 1

Mortal screams echoed around the room. In front of Thalia, the Minotaur stood tall on its hind legs. The human-ish part of the creature's body was buff, unnaturally so. Thalia was still on the ground, leaning on her forearms, frozen in place. The Minotaur stared at her with its murderous red eyes. The giant 7 foot, double-bladed axe it held in its hands didn't reassure Thalia, either. Both of its horns were sliced off. Thalia knew all too well the story. Grover wouldn't stop bragging about how his BFF had defeated a dangerous monster when at that time; Percy hadn't even known how to wield a sword. The other horn had been decapitated a few years later, during the Battle of Manhattan. Again, credits to the son of Poseidon. However, that alone gave the Minotaur a reason to hate demigods, and at some extent, bash Thalia's head in.

Backing away, Thalia could feel the shards of glass press onto her bare skin. The pain was almost non-existent, however. All she could really think about was how the Minotaur seemed keen to kill her.

"HEY!" Thalia turned to her right and saw Luke, gripping Backbiter in his hand. He had a wide stance, with folded and positioned to defend himself, if ever needed.

Oh no, Thalia thought.

The Minotaur's gaze was now on the eldest demigod. Its eyes, looking even angrier than before, turned to Luke and glared at him. And then, it charged.

The monster was a lot stronger, and probably had 400 pounds on his opponent. However, Luke had an advantage: he had a functioning brain.

Luke lunged to the side as the Minotaur was about to topple him over. He stabbed the creature in its side in one hard-hitting motion. From where she lay, Thalia could see Luke's flexed bicep and twist Backbiter, its blade inside the monster's body. The Minotaur howled in pain, but Luke's actions seemed only to have irritated it even more.

With his man-like hands, the Minotaur grabbed Luke by the neck and slammed the body against the wall. Scratch that, maybe Luke's brain wasn't working, after all.

The Minotaur lifted its axe towards Luke and pressed the blade against his neck until blood started to dribble out. Panicked, Thalia hurried herself up on her feet. Looking for her dagger, the one she had held under the table during dinner, Thalia could hear Luke groan in pain.

Blood pumped through her veins. Fuck, she thought, where are you where are you where are you?!

Thalia dropped to all fours and scattered the glass on the floor, looking for her dagger, or at this point, any kind of weapon. Knife. Before she could think of another thought, Thalia grabbed the tilt of the knife and threw it across the room. The blade hit the Minotaur on its left shoulder.

Nothing.

Turning back, Thalia looked for as many knives as she could find and they all landed on the creature's back. Like the first time, the blades didn't seem to hurt the Minotaur in the slightest.

It's because they're made out of stainless steel, Thalia realized. I need celestial bronze, damn it!

As if she'd said her thoughts out loud, Thalia heard Drew yelling her name. She stood near the exit and tossed Thalia's dagger in the air. It must have blown away farther than Thalia had imagined. She caught the dagger in mid air and flung it at the monster. However, before the weapon was able to hit its target, the Minotaur had gone weary of Luke and tossed him to the side, as if a full grown man was nothing but a weightless doll. Before the monster could turn around, the blade collided with the top of its spine.

The Minotaur was momentarily frozen. His weapon shook the floor as it fell to the ground.

Yes! Thalia had hit a nerve, leaving the bull-man motionless. In that short moment, Thalia was able to look at her surroundings and realized all the customers and employees had evacuated the premises. Drew was holding the door open to help the last of the civilians to leave without getting in harm's way.

Thalia sighed in relief.

The moment was cut short when she remembered Luke's limp body on the floor. Thalia bolted and kneeled at his side. He was half-unconscious already. His blue-golden eyes were threatening to roll into the back of his head. Thalia attempted to shake him awake, but it only did so much.

"Come on, Luke," she yelled, holding his head in her hands. "Stay with me."

Suddenly, Thalia felt a large hand wrap itself around her tiny waist and she was hurled halfway across the restaurant. The Minotaur was on top of her before Thalia's metal bracelet could turn into Aegis, a modified version of her father's shield. Quickly, the sides of her vision were blackening, the face of the bull in front of her was blurring.

Thalia could hardly breathe with such a giant fiend over her. The Minotaur was only inches away from her face. It breathed on her. Hard. Trying to concentrate, Thalia attempted to electrically shock the Minotaur by using her father's gift. But it didn't seem to have much effect on it. Seeing as she didn't want to get snot all over her face, she turned her head to the side, where she noticed Drew helping Luke get to his feet.

Get him out of here, she thought loudly, momentarily forgetting that Drew was no psychic.

When Thalia was ready to accept this really was the last of her, that's when she felt it. Backbiter. It was only millimeters from her right hand. Thalia elongated her arm, extending her fingers. And finally, the tilt was in her hand. She gripped the handle until she could imagine her knuckles whiten.

"Over her, jackass!" Thalia listened to Drew's voice from behind the Minotaur.

That was all the distraction Thalia needed to dig Backbiter in the Minotaur's chest, near the middle, but slightly more to the left, where the heart should've been.

The Minotaur cried in pain and mid-scream, it turned into ash.

Once the Minotaur was gone, gravity did its thing and most of the ash landed on Thalia. She sat upright and coughed up a concoction of her blood and what was rest of the monster.

She got up, still clinging onto Backbiter, as if another creature would appear in front of her at any second. When she was sure none would attack her, Thalia made her way across the room, to Luke.

He had his arm slung around Drew's shoulders, and leaned on her. He looked like he was sleepwalking.

Sighing, Thalia got rid of Backbiter and mirroring Drew, she pulled Luke's other arm around her. Thalia usually enjoyed being in Luke's arms, even when they were younger. But this was completely different.

Right now, he could barely keep his eyes open.

The two girls dragged Luke's body along the beach, with their few belongings. It was a struggle trying to keep Luke from tipping over. He wasn't some teenager anymore. He was a 24 year old adult, who'd been developing muscles of a fighter for the last ten years.

The girls had to try to carry the same weight as the other. The problem was that Drew was tall and slim while Thalia was shorter, seeing that she was still in her 15 year old body. Therefore, she ended up carrying most of Luke's weight. The job was tiring and walking on sand really didn't help her case.

Thalia had never had the experience taking care of a drunkard, but she imagined her situation wasn't that very far off.

Finally, the demigods arrived at the nearest motel sweating and panting. Luke was pretty much knocked out. It would have been near impossible to be able to distinguish him from a dead man, other than the fact that he would nod or mumble a few words every now and then whenever he could.

At the reception, Thalia handed Luke over to Drew. She fished inside Luke's back pocket (thank the gods, it was his back pocket) and retrieved his wallet.

"Room for—pant—three," Thalia said, once she reached the front desk. The balding, middle aged man behind the counter didn't seem to care much for her. He smelled of alcohol and soiled linen.

Bringing a glass of gods knew what to his mouth, the man said, "Sorry, sweetheart. Only got one room left available."

Thalia heaved, trying to keep calm. She had just traveled across the country, killed a Minotaur and dragged what felt like five tons on the beach of L.A. She turned around to take a look at her companions. Drew was fighting to stay on two feet, while Luke was dragging her down to the floor. Thalia had never seen Drew sweat so much. She obviously didn't have the juice to charmspeak her way into a five star hotel.

Turning back to the man, Thalia forced a grin. "We'll take it."

The man grabbed a set of keys from the counter, and handed it to her. "Room 2B. One queen sized bed. Second floor."

Grabbing the keys, Thalia groaned. She paid the man the price for one night and wrapped Luke's arm around her again.

This, she thought, is not going to be fun.

Of course, it wouldn't be a quest if the elevator didn't exist. So Thalia and Drew climbed two sets of stairs to get to their room and walk to the other side of the building to get to their room . When they finally arrived, the door wouldn't budge, even after Thalia had unlocked it. Cranky as she was, her boot collided with wood. The door slammed open, welcoming the demigods to their quarters, which only contained a bed, a door to the bathroom and a TV on top of a dresser.

Groaning, the girls hauled Luke onto the bed. They hadn't even bothered with the whole "gently, gently now" kind of thing. They practically tossed him on the mattress. He landed ungracefully on his face. He was sprawled across the bed horizontally, to leave space for the girls to sleep on later into the evening.

Thalia still felt slightly sorry for the guy. Therefore, she flipped him over so he would be able to breathe. She grabbed a pillow from the head of the bed and placed it under Luke's head. She did a quick examination of his wound and groaned.

"Damn it," she muttered under her breathe. She stood up straight, turned her head to Drew and placed her hands on her hips. Thalia knew from experience that in that position, she looked like a kid in a grown up's shoes. Her face was young, but her attitude certainly wasn't. At least, not at that moment. "Looks like he's going to need stitches. Drew, can you swing by a 7-Eleven or something and buy some alcohol."

Drew raised an eyebrow. "Don't we have some? Check the first aid kit."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "I meant the drinking kind. This might take a while and it's probably gonna hurt like a bitch."

"Oh, okay then. But why don't you go yourself?" Drew said. "I can clean him up for you."

"Does it look like I'm old enough to drink?" replied Thalia, pointing at her fifteen year old face. She didn't know why, but the thought of Drew so close to Luke made Thalia squirm.

Drew raised her hands up in the air, as if she was being taken into custody and agreed. "Fine, I'll go. Jeez, possessive much?"

Thalia drew her eyebrows together. "Excuse me?"

The other girl bit her tongue before continuing. "Sorry," Drew said. "It's just my way of saying you should cool down. And um, the thing you have for, Castellan, over there is kind of obvious."

Thalia was taken aback. She did not have 'a thing' for Luke. She was a Hunter, at least for now. And she wasn't allowed to be 'into' guys, mortal or not. But…was she? Could that feeling that's been gnawing at Thalia since the plane, could that be jealousy?

Before she could make up her mind, or deny Drew's accusation, the other girl was out the door.

Furious and tired, Thalia decided to be selfish and took a cold shower in their filthy bathroom. There were growing molds in the corners and the showerhead had a rather thick layer of rust. Thalia and Luke hadn't really planned an overnight stay at a crappy motel and so she had no toiletries with her. Drew, on the other hand, seemed to have packed all sorts of beauty products in her bag. Thalia 'borrowed' them from Drew's stash.

When she dried herself up with the motel's towel (it was a hand towel, mind you), she ended up smelling like Drew, of nutmeg and pine. Which was ironic considering Christmas was just around the corner.

Thalia got dressed and was thankful for the five minutes she had alone to herself. She thought about the Minotaur, who had been resurrected for the third time in the last decade, Kelsi, the empousa and as much as she tried not to, she thought of Luke's make out session with the blood-sucking monster.

She spent three minutes trying to convince herself that she didn't care about Luke and Kelsi. Thalia had half a dozen reasons listed down her in her head, including that Kelsi was a vampire who had tried to eat Luke and another was that Kelsi was now in Tartarus, where she wouldn't bother them for at least another few years.

I don't care about Luke or any other girl he's with, she told herself. She repeated the words in her head a hundred times until it felt almost natural, like she believed it. Afterwards, she spent the last two minutes wondering how and why two monsters had tried to kill them in the last 12 hours. It wasn't uncommon. Demigod blood was easy to track. But that wasn't what bothered her.

It wasn't like monsters took vacations to Los Angeles or start working at renowned airline companies. Monsters were found in secluded places, in the forest or in the Sea of Monsters, not in the second most populated city in the United States. Something wasn't adding up and Thalia couldn't put her finger on it.

Realizing she was only going to get a headache over this, she let it go and started to rearrange her backpack. As she stuffed her clothes inside, something fell and made a soft cling! sound. Thalia leaned over and picked up her circlet, the one the Hunters of Artemis wore. Although it really did a lot more like a tiara (Percy's words, not hers), showing off her position as Artemis's lieutenant.

Thalia examined the piece of jewelry and played with it for a bit. Other than her bracelet-Aegis thing and a pair of skull earrings, the tiara was the only other kind of girly accessory she owned.

Frowning, Thalia stuffed the tiara carefully back into her bag and left the bathroom. In the bedroom, Luke was still asleep on the bed. When they were still teenagers—wait, did Thalia still count herself as a teenager?—Luke was already tall, around 6"1. As an adult, he had grown another two inches and half, so a third of his calves were sticking out of the bed.

At the edge of the mattress, Drew sat down, flipping through the channels of the TV. The Vampire Diaries didn't seem to be airing so she was just watching a bunch of different reality shows that included housewives and a group of woman called the Kardashians.

Realizing Thalia was done using up her expensive products, Drew got up, handed her a bottle of vodka and announced it was her turn to clean up before storming inside the bathroom.

Thalia took Drew's place at the edge of the bed and searched for anything interesting to watch when she stumbled onto Arrow, the TV show she'd recently been watching with Luke at his apartment. She had just finished the first season and was halfway through the second season. Thalia recognized the episode that was airing as the last one she'd seen back in Queens, and smiled as it was her favorite one so far. The episode was a few minutes from ending. The main character was reassuring his girl friend—friend who was a girl, that she shouldn't be jealous of the new character in the season.

"—'You'll always be my girl.'"

Thalia jumped. She turned around and found Luke quoting the main character the moment he said the exact same words. Thalia sighed in relief.

Luke was obviously trying to give her a smile, but failed. His face was pale, his forehead still bloody and his eyes looked tired. The grimace still made Thalia's stomach flip, though.

"You know," Luke mumbled, "that's one of my favorite episodes."

For a moment, Thalia was frozen. She didn't have a clue as to why. Maybe it was because this was their first time alone in a room since she woke up that morning, with Luke in her cabin. Or perhaps it was because she was suddenly reminded of the incident with Kelsi. Thalia really didn't know, maybe it was because of both.

Before she knew what was going on, Luke was already propped on his elbow, laying sideways and using his forearm for support. He had been passed out for almost an hour and yet, he was still panting and covered in sweat. The blond hair on the top of his head was sticking to his face and the shirt he wore had been ripped near the neckline, where the Minotaur's axe sliced through it.

"Where are we?" Luke asked, pulling Thalia out of her reverie.

She hadn't even noticed she was holding her breathe until then. Thalia suddenly felt embarrassed. Blood flooded her cheeks. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looked down at her bracelet—anywhere but at Luke.

"Motel, not too far from the restaurant," replied Thalia in a hushed tone.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Luke nod. They were both silent for a long time, like when Drew had left them alone in the booth when she'd gone to speak with Mrs. Nguyen.

Suddenly, Thalia could feel Luke touch her. His fingers grazed her arms, staring at the cuts the glass shards had made. He frowned. Thalia had completely forgotten them, but as Luke touched her, she felt a jolt of electricity shock her and the sting of the open wounds.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked. The worry in his voice was hard to conceal.

Thalia scoffed. "Says the guy who passed out."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Hey, I was trying to save you. That thing was ready to tear you to shreds."

"Stupid move, by the way." Thalia couldn't stop her smile. "You almost got your head cut off. If you'd been conscious then you'd realize that I saved your life."

The corners of Luke's mouth were curled up, just slightly. It was obvious he was trying to hide it. Thalia sighed. Even when he'd just been comatose for the last hour, he was still trying to put up barriers.

"How did you get rid of the Minotaur?"

She told the story in a dramatic way, mostly gloating about herself and complaining. "I sent Backbiter through its chest. Afterwards, Drew and I had to drag your heavy ass over here and climb the stairs. This was the only room left, since it's Christmas season."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying I'm fat?"

"From all of that, the only thing you retained was 'heavy ass'?" Thalia chuckled. "What about the part where I killed the Minotaur? Or that Drew and I almost tumbled down the stairs trying to get you to safety?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

Although Thalia knew Luke was only kidding, in his own way, the scar on his face made him look so serious. Even more than usual, that is. The minutes passed and the only thing the two demigods could hear was the ending credits to the Arrow episode, the shower running in the room beside them and the traffic outside the door.

Only, it was the awkward kind of silence.

Thalia was looking at him, their eyes were locked. Beside Luke, she felt looked a dwarf or a hobbit. He was so much taller than her, his strong built would have intimidated just about anyone. Except Thalia. She liked that he was taller; she enjoyed it when her opponents were a lot stronger, because even if they were, she knew she could take them on. And that's what they were at that moment, opponents. It was the most intense staring contest Thalia had ever participated in. And she loved the competition. She was fierce like that. Confident.

She felt like they were fighting each other. Well, at least she was fighting whatever feeling was at the pit of her stomach, the feeling that appeared only whenever Luke Castellan was around.

Luke blinked at her with his extraordinary eyes. Right then, they were more blue than gold. The gold was just a fine circle around his blown out pupils. The sun was kissing the horizon and Thalia hadn't bothered to turn the lights on when they came in.

The dim lighting made the moment a bit more…

She didn't know what to make of all of it. Thalia had never been a situation like this.

Luke was the one who looked away. His eyes darting at the front door. He seemed like he was having a hard time keeping his gaze from Thalia.

The odd part was that even if she knew she shouldn't, even when every fiber of her being, even when it was against the Hunter's laws, Thalia wanted so badly for Luke to glance back at her. It was silly, and so unlike her. Yet, the disappointment was hurt. The longer he looked away, the heavier she felt.

What was wrong with her? Thalia wasn't like the other Hunters, she wasn't bothered with boys. There was this feeling in her body, from the top of her head, her fingertips and to her toes. Something that was never there with the Hunters or when she was with anyone else. Only him. Luke Castellan. He was doing this to her.

Thalia couldn't comprehend what was happening to her

She wanted these odd feelings to stop.

But, she also prayed that these feelings would never come to an end.

It was like trying to win a war against yourself. Her thoughts were in jumbles. She was starting to feel lightheaded. Her chest tightened when she looked at his face.

Swallowing, Thalia took a chance and reach for him. The tips of her fingers touched his fractured hairline. Luke winced slightly before turning his head back to her. The expression written in his eyes made Thalia gasp. It was the same look she had whenever she'd see parents laughing with their children, or an old couple in the park, reading the newspaper together, or a young man and woman arguing about the silliest of things.

Longing, Thalia realized.

"You're still bleeding," she mumbled, frowning. She'd totally forgotten about the stitches Luke needed.

Thalia pulled out the liquor Drew had purchased and opened the bottle, giving it to Luke. "Bottoms up."

Luke didn't say anything. He just stared at her, as if she hadn't said anything at all. It was distracting.

Thalia pulled away from his gaze while she still could, put down the bottle and walked to the other side of the bed. She pulled out her first aid kit from her backpack and drenched a cotton ball in her mineral water. She sat back down on the bed, opposite Luke and pulled his face towards her. Thalia bit her lip, trying to keep herself on planet Earth and not zone out.

She cleaned his cut, and the rest of his face, which was covered in his own blood. Once it was clean, Thalia threw the used cotton ball to the side of the bed. She reached for the bottle of liquor, still standing on the bed. Again, she handed it to Luke.

He didn't take it.

"Here," she said. "You need stitches. This will ease the pain. If we're lucky, you'll pass out again before I need to take the needle out."

Luke stared at the bottle with empty eyes. "I've been clean for two years," he informed her.

Thalia was still. She had not anticipated this. Her emotions went from shock to anger within a few seconds. How could she not have known this earlier?! Did Annabeth know about Luke's drinking problems? Of course, she had! She saw him every day at Camp Half-Blood. And if Annabeth knew, then Percy knew. And Chiron, as well, obviously. Maybe Grover. How come they hadn't told her anything?!

In front of her, Luke coughed. "It's not your fault. It was pretty down low, not many people knew about it," he said, as if he were a mind reader. "And I asked them not to tell anyone. More specifically, not you."

Not her? The hell with that! She should have been informed! Thalia, oblivious to it, started to tighten her grip on the bottle of clear liquid in her right hand. She was trying not to seethe.

No, she realized, she had no right to be angry. Her fingers loosened around the neck of the glass container. Since she became a Hunter, she had little interaction with those who were still back in Long Island. And whenever she did visit, Thalia had scarcely bothered to converse with Luke. Perhaps a few hellos and how's it goings but nothing too personal.

Thalia went back to two years earlier. When she remembered what year that would have been, she frowned. She had visited Camp twice, once during spring and another in early fall. How had she not noticed when she was there?

Ugh, she was so angry with herself, she wanted to throw the bottle across the room and watch it shatter.

Her mind had wandered so far off she jumped slightly when Luke reached for her hand. Hesitantly, he took the liquor from her.

He stared blankly at the thing he'd been trying to avoid for the last two years. Luke gulped. "How bad will the stitches be?"

Thalia stared at the cut from a distance. It was pretty bad. On the way to the motel, Drew had told her that when she found Luke, there was a shard of a glass frame impaled in his skull. Thalia had wanted to make sure there were no pieces left in his head. That, plus the stitches would hurt a lot.

"The cut is pretty long," she informed him. Luke had yet to look himself in the mirror. Which was a good thing, considering his wound look something out of Halloween. "And I want to clean it thoroughly. Make sure there're no shards of glass left in that thick skull of yours."

Worried, Thalia glanced at him. She could tell he was biting the inside of his cheek.

"Do you think there's a chance I'll pass out from the pain?" he asked.

She wanted to be honest. So she only shrugged.

Thalia was staring at him. She hadn't even bothered to cover the worry in her face. Luke, on the other hand, was staring at nothing. His golden-blue eyes were looking at something beside Thalia, but he wasn't actually looking at it, just seeing through it. He was thinking, she realized. Weighing in the options, calculating.

Swallowing, Luke popped the bottle open and lifted it in the air. He had made his decision. "Cheers, then."

He lifted the object to his lips and chugged down a fourth of the contents before Thalia could protest.

She stared in horror. Her face paled, her eyes bulged out of their sockets. Before she could think about her next move, her arms had taken over. Thalia grabbed the bottle from his hands, spilling a glassful on the bed.

"Holy mother of Hera!" she cried. "What in the heck are you doing?"

Luke groaned as the vodka spilled onto his slightly ripped shirt. "What does it look like I'm doing? Thalia, give me the bottle so I can get theses stitches over with."

He leaned over to try to grasp the liquor from her. Thalia only lifted her arms up in the air, away from Luke.

"Not if it means you'll start drinking again!" she roared.

Luke, annoyed, gave her a look that Thalia knew would send any of his students running halfway across New York. But she held her ground.

Their faces were close. Their bodies almost touching. Thalia could feel the heat radiating from his body. She could see the plea that was written all over his eyes, a message she couldn't quite decipher. Also, she could already smell the stench coming from his mouth.

"Thalia, don't you trust me?" His voice was calm, his eyes focused.

Yes, Thalia wanted to say, but found no voice when she tried to open her mouth. She trusted Luke more than the other Hunters, more than Artemis, even.

As if her brain was on automatic, Thalia's thoughts raced back to the moment Luke had betrayed her. He had double crossed everyone at Camp—Annabeth, Grover, his siblings—his family. Remembering the betrayal, Thalia second-guessed herself, now. And she hated herself for it. Her chest tightened because of it. Because she could never forget what he'd done.

And she was angry at Luke for it, still.

And Thalia despised herself even more because, after three years, she was still angry at him. Even when she didn't want to be.

That moment of hesitation was all it took for Luke to read the expression on her face.

His body changed. His shoulders slouched, his eyebrows pulled together, the gold in his irises gleamed, his eyes immediately started to water. The look Luke gave her was something Thalia would never be able to forget. It was forever drilled inside her brain, her heart, her whole being.

His expression crushed her.

Knowing what her hesitation must have meant to Luke, Thalia hated herself even more.

Drew interrupted the two demigods, sitting on the bed. With her hair dripping from the shower and a questioning look directed at Thalia, Drew ended up doing Luke's stitches.

Thalia could only stare from the sidelines as Luke was sprawled on the bed, with a hand towel over his mouth, muffling his screams. To her surprise, Luke mostly winced and the shrieks only arose on occasion.

There were tears in his eyes, though. They dribbled down the sides of his face. Though, Thalia would never know if they had been caused by physical pain or the one that she had accidentally inflicted upon him.

Sorry, was that part about Luke's expression clear? Hehhh... in short, he realizes that Thalia still resents him for helping Kronos and betraying Camp Half-Blood. And as for the expression itself, it's a mix of many. From realization, disappointment, guilt, and even understanding. I'll explain in later chapters! Anyway, I hope this chapter wasn't all that boring! I'll be writing very soon. Thanks, guys!