Chapter Text
Luke had slept in bed with her every night for two weeks. The nightmares didn’t stop, but it was better with him there. They would wake up before the sun and just lay together. He’d rest his head on her chest and listen to her heartbeat, his fingers interlocked with hers. Something about him felt different. He still had no difficulty giving orders like he had been doing it his whole life. But Katie stopped bothering her. Roni would watch Luke when she couldn’t sleep. She’d listen to his breathing, watching his chest rise and fall, and trace his scar.
He wasn’t quite her Luke. Sometimes, he’d wordlessly come into her room and just curl up in her bed and she’d join him. He’d never talk about what they were doing out there.
“I want to go outside, Luke.” They had been talking about this for the last 30 minutes. She sat on the edge of her bed while Luke passed between the two rooms, getting ready.
“It’s too dangerous,” He simply replied.
“You’ve said,” Roni rolled her eyes, “But you haven’t said why it’s so dangerous.”
“Roni,” His eyes landed on her, his tone low.
“What! I want to know what makes it so dangerous!”
“Maybe it’s the fact that everyone here hates the gods? Or the fact you are known to be loyal to the gods?” Luke crossed his arms.
“You can guard me then. Nobody will f*ck with me if you’re there.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“I just don’t understand why you-“
“Roni, I said no and that’s final,” Luke snapped.
“Sorry,” she said softly, tucking her legs up to her chest.
That was another way he was different. He’d never yell at her before. But now, he was short-tempered and mean. Luke had almost reverted back to the way he was before the war. Maybe this was the real Luke.
He sighed, pinching his nose. “Roni, don’t pout to make me feel bad.”
“I’m not trying to, I’m just disappointed is all,” She shrugged, looking to the port window. “I just want to be able to walk more than ten feet before running into a wall. Sorry I even mentioned it.”
He stood in front of her, taking her face in his hands. “I’m sorry that it’s not safe for you.”
She touched the hand against her cheek, leaning into the touch. They were warm but calloused. Inviting, but could do so much harm. Danger, she felt her body telling her. But she pressed her lips to his palm.
There was nothing to do in that tiny room, even with Luke’s suite included. So she laid around all day, doing nothing but staring out the two windows between the rooms. They looked out the same direction, but there was nothing but sky and sea to see. People would pass occasionally, but they never noticed her in the cracked windows.
Roni took it as time to plan an escape. Luke wasn’t going to get her out of there. She was only there for his comfort at night. That would have been all good if he had truly wanted to save her. But it was obvious that was not on the table. She kept her panic attacks to herself, spiraling after he left for the day to plot and plan the murder of their fellow demigods.
Someone was guarding her door constantly, but not Luke’s. She had quickly figured that out though Luke only left through his suite door and down the hall, to her door, to say good morning to whoever was guarding her then. Roni had to get the guard in front of her doorway so she could get out Luke’s door. But then what? Where would she go? A life raft and try to signal down a passing ship? With what? What if they didn’t speak English? What if nobody came?
She was pulled out of her suddenly spiraling thoughts by screaming. She got off the bed and peered out the window. There was a flash of blonde hair and then nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The door swung open and Luke was holding his sword.
And then it was pressed against her throat.
“Don’t f*cking make a sound,” He growled and he drug her along the hall. She stumbled to keep up. They stopped at a tiny closet and Luke pushed her in.
“Luke, what-”
“Shut the f*ck up,” He snapped. There was something very wrong with Luke. It was his eyes. They were the same yellow as the griffin. She felt her breakfast threaten to come up and her vision waned.
The door swung open and Luke-Kronos’ attention was drawn away from her to Percy on the other side. She grabbed a mop and brought it down as hard as she could onto his head. Luke’s body collapsed in a heap at her feet.
“Roni, we need to go,” Percy dragged her along by her wrist.
She gagged at the bodies in the hall and her hands nearly gave in when she was scaling down the side of the boat on the rungs. Roni finally let herself vomit over the side of the small boat when both of her bare feet were on the textured floor. A familiar handheld back her hair.
“It’s okay, Ro,” Violet soothed. “We are getting you back now.”
