𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑, luke castellan

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲

Stealing a car from a drug dealer hadn't been the best decision.

But after airlines went on strike and realizing how much time it would take to get to Seattle by bus, Luke and Keira didn't have much of a choice. When they arrived on the outskirts of Phoenix, they spotted a bald man in his thirties wearing a frantic red Hawaiian shirt, talking rapidly on the phone and looking worried.

The man had distanced himself from his car to have a more fervent discussion on the side of the road, and without warning, Keira lunged at the car with the key still in the ignition, while Luke cursed up a storm at the move as he ran towards the car as well. He hated Keira's plans, but even more so, her improvised ones.

She slid into the driver's seat and floored the gas, not even giving Luke a chance to close the door. Luke continued cursing louder and louder as Keira, with determined eyes on the road, sped away.

"Keira, shit, he's got a fucking gun!" Luke shouted in desperation. The bald man, whose car they had stolen, was chasing them on foot, and in his frustration at not catching up, he pulled out a pistol and started shooting.

Without warning, Keira began zigzagging and accelerating at the same time, attempting to throw off the man's aim. Luke peeked through the front seats to see if they had left him behind when he had to duck to avoid a bullet. The bullet pierced the front windshield, leaving a large hole and shattered glass everywhere.

Far from being frightened by the gunshot and the glass that fell onto the front seats, Keira pressed down harder on the accelerator. After a few seconds without further shots, during which Luke was holding onto anything he could, Keira announced, looking in the rearview mirror, "I think he's fallen far behind now."

Luke swallowed hard, shaken by the situation. That's when he turned his gaze to the back seat of the car and saw several closed cardboard boxes. The fact that the owner of the car had a gun and had shot at them only made it more intriguing to know what he was transporting.

"I don't think we want to know what's in there," he murmured.

"I wouldn't mind smoking a bit of weed right now."

Luke sighed, settling into his seat and turning on the radio. They had many hours of travel ahead to Seattle, and they had decided to go all along the West Coast. At least the road was beautiful, Luke thought.

Since Jon's death, the relationship between Luke and Keira had become more relaxed. They weren't closer, but with their limited conversations, there were fewer arguments, and they didn't mind each other's company as they used to.

Keira seemed to pay little direct attention to Luke. She was often lost in her thoughts, acting as if he wasn't in the situation most of the time. By ignoring him, Keira refrained from making sarcastic and annoying comments, so Luke didn't get as angry as before. They were far away from being friends, but at least Luke could tolerate her.

Since their conversation with Chiron, they had a topic that diverted their thoughts from Jon's death. They could keep their minds occupied, if only for a while. While Britney Spears' "Oops!... I Did It Again" played, and Keira sang it under her breath, syncing her voice with Britney's, Luke opened a sandwich he had stolen from the gas station.

"Do you think Chiron knows something about Jason Grace that we don't?"

"Kiddo, it's obvious he knows something," replied Keira behind her sunglasses, her face serious. "I can't stand it when he gets all mysterious."

Luke nodded. "I'm pretty sure he's dead," he commented, referring to Jason. "How could he not be? After everything Thalia went through... I mean, if he went through the same being several years younger and completely alone, there's no fucking way he survived."