First Lie || Deception Book I ||

Regret Pt.1

Luke's POV

"Ri, you have to understand that I didn't have a choice!" I said in frustration. "I had to."

Rianna's face was frosty, her eyes cold. Faster than a viper, her knife was in her hands. She threw it right at my feet, the blade sinking into the earth. I flinched.

"Of course you did," she replied icily. "That's the problem. I thought you said that it would be for the better. How could it, when the very first thing you want me to do is to sit by and watch as a twelve-year-old is dragged into the pit? And for what? Just so he can rise? I can't see any situation when something like this could be for the greater good."

Her words were like a blade to my heart. "Ri-" I started, wanting to apologize for what I had done but also needing to tell her that joining Kronos would only lead to more situations like this, where the people she cared for would be in danger.

She shook her head and walked away from me.

I watched her as each step took her farther from me, each step driving the knife just a little deeper. From the day I'd met her, there'd been a spark of interest. That was hard to explain, but something just drew me in. Was it fate? Destiny? I didn't know. I'd had more than my fair share of dates - how could I not, when literally every girl in the camp was chasing me?

But I'd known instantly when I'd seen her that Rianna was different. It wasn't just the way she held herself, a person trained to kill, it was the way she could balance that deadly blade between killing and protecting that had drawn me in. It had started off as Kronos wanting me to get to know her better, but soon enough, I couldn't quite keep myself from keeping her at arm's length. Obviously, he couldn't know. Which was part of the reason I hadn't wanted her to join me on the Andromeda. I smiled sadly. But Ri was Ri, and her stubbornness couldn't be helped.

She exuded an image of strength, the right amount of danger, and more than enough charm to make the Aphrodite girls jealous and more than half the boys in the camp want her, but I saw the fragility beneath. I could see that she was balanced on a blade's edge, and one push at the right spot would knock her right over. She couldn't be described as delicate or fragile - far from that - but Ri wasn't rock, either.

I picked up the dagger at my feet and stroked my thumb over the hilt. The seraphim silver blade was as clean and immaculately polished as ever and well oiled, but there were nicks and flecks in the silver. She'd had this dagger for a long time, alright.

I sighed and tucked it into my belt, next to my sword. She'd been the one who brought Percy to camp, along with Grover and Allison. Ri had almost died facing off those hellhounds for Percy to make it to camp, and here I was, blindly tossing him into Tartarus.

"Where's Anna?" Ally asked as she walked up to me, leading her white pegasus, Neraida, along. "She said she had to talk to you. Where did she go?"

I grimaced. Ally's presence had been like a slap to the face. I didn't need Rianna's best friend pissed off at me as well. "Uh- we- I- I said something I really shouldn't have. She just walked off."

Ally gaped at me, her grip on Neraida going slack. "What? And you're still standing here? Why didn't you go after her?"

"She doesn't want to talk to me!" I protested. "Why would I go after her?"

This time, Ally did slap me across the face. And quite hard. I glared at her and rubbed my face. "That hurt."

Ally glared right back at me. "You're such an idiot. You go after her because she walked away! You need to show that you care! You can't just stand there! Do something about it!"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You do care for her, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" I snapped.

"Okay!" Ally snapped back. "Then go after her!"

"Why are you still standing here?" Ally asked me. "Go!"

I turned around and sprinted after Ri.

Jeez. I forgot all the time that Ally was only fourteen. That one, she had the spirit of a wildfire. I shook my head. Girls.

I stopped at the edge of the woods and pulled my sword and Ri's dagger out. One could never be too prepared going into the woods. The shadowy trees wrapped around me, and I fought the shudder that ran through me. What the hell? I'd been at camp for five years and gone into the woods so many times I'd lost count, and not once had I felt such a sense of foreboding.

"Rianna?" I called. No answer.

I scanned the forest floor anxiously for any tracks. She couldn't have gotten too far ahead. After all, she'd only gotten only a ten-minute head start. There was nothing. No broken branches, cracked twigs, disturbed leaves, running insects, footprints, nothing.

I sighed in frustration. "I need to work on my tracking skills."

An owl hooted.

I ignored it.

It hooted again. And again.

"Stupid owl," I muttered. "Can't you see that I'm busy right now?"

Wait, what? An owl in the day? That's not right, I thought.

My immediate reaction was to stay the hell away from it, which, of course, I did not do. I held my weapons at the ready and headed after the owl.

Stupid? I know. But when you were a nineteen-year-old demigod who'd spent years on his own out in the world, you kinda just lost . . . your sense of caution. What could be worse than the hell you'd already been through?

The owl started hooting again, more . . . urgently.

A sense of danger filled me, and I could feel in my gut that something terrible was happening. I picked up my pace.

"Ri?" I shouted.

There was no answer. The owl's hooting was filled with urgency, and I broke into a quick jog. "Ri!" I yelled.

Keep calm, I told myself. She can take care of herself. Just-

I froze.

The woods were deadly silent. The birds had fallen silent. There was no movement. Even the cool breeze that had gently rustled the leaves had disappeared.

What was happening? A growl rippled through the woods. I spun around, trying to place the source, but there was nothing around me.

The woods were so, so, so silent.

A faint yelp of pain reached my ears and I tensed again, but there was nothing. Could it be . . .?

I broke into a blind run, heading in the direction of the noise. Please, please, please, I silently begged the gods. Don't let anything happen to Ri.

I tore through the woods, not even registering what was going on around me. The only thought was on Ri. If she was hurt in any way, or worse . . .

Another growl pierced the suffocating silence in the woods.

What good was training if I couldn't even keep the one person I loved safe?

"Ri!" I yelled again, trying to push down my panic. It wasn't working. "Ri!"

There was no answer. Finally, I burst through the trees and skidded to a halt in the clearing.

My eyes immediately landed on the limp figure lying in the centre, a familiar silver sword next to her.

Time stopped.  

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