Of Vines and Men

Luke looked so serious, so confident that the once sentence he just said was going to make me join his side and try to kill everyone I cared for. It wasn't intentional, but I laughed. A laugh of disbelief and amusement rang loudly through the room, as I practically cackled.

I guess I was tired.

"Why are you laughing? This isn't funny." Luke's expression hardened, and he let his right hand fall to the side of his chair, resting on top of the hilt of a sword. It got me to stop laughing, seeing what looked like steel and the familiar Celestial Bronze meet at the middle of the blade. Even with the pang of fear in my chest I kept up the idea that I was amused. After all, he couldn't see me weak. It would mean death.

"You assumed that I like Percy." I huffed, readjusting how I was sitting in the chair. Frankly, it wasn't very comfortable. "I'm ace."

Luke's face showed utter embarrassment, but he tried not to be too open about it. We held eye contact fro a moment, as if he was trying to scare me into helping him anyway. I clapped my hands together and stood up, having too much excitement to be genuine.

"This is a lovely place, the water damage just adds character. Now, where can I find something so I don't starve to death?" I asked, far too chipper for even my own personality. Luke rolled his eyes at me, standing up and began walking away. I followed him as he stepped out the door, walking down the hall of an abandoned apartment building, into another room that held a few other kids my age.

"Eve, meet Karen, Joseph, and Mae." Luke said, pushing me inside before adding, "They'll make sure you don't starve." He shut the door behind me, and I stood awkwardly. Ok, maybe my whole 'be so happy it annoys him' plan wasn't great. I had no idea where these three had gotten their food. One of them got up and walked over to me, looking me up and down before holding out a hand.

"I'm Mae. M-A-E. People misspell it too often." She huffed, and I studied how the freckles dotted her nose, the dark beauty mark beneath her left eye that almost blended into her skin. Pale grey eyes contrasted her face sharply, round cheeks and nose that only brought more attention to her eyes. And her hair. The short, thick, corkscrew hair that looked amazing on her. I was jealous, frankly.

"Eve, uh. I'm kinda hungry."

Notes

Super short but.... I returned! It's been forever, oops!

~Nova~