Chapter 35

"And you know what they call a... a... a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?"

Alex followed the pickup with his eyes as it pulled out of the highway that cut through a ravine. "They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?"

"No, kid, they got the metric system," Vincent said, tilting the steering wheel to the right to follow. "They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is."

"Then what do they call it?"

"They call it a Royale with cheese." 

Alex turned to Vincent with an arched eyebrow. "A Royale with cheese," he repeated. "What'd they call a Big Mac?"

Vincent shrugged. "A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it le Big Mac."

The two vehicles zig-zagged through a winding road that went down a cliff. From the few times he'd been with his dad in Connecticut, it all looked vaguely familiar — lots of trees, low stone walls, and big houses. 

"Le Big Mac," Alex repeated with a poorly done French accent. He chuckled. "What about a Whopper?"

"I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King."

Down the road Vincent had followed Jules was someone's backyard. The property was huge – more wilderness than a lawn. The house was a white colonial-style two-storey. Even though it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. Alex could see a light glowing in the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree. 

"But you know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup?" Vincent continued. 

"What?"

"Mayonnaise."

"...yuck."

Putting the thoughts of fries with mayonnaise aside, Alex couldn't imagine hating a house like that, with an actual yard and everything. He'd spent most of his life in tiny apartments, and most of his cherished moments in life happened in his grandparents' cabin. But again, it wasn't as if Luke's most recent memories of this place were any good. 

When the pickup slowed down, Vincent did the same. The tyres crunched the loose pieces of asphalt and gravel as they came to a stop by the low red-brick wall. 

Alex stepped out of the Malibu and jogged over to the truck to help the punk girl out. Annabeth had changed her gauze just like Alex had thought her so Thalia's wound would be kept clean. Luke opened his door with a grunt. He was still clutching his right shoulder. 

"Crap," Thalia winced when she placed some of her weight on her injured leg. 

"Just hang on for a little while," Alex told her, helping her to the low brick wall so she could sit. 

The Daughter of Zeus sighed in relief when she dropped her bottom on the wall. Annabeth helped her hoist her leg up and made sure there was no bleeding. 

Alex walked over to Jules. The dark-skinned man was standing near the Malibu, looking at the four kids with an unreadable expression. He took out a cigarette from a box of Red Apples and a silver zip lighter from his pocket. Lighting it, the smell of tobacco reached Alex's and Luke's nostrils as he took a drag. Jules pushed the smoke out of his nostrils before clearing his throat.

"Will you kids be alright?" he asked. Alex tried to wave the smoke away from his face. 

Luke nodded. "We'll be fine," he pointed with his thumb to his mom's house. "We'll spend the night here to recover. Then we'll get on goin'."

Jules hummed, taking another puff before throwing the barely-started cigarette to the street curb. "Good luck with it, then."

Vincent turned the ignition key as he got in the car. Jules followed, closing the Malibu's door with a soft thump. He rolled down the window. 

"Make sure to stay out of trouble," he said as if adding an afterthought. 

Alex stepped closer to the car. "Uh... about what happened in the diner—"

"I don't care," Jules cut him off. "For my own sanity, I'd appreciate you two keeping your fuckin' mouths shut and let us fuck off."

Vincent leaned towards the window to speak.

"What he meant is," he said. "We'd rather don't know than get even more confused."

Alex stepped back with a shrug. He was sure the two adults were already doubting their minds and the one thing they now wanted was to get away. 

"Well, see ya around kids. Hit that shit, Vince!"

The tyres of the red Malibu screeched against the asphalt as it disappeared down the road. Alex and Luke spent a few moments looking at the small cloud of dust it had lifted. 

After a while, Alex gazed at the colonial-style house. "What now?"

"We ring the doorbell," Luke said, taking a deep breath.

==========

If Alex were Luke's mom, he would not have opened his door at night without even checking the peephole. But he wasn't anything like Luke's mom.

He knew that even before they reached the front door. The sidewalk was lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, and even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out here a long time — since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.

The front porch was infested with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. Brass ribbons tinkled like water and made Alex realize he needed to use the bathroom. He didn't know how Ms Castellan could stand all the noise.

The front door was painted turquoise. The name CASTELLAN was written in English on top and below in Greek.

Alex let Thalia lean against the doorframe and looked at Luke. "You're ready?"

Luke nodded whilst chewing on his lip. He'd barely tapped the door when it swung open.

"Luke!" the old lied cried happily. 

She looked like someone who enjoyed sticking her fingers in electrical sockets. Her white hair stuck out in tufts all over her head. Her pink housedress was covered in scorch marks and smears of ash. When she smiled, her face looked unnaturally stretched, and the high-voltage light in her eyes made Alex wonder if she was blind.

"Oh, my dear boy!" she hugged Luke. His mom was thin as a scarecrow, but that didn't stop her from seemingly almost crushing him. 

Alex and the two girls watched in awkwardness as the mother rained kisses down on her son. 

"H-hey, mom—" Luke tried, but his mom quickly continued.

"Come in!" she insisted. "And bring your friends. I have your lunch ready!"

It was the middle of the night.

She ushered them inside. Alex helped the limping Thalia in while Luke was dragged by his mom and Annabeth looked around quizzically. 

The living room was even weirder than the front lawn. Mirrors and candles filled every available space. Alex couldn't look anywhere without seeing his own reflection. Above the mantle, a little bronze Hermes statue with the caduceus symbol flew around the second hand of a ticking clock. Alex tried to imagine a god ever falling in love with this old woman, but the idea was too bizarre.

Then he noticed the framed picture on the mantle — it was Luke, much younger than he was now, with his blond hair and a big smile with two missing teeth. He looked carefree and happy, something Alex had barely seen in his older friend.

"This way, my dears!" Ms Castellan steered them towards the back of the house. "Oh, I told him you'd come back, I did!" 

She sat them down at the kitchen table. Stacked on the counter were hundreds – Alex meant hundreds – of Tupperware boxes with peanut butter and jam sandwiches inside. The ones on the bottom were green and fuzzy like they'd been there for a long time. The smell reminded him of some of the lockers in Thornbrook – and that was not a good thing.

On top of the oven was a stack of cookie sheets. Each one had a dozen burnt cookies on it. In the sink was a mountain of empty plastic Kool-Aid pitchers. A beanbag Medusa sat by the faucet like she was guarding the mess.

Ms Castellan started humming as she got out peanut butter and jam and started making a new sandwich. Something was burning in the oven. Alex got the feeling more cookies were on the way.

Luke coughed. "Um, mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Is the first-aid kit still in the bathroom?"

"Oh yes! Do you want me to go and get it?" she asked, unintentionally letting some jam drip to the floor. 

"N-no, I'll do it," he said before turning to the other three. "I'll be back in a sec."

"Don't leave us alone here!" Thalia hissed, but Luke was already running up the stairs. 

Alex and Thalia sat, again, in awkwardness as Ms Castellan happily spread a bit too much peanut butter in the sandwiches. Annabeth seemed too busy to notice the ambience — she couldn't take her eyes off the Medusa plushie. 

It took him a minute, but Alex finally gathered enough courage to speak. 

"Ms Castellan?"

"Mm?"

"Can I ask something about your son?" 

"Oh, yes! They told me he would never come back. But I knew better." She patted Alex's cheek affectionately, giving him peanut butter racing stripes.

"When did you last see him?" he asked, and Thalia arched an eyebrow at him. 

Ms Castellan's eyes lost focus. 

"He was so young when he left," she said wistfully. "Third grade. That's too young to run away! He said he'd be back for lunch. And I waited. He likes peanut butter sandwiches and cookies and Kool-Aid. He'll be back for lunch very soon…" Then she looked at Alex and smiled. "Why, Luke, there you are! You look so handsome. You have your father's eyes."

Okay, Alex thought, the lady definitely didn't have every lamp lit in her head. 

She turned towards the pictures of Hermes above the sink. "Now there's a good man. Yes, indeed. He comes to visit me, you know."

The clock kept ticking in the other room. Alex wiped the peanut butter off his face and looked at the stairs, wishing Luke would hurry up. 

"What happened to your eyes?" Annabeth said out of nowhere. 

The old lady's gaze seemed fractured — like she was trying to focus on Annabeth through a kaleidoscope. "Why are you so small Luke? And you know this story. It was right before you were born, wasn't it? I'd always been special, able to see through the… whatever they call it."

"The Mist..." Thalia helped. 

"Yes, dear." She nodded encouragingly. "And they offered me an important job. That's how special I was!"

Alex glanced at Thalia, but she seemed as confused as he was. 

"What sort of job?" he asked. "What happened?"

Ms Castellan frowned. Her knife hovered over the sandwich bread. "Dear me, it didn't work out, did it? Your father warned me not to try. He said it was too dangerous. But I had to. It was my destiny! And now… I still can't get the images out of my head. They make everything seem so fuzzy. Would you like some cookies?"

Father? Hermes? Just what kind of job would a god deem as dangerous? And why on Earth was Luke's mom's destiny to do it?

She pulled a tray out of the oven and dumped a dozen lumps of chocolate chip charcoal on the table.

"Luke was so kind," Ms Castellan murmured. "He left to protect me, you know. He said if he went away, the monsters wouldn't threaten me. But I told him the monsters are no threat! They sit outside on the sidewalk all day, and they never come in." She picked up the little stuffed Medusa from the windowsill. "Do they, Mrs Medusa? No, no threat at all." She beamed at Thalia. "I'm so glad you came home. I knew you weren't ashamed of me!"

Alex shifted in his seat. He imagined being Luke, sitting at that table, seven or eight years old, and just beginning to realize that his mother wasn't all there. 

His chain of thoughts was broken by Annabeth pulling on his jacket's sleeve. "What is it, pipsqueak?"

"Isn't Luke taking too long?" She whispered so the old lady wouldn't hear them. 

"I... you're right." Alex agreed. "I'll go take a look."

Thalia covered for him, asking Ms Castellan some millennial questions as the light-brown-haired demigod sneaked up the stairs. 

Alex wasn't sure what he was expecting when going upstairs, but most definitely not Luke frozen whilst staring at what Alex quickly realized was just by the sheer power emanating from the figure.

"A god..."

**********

A/N: I was pretty sure I had Chapter 34 set to release on Monday, but instead I opened the app to find it posted alongside 33. Anyway, that's why there was no chapter yesterday. 

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