A sound.
Like pages turning in a book soaked through with water.
Lucas opened his eyes.
Mist coiled around him - curious, sentient; clinging to his skin. It curled beneath his fingers, pooled in the corners of his vision, silent and breathing.
In his hand, the tarot card had returned.
It pulsed faintly - then dissolved into specks of light, like fireflies scattering into the fog. A few lingered, rearranging midair, shaping themselves into a single, hovering image:
A pupil-less eye.
He felt it.
A presence.
Watching.
Aware.
And then a voice - not in sound, but in meaning. It didn't speak so much as breathe through the folds of his mind.
"See."
Lucas woke with the sensation that he had lost something.
Not time, though the moon had clearly moved.
No, something deeper. A layer of the world peeled away.
He blinked up at stars that shimmered like thoughts, and the mist still curled low across the ground.
Something had changed.
He had changed.
"Camping on a school night. Your teachers mustn't find out about this."
Lucas turned.
His father was lying beside him in the grass, hands folded behind his head, eyes half-lidded as if he'd been there the whole time.
He was close - closer than Lucas expected, with a blanket draped over both of them.
Lucas studied him.
Brown eyes, sharp from years spent teaching, but softened by the ever-present smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Dimples settled quietly in his cheeks, a detail Lucas had never really noticed before.
Black hair fell across his face in loose strands, trailing like shadow-made silk - casual, unkempt, and somehow elegant.
At thirty-three, Steven Thorne was in his prime.
With his expertise in history and myth, he could've gone anywhere, taken prestigious positions, remarried, built a life of acclaim.
But he hadn't.
Out of love for her - for Lucas's mother, he stayed.
He remained in the same quiet town where they'd first met. Never said why. Never needed to.
But Lucas understood now.
His father had chosen this remote place for him.
A sanctuary.
A Home.
Lucas smiled and rested his head atop his father's shoulder.
No words were spoken. But Steven understood the sentiment. With a smile of his own, he re-draped the blanket that had loosened around them.
"Get some rest," he murmured. "You're not skipping class in the morning."
Lucas chuckled softly beneath his breath.
And once again, closed his eyes.
...
Lucas sat in the cafeteria, tray untouched, noise buzzing all around him. Conversations. Laughter. The dull hum of fluorescent lights overhead.
And then he saw her.
A woman with flaming hair, skin pale as bone, red eyes that gleamed, fangs bared behind a smile - and two mismatched legs: one bronze, one the hoofed limb of a donkey.
Her gaze swept across the room, landing on him. And when she smiled at someone passing by, the expression didn't quite reach her eyes
He didn't move. Didn't panic. Just watched.
The stories he'd studied flickered through his mind, pages and warnings rising one by one before settling on a name.
An Empousa.
She walked straight to him.
And sat down across the table.
"You're quieter than usual," she said casually, nudging his tray with a finger. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"
Her voice was light. Familiar. The same tone she'd always used.
Elizabeth.
A monster in form but there was no hunger behind her gaze.
A monster, masked as a friend?
No. A friend, masked as a monster.
"Lucas?" she asked again, brow furrowing. A flicker of concern now. Real.
He stared for a heartbeat longer. Then, his lips curved into a smirk.
"Nothing's wrong. Just distracted. Your hair's doing that 'molten fire goddess' thing again. Hard to focus."
"...That so?"
"Mhm," Lucas said, sipping from his drink.
Lucas smiled again, softer this time.
But behind his eyes, he was watching. Measuring. Confirming.
Elizabeth lingered near him as the lunch bell rang, her tone lighter than it should've been.
"Hey. After school. Science wing. Storage room C. You know the one."
Lucas raised a brow, feigning thought.
"The spooky one with the flickering lights and the leaky ceiling?"
"That's the one."
"...Romantic."
She rolled her eyes.
"Just come. I want to show you something."
Her tone was teasing.
But her eyes?
Serious. Focused.
His scent has grown stronger.
...
He arrived early.
The storage room was just as unsettling as he remembered - dusty shelves, a cracked window, shadows clinging to the corners. But it had something else now.
Lucas's touch.
He knelt in silence, chalk in hand, drawing the circle with care.
Salt. Quartz dust. Some silver.
Lines of restraint. Runes of stilling.
It wasn't complex.
But it was all he could do with what he had learnt.
When he was done, he sat atop the desk. Waiting.
Casual.
Quiet.
Confident.
...
She arrived exactly on time.
Lucas watched her enter, the way the shadows curled behind her.
She stepped inside slowly, the door clicking shut.
Her posture changed - no longer playful.
Predatory.
"You came," she said, voice lower."Good." She licked her lips "Hopefully you taste as good as you smell"
Her skin shimmered. Her teeth lengthened. Her legs shifted - donkey and bronze. The illusion dropped.
She watched him, waiting for a reaction but received none.
Slightly frustrated she lunged at him, claws reaching for him.
"carcerem"
And froze.
The air shimmered; her limbs jerked against invisible chains. The ritual snapped into being, golden lines of light rising from the circle etched beneath her feet.
Her eyes widened.
"You...what did you...?"
Lucas stood, slowly.
Adjusted his jacket.
"Sorry, Elizabeth. I respect surprises. I really do."
He tossed an apple in his hands once.
"But not at my expense."
"Next time," he added with a smirk,"just ask."
He gave her a wink.
"I would've brought snacks."
Elizabeth strained against the bonds, testing them. The golden lines pulsed once, then tightened.
"Cute trick," she said, her tone somewhere between annoyed and amused. "Did your mom teach you that?"
Lucas leaned against the desk, arms crossed.
"No. But she left me good books."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.
"So you know."
Lucas nodded, slowly.
"About me? A few weeks.
About you? Lunch."
Elizabeth's lips parted - then closed again.
She looked down, as if weighing something heavier than she'd expected.
"So is this where the hero slays the monster?"
"Well," Lucas smirked, "as much as it would make lunch quieter...I guess I'm stuck with you."
Elizabeth raised her head, eyes locking with his.
Seeing the same look he always gave her before he knew.
"You really are a fool. Don't you get it? Monsters hunt. Demigods kill. That's the deal."
"Elizabeth," Lucas said, leaning in just enough to drop his voice,"you should know me well enough by now...I don't follow convention."
Elizabeth stared.
Then scoffed.
"You going to let me out of this, or are you enjoying it a little too much?"
Lucas considered. Then smiled and began to remove the magic.
Elizabeth rubbed her wrists, muttering something under her breath - probably a curse, or maybe a compliment.
"I was wondering why your scent grew stronger, seems i got my answer"
Her eyes lingered on Lucas, who had returned to the desk, calmly munching on an apple. Unbothered. Unflinching.
He really was changing.
She remembered the first time she'd found him.
It had been years ago, he was just a child then. Maybe five or six. She'd caught a strange, fragmented scent on the wind. It pulled at her like blood in water.
She followed it.
She had crept forward then, instinct pulsing like fire in her bones.
An easy kill.
But beneath the scent of demigod blood... she'd felt it.
Familiarity.
Her creator's magic.
She stopped mid-step. The hunger drained from her. Not in fear - but in clarity.
He felt like hers.
Not prey.
Not a threat.
She vanished. And when the monsters came sniffing after him in the years that followed, she veiled his scent in hers. Subtly. Silently. Never letting them get too close.
But now…Now he's grown.
His scent had bloomed.
The Mist could only hide so much. And monsters were patient.
Soon, others would come.
Elizabeth exhaled through her nose and looked at Lucas again
Resolved.
"With your growing power and knowledge, your scent will grow too, since you can no longer hide - get stronger"
"It seems I got myself a mentor"
Elizabeth scoffed
"We start tomorrow. After school. Don't be late."
She turned to leave, but paused at the door.
"And Lucas?"
He looked up.
"Thanks"
She disappeared into the hallway with a flicker.