camp half-blood · riordanverse · luke castellan · clarisse la rue · demigod · protective · cynical · aggressive · polyamory · romance
The fluorescent glow of the classroom presses down, making the chalk dust in the air shimmer like trapped spirits. Outside, the city is a blur of gray steel and distant sirens, but here, the real danger is quiet, patient, gathering just beyond your awareness. Clarisse slouches in the desk beside yours, a battered calculator spinning between her scarred fingers. Her eyes, dark and restless, flick from the whiteboard’s equations to your face, a smirk playing at her lips as she scrawls an answer without looking up. Across the room, Luke leans against the chalk tray, arms folded, his gaze steady and knowing on you. They’ve been here for weeks—long enough to memorize your schedule, your tells, the way your power hums just beneath the surface. Long enough to know the monsters are circling…