CHAPTER 2 – The Son of Hermes and His Three Problems
Luke Castellan had three problems and seeing as he was only seven years old, he figured that was already too many to deal with.
Astria snorted. Gods he was always dramatic wasn’t he?
The first was school. He had once again gotten into trouble for something which, by the way, wasn’t his fault. A boy in his class who loved to tease him endlessly over the fact that he was dyslexic pushed his work over, but it looked like he had pushed too hard because he hit the table and was about to topple into him, so Luke moved out of the way causing him to fall.
But of course, Luke was blamed. Hank Goodwin was Mrs Lincoln’s favourite after all.
Percy hated how that reminded him of Mrs Dodds and Nancy Bobofit.
The second problem was his mother. Don’t get him wrong, Luke loved his mother, especially when they baked cookies together – specifically chocolate chip cookies. But there were times when he couldn’t recognize her, it was as if something possessed her and pushed his mother out completely. Her eyes would glow green and she would start spluttering random nonsense about his fate as she shook his shoulders. The whole town thought she was insane – another reason he was relentlessly bullied.
Astria frowned and looked over at Hermes who was avoiding looking at the book. Astria stood and walked over to the God and sat next to him – if there was anything they could relate to it was their shared grief when it came to Luke.
But Luke knew the truth. His father had done this. He had been the one to hurt his mother. Whatever happened to her was caused by something from the godly world and his father was the only person he was aware that his mother had known so it had to be his fault.
Astria grabbed Hermes' hand and the God shifted closer to her.
Now onto the third problem, and probably the most random. He was staring at a baby.
Yep, you read that right, a baby. He wasn’t sure if it was a girl or boy, but he was betting it was a girl considering the baby had a pink blanket wrapped around her. Her eyes were closed, so she was most likely sleeping, but the strangest thing about the baby was her hair. It was pure white, so white that he had to squint to see it. He couldn’t believe it. He had never met anyone with white hair before; unless you count the elderly who lived in the area – or those who dyed their hair for a bet or a dare.
“Who would die their hair white for a bet?” Peter Pettigrew asked his best friend, Remus Lupin.
“No clue,” Remus shook his head.
There wasn’t a letter or a card to go with the baby, nor was there anything that showed that she had a name – so Luke figured whoever put her here, was a butthead. And a mean at that. Who doesn’t name someone before they leave them? There was only a small bracelet on her wrist. It was silver and had four little charms on it; a stag, a rat, a wolf and a dog.
Astria smiled as she looked down at the bracelet on her wrist. She noticed the Marauders giving each other looks, recognising the animals.
Suddenly the baby yawned and her eyes fluttered open to reveal a deep green which reminded him of a forest. The baby looked around, most likely trying to see what was around her before her wide-eyed gaze was finally settled on him. Her eyes glowed in wonder as she stared up at him and the blanket ruffled slightly so he figured that she was trying to move around. At that, he unwrapped the blanket and watched as her chubby arms lifted to try and reach his face. Her face scrunched up slightly as she realised she couldn’t reach so she attempted to lift her body but the amount of strength it took caused her to fall back down.
Astria smirked as people cooed at her baby self.
Luke hesitated for a moment before he scooped her up and placed her on his hip. She was quite small which was a bit of a worry, but he knew that could be fixed quickly. He had heard that there was a formula for babies to drink before they were ready to eat – should be easy enough to steal.
What was he thinking? He couldn’t look after her he had school, and his mom couldn’t either. Maybe he could sneak her into school – there was a cupboard she could fit in and sleep in, it would fit all her needs as well. Yeah, that’s what he would do.
Molly was silently fuming – a child shouldn't have to look after a baby.
Now all he had to do was name her. Her last name would be Castellan, obviously, but what would her first name be?
He looked at her face which now held a smile as she brushed her hands against his cheeks as if she were looking at a star.
A star, he decided, he would name her after a star. Or even a constellation.
Walburga nodded. That was the best way to name your child.
What star would he choose though, there were lots. He could go with Cassiopia, but as soon as he thought that the baby’s face scrunched up in disgust as though she was hearing his thoughts.
Never mind he won't go with Cassiopeia. He decided to say the names aloud to see what she would react to best.
“Andromeda” – No.
“Carina” – No.
“Lyra” – No.
“Phoenix” – No.
“Ascella” – No.
Laughs rang throughout the room, the mood being lighter and more carefree than before.
Gods, he must have gone through a hundred names before he got to one that the baby actually liked and giggled at.
Astria. Her name would be Astria Castellan, little sister to Luke Castellan.
Astria stood and bowed as people turned to her, realising that she had the same name.
He loved it and he could see that Astria did too as she was giggling while smiling up at him.
He gently kneeled and picked up her blanket, he figured he might as well wash it and let her use his old one for now. He walked inside, shutting the door behind him.
Never mind. Luke only has two problems – the third turned out to be something incredible.
“Hell, yeah I am,” Astria agreed.
“Ree,” Annabeth turned to her girlfriend. “Calm down.”
“Yes Ma’am.”