starshine- luke castellan x oc

i join the dark side... sort of

It had been a few days since I had my first dream, and they'd just been getting weirder with each night's rest. I didn't have a face to go with the voice, but something in my gut felt it was some type of evil; maybe it wasn't even a person at all. 

I wanted to talk to Chiron, but the walls of the Big House were thin and I didn't want to give any of the hunters the satisfaction of knowing I was having trouble with my mortality. That and I had told Luke the dreams had stopped. 

I told myself I was going to be perfectly honest with him, but whenever I mentioned the dreams he got a weird glint in his eye. It was like he knew something I didn't. It creeped me out a little. 

Since I was now just a normal camper, I had been put in the activity rotations. Thankfully, due to my age and training gained as a hunter, I was pretty much able to do what I wanted within the stations. This led to me spending my afternoons sparring with Luke. He was a great swordsman, and I told myself that was why he insisted on teaching me to improve my skills, but I feared there was something behind it. 

"What do you think Percy's up to?" I asked as we picked our swords from the table. 

"Hopefully he's in LA by now... but trouble seems to follow that kid so who knows." Noticing my face he quickly added, "Annabeth is tough, if he's with her he'll be fine." 

"You guys are close, yeah?" I tried to get information out of him. 

Luke was very open about his most recent past, offering information about his failed quest and his scar. However when it came to his childhood, he didn't give me much to work with. 

"Yeah, we met on the road, before we'd found camp. She's a fighter." 

I didn't push it any further, satisfied with that information. Of course, I already knew this, having heard it from Annabeth herself. But Luke's walls were slowly coming down and I was content with the information he was trusting me with. 

We began to spar, Luke going very easy on me. He kept calling out moves and naming techniques. I didn't know the names for anything I did in a fight, I just knew to do them; this frustrated Luke. 

"What if you're in the position to declare a duel? You need to know the rules, Elle." 

"Luke I don't plan on leaving camp for long time. Who's going to be 'dueling' me?" I groaned. 

He hesitated before he spoke, "I don't plan to stay at camp for much longer." 

"Well, yeah, you're nineteen, you could go to college or something if you wanted. Start your life." I pointed out. 

"No I mean.... nevermind. Have you had anymore dreams?" He changed the subject. 

Although I didn't want to talk about my dreams, I was happy to keep Luke distracted from the swordfight for a while, so I humored him. 

"Yeah, um, just the same stuff." I set my sword down. 

"Walk me through it." 

I took a deep breath, "It starts out with me standing in the dark, then I get, like, slashed with a sword and start bleeding. A lot." 

"Slashed where?" 

"My chest. Then the voice starts talking to me. He says different stuff every night." I finish. 

"What was it last night?" 

"It told me he knew I still wanted to prove myself, and that he could give me the chance to show my mother who I was, what I could do." 

Luke was silent for a beat. He seemed to be thinking carefully about what to say.

"How does that make you feel? I mean, if you really had the chance, would you show your mom up?" 

I shook my head, "I'm content right now. With where I'm at, who I'm with. I didn't feel this at peace when I was at camp before. I mean, an apology from my mom would be nice I guess, but I don't know. It's not really my mom that I'm mad at." 

It was true. I had made my peace with the fact that my mother would be absent in my life, sending signals she cared here and there. I was angry at Artemis. How she could parade around on her high horse, poisoning young girls to follow her stupid ideals about love and glory. If anyone needed to be 'shown up', it was her. 

"Artemis?" Luke asks.

I nod, "It's dumb to be mad, but I am. I mean Abby and I really were sisters, and now...." 

"It's not dumb to feel things. What she did to you and what she continues to do to others is dumb." Luke held me in his arms, running his fingers through my hair as he spoke. 

"There's no point in being mad, anyway. There isn't anything I can do; I mean, she's a goddess. The gods will always land on top." I spoke into his chest.

I regretted saying it as soon as the words left my mouth. Luke tensed for a second, pulling away slightly.

"What if there was something you... we could do?" 

"What? Like send her a mean letter?" 

Luke laughed, "No... uh. Elle I'm... I'm sort of working against the gods right now." 

I gave him a look. I had heard Luke say countless times how he hated his dad, and even how he felt Olympus was too powerful. But what could one demi-god do to get back at the gods?

"What do you mean?" I questioned. 

He seemed to sense I wasn't fully on board with whatever he really had going on. I know what he said next was a lie. A bad one, too. 

"Just with all this stuff going on with Zeus' bolt, the gods are distracted. Now's the time to strike, right?" 

"Strike? And do what?" 

"I don't know, I haven't thought that far ahead yet." 

That was a lie. I knew it had to be. But I was scared to find out the truth, so I accepted what he told me. 

What scared me even more was the way my stomach flipped with excitment when he mentioned working against the gods.