Sunlight | Luke Castellan

III. it wasn't okay

   THE PAIN HIT first when I woke up.

I let out an embarrassing whimper of pain as I opened my eyes, my injured arm shifting in its sling. The feeling was enough to cause me to close my eyes again momentarily as I tried to process everything.

"I'd move slow if I were you," the voice from before advised me. As my eyes opened again, I noticed the boy sitting in a white wooden rocking chair placed in the corner of the room. He looked around my age, dark curly short hair ending just above his eyebrows which lifted as he offered a comforting smile. He wore a bright orange shirt with logo I couldn't read due to the distance, athletic shorts, beat-up sneakers, and a leather necklace with five different colored beads made out of clay. A thick white scar reached from below his right eye to the bottom third of his cheek.

Being the Jackson I was, I didn't listen.

"Where am I?" I asked, gritting my teeth as I adjusted myself on the bed. The boy seemed to find amusement at my stubbornness.

"Camp Half-Blood," he answered, his eyes flitting down to the sling before landing back to my face. "Big House to be exact. I know that doesn't mean much, but-"

"Where is Percy?"

"Grover mentioned you would probably question about him," he murmured to himself before speaking properly again. "Your brother is still asleep- knocked out, if that helps." That didn't in the slightest, and the boy noticed my horrified expression. "Killing a monster like that is no easy thing. He's recovering. Chiron thinks he'll be awake by tomorrow afternoon."

I gave a small nod, glancing away from him. Percy killed the Minotaur. I didn't know how; the twelve-year-old got blown around by gusts of wind in the city. A lump formed in my throat as I held myself back for a moment from asking the follow-up question.

"And my Mom?" I looked back to the boy, foolishly hopeful for more good news, but all I received was a look of sympathy.

"I'm sorry." I expected for tears to well up in my eyes like before, but they didn't. I just felt my heart burn cold in my chest. It was like my emotions had turned off. The boy looked a little uncomfortable, bracing himself for sobs, but he tried to ease the tension. "Grover said your name is Eleni. I wasn't expecting a mortal to come with a Greek name."

"A mortal," I repeated. "You say that because you're not one?"

"No," he said, cracking a smile. He didn't laugh as if my question was stupid, which made me feel just a little better. His two hands lifted, gesturing the halves. "Camp Half-Blood. Mortal mother, godly father."

"Makes perfect sense."

"Glad you see it that way. Sorry about the sling job. When I found you at the bottom of Half-Blood Hill, we weren't sure how we'd make sure you'd heal properly."

"Why is that?"

"Half-bloods can take ambrosia to speed things up," the boy explained. "Godly food. Now, we can't eat it all the time otherwise we'd... explode. Mortals never. I think Michael Yew was the one who volunteered to help you. He's an Apollo kid."

"Which one are you?" He stiffened at my question, and I realized that it was a sore subject. If the rest of the gods were like whoever Percy's father was, they couldn't have been present in any of their kids' lives. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's okay," he shrugged. "My father is Hermes, the messenger of the gods." The boy's dark eyes quickly widened. "My name is Luke. Luke Castellan. I should've started with that." I gave a soft smile at the hurried introduction.