𝐈 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 ; luke castellan

I

It was pretty late at night, but here I was, walking alone, wearing a white and blue knitted cardigan over my pyjamas. I was on my way to the lake, the part of the camp that Luke and I used to sneak out of our cabins for. Call it cheesy, but that was our spot.

I'd be lying if I said I even still talked to anyone after I lost him. Not even his sister, my best friend, or even my own brothers.

I was the oldest.

There was Tyson, the one who, at first and up to now, by some, was deemed as "the freak" of Camp Half-Blood. Maybe it was the eye. Maybe it was the height? Or maybe people were just blind. Tyson was the sweetest and most precious kid I knew to have ever set foot on camp — maybe my entire life ( and I know my mom ).

But there was also Percy. Possibly the most famous kid at camp now. Funny how he barely ever got to see me before he started his time here — and he just had to slay a minotaur on his way in, too. Talk about being a favourite. Now see, he wasn't really that bad. He liked helping, and he was overall just fun and nice. There might have been a few times his pride and sass got the best of him, but that didn't stop me from loving him.

Then there was me, Dia.

Jackson.

I was the eldest, and nearly seven years older than Percy. I only got to see Percy on holidays until he found out about all this stuff about everything and everyone, including himself. He barely knew or saw me until our mom brought him to camp. I was happy to know she finally did at the time. I thought that maybe here he'd be better protected and all.

I was both right and wrong, of course.

See, the thing is, Percy was less easily exposed every single second of his life to danger but anytime something came up, it was always gonna be him. I was and still am honestly disappointed that nearly every time he had to go and deal with this style of life, I was barely ever able to help him. But I'm still more disappointed to know that the man I fell in love with and never stopped loving was the one to blame for all the dangers and troubles that my younger brothers and our friends had to go through.

Everybody wanted to be just like Luke. How could he have fallen so far?

I was only snapped out of all my thoughts when I heard the familiar voice of Luke's sister, Cassi calling out my nickname.

"Dia?" I could hear. "Adalia! Hello? Are you sleepwalking?"

I shook my head as I looked at her. "Sorry," I mumbled, "I was just thinking of something."

"Something or someone?" she then asked. "I miss him, too, you know. He was my brother."

"Don't use past tense."

"Have you ever thought that maybe it's time to finally let go of memories of and with him that keep haunting you every day and night?"

"He's still out there," I then let out. "He'll come after Percy again. He'll come after everyone. What if he finds a way to get monsters into camp? The barrier has been broken before, remember?"

"Trust me," she said, "I remember that pretty well."

"You know," I said, "I think you'd make a pretty good Huntress."

"Don't give me ideas."

I let out a laugh in response. It felt and sounded genuine enough. Maybe Cass was right. Maybe I should give up.

We stayed there for a while, but when I reentered Cabin Three, I was surprised to see my brother sitting by the fountain Poseidon had given us.

"Where have you been?" he asked, though his gaze was dead set into the water.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" I asked.

"So should you."

"Didn't think you'd care."

"You're my sister, Addy."

"That doesn't make all my whereabouts your business."

He let out a sigh as he stood up, crossing his arms as he now looked down at the floor.

"It's because of him, isn't it?"

He was referring to Luke, obviously.

"Do you even want him back?" he then asked, turning around to face me.

"I want to be sure he's been defeated," I stated. That wasn't entirely true, now, was it?

"Why?"

"Because you would've had a much better life if it weren't for him."

True.

"Percy," I mumbled, taking a step closer to him, "maybe if I wasn't so blind and paid more attention to you, then—"

He only cut me off by running towards me, a bit tightly wrapping his arms around me. Gods, he was getting tall.

"I already told you so many times not to blame yourself for anything," he told me.

"What am I supposed to do? Blame you?"

"Precisely."

"Absolutely not," I chuckled, hugging him back.

"I could've at least tried to stop him," I said.

"You did, and that's more than enough."

Was I just not around enough to know him that well or did he mature too much from all this? The poor kid only just turned 14, but Tyson was still younger. How old was he, like, 9? Yeah, 9. I have to be correct there.

"You barely talk to me anymore," he muttered. It made my heart feel a little more cracked, honestly.

"Well, I love Annie like a little sister but more than half the time, all you ever talk about is her and when you're not, you're talking with her."

"Only because you don't seem like you wanna talk anymore."

"Perce," I started, letting go of him and taking a step back. "I'm sorry. I really am. Now go to bed, it's late."

"Promise you won't leave the cabin again once I'm asleep?"

I sighed. "I promise."

That was all it took for both of us to tuck ourselves into our beds. But it took me quite a while to actually fall asleep.

Everyone—mortals, I mean, they keep complaining about how life sucks for them and all. Well, can't really blame them, the world truly is a shithole.

But they've got no idea, have they?

For us demigods, we have to fear even taking a single step past the barrier that protects all of camp. We can't even use electronics or monsters are gonna track us down! We don't worry about hackers or stalkers, we worry about monsters! Creatures that they think aren't even real and are all just pieces of a huge myth!

But as I lay in bed, I thought: What if I wasn't a demigod? What if I was a normal kid? Would life have been a little bit better? What if Percy wasn't one?

But all of those thoughts only spiralled into other thoughts. Thoughts that connected to Luke. Was he ever really good? Was he only able to prove that I was a fool? 

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OH, would you look at that? A rewrite! 

Word Count: 1172