Tidal Wave (Luke Castellan)

The Coping

 Percy discovered that sailing came easily to our family line. He looked like a natural steering the ship on the upper deck. There were times I would try to convince him to let me take charge so he could take a break. He denied everytime, something about redemption for being turned into a guinea pig. I didn't question it and instead decided to take a look around the ship. Annabeth had gone below deck pretty early on so eventually, I ended up joining her down there. She was sleeping on a hammock so I just took a seat on one of the boxes and listened to her breathe.

This was the first time I really had to think. The first thing that came to mind was Tyson. But he was the last person I wanted to think about right now. I knew avoiding his loss wasn't healthy but when did I ever do anything mentally healthy? I still had feelings for the guy that stabbed me for goodness sake. Sure, it was more complicated than that but to the average person, this situation would definitely be seen in a negative light.

Gods, I missed the way things used to be. I missed when Luke wasn't seen as a bad guy and we were all back at camp. I missed falling asleep next to him in Cabin 3. I missed his hugs so much. I had just gotten one a few days ago but I was already longing for another. I missed this way his hair glowed in the sun but looked dark as night in the shadows. I missed his beautiful brown eyes and how he could calm me down with just a look. I missed how he could make me blush with just a few words. I missed how confident but chill he was. I just missed him.

"You're worried about Luke," a groggy voice said from the hammock.

"How'd you know?" I asked quietly.

"1. I'm a child of Athena. 2. You had a goofy smile on your face," Annabeth gave me a half smile.

I looked down to avoid eye contact, "You probably think I'm crazy for still thinking he's good."

"I don't," I looked up when she said that, "I still think that way sometimes despite what he did to you and he talked to us earlier. I just keep thinking about the Luke that I used to know, hoping he's still in there. I know you've seen that side of him since this has all started going down but without me actually seeing proof, it's just getting harder and harder to believe. That hope is still there though."

I gave her a grim smile, "We're working on getting him back. Unfortunately he's stubborn as can be but we'll get through to him no matter how long it takes."

"But will it be too late when we do?"

That question threw us into silence. It was something neither of us wanted to think about but it was a very real possibility. I could see the fear in Annabeth's eyes as she looked to me for an answer. As I looked back at her, I could see her for the age she was. She was just a scared 13-year-old girl no matter how tough she tried to act. And she was terrified that she was going to lose Luke forever.

It was time to act like the adoptive older sister, "That won't happen. We will reach him before we reach the point of no return," We have to. I wouldn't be able to handle it if we didn't.

I'd never been great at comforting people. In fact, when I originally told Annabeth and Luke about Thalia's fate, I was positive that I was making everything worse. Sure, I'd gotten better at it over the years but that didn't mean I was great at it. However, it was easier to give comfort when you believe what you're saying. The thought that we were going to get Luke back was one of the things keeping me going and even though it seemed more and more hopeless with each encounter, it was a hope I wasn't willing to give up. And even though Annabeth was the daughter of wisdom, that didn't put her above hoping.

She nodded slowly, "Thank you Cass."

"You're welcome Annabeth."

She slowly got up from her hammock, "I'm going to check how Percy is doing on the upper deck."