Do-over (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

4. I mess with Clarisse

'Regular or undetermined?' a voice asked. I looked over and froze when I saw Chris Rodriguez. So he hadn't turned yet. I didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.

'Undetermined,' Annabeth answered for me. I was too shocked after seeing Chris. He looked about the same age as I was before I was transported back in time, about sixteen years old. He didn't look like a person who would betray the gods. Then again, Luke hadn't either.

I ignored the groans as my eyes darted to the person approaching me. My breath hitched and my heart seemed to have stopped. I tried backing away but my feet seemed to be glued to the wooden floor.

'Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for,' a sandy-haired, blue-eyed demigod said as he walked up to me smiling. 'Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there.'

The face of Luke Castellan looked down at my twelve-year-old body. My hands instinctively went to my pocket but Riptide wasn't in there. Even if I did have my sword, what could I have done anyway? Nobody knew he had changed sides and nobody knew how I knew.

'This is Luke,' Annabeth said as she blushed a little. When she noticed me looking, she composed herself and removed any emotion from her face. 'He's your counsellor for now.'

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. All I could do was stare at Luke. I didn't know whether to be relieved that he seemed to have not turned to Kronos yet, or to be scared that he was standing right in front of me. Just looking at his scarred face reminded me of Kronos' glowing gold eyes and I didn't need that image in my head.

'Are you okay, Percy?' Luke said as he put his hand on my shoulder. I had to stop myself from flinching or judo-flipping him, whichever decided to come first. 'You look like you've seen a ghost.'

I nodded stiffly. I could hear some chuckles coming from the occupants in the room but the only thing on my mind was how Luke Castellan was less than a foot away from me.

'Come on, I'll show you the volleyball court,' Annabeth said emotionlessly as I let her drag me out of the cabin. Only when my foot stepped landed on the ground outside was I finally able to breathe properly.

'Jackson, you have to do better than that.' Annabeth said sounding frustrated.

'What?' I asked a little dazed. My mind was still disoriented from the encounter earlier.

I watched as she rolled her eyes and mutter under her breath, 'I can't believe I thought you were the one.'

I took several deep breaths to calm myself down. I didn't know why but seeing Luke, this Luke, so carefree and happy, like he wasn't going to stab me any second, made me scared. What happened to him to turn such a happy teenager living a good life to a psychotic, murdering monster hosting the essence of the Titan Lord? I just didn't get how he could change so fast or, rather, hide his true feelings for so long.

'Look, I'm sorry,' I tried apologising. 'It's just that...Luke looks like someone I used to-I used to know.'

Annabeth's grey eyes looked at me, trying to detect any lies in my words but she must have found none because she sighed and started walking away.

'Hey, wait up!' I said as I jogged after her. 'Look, I don't know, okay? It's just that-seeing him reminded me of someone I lost. I froze, that's all.'

It wasn't really a lie. I had known Luke before he turned. He was one of my only friends before I was claimed and he was one of the only people that stood by me when I finally did end up being claimed. Not many people knew this but when he betrayed us, I had lost a friend that day.