THE BEST, luke castellan

prologue

     The very first time Luke Castellan met Maisie Gallagher, she was shoving his head in a toilet. It was pitiful, really - Maisie Gallagher was a scrawny girl that stood barely five-feet-tall, she wore her hair in messy plaits tied with pink ribbon, and when she finally pulled his head out of the toilet, she handed Luke roll of toilet paper to dry himself off with.

Fourteen, exhausted, and vehemently annoyed, Luke looked between the roll of toilet paper in his hand and the three smirking demigods in front of him. "What the hell was that?"

Maisie snickered along with the two kids (who Luke would come to know were her Ares siblings) that stood on either side of her as though they were guard dogs. Perhaps they were meant to be the angel and devil on either of her shoulders, though the angel had been ousted and replaced with its evil twin. Vinny Merced looked entirely too intimidating for a fifteen-year-old as he stood with a smirk and his arms crossed, and Henley Walker laughed through her fiery red hair as she offered the other girl a fist bump.

"Relax, newbie. It's initiation." The girl with pink bows in her hair grinned, and if Luke wasn't so mad he probably would have found her pretty and smiled back. "Our sincerest welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Hope you enjoy your stay."

Maisie winked at him then, all before turning on her heel and stalking out of the bathroom with the other two trailing right behind her. Luke decided he hated her right then and there.

The second time Luke Castellan saw Maisie Gallagher was in the Big House with Chiron a mere couple of hours after she'd given him a welcome swirly. He had already gotten the centaur's welcome spiel, but now that everyone had finally had the chance to calm down after the fight right outside of camp's borders, Chiron had politely requested the spark notes version of the group's travels. Recalling the day's events was not something Luke was enthused to be doing, especially when he hadn't seen Annabeth since they'd been pulled in different directions after their arrival and subsequent claiming's.

It wasn't until there was a knock at the door that Chiron let his queries rest. "Ah, Luke, I have asked one of our senior counselors to give you a further tour of camp. Help you get settled in with your cabin, show you around, things of that sort."

When Chiron offered a "come in!", Luke was at least expecting to find someone older than himself because of the whole senior counselor title. What he was not expecting to see was the very girl who dunked his head in a toilet. "This is Maisie Gallagher, daughter of Ares. One of Camp Half-Blood's finest."

Maisie grinned at him, seemingly pleased with her introduction. Pink ribbon was still tied around the ends of her braids, but one had lost its bow shape and hung loose, not that she seemed to mind. She stuck her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and offered him an almost innocent grin, "Hi, Luke."

She locked far less intimidating without her two companions (and without the toilet water dripping down his face), but Luke still could not have been more displeased - seriously, the girl who stuck my head in a toilet?

Having voiced his thoughts out loud, Chiron sent the daughter of Ares a very pointed look. "I apologize on behalf of Miss Gallagher. She and I have already discussed that swirlies are not an appropriate initiation activity."

She lost dessert privileges for a week on Luke's account. Maisie vowed to shove his head in another toilet as soon as she had the chance.

     Maisie Gallagher was claimed during a game of capture the flag. It had been a long time coming, and there was not a single being inside Camp Half-Blood that was surprised when the symbol of a boar glowed a brilliant red over the girl's head after a rather viscous victory. Ares had been waiting for her to impress him, to see if she was worthy. Richie West, the head counselor of Cabin Five at the time, told the nine-year-old that Ares had a habit of doing that, waiting for his children to prove themselves before claiming them.