Tidal Wave (Luke Castellan)

The Aftermath

 I woke up in the infirmary. I'd passed out not too long after Luke had left me behind. Someone must've found me pretty quickly afterwards because my abdomen was still pretty sore. I didn't want to think about what had just happened but considering I was the only person in the room, there wasn't much else to do.

Luke had kissed me. Then he stabbed me. Then he set me in the river to save me. Yeah, that wasn't complicated at all. I had no idea how I felt about him at the moment. Did he just say he liked me so that he could get close enough to stab me? Did the kiss mean anything to him at all? I was hurt, I knew that much and I didn't just mean physically. My best friend just betrayed me. How else was I supposed to feel besides hurt? I wasn't angry. I'm not sure if I could ever be angry at Luke no matter how much he hurt me.

I found one thing to be abundantly clear: Kronos was manipulating Luke. Sure, Luke had been the one to steal the bolt and set up Percy. But this wasn't something he would've done without some sort of persuading. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was hanging onto some impossible belief. But I couldn't believe this was all Luke. I wouldn't. I remembered everything that happened in the woods with him perfectly but I still clung to the idea that there was something else going on with him. Maybe it was because of how he'd reacted when he'd hurt me. He seemed devastated that he had stabbed me. I don't think he would've faked tears just to manipulate me after he'd already betrayed me.

The door to the infirmary opened and Lee Fletcher walked in, "How are you feeling Cass?"

"Like shit," I confessed.

"I wouldn't have expected any different." he smiled a little. Then almost instantly, Lee's smile dropped, "Do you remember who did this to you?"

"Who hasn't visited me that you would've expected to?" I asked.

He took off running. He knew who I was talking about. Luke wouldn't have been able to visit me. He left when he'd left me in the river. He wouldn't have dared to come back here after that.

Lee came back not too soon after, "Luke's gone. But I guess you already knew that."

I nodded, looking down at the bed sheets, "Is Chiron on his way?"

"I'm already here," I looked up to see the cenuatar standing in the doorway, "Lee, can you please give us some space?"

The son of Apollo nodded and walked out of the infirmary.

"How are you feeling Cass?" Chiron approached me slowly.

"I've been better," I paused, "Luke was the real lightning thief. He's already gone now."

"So I've heard," He caught my confused expression and explained, "I put the pieces together once the news went around that you were found in the river. There were whispers that you and Luke had gone into the woods together after you came back from the quest. And then Luke was gone."

I nodded yet again, "He left after he put me in the water."

"What happened? How did you get to that point?"

"When we were walking through the woods, I confronted him about being the lightning thief. I'd already figured it out based on some of the events we'd faced. Luke confessed to everything. He was a bit agitated but he didn't seem threatening towards me. Then he... he..." I really didn't want to tell Chiron the more private things that happened between Luke and I.

But he said, "Cassidy, I need to know everything that happened. I promise that I won't tell anyone else about anything that might embarrass you."

I trusted Chiron, "He confessed that he liked me as more than a friend. I did the same. We... kissed. Then he stabbed me while we were kissing. He brought me over to the creek so the water would heal me. He said he was promised that I wouldn't get hurt past that. And then he left."