Captured by Luke Castellan- the Sea of Monsters

Rediscovering Myself

Hi if you don't already know me, I'm Casey. I'm a demigod; the daughter of Hades, the cousin and best friend of Percy Jackson, a close friend of Grover and Annabeth's, and the girl Luke Castellan left heartbroken.

It's been a year since Luke's betrayal of me, the gods, and the camp, and since then, I haven't really said much to anyone, not even my mom or best friends. They understand, I guess, because Luke betrayed them too, but it feels, in a way, like he did me a greater injustice by building my hopes up only to knock them down so suddenly as if he'd used a grenade!

Anyway, I was back at camp, because it was summer time. Percy and I had arrived there a week ago, and my new cabin was finished. I had unpacked and made the place as homely as possible seeing as I lived there by myself. Everyone at camp knew what had happened with Luke and I got encouragement from the most unlikely of people. Surprisingly, the situation had caused Clarisse La Rue of all people to make a friend of me. I wasn't antisocial particularly because I still went to all the events and took part in things like capture the flag, and training activities, I just didn't talk much.

Today though, I had woken up determined to forget all about Luke and what he had done. That was in the past, and I wasn't going to let him cloud my present. Breakfast had been and gone and the whole camp had been invited to watch a group of people partake in a training activity thing which involved big walls, swinging batons, rope ladders, and being able to have an extreme amount of skill. Percy and Clarisse were among those taking part so I was going to support them... although Percy more because he's family and one of my best friends.

I got changed into something less sporty seeing as I had learned at breakfast that I would not need to take part. I dressed in a blue and pink floral top, some light denim shorts, some pink sneakers and some assorted jewellery in an attempt to happy myself up again.

Walking into the arena, I felt a new sense of triumph as I made my way past everyone. I ignored pitying glances and grinned at everyone I passed as opposed to the small smiles I had been giving everyone recently.

Prancing up to Annabeth and Grover, they eyed me up with smiles on their faces.

"What?" I asked, grinning too.

"What happened to you?" asked Grover, laughing.

"I dunno really... I guess I just felt that it was most definitely time to move on with my life," I answered, laughing with him.

"So what? You're rediscovering yourself?" Annabeth joked.

"Yeah...." I paused, "I guess I am."

"That's great," they both said, then Grover turned to face the entire camp, who were in the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please?" he requested loudly, and everyone quietened down despite Grover not particularly being a figure of immense authority.

"I have an announcement," he continued, while I shook my head at him violently, willing him not to do this.

"You are all aware that our Casey Thomas has been in a stage of somewhat depression recently," he said, hugging me to him with one arm to show who I was, much to my annoyance, "Well I would like to announce that she is cured and is determined to be the Casey she once was!" he declared theatrically, "So please, spare the pitying glances and the sympathetic whispers, because I repeat- She. Is. FINE!"

Then to my surprise, everyone began cheering, and I could only smile; I didn't realise how much I meant to some of the people here. Some people even came down to hug me, and then Ichneutae, one of the fiercest satyrs at camp, gave me a bone-crushing hug, and he actually smiled. Actually smiled! I felt so privileged.

Then Chiron spoke up; "After that lovely news, I myself, would like to announce the beginning of the challenge."

I looked to Percy and beamed at him, whilst winking at Clarisse supportively.

"On your mark," Chiron declared, and all the players crouched.

"Get set," he shouted, and they all put one foot behind them like the Olympic runners do.

"...GO!" he yelled, and they were off like bullets.

The crowd was screaming for people from the different cabins, and I myself was jumping up and down in excitement as I watched the players climbing up the tower thing that was the challenge. Annabeth, Grover and I were screaming Percy's name as he made it closer and closer to the top. Then he and Clarisse were neck and neck and I saw them exchange a few words... probably just trash talk knowing those two, and then the race between them was on! Clarisse cheated slightly by ramming something into Percy's stomach from her side of the tower, but he ignored the pain, did the same to her and then scampered up to the top of the pole. He had almost made it to the top to win the crystal thing, but one of the players had their foot caught in a step ladder and the spinning tower was dragging them round and round. Percy seemed to be battling with himself in his head, but began swinging down to save the boy. Meanwhile Clarisse was making her way to the top. As Percy grabbed hold of the person's hand to pull them up, the boy pulled themselves up and pushed Percy down. We all groaned in protest, but then the tower stopped spinning, and I heard the Ares cabin burst into screams of triumph.

There, on the top of the tower, Clarisse was holding the crystal up for all to see her victory. From my right side, Ichneutae roared, "CLARISSE!" in triumph, and I stumbled into Grover due to the fact that I had nearly been deafened.

"Really, man?" I asked in protest with my ears still ringing. Ichneutae just shrugged, winking and then galloping off to hoist Clarisse on his shoulder as to parade her around in victory.

I smiled at Clarisse, but ultimately, I needed to comfort Percy. When I got there, Clarisse was asking if the success in his first quest had been beginner's luck, before walking off with her pose. I sat down next to Percy and hugged him, not having to say anything to him.

Grover started going on about how Clarisse was a bitch but his thoughts were practically wasted on us, who ignored him.

"Don't worry," I told Percy, "You'll knock 'em dead next time!"

He laughed, but then went on to say, "At least you're back to normal."

I smiled, winking at Annabeth, and replying, "Yup! I'm rediscovering myself."