Hello fellow demigods! I am so so so so so so sorry that this took me so long to write! God! Exams are so awful! Anyway, all of you Kari/Luke shippers are in for a treat!
Disclaimer: I think you know by now that the Percy Jackson series belongs to Rick Riordan!
So far, my camp experience had been pretty awful, except for the moments I spent with my friends. The time I spent with Silena was funny, as she was so caught up in her own little world it made me laugh. She had taught me a lot, though. Like how to ride the pegasi. I had first been trained on Silena's pegasus, Eros, but I was now learning to ride one of the more assertive beasts; Cyrus. He was a large grey stallion with wild red eyes, which were at times extremely unnerving. Cyrus' reaction to Luke was the funniest part, though. The pegasus hated him, anytime Luke entered the stable he would be violently kicked at. The time I spent with Ash was pretty interesting. He taught me all about Greek Mythology, and was beginning to teach me Ancient Greek, which was much easier to read and write than English had ever been. I discovered that this was due to my dyslexia; my brain was hardwired to read Ancient Greek, which was what made English so difficult. I didn't really like this, though, as it gave me yet another link to my mother.
The time I spent with Luke made me feel warm. He sat with me in my cabin, which I was redecorating to look less silvery and spooky. We met most days, either in the woods or on my rock by the lake. Nobody ever bothered us, because I was the camp freak. I was beginning to really like Luke, perhaps as more than friends, but I doubted he returned the feelings. Except for him telling me I was beautiful by the lake, he hadn't shown any signs of liking me.
At the moment I was sat in my cabin, arranging and rearranging my things, trying to make the place my own. Silena had helped me out a little, by bringing me bright flowers and a few extra clothes, but cabin eight would never really be my home. It's barren silver walls were unwelcoming and depressing. There was very little furniture, just a few camp beds I assumed were mainly there for when my mom's hunters came to stay. Other than this there was an array weapons hung on one of the walls, mainly consisting of hunting knives and bows, and a large desk which Ash and I brought in so that I could have a little more storage space.
A loud knock came from the door, and a muffled shout. "Kari! Open up!" I rushed over to find Luke standing on the threshold, struggling to carry several hefty buckets of paint. I took a few off him, and set them down on the floor inside.
"Hey Luke, what's all this?" I asked, and he produced two large paint brushes out of his back pocket. It was only then that I realised I was still in my pyjamas, which just happened to be pretty revealing. I looked up at Luke, ready to shove him out the door so I could get changed, and found him smirking, his eyes traveling slowly up and down my body. Was he checking me out?
"Pervy much?" I asked, pushing him lightly. Luke's smirk widened, "wait there a minute, just let me get changed."
I closed the door, and hurried to put some clothes on, opting for an old sweater and jeans. I tied my hair back, securing it in with a floral scarf. Finally, I applied a bit of light makeup, and reopened the door to Luke. He was sat on the steps leading up to the cabin door, so I took the opportunity to scare him.
I crept up behind Luke, and jumped on his back, like you would with a piggy-back ride. He jumped at first, but then lifted me up and ran into my cabin, closing the door behind us. We knocked over cans of paint as we stumbled through the room. Luke threw himself down in the armchair, with me still on his back, and pulled me into his lap.
"I wanted to surprise you, so I bought paint for the cabin. I wasn't sure what colour, so I kinda got them all..." I laughed, slightly awkwardly due to the uncomfortable position that we were sat in, what with me still sitting in his lap.
"That doesn't matter," I said "We can still use them all. I want to make the cabin as bright as possible." I gazed around at the barren walls; their eerie silence made me depressed. "Let's get going then."
Luke got up off the chair, pulling me with him. I had no real complaints about his closeness, but it all seemed a little sudden. I mean, I liked Luke. A lot. But how was I supposed to know how he felt about me? The male species, cute as they may be, were excruciatingly confusing. I sighed, and picked up a can of light blue paint, the same colour as Luke's eyes, at the same time Luke picked up a can of bright red paint to match my hair. I smirked, and it seemed that Luke noticed our little coincidence too.
"We're just two peas in a pod now, aren't we?" He said, and pulled out two large paintbrushes from his back pocket.
Several hours later, we stood back and admired our work. Well, I say admired. It wasn't neat, or good by any standards, but it was ours and I thought it was beautiful. My cabin walls were now a mismatch of colour and words. Every corner now told a story; the first time I met Luke, riding over the lake on Cyrus, learning Ancient Greek with Ash. There were even parts of my life before camp; defeating Lycaon, endless pictures of Ariella, the odd happy memory. My favourite part was the small space of wall above the door, where Luke and I had signed our names. The swirling blue 'Kari' and the bold red 'Luke' fit well together, they made my cabin complete.
"I think we did a pretty good job." I turned to see Luke in the same stance as I was, admiring the space above the door. He held a paintbrush loosely in one hand, and he was in deep concentration. I took advantage of this, and made my way casually around him, picking up my own paintbrush as I went. It still had a good amount of purple paint on it. I walked slowly up behind Luke, and lifted my paintbrush. With one quick flick of my wrist, Luke had a long streak of purple running up the side of his face.
Luke spun around in surprise, and the look of pure shock on his face had me doubled over laughing in seconds. He grinned wildly, and lifted his own brush like the sword I knew he was dangerously skilled with.
"You'll regret that, Lunette." He jerked forward, and left a long gash of yellow on my collarbone. By then I had taken off my sweater and replaced it with a dark green tank top, leaving my collar exposed. I retaliated by grabbing another brush, this on coated with green, and crouching into an offensive stance.
"I don't think I will, you know. I think I will remember that for a long while and laugh, a lot." Luke's mouth spread into a smile, and he walked forward slowly. I held my stance, still not completely trusting him.
Well, I was certainly right not to trust Luke. We left my cabin a half hour later covered head to toe in paint. It had been all fun and games until I had painted a section of Luke's forehead red and panicked. It had looked so much like blood, even if I knew it wasn't. Luke had seen the worry in my eyes and dropped his paintbrush, moving towards me.
"What is it, Kari? Was it something I did?" He'd said, and I smiled awkwardly. Why did I react like that? I realized that the idea of seeing Luke bloody scared me much more than seeing any other person like that. Did I like Luke more than I thought?
"It's nothing, I just think that maybe it's time we got cleaned off, don't you?" I'd replied, and I think Luke had noticed the uncertainty in my voice, because he'd thrown an arm around my shoulders and led me out of the door. Which brings me to now; Luke and I were heading towards the toilets to shower when a weirdly familiar voice came from behind us.
"Karianna, I was wondering when I would get the chance to meet you." That voice. It was a voice I often heard in my nightmares, a voice that had plagued me my whole life. Who was it? I turned around, slowly. I expected to find some sort of sinister woman stood before me, but no. There stood a girl, around twelve years old.
"Who the heck are you?"
Who do you think it is? I think it's pretty obvious, though it might not be... Anyway, review! Favorite! Follow!
