I peeked out from behind the boulder: my only shelter on the battlefield. I scanned the terrain. Right in front of me was Clarisse, fighting with absoulutly no mercy for her opponent, a scrawny nine year old boy. Multiple parts of his body were scratched and bleeding freely. A dagger struck me in the heart as I felt a pang of guilt take over my body. Yes, this may be a war, but it's a chance to fight for what we believe in, not an oppurtunity to murder innocent children who are just tired of being resented by their parents. I took a deep breath and ran out from behind my wall of safety.
"Clarisse!" I yelled, "I can handle this! You get someone else!"
Without giving the boy a second look, she ran off to help Travis Stoll with a guy twice his size. I looked at the little boy. His eyes shone with fear. "Look, kid. I do not want to hurt you. I know your just a kid-don't deserve to die." I mumbled to him. He nodded quickly and scurried away; his bulky armor jangling behind him.
I ran off to help somebody else. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Nico, fighting a girl who looked about sixteen. Her fiery gray eyes shone with anger. I knew suddenly that she was a daughter of Athena. A second later, another thought hit me: She was't just any daughter of Athena, it was Julia. Annabeth's mentor when she first came to Camp Half-Blood. Also a good friend until she suddenly disapeared one day. Well...I found her.
I ran over, and put myself as barrier in-between Nico and Julia. Nico ran off, and I took care of her. Silver armor covered a majority of Julia's face, but I could see a tall nose with menacing titanium eyes through the faults in her helmet. She was a good fighter, a really good fighter, but as she was knocked back, I took the little amount of time to slam the flat of my sword across her head. She was unconcious-possibly dead.
I didn't feel any sympathy this time, because a sixteen year old, daughter of Athena would have enought wosdom-and experience-to know the true intention of the gods.
I took advantage of the time to crouch down, and lift off her helmet. A stream of straight, long, blond hair fell loose to her sides. She had thin, pale lips, and sunken cheeks like a seventy year old. A large cut across her left cheek gave me a sudden reminder of Luke. And I wondered at the moment if the two have ever met, and if he thought of Annabeth whenever he saw her. I did. Suddenly-I remembered something: Annabeth! Where is she?What if she was hurt? I dropped Julia's limp head to the ground and ran off to find Annabeth.
A seven year old girl tried to stab me in the stomach-the highest place she could reach-with a knife that looked something like a toy I had as a baby. I grabbed her frail wrists and crouched down so my face was level to her's. "Look, kid. You better run. 'Cause a battlefield is not a safe place for a seven year old." I could not believe the Titans would be desperate enough to recruite a first grader into their army. The kid tore her wrists from the grasp of my hands and said, putting her hand to her hips, "I'm eight! See!" she opened her mouth wide enough for me to see that she had lost her two front teeth, and one on the bottom. "I lost three teeths." she said proudly. I may be dyslexic and ADHD, but I definetly would be able to catch a grammer mistake as obvious as that. "Good job," I told her, and ran away. She was too small to cause any trouble.
After sprinting about a lap, I saw her. Annabeth. She was lying on the ground, clutching a hand to her leg, which was bleeding furiously. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw her there, in misery. Everyone was to busy to take her to the shelter, but they did form a sort of wall around her, standing side by side while fighting, making a protective circle. I made my way around the dozens of dead bodies lying on the ground, and snuck through a gap in the "wall".
"Percy!" Annabeth gasped as she saw me. She reached a trembling hand out to me. I clutched it tightly, transferring warmth from my body to her's. "Are you okay?" I asked.
