The bright morning light streamed through the draped cloth, onto the sleeping form, he grumbled exhaustedly and rubbed a hand over his tired eyes, the sound of the nearby lake called to him, urging him to dive in.
Percy rolled onto his back, his aqua green eyes taking in the wooden roof of the Poseidon cabin, another day he thought to himself, another day of peace in camp half blood, it had now been almost two years since he had defeated Cronus, the barrier was back up and Thalia was still getting used to her new freedom after being stuck as a pine tree for so long.
As for Percy and the others they had all continued their Demi-God lives, Percy was now camp leader, at first he felt a little odd taking Luke's place, but he had soon gotten used to the responsibilities and he had the respect of the other Demi-Gods at Camp.
Annabeth taught advanced tactics and battle strategy, obviously still no one could beat her and the other Athenian children at capture the flag, and Grover, well was still Grover, partying, especially with the Daughters of Aprodite, even Clarisse had come to accept them, though she would never admit that they were friends. She was off on another quest set by Chiron, nothing as nearly interesting as the Golden Fleece but it kept her contempt and helped the Camp.
"Yo Percy!"
The familiar patter of hooves echoed across the wooden floor
"Percy!" Grover called out again "C'mon Percy"
Percy forced himself to stand even through his tired body argued, he took in the Satyr in front of him, decked out in leather, blade strapped to his chest, crunching on a tin can
"First games on the winter solstice" Grover was literally bouncing with anticipation, a big grin on his excited face, Percy just groaned, today was going to be painful.
The whole of the camp was buzzing with energy and as per usual Annabeth was already warming up at the first event, a gruelling assault course, she had memorised the route and planned her way through with the least amount of resistance.
The stands were starting to fill, with other Demi-Gods a few greeted her and called encouragement to her, she stretched out her toned limbs, taking deep breaths readying herself, other competitors lined up to begin, Percy jogged up beside her as she pulled her wavy blonde hair into a high pony tail, to keep it from her face
"Hey" Percy said as he pulled at his quads
"Hey, you ready?" she teased nudging him slightly, trying to hide her smile
"Yer I think I gotta shot" he said looking out at the course, not nearly as confident as his words
Annabeth just laughed as they all took their positions, Percy glanced down the line seeing the familiar faces, his aqua eyes fell on the guy furthest down the line, dressed all in black, one of the few who never wore a Camp Half-Blood tee
"Annabeth" Percy nodded in his direction, Annabeth searched the faces, her eyes widening once she saw who Percy was gesturing to
"Markos Lutz" she breathed,
Most of the spectators too were surprised to see one of the few children of Ares, especially this one, Markos mainly kept to himself not even staying with the other children of the God of War in the Ares Cabin, he had a temper and everyone knew it, he did solo training, and he didn't like to lose, he would be quite the opponent Annabeth thought to herself.
Dionysus sat in his chair, a glass of water in front of him, with an unhappy sigh at the liquid he stood, greeting the Demi-Gods before him, conjuring a Diet Coke can to his hand.
"Welcome everyone to the Winter Solstice games, these are trials to prove the greatest warriors of Camp Half Blood, these competitors are some of our strongest" he boomed "Our smartest, but who will win, the competitors will face a gruelling assault course filled with hidden dangers and surprise attacks before a dead sprint finish, only one will be victorious" he raised a hand "On your marks. Get set"
Annabeth and Percy braced themselves, muscles coiled, ready to spring
"GO!" The word echoed loudly
And like that they all charged for the first task, a 50 foot climb, at first look it appeared to be a normal rock climbing wall, but the children of Hephaestus were clever and had placed traps behind a few of the hand holds, Percy would have to be careful.
As they all neared the base of the wall a few leapt trying to get a head start, Percy grasped the hand holds, pulling himself up, Annabeth was right on his heels, he grinned at being ahead, they all scrambled up the wall, A few other Demi-Gods were higher up the wall, but they were not looking what they were grabbing onto and a child of Demeter grasped one that exploded into pink dust he yelled out shielding his eyes, releasing the wall, he realised his mistake too late and fell, tumbling to the base of the wall.
"Dam" Percy said as he continued his climb
Others soon realised that there were traps, but some were still not careful enough and a few other explosions went off, but Percy focused, he had no idea if Annabeth was gaining on him or not, but he had no doubt that she was hot on his heels.
The obstacle next was a thin walkway, Percy watched as a red headed Demi-God tried to sprint across, but before she was halfway she was thrown off by a large dodgeball colliding into her. The ball seemed to appear out of thin air, but Percy soon spied Apollo's kids in chariots high above, launching them down at the contestants.
"Great" Percy panted, he watched for a moment trying where the Apollo kids were looking, when blonde hair blurred past him.
"Keep up Jackson" Annabeth flashed him a smile before ducking low, she leapt the last part, dodging two balls.
Before her was a 10 foot leap onto the monkey bars, she prepped and jumped reaching for the first bar, her fingers grasped around it, but the smooth metal caused her left hand to slip, she dangled there 50 foot above the lake,
A shout caught her attention, another Demi-God fell, down until they hit the water, the crowd cheered, Annabeth gritted her teeth as the strain on her shoulder intensified, she had a small opportunity to correct her mistake, or she would drop, she took a deep breath and stretched for the bar, the burn in her arm was almost unbearable, Just a little further, her fingers wrapped around the cool metal, she took a moment,
The frame shook, Markos's strong hands gripped the bar, the muscles in his arms flexing, his emerald green eyes glanced at her before he swung himself forward using his momentum to get himself across with ease, Annabeth's body kicked in and she pursued Markos to the zip line
Percy was close behind them after managing to dodge his way past the balls, he leapt and swung his way across the lake, by the time he got to the zip line Annabeth and Markos were already half way down, Percy looked down at the water below and smiled, he concentrated summoning his inherited powers and leapt, swirling water below him shifted and morphed into a powerful waterslide, Percy landed onto the liquid feet first surfing his way to land, technically it wasn't cheating, he hadn't fallen into the lake, he raced down almost catching the two ahead of him, Markos hit the ground first without slowing, Annabeth less than a second behind him, Percy landing stumbling slightly but recovering, Dionysus's voice boomed across the course
"Only three remain as they reach the combat trials, who will be our victor?"
The three thundered through the woodland, narrowly missing the trees and low hanging branches, keeping an eye for any surprises, it wasn't long before red team's strongest fighters ambushed them,
Annabeth slowed calculating her attack plan, she and the other competitors were unarmed, she would have to disarm one of her opponents, she knew these fighters, having trained with them, she would use that to her advantage
While Annabeth had slowed Markos had sped up and was hurtling towards the three fighters who faced him, he roared as he used his combined momentum and strength to throw one of them into a tree, the fighter dropped his sword which was quickly obtained by Annabeth who had seen what happened and taking the opportunity in front of her, gaining an edge over the two boys,
She dispatched each of the three fighters with grace and precision whereas Percy was using instinct, though Percy fought strong he held back not wanting to hurt his friends, and when Annabeth gasped in pain as an elbow collided with her jaw, Percy instantly turned wanting to protect her, big mistake, his opponents took this opportunity to take him down, Annabeth saw what happened, her rational brain told her he wouldn't be seriously injured, it was just a game, so she continued her assault, her foot connected with the taller man's chest, winding him, she blocked the others attacks, punching him in the face then a knee to the groin, causing him to fall in pain, his face turning red.
"Sorry Dylan" she called to the boy as she raced for the finish line, she was ahead, but fast footsteps behind her alerted her to another's presence, she chanced a glance over her shoulder through the blurring trees she saw a large dark figure, Markos had defeated his opponents shortly after Annabeth and charged after her, they both pushed themselves to the limits, both wired to win, Daughter of Athena vs Son of Ares, both born for battle, both with the need to win.
Annabeth was ahead but Markos had more strength and length in his legs pushing him further, they could both see the finish line, their breathing laboured and legs burning from the trials, each of them still pushing themselves to their limits.
She could feel him right on her tail, he would soon overtake her or take her out, her brain ran with options for ensuring her victory, she felt the cold metal of the sword in her hand and knew she had one shot at this, the timing had to be perfect, her grip loosened on the sword, then she released it, letting in fall, Markos didn't see it in time as he slipped on the metal, Markos fell but managed to roll out of it, by the time he recovered Annabeth had crossed the line,
Cheers erupted as the Daughter of Athena took her trophy raising it high, a smile on her face, she wiped sweat from her brow as movement on the edge of the group caught her eye, Markos Lutz was watching her, he said nothing, just watching her, blood trickling down his arm, dripping off his clenched fist, after a moment he walked away, heading back to his cabin.
Suddenly Annabeth was hoisted high onto the shoulders of a couple of Demi-Gods.
"The champion of the Winter Solstice games, Annabeth Chase!" cheered Dionysus, more cheers and chanting ensued and she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.
Percy rolled his eye "Of course he would get her name right" but he couldn't help but grin at Annabeth