That night, that cold fall night, is the night that it all started for me. I was drilling my cabin on military marches and insisted that we keep at it so that we did not look like sloppy pigs. We went on all through dinner, but we didn't mind. War was our calling, we were children of war, we were made to fight, and with fighting comes marching. "Marching," I explain to them, "is a uniformed way to travel through battle." They seemed to be getting it, at least they didn't respond, that was a good sign.

We were marching back to our cabin when I spotted two red glowing eyes in the darkness. I sighed; I knew who was behind them. "Halt!" I shouted to my cabin mates. I turned towards a tall light skinned boy with brown hair all matted on top of his head, "Drew," I said to my second in command, "Lead them back to the cabin; I have other matters to attend to."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted me, I saluted him back. He turned back to the others, "Company march!" he shouted. They immediately started marching. I studied them, as they left, not perfect yet, but much much better.

I turned back to where I saw the two eyes. I stood taller than I did before; I was going to show him I was not afraid of him. "Alright Phobos," I said, to my dismay, my voice shook a little, "What do you want?"

I heard sticks cracking as he came through the dark trees of an eerie forest. His eyes sent a shiver down my spine, and even though he wasn't trying to scare me, I was trembling. A sly smile crawled up on his face.

"Well, well," he mused, "Isn't it little miss big shot Clarisse, leader of the Ares cabin? And if you don't mind me asking, where's your boyfriend?" My eyes narrowed. I grabbed onto the sides of my shirt, just trying to control my anger.

"Percy's not my boyfriend," I said in between gritted teeth, "he's not even my friend." Phobos shook his head and made a 'tsk tsk' sound. His wild curls bounced across his forehead. His eyes almost seemed to get brighter with glee.

"What a shame," he said, "though I wasn't talking about that little daddy's boy." He looked at me and gave me a sympathetic grin, "looks like my dear mother has some things in store for you Clarisse. I wouldn't be scared though. Who knows? After tonight he probably wouldn't want to date anyways. But I've just said too much."

I decided to ignore his comment; he was just toying with my mind. "What do you want?" I ask again. I tried to keep my voice slow and steady. Phobos lifted his head up and chuckled. He looked back down at me.

"It's payback time," he said in a tone of pure malice, "Deimos and I are going to do something so horrible to you and your cabin mates, you'll never forget it." And as if on cue, I heard a bone-chilling scream in the background. I knew it had to be one of my siblings. I swiftly whirled around wanting to call for them. But I felt a strong grip pull me back. "You are not going anywhere!" He growled, "It's payback time, and when I'm done with you-" He paused thinking for a second. "Let's just say, you're going to wish you and that little punk never crossed me."

I was trying very hard to hide my panic. I fought Deimos before. How different could Phobos be? But in the back of my head I knew the answer to that all to well.

"Alright, how about this? If you really want to fight me then at least give me a sword." I said, struggling to remain calm.

Phobos seamed to think about it for a second, "No," He grinned cruelly, "You see Clarisse, if I give you a sword, and then I would have to play fair with every other little punk that crosses me." He paused looking passed me. Almost instantly his expression of what was once glee, to confusion.

Without thinking about it a turned to see what he was looking at. But nothing was there it was just dark forest.

"What the--?" He turned back to me, he cursed under his breath, "Looks like your siblings are in a slight rut," he mumbled but I wasn't sure he was talking to me. His eyes looked my direction, "Duty calls punk, but believe me I'm not finished and next time, will be worse." With that, he walked away.

Without even thinking I ran. I didn't even notice Phobos slip back into the darkness watching me. I just ran to where I heard the screams, it didn't matter that he had left me unharmed- well maybe a little. But I needed to get to my siblings. I could just make out shapes in the darkness.

I saw my cabin mates struggling to keep the attackers off. Their swords gleamed in the pale moonlight. It was so dark. I couldn't get a good look at them from this far out. But they appeared to be wearing dark sweatshirts.

Under normal circumstances, my cabin could've kicked these people's butts, but they didn't have weapons at the time. We left all our weapons in the cabin. They were using any thing they could find. I could see sticks flying everywhere, punches being blown, but to no avail, they were losing. I finally got over to the scene looking everywhere not sure what to do.

I could make out Drew fighting against one of the dark figures only to fall down. I ran to help but it was too late, a cry broke out into the night as the figure stomped on Drew's leg. Running as fast as I could I smashed the man with my fist, he fell down on the ground. I didn't check to make sure he was finished.

But that was one man, there had to be at least a dozen cloaked figures. I looked around me seeing all sorts of horrific chaos. My siblings were falling down unable to get back up. I watched as Sherman punched a figure in the nose.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Morgan face down in the Earth. Her attacker was showing no mercy, he was still on top of her, beating her.

My anger had boiled over. I jump at him and knocked him over. I started pounding him with my fists, and like he did to Morgan, I showed no mercy. That was something I learned from father.

"Know your enemies well," he would always say, "but don't think of them as human. Think of them as monsters that are threatening your survival. Show them no mercy." I always listened to father; he always knew what to do.

I felt a crack against my skull. A dull achy pain spread across my head, I could feel it stinging. My eyes struggled to remain open. The world around me began to spin, falling to my knees; I could only hear the sounds of fists connecting with faces. And then nothing, the last sound I heard was the screams of my siblings. Then my world was black.

I hope you guys like the story so far.... and in case you were wondering... it takes place after BOTL.