I awoke to a small but warm body jumping on top of me. Right away I knew who it was.
"Alex, what are you doing? What time is it?" I asked her groggily.
"Time to get up sleepy head! The early bird catches the worm… or in this case the early trainer gets the best weapons…" she replied energetically.
"Five more minutes…"
"No."
With a sigh, I slowly dragged my long body out of bed. I stretched, yawned, then surprised her by suddenly scooping her up, laying her across my bare shoulders, and running out the cabin door into the early morning sunlight.
"Adam, c'mon! Put a shirt on!" she screamed playfully.
I set her down, and jogged back into the cabin, quickly grabbing a shirt off of the dresser. Before joining her back outside, I grabbed a wilted flower out of the window box.
Back outside, I opened my hand in front of her, the flower lying in my palm. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, channeling energy down my arm and into my hand. Opening my eyes, I looked down and saw the flower's colors return and its petals flourish, alive once again. Oh yeah, did I mention my mom is Demeter, the Greek god of plant life?
She took the bud out of my hand, placing it behind her ear. She had seen the trick many times before, so she wasn't surprised, but the look on her face never changed. She looked up at me, gazing into my hazel eyes with her beautiful green ones, causing me to melt on the inside. Getting on the balls of her feet, as was necessary for her short stature and my six-foot height, she pushed her lips against my cheek, and I felt my entire face warm up, and I was pretty sure I was blushing because she laughed, then taking my hand, dragged my along behind her to the training arena. She grabbed a sword and a dagger, her usual weapons, and I took my usual bow and quiver full of arrows. Walking out into the middle of the circle, we stared down our targets: for me, several round bull's eyes placed around the outer wall; for her, automated dummies designed and created by the Hephaestus cabin.
She counted down from five, and then she ran across the arena to the first of the automatons. I grabbed an arrow from the quiver on my back and took aim. I shot, hitting the small target in the center. Alex had already taken down two dummies. Time to make things a little harder for her…
I knelt to the ground, and placed my hand against the hard-packed earth. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, then opened my eyes again. A green glow was emanating from the bottom of my hand where it touched the ground. A thin, vein-like network of vines started snaking towards the dummy, running quickly along the ground. Once they got to the machine's feet, they started working their way up its body, and then bore its way into the back of its neck. The empty eye sockets glowed the same color green as from my hand, and I felt total control of each and every cog in the workings of the device. I moved left, and the dummy shuffled left. I raised my arm, and the dummy did so. I smirked at Alex as she realized what was happening. Running up to the dummy, she swung at it with her sword, and I moved to parry the blow, the dummy following my every move. We continued this way for ten minutes, until the power consumed by this little trick caused me to fall down in exhaustion. She rushed over to me, and leaned over me. I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her lips onto mine. She fought for a moment, then surrendered and laid down on top of me.
We could have stayed there forever, her laying on top of me, grunts of enthusiasm coming from both of us, if it hadn't been for the entire Ares cabin showing up for their training session.
Hopping up, looks of pure embarrassment on our faces, we ran out of the arena, away from giggles and outright laughter. We didn't stop until we were deep in the forest, and I held her against me and willed a tree to grow beneath us. Up popped a seedling between my feet, quickly growing to the size of a three-year-old tree. I placed myself on a branch, and then willed the tree to grow even higher. We shot up into the air, Alex on my lap, screaming her butt off. I wrapped my free arm around her, gripping the tree trunk with the other, as we rose above all the other trees, and we saw the camp far below us. We slowed to a stop, and just sat there for a while, silent. Then I leaned down, and returned her peck on the cheek. She blushed the color of a rose.
***Author's Note: My girlfriend and I decided to make a story that we both contribute chapters to. I will write a chapter, she will write the next one, and so on. Chapter Two will come from her, and her name is DarkAngel382. She has several other stories, so if you liked this one, check her out as well! Please review!***