And here we are! The next story! I thank you all for being patient while I took the time to write this. For all my stories afterward, I'll be putting up a progress report in my profile. I'll let you know now that this story won't be as long as When Opportunity Strikes, both in chapters and words. Updates should be every Saturday. If you haven't read When Opportunity Strikes, I suggest you do so before reading this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I do own Jade, Grant, and any other characters that you don't recognize from the series, as well as the story plot.

So without further ado, I give you: When Luck is All You Have.

When Luck is All You Have – 01 – Long Day, Late Night

Okay, first off: it wasn't my fault that the camp's arena was destroyed...or at least I think it wasn't. But I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, all you need to know is that in the amazing life of Jade Egilhard, my reputation is crap and my life is down the drain. Last year I helped to stop two titans and a rogue demigod from doing some terrible ritual – for what, I never found out. Anyway, you'd think I'd have a little more popularity because of that, but after a while it just got worse than before. Even Kyle and Lucy, my own siblings, were against me!

So yeah, like I said, my reputation is crap. Not that I cared too much about reputation. No, all I cared about was when Krios and Dunstan decided to rear their ugly heads again. Well, that and who I was fighting against in Capture-the-Flag.

Even though most of my rep was bad, when it came to Capture-the-Flag I was usually one of the first to be picked. Today, I was on the Ares team. My job was simple enough. Defend the flag. It wasn't the first time I had the position, so the team leader put me in charge of the rest of our flag defenders: four swordsmen, three archers.

It was a simple strategy, but for me it was also tried and true. I set up each of the swordsmen (including me) at each of the cardinal points and had them patrol around the flag. The three archers were up in the trees, triangulating the flag, ready to shoot at enemies.

The horn sounded and the game began. It was a while before anyone came. At first there were a few stragglers, new kids who were as lost as could be, but then some challenge came. I could hear the fight on the other side of the patrol area. I figured most of the patrol had already gone to help, so I kept my eyes open. All of my instincts told me that party was just a distraction.

I was right. There was only one, but I wasn't about to drop my guard.

Silently, I took out my Sica: sixteen inches of a large, curved, celestial bronze dagger. I sneaked up behind the guy, trying to get close enough to brain him. My hand moved like lightning, but the teenager was just as fast at blocking. When we locked blades, I took a look at his face.

Grant. Of course.

Grant is my boyfriend, uh, ex-boyfriend. I'd love to explain the story to you now, but I'm busy trying to maim someone at the moment.

When he noticed me I saw surprise in his eyes, which quickly turned to determination. We were on opposite sides after all. He pushed me away then went straight into a diagonal slash. I ducked and rolled to my left, making to stab at his side.

He parried and countered making his own stab. I jumped back, but came in close again. And again, we locked our weapons together. This time, however, I snaked my foot around his ankle and tripped him.

Just as I was about to stab him in the face, the horn sounded. The game was over. I was seriously thinking about finishing my attack (my fingers drummed the hilt), but that would get me kicked out of camp for sure. I got up and walked toward my team's base. The flag was still there. The Ares team had won.

XxXxX

I sat mostly alone at the Caerus cabin's dinner table. Kyle and Lucy were at one end while I was at the other. I didn't blame them - I was sulking again. Remember that story I said I'd love to tell you? Well, it's like this: Grant and I had been dating over the past year. Then he started getting more and more distant, just like the other campers. By the end of the first month back at camp, he had dumped me. The only reason he gave me was that I had changed and not for the better.

So I had gained a little more confidence and I was looking for a challenge or two, no big deal, right? At least I had thought so at the time. Now I was beginning to worry. What had changed about me that drove everyone away? Well, almost everyone I should say. There was only one other person at camp who seemed to understand what I was going through.

That person was Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. I promised a little late-night practice with him and if people believed anything about me anymore, it was that I kept my word. As I walked into the arena, I let my senses roam. This wasn't the first time he'd tried to sneak up on me.

He came out of nowhere from the left. I parried and the battle commenced. As we sparred, I decided to tell him about my worries.

"Nico? Do you think I've been becoming different ever since my fight against Perses?" He seemed to think about that as I attacked.

"Yeah, but that was your first major battle – against a titan no less. I would be surprised if there wasn't a little bit of change." I believed him, but I could tell that wasn't all of what he thought.

"Don't hide anything, Nico."

"I'm not!" He defended. I just stared, unblinkingly, at him until he decided to cave (another tried and true strategy). He sighed, "Don't get angry, okay? You've been acting strange since you came back to camp this summer. You're becoming a daredevil, battle-hungry. You're acting more violent and angry."

"So are the Ares kids –"

"They have a reason." I got angry. I started fighting harder and holding back nothing.

SLASH!

Before I could realize what I was doing, I had cut a gash in his shoulder. It wasn't that deep and could easily be fixed, but still…what came over me? I reached for some bandages.

"Nico, I'm so, so, sorry. I-I don't know what just happened!" He stared at me and I had a sneaking suspicion that he could read my mind. He knew that I had just proven him right, but he didn't try to use it against me. In fact, I thought I saw a flash of confusion cross his features. After I finished bandaging his shoulder, we decided that it would be best to call it a night.

XxXxX

What the hell is wrong with me? My mind was racing with the worry of attacking the only friend I had left at camp. It took a while, but I was eventually able to fall asleep. Lately it seemed that even my mind hated me. Every night it was the same dream.

At face value, nothing looked different. New York City's streets were crowded as always, the people talking with each other over the sounds of traffic. But my gut kept telling me something was wrong. As I looked closer, I noticed that the people were traveling in groups and looking over their shoulders as if they were being followed. The talking I heard came in hushed whispers. This was not normal.

Then the crowd parted for a man. He, unlike everyone else did not seem paranoid. He actually seemed to be the cause of it. Every instinct I had told me he was a monster, but when I tried to look past the Mist, the only thing I accomplished was to make my vision fuzzy. It was about then that I inevitably woke up.

And so I did, but I wasn't in my cabin. I was back in the arena - Or what was left of it. The dummies were on fire, the arms racks were in splinters with their weapons strewn all over the place, in some places the wall and floor were destroyed. It was a completely different place than it was last night, and as Chiron and the campers came to see what had happened, I was in the middle of it all.