Hey Guys, I've finally decided to start rewriting the earlier chapters. It's going to take some time to fix them all, so please be patient. And worry not, it's still the same plot. I'm just making it clearer and more descriptive now. Also, I'm fixing the grammar and all that stuff. Sorry if I still make some mistakes. But this one should be much better now.
In any case, Enjoy the first chapter!
Finally, I'm back to the camp. For the first time ever, I feel that there really is nothing else that can bring me down. I feel that the camp is finally safe, once and for all, that everything is going to be just fine this year.
The wind is blowing nicely, and I can even hear the birds chirping. The sun feels warm, and it doesn't look like it's going to rain. It just feels like it's going to be a perfect day.
'Percy!' A familiar voice calls before I can walk into the camp.
I turn around, and then I see Annabeth running toward me. She leaps forward to me, and then I catch her. She hugs me tightly, almost squeezing, and then she kisses me gently.
'Another year. Feeling excited?' She smiles.
Gods, I forgot how beautiful she is. I smile back to her, and then I let her down
Annabeth is wearing the camp's t-shirt, with long blue jeans. She carries a backpack with her invisible cap tied to her backpack. She lets down her hair, and it grows a little bit longer than the last time I saw her.
I offer her my hand, 'Ms. Chase.' I smile to her.
Annabeth smiles back, and then she holds my hand. Annabeth is walking right next to me in this beautiful sunny day, and even the camp seems peaceful.
Five steps into the camp, and we can hear loud cheering.
Travis and Connor Stoll run past us, they glance back at me, 'Come on, Percy! You don't want to miss this!' Well, at least everyone is still as energetic as ever.
The brothers run to a crowd of campers, they're circling something there, and they're all cheering.
'What's going on?' Annabeth wonders.
I shrug, 'Only one way to find out.'
Annabeth and I approach the crowd. Apparently, all of them have been watching a fight.
A familiar face shows up in the middle of the circle, Clarisse. The one who's fighting her is a boy, but he doesn't look familiar one bit. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have never even seen him in the camp before. A new kid then? A first year camper is fighting Clarisse la rue; this is not going to end well.
'We should stop them.' Annabeth says. 'He's no match for Clarisse.'
I agree with Annabeth, and I'm about to step in but then Travis Stoll stops us.
'Are you crazy? This is way too interesting to be stopped! I heard the new kid has last for more than ten minutes already!' Travis says.
'That can't be right.' Annabeth says.
'It's true. I've been here from the beginning.' Will Solace appears out of nowhere, he seems to have blended in with the crowd completely.
Hearing Will's words make me want to actually watch this match. Even Annabeth starts to focus on the duel between the new kid and Clarisse.
Clarisse swings her spear, every swing looks dangerous and painful, but the new kid dodges them with ease. Clarisse looks annoyed, and then she makes a mistake by swinging her spear wide. The new kid sees this opportunity as well, he ducks and then he roundhouse kick Clarisse. Clarisse falls on the ground, and her spear gets knocked off three feet away from her.
The crowd goes silent, shocked at what just happened. It shocks both me and Annabeth as well. What the new kid just did was actually really skillful. Not a lot of people can evade Clarisse's spear perfectly like that. Chris Rodriguez looks especially worried.
I examine the new kid. He's wearing a denim shirt with white t-shirt underneath, and blue jeans. His clothes are a bit torn off, probably from Clarisse's spear. The new kid wields a long bronze celestial sword.
The new kid has black hair, waxed to the side a bit. He has a pair of blue eyes, with a good look; kind of like a combination of pretty and handsome. He's around 5'9" tall. He looks young, around sixteen or seventeen years old, around my age.
'Is that the best you can do?' The new kid grins proudly.
Clarisse quickly rolls to her spear. She grabs it, and then she quickly stands up. Clarisse roars, the same kind of roar she let out when she slayed a drakon. Clarisse looks terrifying, she even terrifies some of the new campers with her roar. Her opponent on the other hand doesn't look scared nor threatened.
Clarisse starts swinging her spear wildly. The new kid dodges them all again, easily; he's smiling, almost mocking Clarisse, underestimating her.
That's a mistake, Clarisse is not someone who you should underestimate.
Clarisse sees an opportunity, and then she kicks the new kid on the side of his right knee. The new kid's balance is thrown out, and then Clarisse swings her spear and strikes the new kid of his side. Clarisse throws the new kid right to the crowd. The campers are surprised when they see the new kid coming; the new kid brings down some of the campers to the ground with him when he lands.
'I guess that's the best that you can do.' She says.
Clarisse exhales, she looks happy and proud. She drops her stance, and then she raises her spear to stir up the crowd. The campers cheers, especially the Ares' kids, they all look a bit relieved, and so does Chris Rodriguez. It did look pretty bad back then.
'Clarisse!' Annabeth yells.
Clarisse turns to Annabeth, 'Relax. I hit him with the blunt side.' Clarisse assures.
The Ares' kids cheer again, but then they suddenly stop. Clarisse, with her hands still up, looks a bit puzzled. The Ares kids' eyes are fixed on something. I look at the direction of where the Ares cabin is looking. The new kid is there, standing; he's bleeding from the corner of his lips.
Clarisse turns around, she looks a bit surprised, but she keeps her composure cool. She starts walking to the side, and so does the new kid. They both are now walking in circles, facing each other.
The new kid stops, and so does Clarisse. Clarisse puts her stance back up, and then the new kid charges. He swings his sword vertically, slamming his sword to Clarisse. Clarisse blocks it with her spear, but the new kid keeps slamming his sword down. The blunt sound that the clashes make indicates that the attack is strong. It's also fast; he's not even giving Clarisse a chance to counterattack.
Little by little, the new kid is bringing down Clarisse's guard. Clarisse know this as well, she looks weary from receiving all those attacks.
Clarisse tries to back away, she's trying to put some distance between them first. Unfortunately, the new kid has been waiting for this. When Clarisse takes one step back, the new kid leaps forward and strikes Clarisse in the gut with his knee. It connects, and Clarisse stumbles. The new kid elbows Clarisse, knocking her off of her feet. Clarisse falls on the ground, and the crowd goes silent again.
The new kid just stands there, he's waiting. Clarisse wobbly stands up again, her nose is bleeding out. The new kid points his sword at Clarisse, he's clearly provoking Clarisse. Clarisse's face turns red; she's angry, really angry. Clarisse charges again, swinging her spear. The new kid ducks, and then hits Clarisse in the face using his sword hilt. Clarisse squints and yelps in pain. The new kid continues; he elbows Clarisse right in the gut. The new kid then grabs Clarisse shirt's collar; using his own body and back as a pivot, he slams Clarisse to the ground. Clarisse lies there helplessly.
The match is over, all the campers there know that Clarisse has just lost the match, and what's more is to a new camper. No one is talking or even whispering, it's absolutely quiet, like mourning for something.
The new kid breathes heavily, his face is relaxed now after the match. He walks and grabs his shirt that is on the ground, and then he walks away.
The Ares' kids quickly come to Clarisse's aid, she's unconscious. Chris Rodriguez tries to wake her up, and then after a couple of seconds, Clarisse wakes up. Clarisse looks surprised, and puzzled of what's going on. Finally she realized that she has just lost the match. She looks down, embarrassed.
She looks back up at me, 'That's not normal. Nobody is that good on their first year.'
'She's right.' Annabeth mutters while watching the new kid walks away.
I watch the new kid disappears, as he walks deeper into the camp.