Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! This chapter is a little better, I think. I like it a lot!

Anyways, I promise, as soon as I'm done posting this, I'm going to update "After Oz." I have most of it written, I'm just lazy.

~b.a.

Chapter Two: Alice Swift

Alice ducked as the sword came rushing at her.

"Nice miss, lover boy," she taunted at her partner. "But you're going to have to do better than that if you want to win."

Her friend Oliver, son of Aphrodite, glared at her, offended. "Lover boy?"

Alice laughed and lunged at him with her sword. He blocked it, but she used a disarming technique she had learned from an old camper.

She pointed her sword at Oliver's chest. "I win. Again."

Oliver looked down at the sword point, and then laughed. "You think you're so-o-o tough, Rainbow."

She rolled her eyes and brushed a lock of her black hair out of her eyes. "Think of a new nickname." She picked up Oliver's sword and handed him the hilt.

"Again," she ordered.

"Alice!" Oliver protested, taking the sword and sliding it back in its sheath. "It's nearly dinner, and I'm exhausted. Can we stop?"

Alice glared at him. His flawless face was dripping with sweat, and he was panting. She sighed. "Fine. But I expect you bright and early tomorrow morning."

Oliver gave her one of his dazzling smiles. She rolled her eyes again, and went to grab a dummy from a pile in the corner of the arena.

"Are you coming?" he asked.

"No." She lifted the dummy onto her right shoulder and carried it to a stand in the middle of the arena.

"Alice, you need to eat!" Oliver said, following her.

"If you're not going to train, then go away," Alice snapped. She didn't dare look at Oliver, but she could imagine the pathetic puppy dog eyes he was giving her. He sighed.

"I'll bring you some after," he said quietly. Alice listened to his retreating footsteps. She rarely bothered coming to dinner and her camp counselors had stopped trying to make her. Seeing all the people, all the sympathetic looks, it was all too much for her.

Training was the only way Alice could take her mind off things. Occasionally she would laugh. She drilled herself and pushed herself until everything was out of her mind, and she was totally focused on the fight. Which was hard for a kid with ADHD.

But when she didn't fight, the memories seemed to overwhelm her.

Like now.

Alice exhaled and reached for her sword.