No Percy. Three sixteen year olds instead.
Violet had followed Will at his sprinting pace down to the lakefront, where Annabeth, Butch, and three strangers were wringing themselves dry.
The chariot was wrecked, the tip of it sinking below the surface of the frosty water by the time Will could see it up close. Annabeth promised to get it fixed.
Violet managed to catch up with Annabeth before she headed off to show around the new girl, Piper, who was way past claiming age.
"Nothing?" Violet asked, reaching her sister's side.
"We found the one shoed guy." She motioned toward the blonde guy, with the weird tattoo on his wrist, heading away with Chiron. "But he has amnesia, or something."
"Does this mean you're gonna go look for him now?" Violet questioned as they began to head up the hill toward the forest, with Piper in tow. "Percy, I mean."
"Unless something new happens, definitely." Annabeth was emotionless.
"You mind if I come?"
"And Will?"
"Most likely."
"I'd be glad to have you along."
Violet nodded. "I'll talk to you later about details."
She waved to Piper before jogging back toward camp. Will had headed toward the Hephaestus cabin with Leo, and the crowd around the lake had begun to dissipate. She headed down to the arena, hoping to unwind with some relaxing sword practice.
Violet found herself challenged to a duel by Clarisse La Rue almost immediately, as was standard protocol whenever the two were armed. It wasn't that they were enemies (though they weren't quite friends, either), but they were almost evenly matched in skill with weapons. The only difference being that Clarisse had even less strategy than Violet, which was her downfall more than often.
Fighting was one of the few things Violet could claim to be very good at it. She was merciless, powerful, quick on her feet. When she was fighting, the rest of the world was pushed from her mind, and abstract concept, a gray blob. It was the only time could she properly focus. Her body was built for combat, with powerful shoulders and broad hips as well as muscled thighs and arms, though the she was relatively short, and stocky from so many years of training. She was not a particle physicist, or a super model, or a famous hero, but she was able to say no with extreme prejudice.
She pulled her red hair back in a pony tail, and shed her coat as Clarisse stretched. Yes, this would be interesting. Fights with Clarisse always were.
"So, Violet, you ready to get beaten?" Clarisse grinned maniacally, lifting maimer from it's position of leaning against a bench on the perimeter of the sandy arena. To their left, the Demeter cabin was working on archery. At the moment, though, they had the sword practice nook to themselves.
"You think this is your day, huh?" Violet returned her grin, pulling off her bracelet. It morphed into the half swords' golden hilt, and the black blades elongated from that, one curved blade for each hand.
"Well, with Percy gone..."
Violet let her grin drop. Even Clarisse looked regretful at letting that statement slip. She definitely was not a fan of Percy Jackson, but the daughter of Ares knew that his disappearance was only a sign of worse things to come.
"You ready?" Violet asked, taking a stance.
"Yep." Clarisse grabbed her shield. The Demeter kids had come over to watch the fight, with Katie Gardner refereeing.
"You may begin." Katie said, moving out of the way quickly.
The moment Katie was out from between the two demigods, Violet lunged forward, and the match was begun.
It was a close fight. So ridiculously close, that it seemed every other second one or the other girl would be about to deliver the death blow, and then get knocked back to square one again. Clarisse was correct in that it was, indeed, her day.
It appeared to come to an end when Violet stomped a boot down on Clarisse's solar plex, pressing the tip of one long sword to her neck.
"Nice." Someone said, and Violet looked over her shoulder to find Will and Leo had joined the crowd. Katie had yet to call the victory, so Clarisse sprang up, kicked Violet in the head, and planted her spear in the dirt next to Violet's temple.
"Damn." Violet said. "Savor this moment, because revenge is a bitch."
Clarisse laughed. The crowd looked slightly stunned, as seeing Violet beaten at her own game was a rare sight.
Violet had managed somehow to land in one of the snow drifts, piled along the edges of the arena after being cleared off the sandy ground. Consequently, she was simultaneously freezing and sweating as Will extended a hand down to her.
"I blame you for that." She said to him, touching the tip of her swords and letting them descend back into a bracelet.
"Understandable." Will smiled. "But I think the real enemy here is ADD."
"Not peer pressure?" Leo grinned goofily. Violet introduced herself, as Will put his arms around her in an attempt to warm her cold skin.
"I'm gonna go get cleaned up." She grabbed her coat off one of the benches and kissed Will quickly. "See you at dinner."
"Yep."
She glanced at Leo, and nodded to Clarisse before heading back to her cabin, and then the bath house.
Her stitched leg stung when the hot water hit it, but the pain was overshadowed by the chance to be warm for the first time in hours. She combed her fingers through her hair to rid it of sweat and dirt, to find Clarisse's kick had left a lump on the side of her head. It was tender to the touch. A bruise had also formed above her eye, where it'd connected with the bunk above her own that morning.
She sighed. It had been a long day.
She climbed from the shower stall, and booked it back to her cabin. A few of her siblings were lounging on their bunks or seated at one of the desks. She bid a few of them hello and then rifled through her trunk for clean clothes.
The Athena cabin was bare compared to Apollo's. A few posters had been pinned to the walls, but they were largely ignored. The belongings laid on or near bunks were not nearly as eccentric, mostly just notebooks and regular books and laptops, as well as a few cell phones. Violet's viola case was propped against the end of her bed, as well as a folder full of music.
She briefly debated whether to wear shorts or jeans, then remembered what months it was and realized she was standing next to a radiator. She opted for jeans and a black long sleeve shirt, with her usual snow boots and coat.
She called to Malcolm and Soletta, the only siblings in the cabin who had yet to report to dinner, and the three layered up, heading out into the cold once again. It was six in the evening, but the winter weather had night falling early.
"I hear you're going on a quest." Malcolm said, hands stuck firmly in his pockets.
"Looks like it." Violet replied. "It's more like a search party, though."
"Is it your first one?" Soletta asked.
"Yeah."
"Man, I'd kill for a quest." Malcolm muttered.
"I sincerely hope not." Soletta told him, smiling.
They reached the dining pavilion, meeting up with the Athena table just in time for the food to appear.