January 12, 2015

Some kids go to camp to make friends. Apparently I'm better at making enemies.

Her name is Tey Lewis, a daughter of Mars. She's a typical, war-like ginger. I walked into the individual combat arena and she was standing there, looking cool and bored, like she practically owned the place. She was wearing tight black leather, and chewing her gum haughtily as she made faces behind the teachers' backs. Percy and Jason co-teach the one-on-one combat. I think it's their way of hanging out when Jason is visiting camp.

We were all getting ready to fight, and I was "lucky" enough to be paired with Tey. She smirked at me and flipped her long hair over her shoulder, stepping into a battle position. I got into my own battle stance, and waited for Jason to say "go." I like it when Jason is in charge of my duels. He's usually a little more relaxed with me. Percy just tends to get awkward and stiff. Thanks for that Nico.

I readied my stygian iron short-sword, and watched as Tey did the same with her twin hunting knives. "I've been waiting a long time for this," she said.

"Yeah. I know. I really feel sorry for you Mars kids. You just have such a short attention span. Five minutes is like an eternity," I retorted, rolling my eyes.

Tey fumed. "So you don't remember me, shame. You'll remember me after this."

I paused for just a second. Come to think of it, she did look familiar…

"GO!" Jason shouted. My momentary distraction had thrown me off, and I barely stepped to the side as Tey jumped down onto the spot I'd been standing, knives whirling like a blender. I ducked down low to strike, but she was anticipating my actions and jumped over my head in an impressive flip. I turned around to meet her knives just in time. We pushed our blades against each other for an agonizing moment. I stepped to the side suddenly, releasing the tension. Tey stumbled forward and landed on her knees. Before she could get up I held the flat side of my sword to her back. I had won. I stepped back, sheathed my sword, and began to head for my cabin.

I heard a growling sound I would have recognized anywhere. It's the chilling noise a child of Mars makes when they're angry. I resisted the urge to pull out my sword. It would have been a sure declaration of war for an Mars kid.

"Where are you going? You can't back down from a duel!" Tey shouted.

I took a deep breath. "Look, you're new, so you don't really understand how things work around here. I won, so now I get to leave class early and you have to stay and fight the other losers," I replied. I turned around and started to walk away again. I really was doing a good job of controlling my temper.

Then she opened her mouth again. "I am NOT a loser," she growled. "You… you didn't win! In a real fight I... would have spun around and taken your sword before you could've hurt me!"

"Then I guess that's what you should have done," I huffed. "I really don't want to waste my time on you right now, so bye."

I started to walk away again when Tey got up and ran toward me. I whirled around just in time for her to crash into me, pushing us both down into the dirt. I rolled over so I was on top and tried to wrestle away her knives. My sword thudded against my thigh, but to grab it I'd have to let go of her wrists, giving Tey the advantage of her knives. I could feel my strength fading. Any Mars kid could beat me in wrestling match. This fight wasn't about strength or endurance, to win I'd have to act and think faster than my opponent.

I did a somersault and twisted her wrists out at a painful angle. It seemed to do the trick, she was now on top, but without either of her knives. I let go of her wrists and reached for my sword at the same time she went scrambling for her knives. We stood up, our blades went to clash on each other, and instead met a celestial bronze sword in the middle. I looked up to see Percy holding Riptide threateningly toward me. Jason's spear was aimed at Tey. I stepped back and sheathed my sword.

"What was that?!" Jason chided. The other campers were staring at us, witnessing my humiliation. "You could have hurt the other demigods, and you both broke nearly all the rules of one-on-one combat."

"I thought there weren't rules when it came to a real fight," I sneered. I could have won that fight too, and Tey would never have challenged me again. I could take care of myself, and instead the camp counselors had intervened. This wasn't over, the score wasn't settled. I could see it in Tey's eyes. Our next fight won't be as friendly and certainly not supervised.

Jason and Percy talked for a minute while Tey and I had silent glaring contests. Finally they made up their minds and gave us our individual sentences.

"You will be taking anger management classes from Frank," Jason began to tell me. I could see Percy saying something similar to Tey. "I know you didn't start the fight, but you sure didn't stop it. Your words can have just as much impact as the person who throws the first punch."

"Well that sounds nice and… philosophic, but Frank? Really? He HATES me!" I whined. Yeah. I whined.

"Don't be ridiculous. Frank is one of my best friends."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," I grumbled.

"You're so much like your brother," Jason mumbled.

That made my cheeks burn. I am nothing like Nico.

"You don't have to assume everyone hates you." Jason shook his head. "You only have to take the class for three weeks, and depending on Frank's schedule, you might not even have to go more than once a week."

"Gee, thanks," I retorted. I stormed back to my cabin. My middle finger may have twitched at Tey. Her tongue shot out in my direction.

But I guess in the end even I can make friends. I met this huntress named Evelyn in anger management class. She has wild auburn hair, sharp green eyes, and a scottish accent. We sat next to each other, and when she showed an instant dislike for Tey I knew we'd get along. She's going to help me with my archery class.

January 12, 2015 Again

I've been terrorized by nightmares for days now. Weird dreams are a normal part of being a demigod right? I've had bad dreams before, but nothing like this.

Most of the time when I go to sleep I know where I am and what I'm doing. I can even go places in my dreams when I try, almost like I'm shadow-travelling in the dream world.

With these nightmares I don't know what's happening. I run around confused and completely out of control until I finally wake up in a cold sweat. I toss and turn as I try to sleep, but I fall back into the same dream and start over. It's so frustrating! These dreams leave me unsettled and on-edge all day. I'm so tired I'm falling asleep during my classes too.