Chapter 4: Magical Weapons Galore

Over the next few days, I adjusted to Camp Half-Blood life pretty easily. Annabeth and my siblings were really helpful with telling me how things worked, I really owed them a lot. Though I still hadn't learned how to fight, I could feel my nature strategist coming out in me. Annabeth hadn't allowed me to fight the first few days, she somewhat treated me like a baby! And the ironic thing was, I am only a few months younger than her! Bah! But, back to what I was saying is that I would watch Annabeth fight, and boy did she give me ideas.

By the third night, I had planned out our entire strategy for Capture the Flag the next day. Ha, I was going to make a splash at my first game, this was going to be fun.

Right now, I was on my way back from lunch and was heading to the Athena cabin, my new home, it was still so surreal. Athena's cabin was a gray building with an owl carved over the doorway, with plain white curtains. On the inside, there was a workshop and a library, I literally had a heart attack when I saw it for the first time. The library was filled with bookshelves and each shelf was stuffed full with books and old scrolls. The workshop was filled with tables and workbenches, the cupboards never lacked building supplies, and there were some 3-D models of buildings too. The walls were covered with blueprints, old war maps, and armor. Also, on one side of the cabin is the Armory, honestly it looks like a big metal gardening shed, something that looked like it belonged to the children of Demeter not us. But when you saw inside, you definitely knew it was ours. I walked in and went to my bunk, most of my stuff had been unpacked already but there was still some stuff in my bag.

"Hello?" I called. No one answered, I guessed that I was the only one here, the others must still have been at lunch. I dumped my notebook full of ideas on my bed and collapsed on the ground by my bed. "Ugh..." I groaned. I was exhausted, I had woken up early that morning because I had a nightmare of giant spiders the size of cars chasing me.

As I was about to fall asleep, on the ground I might add, Annabeth walked in.

"Hey, Avery, get up, we have stuff to do." said Annabeth.

I mumbled something and turned away from her in response.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I had a horrible nightmare last night and I'm just wiped." I explained. "I can't go on."

I couldn't see Annabeth but I could tell that she was smiling at me. "Come on, we're going to go pick you out a weapon."

"What?" I shot up, rubbed my eyes, and blinked a few times. It took me a second to process what she said. "Really?"

"Yeah, it's about time that you learned to defend yourself." explained Annabeth.

"I can defend myself quiet fine, thank you very much." I said.

"Really? What would you do right now if I attacked you with a weapon and you without?" asked Annabeth.

"I-," I looked around. There was a heavy book I could throw at her too distract her, but she would see that coming... "Nothing, you wouldn't kill me."

Annabeth let out a yeah-right laugh. "Oh really?"

"Isn't that lesson one?" I asked. "Know your opponent? And I know that you wouldn't kill me."

"Fair enough, but come on," said Annabeth. "Let's go find you something useful." She helped me up and we walked to the back of the cabin and into the armory.

The armory was not what I was expecting, the walls were covered from head to toe with shields, swords, plaques, and different types of bows and arrows. Boxes lined the floor, each one filled with something different; from swords, to staffs, to spears, to daggers, to bows and arrows. I was over whelmed, I wasn't too sure what I wanted but my eyes kept going back and forth between two different things.

"See something you like?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah..." I walked over to them. I couldn't pick between the two, each gave me a million and one options in battle, it was like I had died and gone to battle strategy heaven.

"What?"

I pointed to where my eye was catching and she smiled.

"Both?"

I nodded. "Can I?" She nodded and I walked over to them. A bow or a sword, it was a tough discussion to make. I picked up the sword, the handle fit into my grasp perfectly as if it was made for me.

"Press the hilt of the sword." said Annabeth, I did so and it shrunk into a mechanical pencil. I laughed a little. "Its name is φλερτκύμα."

"Wavecrush." I said, I knew this because since I'm a Greek demigod, I can understand ancient Greek, actually, my brain is hardwired for it instead of English. "It's a lot like Percy's." I said.

"Yeah, maybe there's a reason for that." said Annabeth. "Try the bow."

I picked up the bow, it was light like the sword and the handle seemed to be a little worn, but it was still brand new. I pulled back the string and pretended to aim at Annabeth. I let go of the string and it just seemed to work.

"Ουάου." I muttered. "It's perfect."

"Wow is right, I see you're working on your Greek." said Annabeth.

I shrugged. "It's pretty easy to pick up."

"So, which one is it?" she asked.

"Can I have them both?" I asked back.

"Can you even use them?"

"Let's go find out."

*Camp Half-Blood*

Annabeth and I walked down from Archery to the Arena, apparently, I had a natural talent for archery according to the kids of Apollo who were there. This news seemed to put Annabeth in a bad mood.

"Aw, come on, Annabeth." I said. "So what if I'm good at it?"

"Archery is for the children of Apollo." she said simply. "What you should really be using in a dagger, that's much better for a daughter of Athena."

"But I wanted my bow and I want this sword." I said. "It's like they were made for me, you should know the feeling, am I right?"

"This is not the time to discuss it." said Annabeth. "Connor!" she called. Travis and Connor were sparring over on the other side of the Arena.

Connor looked up and saw us. He gave us a wide smile and jogged over with Travis on his heels.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Connor.

"Since Chiron seems to be missing, you are going to teach Avery how to fight with a sword." explained Annabeth.

"Um, Annabeth, that's not the simplest task." said Connor, he noticed the bow on my shoulder. "Why don't you just go back to Archery, you don't even have a sword."

"Maybe he's right, I mean, that Will Solace kid seemed nice, it wouldn't hurt to ask him for a few pointers." I said.

"What?" asked Connor. "No, you're going to train with us, I know just what to do, Travis, give her your sword."

Travis was about to hand me his sword when I pulled out Wavecrush and clicked it. Wavecrush instantly went to full size. "I'm good." I told him, trying to hide my smirk.

"Alright, spar with Avery, Connor." said Annabeth. "Don't hurt him too much, Avery, the Hermes cabin would be lost without one of their idiot leaders."

"Will do." I said.

"Ouch, harsh much?" said Travis.

Connor and I walked out to the center of the Arena, a few other demigods who were sparing nearby stopped to watch. I took of my bow and threw it in the direction of Annabeth and Travis but I didn't check to see where it went.

"Scared?" he asked. I shook my head. "Well, you should be, daughter of Athena, 'cause I'm not going easy on you."

"Oh really, well, don't hurt me too much." I said, me and Connor began to circle each other. "I don't want to spend the night in the infirmary, oh wait, that's going to be you."

"Cocky aren't we?"

"What? Not used to someone else being the cocky one, messenger boy?" I asked, now I wasn't hiding my smirk, oh, this was going to be fun.

"Messenger boy? Nice one, olive-face."

"Olive-face?" called Travis from where he was watching. "That's pathetic!"

"Shut up!" Connor yelled back.

I took this moment of brief distraction to attack. I almost managed a blow to his arm but Connor regained his focus and side-stepped to avoid it. Next he attacked me, I ducked and kicked his legs out from under him. He fell on his back for a second but then shot right back up.

We circled each other before he came at me again. I deflected him with my sword. I swung at him, he deflected and came back at me. It was a continuing cycle for a while before I began to get bored. So the next time that he came at me, I side-stepped and hit him with the butt of my sword on his shoulder. He fell to the ground and I kicked his sword away. He was down on his stomach so I sat on his back and crossed my legs.

"So, what did we learn here, Tortoise-head?" I asked.

He mumbled something into the dirt but I couldn't understand him.

"What?" I asked.

"I said, 'Tortoise-head? And you thought olive-face was bad.'" he said, picking up his head a little.

"Ugh!" I pushed his face back down into the dirt and go off him. "Boys..." I rolled my eyes. I placed Wavecrush on my shoulders and walked back over to Annabeth and Connor.

"Can I keep them both now?" I pretty much whined.

"Yeah, yeah." said Annabeth.

"Excellent." I looked back over to Connor. He was still face down in the dirt. "Travis, go make sure your brother is okay, you'll need him tomorrow for Capture the Flag."

Travis looked back and forth between me and Annabeth and then ran to help his brother.

"The Hermes cabin will be out for your blood." joked Annabeth.

"Let them, that was fun." I smiled. "So who exactly is going to be on their team?"

"Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus, Dionysus, but that's just Pollux, he's not much of a threat. And then Hades, but Nico's missing at the moment so that's empty, and the other minor gods cabins, but there are only like 6 in total so they aren't much of a threat either, most of them are just as new as you." explained Annabeth. "But there is someone we'll have to watch."

"Who?" I asked.

"There's this one daughter of Nemesis, she's pretty- well- she's out for your blood." said Annabeth.

"What, why me?" I asked.

"Not sure, it's just a rumor going around camp." said Annabeth. "I'm sure that it's nothing, just some rumor trying to get you nervous for your first Capture the Flag. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I'll take that into consideration." I said. I grabbed my bow and we walked back our Cabin. Once at the cabin, we and our siblings began to finalize the plans for tomorrow. Apparently, leading a game of Capture the Flag on your first week is a right-of-passage in the Athena Cabin and so far everyone had won their game, no pressure right?

Later, Clarisse from Ares and Katie from Demeter came over so we could pass on the plan to them. It wasn't that complex but I think that's what would throw the others. In the back of my head I just knew that the other team was expecting this grand show, that they were thinking that I would go over board to try and prove myself, but that wasn't what was going to happen.

That night, right before I fell asleep, I thought one last thing about the game tomorrow:

Oh, this is gonna be fun.

*Camp Half-Blood*

When I opened my eyes, I was not in my comfortable bed at Camp, no, I was in that white room. Meaning, I was unwillingly in a dress. Again.

"Oh great." I muttered. I stood up and my mother appeared in front of me. "Hi mom."

"Avery." said my mother. "How's camp?"

"Why do you want to know?" I snapped.

"Capture the Flag is tomorrow, you've planned the attack, I came to give you my blessing." said Athena.

"Oh."

"And to give you a gift." She held out her palm and a pair of purple Ray Ban sunglasses appeared there.

"Whoa- cool, purple's my favorite color." I said.

"I know." said Athena.

"What are they for?"

"You know about Annabeth's Yankees cap that I gave her for her birthday a few years ago, yes?" she asked. I nodded. "Well, think of these as a belated 16th birthday present for you."

I took them from her hand, they fit perfectly. "Do they do anything?"

Athena laughed a little. "Yes, if you press the side on the right, you can see great distances, press the side on the left, you now have night-vision glasses. I thought this might come in handy for tomorrow."

"Yeah, thanks, mom." I took them off and placed them on the collar of my dress. "Um- but one more question."

"Yes?"

"What's with the dress?" I asked.

"I like my children to look presentable at all times." explained Athena. "You're sleepwear wasn't appropriate for a trip to Olympus."

"Wait." I looked around. "Is this Olympus?"

"Yes and no." said Athena.

"What a politician's answer." I mumble.

Lightning hit in the background, I jumped a little.

"I am being summoned, I must go now." said Athena. "I must go now. Good luck tomorrow, my child, I will always be watching over you."

*Camp Half-Blood*

When I woke up back in my bed and back in my clothes I felt a surge of relief wash over me. I found the glassed my mom gave me under my pillow. I put them on the top of my head and got ready for the day. Most of my siblings were sleeping but I noticed that Annabeth's bed was empty. According to Malcolm, she had been walking up early ever since Percy disappear as if she wanted to be the first one to see him when he returned.

I felt bad. Annabeth had been so kind to me the last week, she had been so happy, I forgot that she was being eaten inside. Everyone was saying that they felt Annabeth blamed herself for letting Percy disappear; but really, no one was at fault, just Hera.

I slipped out of the cabin and decided to head down to the beach to read until it was time for breakfast. Camp was dead for the most part, I mean, it had to be before 7:30 in the morning. I didn't mind to much, I could handle late nights and early morning but not in the same day of course. The only sign of life was coming from the Apollo cabin, since their dad was the God of the Sun, I guessed that they were usually up much earlier than this.

The beach was calm, I scanned it for Annabeth but she wasn't there. I don't know why I thought that she would be here. The sea must of brought up some bad feelings for Annabeth and maybe some happy ones that were just a little too powerful for her at the moment. But I did see someone interesting. Piper was standing in water up to about her knees, just standing there, looking out into the ocean.

I slipped off my converse and walked over and joined her. "Morning."

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and then looked back at the water. "Hey there."

"Always up this early?" I asked.

"For a while now, yeah." she said. We stood in silence for a while. Piper didn't seem like she wanted to talk so I didn't push it.

"How much do you know?" she asked finally.

"About what?" I asked.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out one of my Percy Jackson books.

Oh no.

"Piper, it's not what you think."

"What? What isn't what I think? I found Annabeth yesterday curled up on the rocks over there-" she pointed to the rocks at the edge of the beach. "She had fallen asleep and this was in her hand, I think she thinks that you just took it back."

"Are you mad at me?" I asked.

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" asked Piper.

"I'm not sure." I told her.

"I really don't care about you having this." said Piper. "I wish you had told me about this, but- hey- I thought that you were hiding something. I thought you were a spy or something from Gaea, truth is that you only know all this stuff because you've read these books. Oh, and remind me to go kick Riordan's ass for this later, he never told us he was writing books about us."

"So, are you going to tell everyone?" I asked.

"No, I don't think it's a good idea telling everyone right now, maybe when things die down. Now isn't a very good time." said Piper.

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"But the good news is that we get to show you the Argo II!" said Piper, clapping her hands together.

"Why is that a good thing?"

"I've been wanting to tell you since you first got here, but Jason said it'd be too much to handle, but you already know about it so it's okay!" she smiled.

I could see why she was a daughter of Aphrodite, she really was simply beautiful. Her smile was so natural and she had this aurora about her that made you want to just talk to her. She wasn't just beautiful outside, she was beautiful inside too. She was kind, caring, and brave and she was a great friend too.

"Thanks." I said.

"For what?"

"For not throwing me under the bus." I explained.

"Well, what are friends for." said Piper. "Now, come on, I want to be able to show you the Argo II before anyone can stop me." She took my hand and we ran to the bunker.

Okay, okay you can hit me, but avoid the face. I know that I said that this chapter was going to be Capture the Flag and that's what I was planning on doing, but it just didn't seem to work quite yet so I did this instead. I hope you guys are too mad at me, I mean I gave you some good stuff here (I think) and I promise that the next one will be Capture the Flag. But this chapter had some stuff going on too. So what did you think of the end? Piper found out about the books, I'm not too sure yet about how everyone else is going to fing out but for now, it's just going to be Piper knowing and Annabeth.

Yeah, so I got some response about Avery's weapons, though no two were alike, they all suggested that it'd be magical so WALLA! Wavecrush was born! Ahaha, well, thank you to everyone who responded. And please keep reading and review! Thanks everyone, again!