Hey! So, to balance things out, I'm going to put in a little fight between my favorite twins. Because after all, where do you get better entertainment than two siblings bickering?
Again thanks to all those who read and review! Please spread this out, I'd appreciate it.
Artemis' POV
~~~~~Olympus~~~~~
I walked inside my temple, and found Apollo sitting in a couch. I told my Hunters they could do whatever they want, and walked over to my brother's side. He was asleep. Of all places, Apollo. Why my temple?
"Brother." I said, shaking his shoulder gently.
He snored a little. "Brother."
He woke up, then blinked. "Artemis?" I nodded. "Finally. What took you so long, baby sister?"
I sighed. "I am not your baby sister, Apollo. I'm older than you!"
He smirked. "Are we really going into that again?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "Well, you started it. You-"
"I started it? Oh, please, Artemis. All I did was call you-"
"'Baby sister'." I finished. "That's exactly the point! You know, I have no idea why the Hades you are the god of truth. You always say stuff like that, which is most definitely not true!"
"Well wouldn't it sound pathetic if I said this: Whoever hurts Artemis shall feel the wrath of her little brother!" Apollo shot back, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, why do you have to be so protective, anyway? I can handle myself, you know that." I asked him, getting annoyed. Then one of my huntresses went in, and my twin turned his attention to her. The girl was trying to get something, probably her quiver, but couldn't find it.
Apollo went over and knelt next to her. "Brother," I warned.
"Hey there, sweetheart. Need some help finding that quiver of yours? Why don't you just take this from me so you'll save time, huh?" Apollo offered. I took a shallow breath, trying hard to contain the anger inside and walked to his side.
"Brother! What in Hades are you doing?" Apollo looked up at me, trying to make his face look innocent.
"Nothin', just tryin' to help, can't you see?"
I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them again. "My dear," I told the huntress. "Your bow and quiver of arrows are over there at the corner."
"Thank you, Lady Artemis." Then she went to get it, and left to practice.
Apollo stood up, looking annoyed. "Nice, sis. Just when I was about to score, you ruin it yet again."
"That was my huntress, Apollo. I've already told you to stop flirting with them!"
"I wasn't flirting with them, sis. I was simply helping them. Or at least, trying to."
"Arrrgh! Why won't you stop flirting with my hunters, Apollo? Why?" I said, every word getting louder.
"Because unfortunately for you, all the hunters you recruit are undeniably beautiful."
"Or maybe, you're just doing that to piss me off!" I almost yelled, exasperated.
"Well, maybe." Apollo said calmly, as if giving it a thought.
I took a deep breath. "Why did you go here, Brother? Surely it wasn't just to annoy me, was it?"
He shook his head briefly. "Of course not. I came here to tell you something."
"Then what is it?"
"I'm here to tell you, that the titan lord is rising within the month."
My eyes widened. "What? But Athena said-"
"I know, I know. But, well, things can change."
I sighed. "Well, how are things at camp?"
Apollo raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking that for the campers' sake, or because you want to know about Carter's condition?"
I sighed in defeat. He knew me too well. "Both, brother. Both."
"She's fine, don't worry. She and Annabeth are in charge of the campers' positions when the battle begins."
"Oh, okay."
Apollo started to leave, but apparently remembered something. "She's seriously getting stressed out, Artemis. I think you better help her calm down."
I thought about that. Then I nodded. "Thanks for the tip, brother."
"No problem, sis." Then he left. Probably needed to do his duties.
I wonder how she is right now at camp. What was stressing her out?
Carter's POV
Stupid godling. Do you really think you can defeat me? I'm much stronger than before. Even your brother Perseus cannot defeat me like he did before. How can you think you have a chance against my army, much less myself? Kronos' voice said. It was getting physical. This wasn't good. If it was getting physical, then it meant the attack really was near.
I woke up in cold sweat. I glanced at my watch. I'd been asleep for 20 minutes.
"I'd better go and-" I got a confirmation in my head that the 'fight between two campers' were about to start. "Woah. How in Hades did I know that?" It's your foresight, cuz,Apollo spoke in my mind. Trust it. Think of it as your. . .instincts.
"Um, thanks. . . Apollo." I said to no one in particular. I hope he heard it. Yes, Carter, I heard it. Now let me do my job. My cousin said.
"Okay." Then I left the cabin and headed. . .woah, where was I headed? My instincts told me to go to Aphrodite's cabin, so I went there. I found two campers fighting, all right. Alexandria Trent, and Aphrodite kid, and Kyla Cole from the Apollo cabin. I listened to the argument before interfering.
"What is your problem?" Alex- as we often called the Aphrodite kid –asked Kyla.
"Well, I'm just teaching you how to handle the bow properly. Or at least, trying to!" Kyla shot back.
"I know how to do this. So why don't you leave me alone?"
"No you're not! You're going to get yourself hurt by holding it like that!"
"What do you care?"
"We can't get any more campers-"
"HEY!" I yelled. They turned their faces to me, startled. "What the Hades are you fighting about? I've been listening a bit awhile ago and I can't understand anything!"
They both glared at each other before looking at me again. "Well?"
"Well, we were having archery practice and I saw her hold the bow wrong." Kyla spoke up.
"I was not!" Alex protested.
"Who was your instructor?" I questioned.
"My half-brother Ryan." Kyla answered.
"So it was the sun boy. Well, why didn't he help Alex?" I wondered.
"Well, someone wanted to show off her oh-so great archery skills." Alex muttered.
Apparently, Kyla heard it and started a catfight. I sighed. And they say Apollo's kids are very patient, I thought. Since Alex wasn't like her half-sisters who fuss about their good looks all the time, she didn't scream or yell at Kyla that her hair was getting messed up. After around 2 minutes, I got tired of it. I took a deep breath.
"STOP IT!" I shouted, which got their attention and stopped the fight. They let go of each other and fixed themselves, then looked at the ground in embarrassment. I sighed in exasperation. "You two know that we can't have campers fighting nowadays. We've got a lot on our hands already. Especially with the titan lord preparing to attack camp." I didn't even hesitate to say it; they kinda knew, with Kyla's inherited powers from Apollo, and Alex being good friends with Ryan. I figured he would've told her already.
They looked more embarrassed than ever. I let out a bit of water and flow through the grass, while taking deep breaths to calm down. If I didn't let out my stress now, even just little by little, it might be worse later.
"Look, just avoid fighting, okay?" They nodded and I left them to continue with archery practice. To relax, I went to the one place that could clear my mind.
I sat down and stared out the waves. (A/N: If you haven't guessed by now, then you don't know Percy. Where does Percy go when he wants to relax or clear his mind?) I sighed and folded my arms over my knees, then rested my chin on my arms. I felt sleep threatening to overcome me, but I fought it. Sword practice was probably starting in a few minutes. Well, this is. . .unusual, I thought. I can tell time without looking at my watch. Hmm. . .if it's the foresight again, then it's pretty darn cool to have these powers. To confirm it, I lifted my head and looked at my watch.
"Five minutes 'til we start. Well-" I said, standing up and brushing off the sand from my clothes. "-I should probably get over the arena. I wouldn't want to be late." I started walking toward the arena. When I walked in, I saw a bunch of campers. I sighed. This was going to be a looong day.
"Okay. Let's have attendance, now shall we?" I said, getting everyone's attention.
"Michael Sparks?" Mike waved at me.
"Emma Collins?" "Present!"
"Karl Russo?" My half-brother caught my eye and smiled in greeting.
"Daniel Wayward?" "I'm over here, Carter!" He called. I saw him at the back, tinkering with something. Typical Hephaestus kid.
"Jenine Brewer?" I saw my bestfriend with my siblings, and she smiled at me. I smiled back.
"Alexandria Trent and Kyla Cole?" They said "Here!" in unison.
Then I went on, having around 20 campers in class. "Now, we'll be having a special guest. He's just a one-day co-instructor. And I bet some of you-" I looked at Jenine "-knows him quite well. Now, welcome Miguel Brewer, son of Hades, God of Darkness and Death." A few of the campers tensed, but I assured them he wouldn't hurt anyone. Miguel walked in. Then we started with the practice, everyone in class improving with their swordfighting skills.That's good. Good for everyone in camp.
Then something told me it was past an hour. I felt guilty for not noticing. "Okay! That's enough for today. You kids can go rest or do your stuff." I announced. The campers shouted in joy and ran out of the arena. I guess they were pretty tired. Pretty soon only Miguel and I were the ones left inside.
"Miguel." He looked at me. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"Helping me today. I knew there were gonna be a lot of campers, and I couldn't take the pressure of teaching them all at once."
"Yeah, I know. You're welcome." Then he walked out of the arena. Someone from behind said, "Wow. You can't take the pressure? Usually you're up for this number of campers. What's wrong?"
I knew who it was just by the voice, but anyways I turned to see my sister. "Jenine. Didn't realize you were still here."
"I thought you were the goddess of foresight." She teased.
"Ha-ha. Very funny." I said sarcastically.
"So, what is wrong? I noticed awhile ago before we started that you looked. . .stressed out." She asked, concerned. Hmm. . .Guess she forgot about the whole 'me or Artemis' episode earlier.
I sighed, and tried to hide the fear inside me. The fear that we would not be able to survive against Kronos when he attacks. "It's nothing, Jenine."
But, well, she had to see through my cover and push me into saying it. She raised an eyebrow. "Don't look like nothing to me." She walked closer and held out an inviting hand. "C'mon, you know you can tell me. How about you tell me while we take a walk on the beach?"
I sighed and gave in. "Okay." Then we went out of the arena and walked toward the beach. "Okay, I'm going to tell you, but keep your mouth shut about it."
"Why? Is it something Zeus forbid to spread out?" Thunder rumbled in the distance. "Sorry, Uncle." She muttered.
"Well, not exactly, but-"
"Then spill it out already." She interrupted, pushing me to say it.
I took a deep breath and told her about Kronos' rising. She gasped. "What? But I thought-"
"Yes, we all thought he was dissolved enough to, hopefully, not reform again. But, well, the titan lord finds ways to get back here and destroy us once and for all." I shuddered at the last line I just said. "And he's coming here within the month."
Her eyes widened in shock. "WHA-" I put a hand over her mouth. I didn't want to draw any attention upon us.
"Shhhhh. We don't want to draw attention, now do we?" I said, removing my hand. "Please, don't tell anyone yet. Only the gods, Chiron, Annabeth, the Hephaestus cabin, Kyla, Alex, and you know about it."
"Wait, why are we keeping it a secret? I mean, we should spread it out. Everyone should be on guard."
I shook my head. "No. If we tell everyone now, the campers might panic. We don't want that. I'm going to talk to Chiron about adjusting the kids' schedules. More on practicing battle skills, like sword practice and archery."
She frowned. "Isn't that going to rise suspicion? I mean, everyone's going to start complaining and asking why you need to adjust it."
I thought about that. "Oh, right. Damn it. I'll just tell Chiron to adjust the schedules and that we should tell them tomorrow. At breakfast, maybe?"
"Yeah." She agreed. I told her we should get back because the horn should sound anytime now for dinnertime.
She raised her eyebrows. "How the Hades did you know that?"
I shrugged. "According to Apollo, it has something to do with my foresight." Then I noticed something. "Did you notice that we never actually made it to the beach?"
She smiled as she realized it. "Well, it's a pretty long walk from the arena."
"Yeah." I agreed. Then I thought of something, and started running toward the Big House. "Last one there is a rotten...seaweed!" I yelled at her. She started running too after getting over the shock.
Because I got the headstart, I got there first. We both stopped to catch our breaths, we were panting heavily because of the distance.
"Cheater." Jenine panted. "I should've gotten the headstart. You immortals are good in running."
"If I *pant* really am *pant* as experienced *pant* as you say I am, *pant* then I wouldn't be panting now, *pant* would I?" I said in between pants. Then after a few seconds I caught my breath and said, "Jeez. I'm getting out of practice. Maybe I should jog at the beach every morning from now on."
"Yeah. Yeah, you should." She agreed. Then she held out an inviting hand. "Okay. Now, let's go talk to the legendary trainer of heroes, shall we?" I nodded.
We came in, and saw no one the living room. "Chiron?" I called. We looked around in the house, and found Mr. D looking for something in the fridge. "Dionysus, what the Hades are you doing?"
"Hmm?" He looked up. "Oh, Carter. Jessie Brooke." I'm not a camper, so the wine god isn't all that cruel with me. But still. . . .
I narrowed my eyes. "Her name is Jenine Brewer, Dionysus. Where's Chiron?"
He snorted. "Where is he usually at? Think about it. You should know."
Just as he said it, the voice in my head told me Chiron was at the archery range. "Okay, thanks, I guess." He waved his hand dismissively and turned back his attention to the fridge. We headed out and found the centaur training some campers.
"Chiron!" Jenine called. He looked around, and saw us. He told something to the campers, and trotted toward us.
"Ah, Jenine. Lady Sparrows." He greeted.
"Chiron, we um, need to talk to you." I said, trying to sound serious enough. He frowned, but told us he'd meet us after dinner.
Haha...watch out for the next chapter! Things are about to get rather. . .interesting.
