Isn't it awesome that it's this far? And I know there are a lot of chapters before the prophecy, but I felt like they were necessary and now we are getting to the good stuff! Yay!

-Calypso C.

P.S.- Also, I just posted earlier today but I am on a roll so I thought I would go ahead and post another chapter. Your welcome. :D

While walking to the Amphitheater I considered a few things.

1. Would Grey try to ambush me? Not totally impossible or unexpected.

2. Would I make a fool of myself? Pretty much guaranteed.

And 3. Did Grey even tell me the truth?

I peeked around the edge of the amphitheater and blushed when I saw Grey standing there by himself. I straightened up and walked towards him, non-spy like.

"Hey." I said awkwardly.

Grey turned around and regarded me with distaste. "You showed."

"Yeah. I did, Stink Spells."

He was standing stiffly. "So we should probably start the class then."

I looked around. "Who's the instructer?"

"I am."

"Oh." I shuffled my feet. "Is there no one else coming?"

He looked at his feet. "Well, hand-to-hand combat isn't exactly a Greek thing, so nobody really takes it."

"Like my duel swords!" I said too loud.

"Yeah, kinda like that, Christmas Girl." Grey said while rolling his eyes. He shifted his feet so his left foot was in front of his right. "Put your left in front. You're a rightie, right?" I nodded.

"Good. Now put all your balance in the balls of your feet." He leaned forward a bit. "And hold your hands like this."

I mimicked his movements, and he showed me how to punch and duck. Then we moved on to kicks, fronts, turns, and roundhouse. By the end of the hour my face was stark red (again) and not just because I was sweaty.

Every time I got a stance wrong, and he would guide my hands to position, his face was red.

We didn't talk much, except for when Grey told me what to do. For almost entire hour we hadn't shouted at each other. I thought it was an improvement.

"Yeah," I told Ty. "It was pretty awkward." I paused to consider. "But at least we didn't yell at each other."

Ty snorted. "Definitely better than- well, since you've guys have met."

"You mean Monday?" I asked.

She laughed. "Yeah, since Monday." She picked a piece of grass and began lazily playing with it. "It's nice that it doesn't rain here."

I smiled. "Yeah. We can just lay here and do nothing for once!" I put my hands behind my head and laid down. "As much as I love New York, it is kinda nice to have green fields and stuff."

"During the school year I live in Utah." Ty said. "It's mostly in shades of, like, brown and orange and red and yellows. Not a lot of green," She gestured to the grass, "or gray." Ty waved her hands in the general direction of New York City.

"Yeah, I'd-" I stopped mid sentence. Something Ty had said...

"Livvie? What's wrong?" Ty asked, a tone of worry in her voice.

Shades of brown...New York City was gray...

"Olivia?" Ty shook my shoulder. "You okay?"

Athena...what had she said? 'The world isn't painted in black in white but in shades of gray...'

"OLIVIA!" Ty shouted, panicked now. "What is it?"

I shook my head. "Nothing, I'm fine. It's just something..." I trailed off. "I was thinking."

"Whew!" Ty pretended to wipe her hand on her forehead. "You freaked me out there for a second. I though maybe you were in a coma or something!"

I laughed uncomfortably. "No, no. Nothing like that." I paused. "I just...remembered something."

"Oh, okay. What were we talking about?"

The next Tuesday of that week there was a memorable incident during hand-to-hand combat training with Grey.

"Good job," Grey said after I successfully mastered a perfect tornado kick. "I think..." He gritted his teeth. "That maybe you're good enough to start sparring."

I grabbed a bottle of water and wiped some sweat off my face. "Hey, Stink Spells, how did you learn all this stuff anyways?"

He froze. Then Grey turned towards me and gazed at me with his violet eyes, his jaw set. "I learned before I came," he muttered. "And there was another camper who left who used to teach me."

I perked up. Before he came? "Well, uh, how?" I stuttered awkwardly. "Like, before you were at camp."

"You know what Christmas Girl, let's start training again. That last kick was sloppy." Grey said harshly. Then he came at me with his fist and instinctively I ducked. I dropped to the ground and tried to sweep my leg around but Grey slid to one side and planted a kick in my chest, knocking the wind out of me.

"That's enough for today. Practice more. You're too slow," he said, turning to leave.

I stood up jerkily. "Practice? Practice? Seriously? I've been coming everyday and practicing at least an hour or two outside of class!" I took a few steps forward. "I've only been doing this for three days!"

Grey whipped his head around. "Well you certainly don't look like you have! You're reflexes are slow and you aren't even sweating that much!" he yelled at me.

"Oh, sweaty? You want sweaty? Fine then!" I took the rest of my bottle of water and then poured it on my head. Then I lunged at him kicking like a mad women. I meant to kick him in the gut- I swear. But I kind of accidentally kicked a tad bit lower.

He fell the ground, groaning in pain.

My fists were curled into tight knots and my face was twisted in a snarl.

"Was that good enough, or was it too sloppy?" I stomped out of the amphitheater leaving Grey sitting there by himself.

The next few days passed by in a blur, with training, eating, nightmares, hanging out with Rigel and Ty and avoiding Grey. I didn't go to hand-to-hand the next day, or the day after that. I skipped on Friday too.

Instead of punching and yelling, and cursing each other, we ignored each other. The frosty silence between us was noticeable and I could tell the entire camp was talking about it. It was great for gossiping. I mean, the First legacy, Daughter of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, also the girl who shot Grey in the foot and caused the Athena Cabin to stink like skunk, to be mad at Grey?

Very talk-able. Even some of the Roman Campers came through the arch and started talking.

My face was permanently a shade of red and I kept my head down low, at least, I tried too. I still had sword practice every afternoon and the counselor in charge still put Grey and me together. We fought like animals but never said a word and barely made eye contact.

We stalemated three times.

"Olivia, are you gonna tell me what happened?" Rigel asked me Friday before capture the flag.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked at the ground.

"I'll take that as a no," he said. He poked me. "Come on, you can tell me. I didn't make fun of you when you told me how you accidentally spilled Windex over a hydra and it-"

"Okay, okay!" I said quickly. "We just...got into a fight and I kicked him and he fell and now we're mad at each other. End of story."

He play punched me in the shoulder, his blue eyes twinkling. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said, "I'm sure." Ty came up from behind us and slung an arm around each of our shoulders.

"Hey guys!" She said while we walked towards the forest. "Excited for capture the flag or what?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be just fantastic," I muttered.

"Come on Livvie," Ty said trying to cheer me up, "You'll probably beat Grey this time."

I half smiled.

"Yeah Livvie, it's gonna be great!" Rigel said. "We are all on your team today! I'll even introduce you to some Roman Campers if you want! They can tell you all about the camp..." He offered, dragging out the word camp.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine." I grabbed a shield and started to put on my armor. "But only because I do think I might actually beat Grey."

As if by magic (which actually wasn't too far fetched) as soon as I said his name Grey walked over to us. "Christmas Girl." He said coldly.

"Stink Spells." I crossed my arms.

"Just so you know-" He began meanly, but he never got to finish.

Chiron cantered up, his eyes wild and panicked and his hair not combed. "Olivia- we have a problem. I need you up at the big house, now," he glanced at me, and then Grey. "Actually, both of you better come."

"But they have capture the flag-" Ty protested. Chiron gave her a hard look.

"Miss Summers, I'm afraid it's very, very important." His tail flickered. "Come on."

Reluctantly I trailed after him, glancing back at Rigel and Ty who put their hands up in a what-are-we-suppose-to-do gesture. I didn't look at Grey.

Finally we reached the porch and followed Chiron through the doorway into the Rec Room. There was a ping pong table in the middle and sitting at the very end was Rachel, whose face was pale.

Chiron motioned for us to sit down. I lowered myself stiffly in a chair next to Rachel. "What's going on?"

Rachel shook her head and took my hand, squeezing it tightly. "I'm so sorry Livvie. I didn't think-"

"Rachel," Chiron interrupted, "Let's start from the beginning." He looked at Grey and me. "Do you both know the story of the second Titian War?"

I nodded and leaned forward in my seat.

"Well, your father," Chiron said towards me, "was offered Pandora's Pithos by Prometheus. It contained hope and Prometheus said that if he wanted to surrender all he had to do was let hope out. Eventually he gave it to Hestia."

I raised my hand half way. "Uh, Chiron, what do you mean by 'contained'? As in past tense?"

Grey's eyes widened as if he understood something that I didn't.

Rachel looked at me. "It's gone. Somebody has let hope out of Pandora's Box."

Well, what do you think? R&R please!