So, what happens?

Lin has an emotional break down.

And they practice fight!

Woo hoo!

Which is pretty cool, if you like fight scenes.

Chapter 10

Another Alex

I went to sleep troubled. And when I woke up, the sun was already in the sky, and Lin was gone. I checked her room, and don't look at me like that.

So I walked outside after eating the grapes from the bowl on the bedside table. The sun was way up in the sky; it was way past nine o'clock. There were a lot of people outside, the half bloods, or demigods, or whatever. They were training hard. I stopped a passing satyr.

"Have you seen my sister Lin? She has dark brown hair, and wears black and silver." I asked, noting that he held a stack of javelins precariously.

"She's at the archery field. I have to go now, sorry!" He replied, trotting off, a few javelins dropping from his hands.

I followed a path, to, I hoped, was the archery field. And I was lucky; there was Lin, shooting at targets arranged in a semicircle around her. I could see that she had pegged all the bulls eyes. I walked towards her.

"Hey, Lin. You left without me." I was a bit indignant how she treated me, with a glare. Sure, she was my older sister, but we weren't really brother-sister.

She was silent, and she held the silver wire wrapped grip of her black crossbow tightly. There were designs made by the wire, and black feathered ebony shafts lay on the ground, some in a black dyed leather quiver. Some of the crossbow bolts had their points buried in the ground near Lin's feet, and one was held tightly between her teeth.

Thunk! A crossbow bolt hit the white outer edge of the furthermost target, way off center. Lin growled angrily, and taking the shot from her teeth, she nocked it. She pulled the string to her face. Thunk! The bolt landed right next to the last one.

"Lin…are you all right?" I put my hand on her shoulder. Lin shrugged my hand off and continued shooting. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Went the arrows, creating a feathered line.

"I'm fine!" Lin snarled, drawing the string back for another shot. Her voice softened. "Or as fine as I can be…"

"What do you mean?" I waited when Lin didn't answer. She kept on shooting, arrows forming lines.

"Things are all hoopty-doopy here, Alexei." Thunk! That was another arrow that joined the line. "The war is starting, I can feel it. The spirits are gathering, ready to leave the Underworld. And things aren't so good around here."

"Lin…are you okay? I can help you if you just let me." I was following the shrink's routine. "I'm your brother, it's okay if you don't want to tell me."

Lin frowned, her voice cold…but strangely, it was wavering. "You haven't lived a life like I have. My father and I…we moved all the time, when monsters got too bad. He stayed around to protect and teach me…sometimes I hated him." Thunk! A feathered bolt hit the target.

"Life was hard…we fought for our lives, so many, many times. Sometimes I wanted to give up. I hated myself for that, too. I was supposed to be strong, like my father, and what he and everyone expected of me. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that it's no like me, to act like this."

"That's true," I admitted. "I always thought you were strong and kept things to yourself that you would never give up…I guess that's what you want me…everyone to think."

"That's what I want to be!" Lin brushed angry tears away. I had never seen Lin cry before. That shocked me. "I wish I was everything that everyone expected. I hated myself. Suicidal hate, what I had…what I have. But you came along. And you made me compliment myself. But sometimes things are way too hard to take."

I stayed silent.

"I tried suicide, once. My father found me, when I was trying to use a knife. He took it away. So I found a chain, trying to finish what I started. This chain." With a crossbow bolt, she indicated her belt. "Catena, her name is. She bound me once…and I bind others with it. My hate fuels me." Thunk! An arrow hit the target, the head sinking deep into the wood.

I noticed that Lin was almost out of arrows. There were a few around her feet. Lin picked one up, and strung her bow, not noticing. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Lin sent out a spray of arrows, faster than I thought possible.

"Suicidal hate…" She whispered, on her last arrow. "Hate…" Crack! The arrow flew crookedly, landing on the ground in front of a target, after bouncing a few times. Lin grimaced. The string of her bow had broken; she had pulled too hard.

And I looked at the targets. The lines of arrows had been forming letters; I was too stupid and unobservant to have noticed it before. Hate, they displayed, the capital letters seeming to move, because the wind blew the feathers. Hate was in Lin's heart, and hate had poured out, onto the wood, like a painter and his canvas.

Lin followed my gaze, and her mouth formed the word. "Hate…" She trailed off, looking away.

"So…" I started to say, feeling awkward. Lin had never poured her feelings out like now; this wasn't like her at all. She was crying, a few tears glistening on her cheeks. "Oh, Lin!" I wrapped my arms around her, and she leaned on my shoulder, her tears soaking my sleeve. She shook. After a few minutes, Lin pushed away, rubbing her eyes, and looking as if nothing had happened.

"You should learn how to fight, Alexei, mon demi-frère," she said. I knew Italian, and could guess from conjugates that she had called me her "half-brother". "After all, there's a war going on. Plus, we have Capture the Flag in a couple of days."

I frowned. "I don't think I'm physically fit. I don't know how to use a sword. It'd be no use to me except as a club." I was ashamed to admit that I was weaker than a girl. And I was a sexist.

"I'll teach you…in what time we have. You should at least try and learn." Her eyes were red and puffy, and she smiled weakly. "Come on, I think size eight armor would fit you."

So I followed Lin to an armory. She pushed the door open, flicking the lights on. The walls had pegs and racks, filled with weapons. She went to a rack and pulled off a heavy bronze colored breastplate. "Here you go. Do you know how to buckle it on?"

I shook my head, and Lin sighed. She pulled the straps over my shoulders, and tugged the buckles on the sides tightly. "There. Now you need the greaves." With a loud exhalation, she pulled out something that looked like half of a tube, with buckles on the back. I took them from her and attempted to put them on my arms.

Lin sighed again, and she tied the greaves to my feet. I was totally inept. After she was done, she reached onto a rack and pulled out two carved wooden sticks. "These are wooden practice swords. See, no edges. You can't cut anyone, but they will leave a mark."

Lin walked out into the bright sunlight, to the practice field. She threw me a sword, and like a fool, I dropped it. She sighed. "Come on, Alex, don't be such a wimp." She made the first move, a cut at my side. I was too slow, and it hit me. I choked. Lin waited a few minutes until I got my breath back.

"You'll be dead in the real world. You won't last long." She commented, her sword lying limply in her hands. She looked perfectly relaxed.

I struck, swinging my wooden sword at her head. She ducked easily.

Lin retaliated with a series of blows so fast I could barely react. She whacked my shins and knees, and I just threw my sword at randomly, trying to hit her. The blows stopped. I opened my eyes. Lin was no where to be seen. Sure this was a trick, I turned around. Lin wasn't there. But then I felt a slight pressure on my collar bone and someone's breath on my neck.

"You're dead, Alex. Drop your sword." It was Lin's voice, from right behind me.

I dropped my practice sword, which hit the ground with a clatter.

I felt the pressure decrease, so softly, and Lin was in front of me. "You can't just randomly wave your sword around, hoping you'll get lucky and hit something," she lectured. "It leaves your guard right open."

So we started sparring again, and I stopped missing so much. I could never hit Lin, but I could block some blows. At the end, I was panting, on the ground. Lin was standing, not even breathing hard.

"Nice work, there." A boy, maybe eighteen or so, walked up. He was taller than me, and had dirty blonde hair and gray eyes. "I'm Alexander Jackson. Who are you?" He stuck his hand out at Lin, grinning. "But you can call me Alex. My parents are totally fascinated with Greece; my name means 'defender' in Greek."

"I'm Lin, short for Melinda," Lin replied, ignoring his hand. She gestured with her sword at me. "This is Alexei."

"Well, hello, Lin!" The boy seemed friendly. "I couldn't help notice your brilliant sword work. Mind if we practice together?"

"Sure, whatever." Lin tapped her foot, looking at the sky.

"I thought…maybe today…right now." He suggested, pulling a sword from a scabbard at his hip.

"Fine." Lin grabbed her short sword from the baldric on her back. The sword was slightly curved and caught the light, a serrated edge in the inside curve. It was short, compared to this other Alex's, about two and half feet long.

Alexander swung at her, and I realized that Lin's sword was too delicate and thin to block a strong blow like that. Lin ducked, the sword almost grazing the top of her head. And so they fought. Lin's light sword wove a glittering mesh around Alexander, and pinged against his whenever he blocked. Alexander was fast, but not as fast as Lin, but he was stronger. Lin rolled under his sword, laughing, as if playing limbo. They fought, and it was like a dance, both of them stepping in intricate patterns. But the fight ended.

Lin had slipped the point of her sword through Alexander's guard, the tip resting lightly on his neck. But in doing that, she had weakened her own guard, and Alexander's sword was poised at her chest.

"I guess we have a draw…" Alexander admitted, his sword dropping. Lin pulled her sword away, shoving it back into the scabbard on her back. "You're very good, Lin. But your right side is a bit weak. Your sword is too short." With that, he pulled a dagger from his belt, a blade a foot long. He handed it to her, and she took it silently.

"Well, goodbye, Lin. See you later." He gave a cheery wave and was gone.

Lin was staring at the blade. It had a hilt like a fish, with the two parts of the tail as the guard. The fish had a piece of coral in its mouth, as the pommel. "So…where will this go…" she whispered to herself.

Author's Note: Sorry about taking so long. I have school work and stuff. And you weren't reviewing. Two Alex's. Isn't that weird? And if you don't know, Alex is Percy and Annabeth's kid. Idiots.

I wonder when the next chapter is coming out…not very soon. I'm losing interest in this story; it happens every time I decide to write something. And because you don't review, I lose more and more interest.

So keep reviewing.