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Chapter 10

I had known Clarisse and her cabin mates were going to be ugly, but I hadn't expected that they would be that ugly.

Scratch that. They weren't ugly. It's my opinion that ugly people are hard to come by. They might not be gorgeous, but everyone has at least a little beauty to them, and so did Clarisse and her sisters. It wasn't that they were ugly; they just weren't attractive to me. Or something.

All of them had rough, dirty looking skin and sort of blocky features. Now, I knew workout bodies weren't always unattractive on women, but these weren't workout bodies. These were 'I lift seven billion pounds' bodies. They were so muscular that it looked unhealthy and unappealing. They all had big foreheads, and Clarisse in particular had large, pretty eyes that were too close together. Like Barbie's eyes on Ken Shamrock's body. All of them wore the same kinds of clothes: a lot of camo. At least they made one good choice in life.

Annabeth sighed frustratedly, like those who looked to me to be formidable foes were really nothing more than minor annoyances. "Clarisse. Why don't you go polish your spear or something."

One of the girls in Clarisse's posse was sizing me up. She must have been at least two years older than me. I instantly pinned her as a bully. "Sure, Miss Princess," said Clarisse when I looked back at her. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"Erre es korakas!" Annabeth threw back at her. I knew what it meant already: go to the crows. I'd never been entirely sure what it meant, but I had a few guesses. Crows are scavengers and the Greeks placed a lot of importance on burial and funeral rites. Annabeth was probably suggesting that Clarisse could go die and be eaten by birds, which would probably hinder her descent into the afterlife and be considered a great dishonor. Basically - Go to Hell. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse swore, sneering at her. But I could see the girl's uncertainty in a few telltale signs, like the flickering of her left eyelid and how her eyes darted away while she was speaking. "Who're these little runts?"

I frowned at her. She knew both of our names, especially Percy's. Fighting the Minotaur made you sort of notable in any circumstances, especially here at camp. "I'm Amara. And this is Percy Jackson. You lead cabin five, don't you? Children of Ares," I hissed softly.

"Like… the war god?" Percy asked.

"Problem?" asked one of the girls in the background. She had a higher pitched voice than I expected. A very sickly sweet voice.

"Since you introduced yourself so nicely," said Clarisse, baring her teeth in something that was probably intended to be a grin or a leer, "I'm Clarisse La Rue." She held out her hand. I could see the callouses on it from my spot a couple yards away. I had a feeling that if I took it, she'd judo flip me. You know, throw me to the crows. I stepped forward.

"Amara," warned Annabeth.

I slapped it away.

She snarled. "How'd you recognize me? You shy, you little sissy? You've kept yourself pretty much hidden."

"She probably recognized the smell," replied Percy in my stead almost immediately, and in about half a second he was by my side. Wait! This is my chance. I can settle this dumb rivalry before it's even begun.

Clarisse growled. It was a gross, wet sound, like she was getting ready to spit. "We got an initiation for newbies, Prissy."

"Percy," he corrected spitefully.

"Did you mean, 'We have an initiation…'?" I asked, smiling. I'm stupid. Stupid and dead,

"Excuse me, you little punk?" Clarisse snapped, focusing her attentions on me. Annabeth sighed in the background.

"You're excused," I told her gracefully, standing my ground. "I was just wondering if dyslexia could affect basic grammatical knowledge. It hasn't for me, so I'm guessing it has something to do with IQ."

Silence. And then: "I think you can get in on the initiation, too, Amara." She said my name like it was a curse.

"Clarisse -" Annabeth started, but Clarisse cut her off.

"This punk thinks it can handle itself," she interrupted. "Stay out of it, wise girl." I knew that Annabeth was ready to protest, but I glanced back at her and then pointedly at Percy. Her lips thinned.

I began to follow Clarisse. I heard Percy begin to follow me, but then he grunted. "Hey!"

"This is her fight, Percy," Annabeth said. She was wrong. It was supposed to be Percy's, and I had the nastiest inkling that I wasn't supposed to interfere. I still wouldn't have done anything, but before I could even think of if, Clarisse grabbed me by the hair. I groaned and sped up as she began to pull, walking me towards a cinderblock building in the distance I could have identified even if I hadn't already known where we were headed. I put up a little bit of a fight for show, though I really did want to start fighting for real, but she put me in a headlock.

As soon as she opened the door, it was like a reverse vacuum effect. There was a gust of hot, humid air, and it sort of smelled like a drying cow patty. I retched. Clarisse snorted. "What a priss. Too real for your refined tastes, punk?"

"Too bad," said one of the other girls, snorting like a pig.

The girl with the high pitched voice giggled, "She'll be tastin' a 'ole lotta somethin', alright!"

My stomach turned. I knew they were gonna stick my head in the toilet, but suddenly I wasn't so game for it. I began to struggle a little more as we got closer to the stalls, turning my head towards Clarisse's elbow to loosen the headlock. Luckily, she interpreted the move differently. "She really can't take it!" she announced ecstatically as we drew closer to the toilets, some of which were encrusted with dirty yellow and green stuff I didn't want to think about. Her friends snorted gleefully. "You think you know everything, right? Little nerd like you must've had plenty of swirlies. Maybe you even like them, punk!"

I managed to pull myself out of Clarisse's headlock and almost instinctively elbowed her in the gut, turned, and sent a side kick soaring just above her solar plexus, near her diaphragm. She made a choking sound and flew backwards. Unfortunately, I did too. I couldn't have had a worse landing. I would have rather hit the divider between the stalls and broken my ribs, but instead I crashed through the unlocked stall door just two feet behind us and my back slammed neatly into the raised toilet lid, while my butt slid onto the seat. The germaphobia within cried out. I knew those seats were probably disgusting and stood up right away. "Uh-ulp," I said(?).

"You freaking punk -" Clarisse yelled, heading straight to me.

As if on cue, two other steps of footsteps rushed into the bathroom. "Percy, wait!" called Annabeth.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Percy, both bravely and stupidly all at once.

"Get him too!" yelled Clarisse. "I think he wants to take a dip!"

"You're insane!" I screamed.

Clarisse lifted me by the hair and I screamed some more. It hurt. I could see a couple of the girls escorting a struggling Percy to his own stall (read: torture chamber) and the one with the high pitched voice holding Annabeth in place. Then, Clarisse put me down and locked the stall door, trapping the two of us in the obnoxiously small space. "I'll drown you, punk!" She must have been having an adrenaline rush, because when she grabbed my neck this time, I lost ground as she pushed my face towards the toilet bowl. I was powerless to do anything but slow my imminent doom.

Suddenly, there was a strange rattling sound, a rushing noise, and then a scream. Clarisse let me go, and I put my hands on the toilet seat to stop my face from falling in. I quickly realized what was happening and then I, too, ran out of the stall after her. Clarisse was too busy yelling at the two ugly friends who had been holding Percy to stop me from darting into a shower stall and closing the curtain to protect myself from the water. I peeked out. Sure enough, a forceful stream of water was hitting one of the two girls in the face.

Clarisse seemed to get what was going on right away and darted into Percy's stall. The rattling noise started again and the showerhead above me came on. The water was cold but I only squealed. I'd rather be in here than out there. There was more roaring and the spray of toilet water splashed of of the walls and shouting girls and onto my shower curtain.

The shower curtain was the translucent kind that was pretty much useless because all it did was blur the details of the shapes inside and outside. So I watched the fuzzy shapes of the girls get pushed out of the bathrooms by toilet water. Toilet. Water.

If I wasn't there, I probably wouldn't have bought the story.

Well, I would have, but only because I'd also been yanked out of my old world and placed into a new one.

The explosion of water stopped the instant the girls were out the door and just as rapidly as it had started. I hesitantly stepped out and into a puddle of water, cringing at the splash that occurred as a result. "Percy," I said before I could even think about it, "what a pervert. Rushing into the ladies' room like that."

Apparently both Annabeth and Percy were too numb to be impressed by my attempt at humor. Annabeth was dripping with toilet water. Luckily, she wasn't going to be smelling like pee for the rest of the day. The fact was that the toilet water itself wasn't the gross part, the toilet was. I knew that, and I therefore knew that my hiding behind the shower curtain was irrational, but I felt cleaner all the same. "How did you…"

Percy stared at Annabeth for several long moments, struggling for an answer. "I don't know."

"Do you think we can go outside without becoming victims of a double homicide?" I asked Percy, glancing pointedly at the door. Being the idiot that he was, he nodded and boldly stomped outside.

Annabeth and I followed more slowly as we had a healthy fear for a pissed Clarisse. I reached the door and began to push it open, but felt Annabeth's hand encompassing my wrist. "Why?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"They would had left you alone," she informed me, almost clinically.

"Oh," I said, and then paused in thought. "Oh. You could call it… an act of defiance." Annabeth looked confused but I opened the door, and we joined Percy in watching the Ares girls' retreating bags as Annabeth shivered in a sudden gust of wind.

"Let's try wrestling," I said to Percy, sweating gloriously in the sunlight and doing as much as I could to burn stress over capture the flag in the evening.

Percy looked at me like I'd grown a few extra limbs. "Are you kidding me? Clarisse is over there." He was right. She was formidable on the mat, easily overtaking almost anybody who dare challenge her in less than a minute. With each fight, the would-be wrestlers around the mat seemed to diminish more and more. Now, there were around four potential challengers, one of whom looked like he was disputing his presence there when Clarisse snatched him up as if he was a fly caught in a spider's web. The poor dude looked completely terrified.

"Exactly," I told him.

"What?" Maybe I really had grown an extra head or something.

I shook my head. Percy wasn't stupid. Surely he can figure this out himself. "If you can beat Clarisse, you can beat almost anybody." It was a total lie. Percy wasn't going to beat Clarisse and neither was I, and even if we did, Kronos and Clarisse weren't on the same ball field. Fighting her had nothing to do with fighting her; it had far more to do with gauging the skill I'd seemed to inherit from this me even when I no longer had her mind. It was odd. I'd been able to use routines I'd never learned in my old life, but I also had none of this life's memories. I wondered if it had been done purposely. I also wondered just how far this training had gone.

Still, Percy knew nothing of his own future and seemed to decide my point was valid. "Luke said I should try a little of everything."

I watched the boy from earlier getting pummeled. "I'm sure he didn't mention Clarisse."

"Backing out so early?" Percy asked with a cheeky smile.

"Shaddup," I replied snappishly. "Let's go." I heard Percy snort as I speed walked over to the mat. Stupid shit, I thought, scowling back at him as I watched the boy limp off of the mat. The other challengers began to argue about who should go first. "I'm gonna go," I whispered.

"But what if I want to get it over with?" Percy asked. He, too, looked less than eager.

"You had your moment of glory earlier," I pointed out. Empowered by water or not, managing to knock the sword out of Luke's hand was impressive.

"You call that a moment of glory?" he asked, blushing. "He destroyed me every other time. In front of everybody!"

"Uh, yeah," I answered. "Definitely glory."

"Beginner's luck," Percy told me.

"But still glorious," I told him.

Just then, Clarisse seemed to fix her beady eyes on us. She grinned widely before setting eyes on Percy, who immediately balked under her hostile gaze. "Hey, punk! Wanna fight?"

"I do," I said calmly. Clarisse seemed pretty surprised. I'd definitely given her the impression that, while I did have an ounce of strength to my name, I was also easily overpowered and intimidated. While both of those had some level of truth to them, they had been at least partially exaggerated thanks to my bad acting. I at least had the guts to want revenge on her for trying to give me a swirly in the first place. Besides, the worst she could do was beat me up a little bit. As far as I was concerned, this was nothing more than an experiment with reasonable risks.

It took a while, but Clarisse finally managed to regain her meager wits. "You think you can beat me? You're pathetic."

I said nothing. I certainly felt pathetic, looking at her burly body, but she didn't need to know that. Instead, I wondered whether or not to take off my shoes before stepping onto the mat. There was the risk of contracting athlete's foot if I took them off, but if I kept them on and happened to kick Clarisse, she could be seriously injured. Priorities, I reminded myself.

In the end, I kept my shoes on.

When I got onto the mat, I pulled myself into my typical fighting stance with my fists guarding my jaw. This station was technically the wrestling station, but I had pretty much gathered that everything from wrestling to karate to capoeira went on over here. Clarisse specialized in something that I couldn't really name, but she relied heavily upon her size and body weight. Somebody larger than her would definitely have a chance, but I was definitely not her size. I'd have to get my advantage some other way.

"Fine, punk," she grinned. "Bring it on."

It was almost funny how she challenged me to challenge her and then proceeded to run at me. Apparently she was planning on charging me quickly enough to catch me off guard and pin me immediately. Probably by my throat or somewhere else deadly enough to scare me. But I wasn't going to allow myself to go out that early. I won't let myself be humiliated again. I sidestepped her, inspired by Sally's sidestepping-the-Minotaur move, and sent a round kick slamming into her exposed ribs. I heard her grunt and was, for an instant, satisfied. But then I noticed her exposed back and grinned evilly. It was mean. Too mean. And probably didn't bode well for my character or the longevity of my life.

But that experience that I hadn't experienced kicked in and I jumped, sending both feet flying into the center of her lower back. I wasn't sure if I'd hit my mark, but if I did, she'd be pissing blood the next few days. Wherever I got her, it had her howling. I landed neatly on my feet and she crumpled, holding her stomach like she was getting bad cramps. "You… you…"

"Beat you," I finished, walking off the mat. The fight was brief and I hadn't achieved my more important purpose, but I was pretty sure Clarisse wouldn't want a rematch. Not today, anyways. I thought that, in a longer fight, I might have run out of luck. Was that my weakness? Time and stamina?

"I'll kill you," she gasped. "You punk." Luckily, there was almost nobody around for her to be too embarrassed, so I wasn't all that concerned that she'd carry out her threat. After all, she already had Percy to take care of. I winced. Yeah, that would be fun.

"Let's," I said, and then paused, staring out at the very few people who had seen the fight, "not talk about this. 'Kay? It's your turn, Percy."

Percy bravely stepped onto the mat. If he was anybody else, I'd say that he probably didn't want to be outdone, but Percy was different. He probably didn't know how to follow that. He nicely waited for Clarisse to rise. Unfortunately for him, she looked even angrier than usual. I frowned. Apparently she'd decided to let him act the whipping boy. Arms crossed, I watched as Percy put on his own fighting stance, a little tenser than was necessary. He probably knew that he was about to die. He shot me a glance, as if to make sure that I was still there, and then threw a punch. It was actually decent, except that he probably should have twisted his hips a little more, but in what was an unfair fight from the start, that didn't matter.

Clarisse grabbed the poor kid's arm straight out of the air. In reply, he sent another punch with his other arm. He was unbalanced so it wound up being a useless effort. Half a second later, he was basically thrown across the mat. I could hear him bouncing as he rolled, and then Clarisse pinned him down like it was nothing. I could still see the pain in her beady, doll-like eyes, but I didn't smile. No need to make it worse for Percy.

She started to kick him off the mat, but a spectator jerked him out of the way and onto the ground. "Time to split, kid," was all he had to say before Percy and I hurried off to another area, one of us cringing painfully as we walked.

"That was amazing," he complimented.

Duh. "It wasn't that great," I replied, staring off into the trees.

"It was at least as good as what I did during sword-fighting lessons," he protested.

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll be back."

Percy looked alarmed. "You're leaving?"

I didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings, but I'd never been a social butterfly. How was I supposed to explain that I couldn't be his friend, and even if I was willing to risk being around someone so powerful, I'd not be around here for long? I wasn't stupid enough to think that was okay, but I also didn't want to lead him on. My mouth opened and closed, probably making me resemble a fish out of water. "I…"

"You dragged me over to wrestle," Percy said, frowning at me. "Now you have to come to archery with me. It's a fair trade."

"Life," I told him, "is not fair, Percy. Otherwise you'd let me go with thanks. You know, for the sweet payback I just gave Clarisse."

"Huh?"

He was such an innocent. Didn't he know what kidneys were? "Nothing. I'm off to the climbing wall."

"The one with lava?" Percy raised his eyebrows, like he wasn't quite sure I could handle that.

I glared at him. "Is there any other rock wall, you idiotic shithead?"

"I thought you were nice," Percy complained, "or shy or something."

"Or something," I told him. He snorted. "See you at dinner."

"What if I come to the rock wall with you?" he asked. Am I acting too old? Does he think I'm his big sister or something? More than likely he just wanted a human he already knew to follow around. Percy was still confused. He'd only woken up the evening before. Percy wasn't shy but he was probably having a rough go of it.

"Go hassle Grover," I told him, irritated. I could be totally bipolar in some ways, even in the life I so missed. One second I was happy to have people around and the next I despised everyone, wishing only to be left alone. Right now, I pretty much just wanted to not be smothered, even if it might mean getting roasted and/or crushed to death.

"Is that it?" Percy asked. "Am I bothering you?" He sounded almost hurt but also unsurprised. This was exactly the same stunt I'd pulled after Mrs. Dodds. It must have been pretty obvious to Percy that if we were ever going to be more than close acquaintances or distant friends, it would be a long time from now since I apparently didn't want it to happen.

"A little," I told him, "but you shouldn't take it personally. I feel bothered by almost everybody."

"I noticed," Percy said, and I snorted. He wasn't stupid - keeping up the conversation as an excuse to stay at the climbing wall was definitely working.

"Percy, I have a feeling you should be training," I warned in an effort to get him to go away. "You aren't as socially inept as I am so you don't have an excuse for following me aro - wait." I turned slowly to face Percy, who was grinning sheepishly. "Isn't your first lesson with Annabeth supposed to be happening right now?" She was supposed to be teaching him Ancient Greek, which was vital to any half-blood. I'd been attending lessons taught by Luke, who was so shockingly intelligent that it actually made me very uncomfortable.

"I don't like reading!" he protested, scratching the back of his neck.

"Dammit!" I cried. "She's gonna slaughter you."

Percy looked left and right in a sudden panic. "Really? I -"

"Do you not get how important this is?" I asked. "Gods. You're an idiot. A dead idiot. Annabeth's gonna be mad." Either that or she'll just roll her eyes at him. "This isn't like skipping an English lesson back at Yancy. This is crucial."

"I didn't know," Percy said, sounding disappointed in himself. Stop being so mean. He's only twelve.

"I'm sorry," I sighed, biting my lip as I forced out the words. "Let's head to the Big House. Maybe we can convince Annabeth that I held you up." I actually hoped that didn't work. I had a healthy respect for Clarisse, but I feared Annabeth a whole lot more. I could take some brawn, but Annabeth wasn't weak, and she was brainy on top of that. I really didn't want her pitted against me. I mean, I don't consider myself a dimwit, but her mother is the goddess of friggin' battle strategy. I was pretty sure I wouldn't stand a chance.

Needless to say, Percy left the Big House with a nicely sized lump to prove Annabeth's annoyance. Apparently she'd lectured him too.

I raised my eyebrow, as if to tell him, I told you so. He hit me in the face with his pillow. "What were you expecting?' I snapped, shoving him roughly backwards.

"I wasn't expecting her to hit me on top of the head like that," he complained. "And when we finally started the lesson, she would randomly ask about the summer solstice deadline or something." He paused. "Do you know anything about it?"

"I-" I scratched at my throat and swallowed a lump that seemed to be forming within it. Time to tell the truth? A twisted version of it? Or a flat-out lie? "A little."

"Really?" Percy asked, relieved. "You'll tell me, right?"

I glanced over at the people on the other side of the room. They were gathered around a couple of people who were probably showing off something they'd stolen. "Not now."

He seemed to see what I was looking at and nodded. I've said it before, but Percy isn't stupid. He's just a little slow on the draw sometimes. He was definitely a little disappointed that he couldn't be filled in right then. It was understandable, to say the least. I would have taken it way worse than he did. That being said, with a crowd like that, I literally couldn't say anything. Besides, he'd know everything he really needed by the crack of dawn tomorrow morning.

"Looking forward to capture the flag?" I asked conversationally. It wasn't my element, and somehow my seemingly friendly tone sounded like nails on a chalkboard. When had I become such an excellent liar?

Percy shrugged. "I guess."

Neither of us really were. I mean, I knew how it went and I also had this horrible feeling that wearing armor would suck, and Percy didn't even know exactly how it was played yet. There really wasn't much to look forward too for him, even discounting the fact that Clarisse would beat the shit out of him. But he'd also be claimed. What did I have to look forward to? Sitting around in the wood and waiting to get stabbed? I tried to think of it like hunting, but I couldn't imagine that armor would help me in terms or stealth. "I think it's going to go terribly," I announced.

Percy stared at me, green eyes piercing. Maybe he was trying to decide whether I was serious, or maybe he was just thinking that I should shut up and let him calm down before being so - "What a pessimist."

"I call it realism."

Our third update in two days, wow! (: This chapter is a little more action packed, so I hope you guys enjoyed it. There's a lot more like this to come, and VERY soon, too!

Now, here's the deal. I'm scheduling the next update for next Friday. That's June 17th, okay? And instead of posting a chapter early in return for reviews, I'm going to set up a larger scale goal to work towards. When I reach 100 reviews, I'm going to do something big. I don't know what it is yet, but I was thinking something like introducing other characters' POVs or allowing you guys to make a big decision via a poll. I want you all to pick what the 'reward' is, but I want some suggestions first. Feel free to post them as reviews or PM them!

Lastly, I'm now attempting to reply to each reviewer individually, but I do want to thank Krazyfanfiction1 for faithfully reviewing every freaking chapter. Seriously. You're awesome!

So, now that we've established that I'm a review whore, I'm out! Hope you all are having awesome summers!