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11. Penelope

Oh my God… oops, I meant Gods…

Oh my Gods…

That was the most freaking amazing feeling I've had in my entire life. I mean, it was completely weird and kind of gross that Alec secretly fed me bay water… But it worked.

The whole camp was talking about my sword lesson by the time dinner was finished. Luke even seemed pretty impressed after he got over the initial shock of my unbelievably quick learning. The annoying part was, whenever he tried to talk to me about it, I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Good grief… I couldn't really be crushing on some guy I've known less than a week and is, like, seven years older than me… Right?

Well, anyway. Alec and Will wanted to spend the afternoon before capture the flag, trying to see if they could bring out some bigger water powers from me. Grover and I walked behind the two scheming blondes as they lead us around the woods to the more secluded side of the beach.

"What do you think they're going to do to me…" I pulled Grover back a bit more so we could talk easily without being overheard.

Grover scratched the three or four strands of stubble that were on his chin, "Well… from what you told me, it seems like your powers are only really activated when they are truly needed. Like life and death type situations; there was the Unkindly one, the Mina- you know, falling into the bay, Luke trying to kill you…"

"Luke was not trying to kill me," I felt my face flush at my own words and hoped that the other two boys didn't overhear me. "I was just kind of freaked out… and the water made me stronger, you saw that."

"Yea, it was pretty cool. But you don't have any control over it. And since we still don't know who your dad is, we're still kind of in the dark about everything." Grover gave me a sad smile, but I tried to focus on the positive.

I jerked my head in the direction of the two curly haired blonds way out in front of us and smirked, "So I know I said I trusted Alec yesterday… but I'm starting to… rethink that. Any words of wisdom?"

"Nope," Grover chuckled. "I know for a fact they would never purposefully hurt you though. And Will can heal you up pretty quick if something unpurposeful happens."

I tried to laugh along with the satyr; I'm really not sure why though, the laughter didn't take any of the edge off.

"Oh, I did bring you something though," Grover stuffed his hand into the small bag that was slung over his shoulders. I glanced quickly at his hooves and shook my head; it had only been five days but I'd already gotten used to the fact that my best friend was part goat.

"No way! How did you get this?" I gasped and couldn't keep the huge grin from taking over my face.

Grover wore a sideways smile as he dropped a blue BIC ballpoint pen into my hand, "I may have said something to Chiron about you needing a sword. And I may have told him that you mentioned how helpful Anaklusmos had been at the MET. I am still your Keeper after all; need to keep you all protected. And I can't do that if you don't have a weapon. But be careful, it's just a loaner until the forge can make you your own."

I rolled the pen between my fingers and tried not to cock my eyebrow at the satyr; I knew he wasn't telling me everything again. But since he knew more about this world than I did and he had tried so hard to protect me, Grover had earned my trust…

And he had just gotten me the coolest sword to practice with.

So… training wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

I failed pretty miserably as I stood in the mild waves and tried to control the water in any way possible.

It was a little better with the sword, or Riptide… I was finally able to translate the Greek etching on the sword itself. It felt amazing having the sword back in my hands; it felt perfect. The weight was balanced, my hand fit perfectly around the worn leather grip and it felt alive under my fingertips.

Will shot blunt arrows at me and I was able to deflect most of them easily. The fuzziness that my brain used to go to, didn't seem to bother me anymore and my mind was able to go into this weird slow motion view that gave me more time to react to the pathways the arrows were taking.

It was actually kind of fun after a while.

Then out of nowhere, Alec barreled into me and knocked me back into the bay.

I really have no idea what happened, but I somehow threw a wall of water up between myself and the would be linebacker. It was a literal wall; it was about eight feet wide and six feet high and as soon as I tried to touch it, the barrier collapsed back into regular water.

My back and my butt kind of hurt, but I got a good laugh at Alec being completely drenched again.

"So, you can protect yourself with the water but only on pure instinct," Alec mumbled to himself as if he was trying to figure out some complicated math problem. He walked over to Will and they started whispering back and forth again.

Grover came into the shallow water and helped me up, "Wow, you're clothes are even dry."

"Yup! I've decided I'm some kind of mermaid," I chuckle at the weird look Grover is giving me. "And no, I don't mean the sirens of Old Greek myths. I mean the fun, cartoon mermaids, with bright colored hair that sing."

Grover silently 'Oh'-ed at my comment and laughed.

Will and Alec came over to finally let us in on their master plan. I smirked as the older blonde twisted his shirt to wring out more water.

"Alright, so for tonight's capture the flag it's Ares verse Athena. And the Athena cabin has already made alliances with Apollo and Hermes. That will give us the greatest numbers for the fight and probably the most cunning of the campers, but we're going to need something big to take out the brawn of Ares and their allies," it was very strange to hear Alec speak like he was the general of some army battalion. But I guess that's kind of what happens when you're a son of Athena.

"Alright, Wisdom Boy. What's this big thing that you want to use as a distraction?" I casually slung Riptide over my shoulder and waited for them to reveal their crazy plan.

"You are; you're our big distraction," Alec looked at me with this flat expression and I just couldn't take him seriously.

I snorted and burst out laughing, "Are you kidding me? I have next to no experience, how the heck am I going to be a distraction, let alone a big distraction?"

I hated them.

The both of them.

Stupid, curly blonde morons…

Stupid Wisdom Boy and his Athenian plans…

I was currently standing in the ankle deep headwaters of the creek that flowed right through the forest. It was the edge of the playing field tonight and right in front of friendly territory. Alec said I was going to be the last line of defense; if Ares got their banner and came this way, I was supposed to stop them.

Will and a few of the other Apollo archers were perched in the trees around me, keeping guard and standing at the ready if Alec's experiment went really wrong.

This is what I get for telling the guy to not keep me in the dark…

Alec decided that the only way for me to try to get a handle on my powers was to practice and train with them. But since I'm so freaking stubborn, it seemed that my powers only showed up if I felt like I was in danger.

So here I am in what Will described as controlled danger, so that we can see what the heck my stupid powers could do.

Alec was somewhere in the forest grabbing the Ares's red banner under the protection of a Yankee's baseball cap that made him invisible.

Yea… that's right… he gets to be invisible while I get served up on a silver platter to the kids of the War God.

The armor I have on at least fit pretty well. The helmet smelled a little funky, but I could see perfectly fine. And Grover convinced Chiron to let me have Riptide for the game; but Alec had taken away my shield. Luke had handed me this great big, round shield that looked like it could have protected me against a nuke… but Alec took it from me and said I needed to focus on making my own shield like I had at the beach earlier.

Oh! And I didn't even tell you the best part! The reason I have set guards instead of just calling out if someone comes my direction, is because Clarisse was overheard at lunch proclaiming to anyone who would listen that she was going to introduce me to her electric spear.

"Oh joy, speak of the devil…" I chuckled a little to myself trying to think of what the demigod version of that phrase would be.

"Well, well, well… Hey there Penelope… What are you doing all by your lonesome?" Clarisse had two of her godly siblings in tow and they laughed at the unfunny question.

I felt my protective façade creep up, "Oh! I thought this was all part of the hazing. Was Alec supposed to be here holding my hand through my first capture the flag game?"

The big Ares girl turned to glare at her 'brother' after he snorted at my comeback. "Well I thought they would at least leave you fully equipped. Were all the sheilds too big?"

I spun Riptide around in my hand and made a big show of leaning it back against my shoulder, "I didn't want one. Slows me down too much. I've gotten pretty fast since the wood nymphs started getting me into shape." Only a half lie; I was getting faster at least.

The other Ares girl elbowed the Ares boy behind Clarisse's back and pointed at my sword, "How did you get a magical item? Only godly parents can gift items like that and you haven't been claimed yet."

"We're conducting an experiment of sorts," I swing Riptide around my body in a big sweeping motion and try to show off my minimal control over the weapon. "It's not mine, but it's definitely fun to play with."

Clarisse's siblings take a few steps back; but that only seemed to piss her off more. She took a huge step toward me and I maneuvered around so that she had to follow me into the little river. Clarisse glanced down, but made no move to change her direct course toward me.

I stepped back and got my sword ready to deflect her supersized, scary as heck, electrified spear. I gripped the soft worn leather of Riptides handle as tightly as I could.

The first jab, I sidestepped easily. The second jab glanced Riptide and I had to push up with all my strength to get Clarisse to fall back a step. The third jab was aimed directly at my chest and I somehow caught the prongs with my blade. I held on to the leather covered handle for dear life and used my forearm, which was completely covered in an arm guard, to try to dislodge Clarisse and push her back.

I was able to make the Ares demigod stumble back a little but I got the majority of the leftover force and went splashing into the creek, landing on my back and lost my hold on Riptide.

As Clarisse smirked and began to advance again, I rolled and scrambled to my knees. I instinctively threw my arms up, as if to cover my head and my wall of water reappeared in between me and Clarisse.

I looked down at my hands and felt warmth flood through my body; the tips of my fingers tingled as I knelt there in front of my water shield. I snorted as I noticed an arrow floating in the middle of the wall; it was aimed right at Clarisse's helmet.

Clarisse snarled at me through the few inches of water and pulled back her spear, "I really wouldn't do that!"

But she didn't listen to me.

Clarisse electrocuted herself pretty badly. Her godly brother and sister had to help her up and drag her out of the creek.

Will landed softly next to me with two of his sisters; they were grinning from ear to ear. Before I could make a joke about how happy they were about me getting the best of Clarisse, Luke and Alec sprinted by us and into friendly territory with the Ares banner in tow.

"Nice job, PJ. How did it feel?" Will shook my shoulder playfully.

"Crazy… tingly… scared as heck…" I took my helmet off and started to look around for Riptide.

Everyone else had left the creek area to join the celebration, but Will stayed to help me look for the magical sword that I had lost. Alec joined us and they both began teasing me about loosing Riptide.

I wondered a little closer to the forest as I searched for the sword… that's when I heard it…. that horrible snarling sound again.

I looked around expecting to see Clarisse trying to sneak up behind me, but instead I found the head of a giant black dog.

And he didn't look friendly.

"PJ, slowly back up. No sudden movements," Alec's voice called to me in a low even voice.

I heard a few of the nearby trees rustle as shadow's disappeared up into the dark lower branches. I took tiny careful steps backward until my foot hit a rock and I stumbled backwards for the third time today.

Alec appeared out of nowhere and stepped in front of me, but the huge dog wasn't distracted. He hurdled the blonde easily and I screamed as he stood over me and sunk his sharp teeth into my right shoulder and arm.

I threw my free arm up and tried desperately to push the dog away from me. I slipped and cut a few fingers on the stupid dogs fangs. The fingers on my left hand began to tingle again and a strange looking wave came up and slapped the dog, dislodging his teeth from me and my armor. I got a front row seat to every Apollo archer's arrow embedding into the underside of the dog's neck.

It hurt so badly, I didn't know what to do. My body was in shock; I wasn't crying, I wasn't even screaming anymore. I just stared at the blood that was gushing from my shoulder.

Alec was at my side again, faster than I thought was possible. He tore my armor off and demanded a shirt from any willing campers, to slow down the flow of blood from the bites. I think I remember Will shouting at Chiron about a med kit, but I'm not completely sure.

That fuzzy place I used to enjoy going to in my head was coming around again…

"PJ, you can't pass out, ok." Alec looked straight into my eyes and demanded I pay attention.

He looks really cute when he's worried…

"Hey, um… Penelope! Talk to me; tell me what hurts!"

I made a disgusted face at his use of my full name, but I answered him anyway, "Well my right shoulder hurts, obviously. And my arm kind of stings with pain… Oh and my fingers." I lifted my left hand from the creek and gazed at my fingertips before I shoved them into Alec's face, "I thought I cut my fingers pretty badly, but there's nothing there now… so I must be imagining things too."

Alec stared at my wiggling fingers, at me and then at the creek.

"Do you trust me?"

I tilted my head toward him, "Yea, I thought I already answered that one."

Will came into my field of vision and he looked even more worried than Alec did, "I need you to help me move her."

"What?! No way. I need to get a better look at the wound, I need to clean it and try to repair it," Will was yelling and it was hurting my ears.

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to block out their arguing.

"Just come hold this on her arm so I can move her Solace!"

There were people murmuring all around me and I felt myself being jostled around. Will took the bloody t-shirt and cradled my arm as he kept the bleeding under control. And Alec took my good arm and used it to hold most of my weight as he quickly carried me down the river.

When the water was around my knees, Alec sat us both down, "Take the shirt off of her and help me get her shoulder under the water."

I guess Will finally understood what Alec was trying to do, because they stopped yelling at each other. And whatever it was that they were doing, it was making me feel better.

Alec supported my head as Will gingerly placed my arm and shoulder further into the water.

"OH MY GODS," the numb shock had worn off and screaming seemed like the only logical thing to do. "OW, Ow, ow!"

I began to feel every inch of my body again, and I was able to lift my own head now and I glanced at my shoulder.

There were angry red gashes all over my upper arm and shoulder blade. My t-shirt was in shreds. There were scrapes of skin floating around freely in the water and a huge cloud of blood hovering around me.

… But the gashes were knitting together; closing and disappearing right before my eyes.

"Oh my Gods. What's happening?" I look between Will and Alec, but neither of them seemed to have answers for me.

They're not even looking at me anymore. I stood up and gazed around, but no one is looking at me now…

They're all looking right above my head.

There, about a foot above my head, spun a hologram of a bright green trident.

"It is determined!" Chiron's gravelly voice called over all the campers and brought everyone back to attention.

As if on cue, everyone around me fell to one knee.

I looked to Will and Alec for some kind of clue as to what it all meant; but Will just wore a goofy grin and Alec smirked but still looked annoyed.

"Hail, Penelope Jackson; daughter of Poseidon, God of the Sea."

Hmmm... a little longer chapter maybe could sway more of you to leave a few words of review? =)

Really hope you all liked it; again much more original stuff here. Please let me know what you all think!

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Misha

Ps. Check out my other stories: 'Life as Demigods,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Begin Again.'