"Ow!" I yelled, falling backwards and cracking my head on the concrete floor of the Arena. I was having my first lesson on swordplay.
Two things you need to know. One: I suck even worse than a nine year old who's been at camp for four days. Two: I was just about ready to punch Percy in the face. He was apparently the best swordsman at camp, so he taught the beginners how to spar. At the moment, I was getting wailed on. This was the sixth time I'd found myself on my back, looking up at the bright blue sky.
"Sorry," Percy said sheepishly, offering me a hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. "You know, I don't think that sword's right for you."
"None of the swords have been 'right for me,'" I grumbled, dragging my feet as I followed him to the weapons shed at the other side of the arena. Percy ignored me and took the sword in my hand, switching it with a shorter blade. I hefted it and frowned. This one was better, but not by much. Nevertheless, I followed Percy back into the center of the arena.
All around us the Nemesis cabin was going at it, slashing at each other. I was amazed that someone hadn't been killed yet.
Maya especially was vicious. She was sparring with Jack and looked pissed. The chick was all offense. Jack was so busy blocking her strikes that he couldn't even get one of his own in.
I turned my attention back to Percy. He was showing me how to lunge, strike, and block with my sword. We worked for a long time, the sun high in the sky, beating down on us. By the time a conch horn blew in the distance, I was soaked with sweat. Nasty.
"That actually wasn't too bad for your first time with a sword," Percy told me as we headed out of the arena with the Nemesis cabin. "And anyway, a sword might not be your weapon. You might be a knife fighter, or an archer."
"Yeah," I said halfheartedly. I doubted I was much of a fighter with any weapon.
"Seriously," He reassured me before finding Annabeth and jogging over to her. I looked down at my feet. It was back to the dining pavilion for lunch.
"Hey," Jack called, causing me to look up. He was standing ahead of me and looking at me with concern. "You okay? You look kind of queasy."
I tried for a smile. "Queasy, really? I'm fine, just a little tired."
He rolled his eyes. "Okay then, if you say so."
"Hey, Jack?" I asked, a hopeful feeling fluttering in my stomach.
"Yeah?" He looked at me curiously.
"What can children of Nemesis do? I mean, do you-we-have any special tricks?" I asked, hoping he'd say something like, "Oh, yeah, we can form these cool balls of light in our hands!"
No luck.
"Hmm, not really. The minor gods don't really have kids with spectacular powers. We are good fighters though, so we're useful," He said thoughtfully, then turned a little embarrassed. "Uh, we're driven by revenge a lot. Depending on the situation, it could be a good or bad thing."
I nodded, the dread crawling back into the pit of my stomach. Why did Nemesis claim me if I so obviously wasn't her daughter? Why did my real mother just forget to claim me? You'd think the gods would have some kind of calendar or list to keep track of their kids. "Oh, yes, it's my kids thirteenth birthday! Time to send them to camp and claim them!" How did you forget you had a kid? How did you not realize that there were one too many demigods in your cabin?
Resentment built up inside me. What the heck was my mom's problem? Is one lousy daughter too much to bother her? All she needed to do was spend a minute of her time and send a little holographic message to hang over my head.
I didn't realize how angry I was until after we sat down. A Nemesis camper named Wayne was looking at me with one eyebrow raised. I was suddenly aware that I was grinding my teeth and stopped, looking down at my hands. That did not help.
I looked up, looked anywhere but my hands, and met dark, chocolate colored eyes. I just stared into them for a minute before looking at the face they belonged to. Nico. Of course. He was looking at me, eyebrows furrowed. I swallowed and looked away, jiggling my leg, waiting for lunch to be over.
Jack nudged me with his elbow. "You okay?"
"No. No, I'm not," I said quietly, swinging myself off the bench. I tried to walk out of the pavilion without drawing any attention to myself. Apparently people didn't get up and walk out of lunch very often, 'cause I drew a lot of eyes.
"Andi!" Taika called quietly as I walked past. I didn't look back as I skipped down the steps, striding across the grass. I didn't exactly know where I was going, I was just getting away from there.
I passed the cabins and took off at a run, heading toward the Big House. The cold water chilled my lower legs as I splashed through the creek. By the time I reached the big blue farmhouse, I was breathing hard. The sword training was coming back to bite me and my limbs felt heavy. Something, though, was compelling my forward, into the house. I passed through the screen door and up the stairs, all the way to the top floor.
The ceiling, That random voice in my head whispered. I looked up and sure enough, there was a trap door. I grabbed the string connected to the door and pulled down, moving backwards as the stairs slid down to the floor.
I hesitated, wondering whether I should go up or not. Something drove me forward, a feeling in my gut. I climbed up the stairs and looked around. The attic was huge, knickknacks and mementos from previous demigods scattered all over the place. There were bent weapons, preserved parts of monsters, and dented shields littering shelves and tables. A dusty stool in the corner stood empty and I wondered what its purpose was.
A glittering object under the stool caught my eye. I moved closer, crouching down to get a better look. It was a diamond, a huge diamond. Wait, no, it was a knife. The knife was made of diamond with a bronze core running through it. The hilt was studded with tiny diamonds and the grip was leather. The knife was roughly sixteen inches long and looked as though it had never been used. I picked it up, wrapping my fingers around the grip, working them until the leather felt comfortable in my hand.
Standing up, I held the knife in front of me. I thought light, concentrated hard on it, and the knife started glowing white. The diamond allowed the light to shine through the blade, casting a warm glow around me.
"Incredible," I breathed. "Just like it was made for me."
I held out my palm beside the weapon and summoned that tiny prick of light. If this was only the beginning of what I could do…
"Who…" A voice came from the doorway. I jumped, clenching my hand closed to extinguish the light, and hid the dagger behind my back. I looked fearfully into those dark brown eyes, wide with surprise. "Who are you?" Nico asked, incredulous.
Aw, crap.
A/N: "I'll keep you my dirty little secret, dirty little secret, dirty little secret. Who has to know?" Yeah, I know, Andi's secret isn't necessarily dirty. AND this song is completely out of context, but i like it...and it's stuck in my head...
Yes, a diamond knife. But hey, it's got a celestial bronze core just perfect for slaying some evil little nasties. xD Anyway, I hope you guys like. Review, let me know what you think. Is there something I need to fix or do better? Did I screw up and leave out a comma? Did I put one where it isn't needed? D'you have a question? Is it confusing at all? Lemme know, y'all. :)
