Even though I was up early- I guess it wasn't early enough. Downstairs I could hear:

"Hello? Annabeth? You up?"

Shoot! I scrambled out of bed. My knees got caught in my sheets and I fell to the floor with a loud BOOM!

"Annabeth? Was that you? Are you alright?"

I didn't answer but, I hurried to my feet and quickly dug through my stuff searching for something to wear. Sitting on top of my things was a purple t-shirt with the words, "Legion Camp" stamped across it. I slipped it on without a second thought. I was running a brush through my hair when I spotted Bobby standing at the top of the spiral staircase.

"Hey Annabeth, are you almost ready?" he asked.

I nodded quickly as I grabbed my knife, my Yankees cap, and the incredibly flashy gold sword that Bobby gave me yesterday.

Bobby headed down the stairs. I followed after as quickly as I could. Bobby met me at the door.

"Nice shirt," He commented as he unzipped his jacket to show he was wearing the same one- but pretty much everyone was. "You okay after what happened yesterday?" he changed the subject. "I know you were a little shaken up yesterday after what happened with Arachne."

"I'm okay. Didn't sleep well, but I'll survive," I told him.

"Okay, we can work on combat again today, nothing too difficult, just basic fighting- same as yesterday, and then some more archery. If Dakota's up, he'll come to the Campus Martius to help us," Bobby said.

We arrived at the dusty field of Mars. Bobby pulled an X-Acto Knife from his pocket- an artist's tool that looked like a scalpel with an incredibly sharp blade, that much I knew from experience. Bobby uncapped it and the blade extended out into a sword.

"Cool," I whispered.

"Yeah, it's called Brushstroke; it's one of those swords that will always end up back in my pocket. It also comes in handy for art projects too," he joked. "Let's see what you learned yesterday."

I whipped out my sword and struck at him. Bobby blocked my blow, forcing me back. I swept my sword at his side and he jumped barely dodging my blade.

"You've improved," he muttered a little frightened.

"Of course I did," I said as I blocked the sweep of his sword, "Percy taught me- Percy's the greatest swordsman I know."

I struck again and Bobby dodged it, stepping backwards.

"I can't believe I thought I'd have to go easy on you," he groaned forcing my sword away. I immediately struck back with all the force I was able to muster up. Bobby's sword was knocked from his hand, causing him to lose his balance and stumble to the ground. I lowered my sword until the tip of it was only inches from his throat.

Bobby waved his arms, surrendering, "Fine, you win!"

"Oh, my gods!" I heard. It was Dakota, finally up and here for training. "I don't believe it! No magic baseball cap, princess? Wow…"

Bobby was still on the ground and glaring up at Dakota.

I drew back my sword and extended a hand to Bobby. He took it and I helped pull him to his feet. "Nice job, Annabeth," he grinned ridiculously despite the fact that he did lose. He turned to Dakota next, "She's gotten really good," he tried to explain.

"Either that or you're just inept without your little bow and arrows," Dakota taunted.

"Let's see about that then," I butted in.

"Great, I'd love for you to help me prove the point, princess," Dakota smirked.

I knew what to do- I'd never make the same mistakes twice. I knew from fighting with Dakota yesterday that he was way too strong for me to fight him the same way I beat Bobby. Fortunately, I'm smarter than he is, and that was how I planned on winning this.

Dakota lifted his sword, holding up behind his head. I watched his hands gripping the sword- his right hand over his left. He brought the sword down with a lot of force. I held a block as best I could until I pushed his sword away. His fighting was mostly offense, I suspected a weaker defense.

I struck at his left side as quickly as I could, before he could strike again. He jumped, dropping his sword to the ground. I didn't hit him, but scared him pretty well. He held up his hands in defeat saying, "Whoa… How'd you do that?"

I smiled, dropping my sword to the ground.

"Percy couldn't have taught you that," Bobby remarked.

"He didn't, but I'd never make the same mistakes twice," I told them.

"-But how did you do that?" Dakota reiterated.

"I noticed a couple things while you were fighting-"

"Like what?" Dakota interrupted.

"Well, like you're right handed," I said.

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" Dakota asked impatiently.

"Being right handed and fighting offensively, I figured-"

Dakota interrupted again, "You're calling my fighting offensive?"

"No, offensive as in taking action instead of defense," I rolled my eyes, "You fighting obnoxiously is irrelevant."

Dakota growled.

I went on, "Between offensive fighting tactics and being right handed, I figured you would be unable to take a quick blow to your left side, because it's your weaker side, and that's how I won- completely fair."

"Oh," Dakota said to that.

"And that is why she is a daughter of Minerva," Bobby muttered to Dakota. Bobby looked at me, "I think we're finished with swordplay for a while now, we can practice but you just beat both of us at an embarrassing speed, I don't think you need our training anymore. Let's move on to archery- this is my favorite."

"I'll go set up the targets," Dakota groaned knowing if he didn't say that Bobby would have ordered him to do it anyway.

Bobby fetched the bows and quivers. Dakota set the targets to about the same distance they were at yesterday. Bobby watched as I fired two arrows- the first one hit the closer target, not in the center this time, but close to it, and the second arrow was much further off from the second target.

Bobby prepared a bow for himself and also fired off two arrows- both of which hit the middle bull's-eye of both targets. Show off, I thought.

"Here," he handed me an arrow, "I'll help you- aiming is always the toughest part." Bobby stepped up behind me so that I could feel him on the back of my neck. He placed his hands on mine- one on the bow and the other supporting the arrow. I fired.

We watched the arrow soar high into the air and then pierced the center of the second target. I lowered the bow. One of Bobby's hands still held mine.

"Bona, pulchra filia Minervae," Bobby murmured.

I was beginning to recognize a few word in Latin and suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious, "What did you call me?" I dropped his hand.

Bobby grinned, "Nothing to worry yourself about. How about you try on your own this time?"

That's what I thought. I picked up another arrow, this time firing it on my own, trying to get it to exactly the angle Bobby showed me. I found it and fired. And just as planned, the arrow hit the center of the target.

"Nice, Annabeth," Bobby noted.

"How 'bout we take a break for breakfast?" Dakota asked from about ten yards down the field.

"Breakfast sounds great," I said aloud.

"Sure, we're just about finished with today's training anyway," Bobby replied. We probably weren't but that's okay- I was hungry.

At breakfast, I sat down across from Luke with a plate of waffles and half of a fresh pomegranate.

"Morning Luke," I greeted.

"Hey Annabeth, anything eventful happen while you were out shopping?"

"Why? What did you hear?" I panicked.

"Oh, something did happen then… I was just asking," Luke said.

"Hazel and I were attacked by a giant spider- it's supposed to be a secret, so please, don't tell anyone," I told him.

"A giant spider? Really?"

"Yeah, really! It was terrifying!"

"I can't believe I missed it…" Luke was bummed out.

"Luke, believe me when I say, I would have been more than happy to trade places with you, oh and please, don't tell anyone. Lupa wanted to keep this quiet," I detailed.

"Who am I going to tell?"

"That's what I figured, that reminds me, did you make any new friends?" I asked.

"New friends? You say that like this is the second grade."

"Well, did you?" I insisted.

"Certainly not those Mars kids, but actually I did make a new friend- sorta…" Luke grinned.

"Ooh, what's her name?" I asked. The way he said that, I knew it had to be a girl.

"Calliope- but she goes by Callie. She rounded up all the little Mars kids before they had a chance to pester me again. She's cute and just turned twenty-two," Luke said. Who's to say this wasn't like the second grade?

"Which cabin is she from?" I asked.

"Cupid," Luke told. I was happy for him- he'd made a friend. That was something he doesn't do very often.

Luke and I were joined by Bobby and Dakota- both boys drowned their waffles in maple syrup. The four of us sat in a hungry silence, not awkward, just hungry, ravenous even- training had built up something of an appetite. We worked to scarf down the waffles until the silence was broken by Hazel and Percy.

"Guess what, you guys?" Hazel burst in.

We all looked up from our plates.

"Lupa's decided that Percy's ready to be tested!" Hazel cheered.

"Great, who's he up against?" Bobby asked.

Hazel answered with, "I don't know yet, Lupa's still waiting for an opponent."

"That means that if Percy passes, he'll be a part of the Roman Legion and will actually have some authority around here- not like praetor authority, but at least a say in the important things," Bobby explained to me again.

"An opponent should be named soon, within a few hours- Lupa was still trying to make up her mind about who she would pick," Hazel announced.

When Percy sat down, I made sure to tell him, "Congrats! By the way, thanks again for helping me with swordplay. It really helped today-"

"No problem, Annabeth, I'm always happy to help a friend," Percy answered.

A friend? Was that all he thought I was? Ugh! Two steps forward, one step back.

Any ideas for the next chapter? I am taking requests. But anyway- Please, tell me what you think of this chapter, whether you love it or hate it, and write a review! Thanks!